UCSD vs. Cornell

<p>Here's the scoop... I was waitlisted at UCLA, accepted at Berkeley/USC, but don't want to go there.</p>

<p>That leaves Cornell and UCSD.</p>

<p>Cornell was my first choice. I wanted to get away from home, experience something new and really challenge myself academically.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, it's going to cost me 30k/year to go to Cornell vs. 15k/year to go to UCSD (costs are after grant aid and work study). I'm looking for scholarships, but the max I can decrease it down to is 20k/year at Cornell and 9k/year at UCSD. My parents will be able to pay 15k/year. If I go to Cornell, my parents and I will have to take out loans.</p>

<p>I know, however, that costs go down your sophomore year and beyond if you get an off campus apartment or become an RA. Does anyone know exactly how much cheaper sophomore year and beyond are? That'd be great to know to figure in my calculations.</p>

<p>Now I'm just asking for input. What would you do in my shoes? Can anyone speak from experience? I'm currently thinking about going on the pre med track, but I'm also thinking of switching to Economics because I love math/business. No matter what I do, I plan on going to grad school.</p>

<p>Definitely Cornell. It’s a far superior school than UCSD, especially at only 20k/yr.</p>

<p>Have you visited Cornell? Cornell did not appeal to me because of its location. Are you in-state for UCSD?</p>

<p>Haven’t been able to go because my parents can’t afford to drop $1800 for me to fly there… I haven’t visited UCSD either, but saw pictures and it looks nice. And yeah, I’m instate…</p>

<p>If you are in-state, can you drive to San Diego? I think you at least need to visit UCSD.
If you planning to do investment banking then Cornell gives you better chance, otherwise UCSD because it is pretty strong in engineering and science. Not sure about humanities.</p>

<p>Unless you are taking Marine Biology or some such major that only UCSD can offer, go to Cornell. You say that you: “[want] to get away from home, experience something new and really challenge myself academically.” Well, literally and figuratively, Cornell is as far from California as you can get. It’s a better school, with generally smarter students, better reputation, networking, facilities, faculty, etc. and generally better everything EXCEPT that:</p>

<p>1) It’s in the middle of nowhere. Syracuse, the nearest big city, is one hour away. And it still ain’t much as far as cities go.</p>

<p>2) It’s cold, snowy and horrible in the winter (especially for Californians). Are you ready for this?</p>

<p>If you don’t mind the above, go to Cornell. The extra $11K a year (it’s likely even less when you take into account the lower cost of living there as compared to San Diego) that you would have to pay is nothing compared to the added opportunities you’ll get when you graduate by coming from an Ivy League school. You’ll make it up right away, in a lot of ways you couldn’t imagine right now.</p>

<p>@foilist</p>

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<p>So from your experience, how exactly do the opportunities at UCSD and Cornell differ?</p>

<p>@$KingsElite$</p>

<p>I can only speak from the point of view of my field (computer science/engineering). Upon graduating, some large companies definitely give priority to first interviewing graduates of select universities ranked in the Top 10/20 of the field. Cornell is definitely one of them for my field. I’m sure this goes for some other majors too, but of course not for all of them. So it really all depends on what the OP’s course is. From the Cornell forum, it seems he wants to take pre-med, but is also thinking about economics too. I’m not an expert in those fields, but it does seem that UCSD is pretty similar/competitive in those two compared to Cornell. So I can understand how it may be a tough decision.</p>