UCLA vs. Cornell (should I stay or should I go)

<p>I'm currently a freshman at UCLA in the Pre-Business Economics department. I received a guarantee transfer to Cornell ILR for my sophomore year (meaning I'm guaranteed admission should I choose to transfer). I'm debating whether or not to go to Cornell next year. Help me!!!</p>

<p>I'm heading in the business, government, law direction. However I'm not sure which school is better. What do you guys think? Please provide additional pros and cons.</p>

<p>UCLA
pro- great location (for networking, internships [it's the heart of LA!]), close to<br>
family/friends
con- too many students (sooo difficult to sign up for classes you want), huge classes,
doesn't actually have a business undergraduate program, wastes time on GEs</p>

<p>CORNELL
pro- smaller classes (only 800 in ILR, thousands in L&S @LA), doesn't waste time on GE's
and gets straight to the good stuff
con- isolated (location isn't the best, plus it's really far from southern cali.), not all my
high school AP credits transfer</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the weather and hot guys don't factor into my decision. Although it does help, I'm not too concerned. :/ What do you guys think? Any ideas?</p>

<p>***Comments on the caliber of each university? Which do you think is better overall in your opinion?</p>

<p>what are GEs? </p>

<p>UCLA is a great school and I would only transfer if you do not like it...</p>

<p>another thing to consider is how many credits will actually transfer into ILR...while Cornell is a great school you might be stuck taking pure ILR credits in order to graduate...</p>

<p>LA does have great Cornell alumni representation...</p>

<p>I'd only transfer if you are really interested in workers and workers rights...not because you hate UCLA...</p>

<p>just to add, ILR does have a great faculty but it seems that budget cuts have lessened the amount of ILR courses offered (which has led to them loosening some of the requirements for the major) and there seems to be less TAs and almost no section past freshman year...</p>

<p>GEs are general education classes (e.g. math, science, english)
UCLA requires me to take a ton, especially for my Business Econ. However Cornell asks for only half the amount. Also I only have to take stats @ Cornell whereas at UCLA I have to take stats and another math class (which fyi I hate math:/)</p>

<p>I don't hate UCLA, I just want to see which school better fits me.</p>

<p>Also they cut down class sizes so there will be more students in each class. For instance my history class has around 500 students. They plan on adding even more!</p>

<p>ILR doesn't focus solely on workers' rights. Although the title would seem to imply it. However 29% of students who come out of ILR become law students, and a good portion work in the gov/bus. </p>

<p>And if ILR is not the school for me I can always transfer out to another school like Hotel, etc. </p>

<p>Thanks for your feedback!</p>

<p>As my screen name shows, I am a UCLA graduate (many years ago) and also have a son currently attending Cornell. Are you in-state at UCLA? If so, will it be possible for you to attend Cornell without burdening your parents or taking on loans? Even if your expenses for undergraduate are covered, what about law or business school? All in all, Cornell may be better for the reasons you gave, but not so much better that it would be worth the potential toll on your parents' financial situation (especially in this economy) or your ability to finish your education debt-free or with substantially less debt. </p>

<p>And if you are considering the possibility of transferring from ILR to another school at Cornell, there are specific requirements and procedures to be followed. Cornell students should be able to give you more details, but suffice it to say that it's not as simple as changing one's major at UCLA. At any rate, good luck with your decision - they are both great schools!</p>

<p>I say UCLA mainly because of the location and your AP credits.</p>

<p>Imagine taking all your AP courses again =/</p>

<p>


</p>

<p>Transferring between colleges isn't as easy as it may seem. I know a handful of kids who tried to switch colleges and were not able to (because Internal Transfer Division did not think they were a good fit for the school they were trying to transfer into, or they didn't do well in the classes of the major they were trying to switch into)</p>

<p>The financial aspect isn't a big problem. I'm more concerned about the quality of education and the ability to take classes without them being all filled up. I recently enrolled in my Winter classes and I'm not entirely happy with them.</p>

<p>As for switching schools, it's not really a big issue. I plan to stay in ILR for the most part. But my main concern is UCLA or Cornell. :(</p>

<p>Thanks for your help! But I'm deciding...</p>

<p>are you a freshman at UCLA? </p>

<p>what credits will you be bringing in?</p>

<p>Yes I am a freshman. AP credits cover Eng., Biology, History. </p>

<p>But my bigger concern is the tedious General Ed. requirements UCLA asks for. (e.g. 4 courses of science, several history). Whereas at Cornell I only have to take 1 science, 1 history, etc. I get straight to learning about labor relations my sophomore year while at UCLA I'm still trying to finish my GEs.</p>

<p>It seems like in terms of classes, you'll be more happy at Cornell. If your focus is academic quality (by which you've said you want small classes, and you want to take classes that aren't geneds) then Cornell seems to be something you want to do. But again, we can't really tell exactly what your thought process is.. so idk. </p>

<p>Now I'm going to cheat and repost my thread because I'm interested in answers:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/606853-whether-transfer-if-so-when-state-school-cornell.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/606853-whether-transfer-if-so-when-state-school-cornell.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks. That was a lot of help. I guess the biggest problem with moving to New York is the distance. I'm an only child and I'm extremely close to my parents. I would be leaving my family, friends, lifestyle behind. :/</p>

<p>Sounds like the Cornell pro's outweight the cons to me, but ultimately, you have to decide if it's worth it, moving across the country to an expensive school. UCLA is an extraordinary college, and even better, you're instate. Cornell will be far more expensive (too bad you're not a NYer; ILR is a contract college). Since money isn't an issue, let's focus on academics...you can get a great education either place, but Cornell has smaller classes, less GE's. You have to decide if it's worth it to leave home, start over, and get fewer AP credits. The question here isn't which is the better school - they're both so good - it's which fits YOU more. </p>

<p>Also, you complained UCLA doesn't have a real business program - Cornell's business program is AEM in CALS, so you're not going to be in a business program either way. Are you interested in HR or labor relations? Maybe pre-Law?</p>

<p>Ithaca's a nice college town, but if you want to live in a large city.....bahahaha.</p>

<p>Cornell:
Pros-
Not a GIANT number of students (in relation to a UC)
Classes can ber very small (though for business....you might get stuck with a larger lecture....but probably not as large as a UC, again
AP credits don't always transfer.</p>

<p>I know what you're thinking on that last one, but I think that so long as the credits that don't transfer are pertinent to your major, you'll get much more out of taking classes at Cornell than you would being placed into a higher level class with the assumption being you already mastered introductory material.</p>