Hello everyone,
I was fortunate enough to gain admission into University of Pennsylvania, Duke, and Cornell. And because these are all great schools, I am having a hard time making my decision. If you are a student, parent of a student, or alum at one of the three universities, I would greatly appreciate anything you can tell me about your school.
Here is some information about me:
- I will be going in as a 2nd year transfer student (I completed my first year at Rice University. The reasons I decided to transfer out can be out at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/2033058-should-i-leave-rice-p1.html)
- Currently, I plan on majoring in Neuroscience at Duke vs. Biological Basis of Behavior at UPenn vs. Biological Sciences at Cornell. But I am not sure if I will adhere to these majors since I want a degree that will get me a job in the industry right out of undergrad. So I guess flexibility in changing majors at each school is something I am curious about.
- Ironically, I am also considering going to law or pharmacy school after undergrad. I know grades are important for grad school, so I was wondering how âcutthroatâ (e.g. curves, pre-med competition, grade inflation) it can be to maintain a high GPA at each school?
- Financial aid package is pretty much the same from each school. So the cost of attendance wonât be a deciding factor for me.
- I care a lot about housing. I would really appreciate any information about each collegeâs housing options (e.g. housing availability, bathrooms, single rooms).
I have been doing my research for each school, but any personal input would really help. If you can share a bit about your experience at any of the three schools or offer any insight, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much!
I think your real issue is figuring out what to study. Neuroscience or Biological science doesnât lead to industry jobs easily right out of college. Youâll need grad school for most job in those fields. Law and pharmacy are different directions. If you are undecided, actually a LAC would help. Itâs easy to change major, and professors and advisors will really know you personally to define a program for you. If you feel Rice advisor couldnât help you, I doubt UPenn, Duke, Cornell would do any better.
Iâve taken neuroscience courses at Duke and BBB courses at Penn. Quality of instruction at both institutions is absolutely top notch. Duke requires undergrads to live on campus for 3 years. Penn might require only 2.
On campus, university housing is a problem at Cornell for upper classmen. I donât believe they guarantee housing after sophomore year (although I may be wrong as itâs been a while since Iâve been on campus and stuff changes yearly so hopefully someone else will chime in). That said, if you are more interested in a single with a private bath, off campus is the way to go. And off campus doesnât need to be far. I lived off campus junior and senior year - one year just below west campus and the other in college town. I never had a car and didnât need it. You have great options on the table and wont go wrong anywhere! You may want to post this in the Cornell specific thread as well.
re #3:
It is correct that Cornell does not guarantee housing for upperclassmen. University housing would indeed be a problem at Cornell for those upperclassmen who actually still wanted university housing by that time. (Though some housing is available for upperclassmen).
However the preponderance of upperclassmen do not want university housing. By that time most are âbeen there, done thatâ with dorms. Most live in houses and apartments adjacent to, or nearby, campus. With more personal space and where they can live like adults, with people they choose to live with, outside of the purview of RAs and university regulations. I never heard anybody saying that they missed the dorms. I did attend, and throw, some pretty great house parties off campus though, in peopleâs houses and apartments.
My son went elsewhere to college, where there was plenty of space in the dorms for upperclassmen. He and his friends still chose to go off-campus at that school too.
My daughter came into Cornell as a second year transfer student. She was placed in a dorm in Collegetown, in a very big single room. I think it was intended for two people, but no second person showed up.
It was a perfectly nice dorm, and room. But the next year she was happy to move into an apartment in a Collegetown house with several of her friends. That house became a major element of her social life for the remainder of her stay there.
When I attended I did not have a car the first three years, and I did not miss it or think I needed it. Then the last year I had one, and came to realize how helpful it actually was. It allowed me to explore and appreciate the greater Ithaca area & environs in a way that would not have been otherwise possible.
From your posts, it seems you need to go to a smaller LAC where you can find personal attention or may be to seek some mental health and academic advising at your current school, not transfer to some huge college where you may feel even more lost. I would recommend looking into semester abroad option instead of transfer, it would give you a change of scenery and help you grow as a person.
On one thread the lack of 4 year guaranteed housing is a big issue that comes up. And here the concept of upperclassman do not need or want it.
Both are right. It illustrates the unique decision making process around such individually based priorities.
Cornell doesnât have a lot of dorm space for upperclassmen. Maybe positive as a cheaper route/more independent experience or a negative because you want the on campus living and vibe all the way through Your choice OP
Rural, small city or urban. A visit to each campus should make your decision much easier. Unfortunately, since your major is not certain, and we do not know much else about your preferences, maybe flip a coin. Heads = Penn, Tails = Duke, on its side = Cornell.
In short, need more info. Without that, go where you feel the most comfortable.
Given your other post on why you want to transfer, Iâd lean to Duke, the advising and support they give is very good, maybe a little better than the other two. Your comment on feeling isolated would lean away from Cornell as thatâs a pretty isolated campus.
re #8: OPâs comment about âisolatedâ pertained to social isolation. Not physical isolation.
Social isolation relates mostly to finding a compatible group of fellow students to hang out with.
To that end, transfer students often wind up, at least initially, hanging out with fellow transfer students.
Cornell has a relatively large contingent of transfer students, hence may actually be better, socially.
As for physical, Cornell is a relatively large school, and Ithaca is a really good college town. Most students find plenty to do there.
Duke used to accept very few transfers but theyâve made a deliberate effort to change that in recent years.
@JenniferClint Transfer is the newest hip trend. Every college even Ivies want transfer students. I wonder why? I mean i do but sudden surge of collective love for transfers is surprising so may be there is a special reason.
Who knew! My guess was to get their hands on outstanding athletes who have done well at other colleges or to add diversity by bringing in community college students. They are talking about transfers from Ivies and MIT type schools.
Cornell parent here.
HOUSING/FOOD: As a transfer student you will get on campus housing if you choose (which I recommend). The school usually tries to group other transfers together so they have an easy bond. Check out this link and the food there is awesome. West Campus is a living/learning environment and the house dinners are to die for. They employ classically trained chefs and each West Campus âhouseâ has their own chef.
https://living.cornell.edu/live/wheretolive/housingoptions/transfer.cfm
https://youtu.be/i3Y6zhGlTXo
MAJOR: As a biological science major I take it youâre admitted to CALS. Consider CALS as a smaller college of Cornell. It has its own Quad, library and only 3,600 students or so are in the college. Within CALS you can change majors, not sure if you can change colleges though since youâre transferring in as a sophomore; you should research that.
GRADES: Cornell is known for grade deflation and I can confirm that as my son has had his fair share of tough stem courses. Outside of stem, he makes As and high Bs in classes. You need to have good study habits, good time management and seek help right away whether itâs the prof, TA or a peer.
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I canât give you input on these particular colleges, but this thread made me curious so I went back to your original threadâŠand I am so impressed that you realized you were unhappy and did something about it, then got some stellar options. Good for you and best of luck!
One possibility is that this allows schools to improve their selectivity for purposes of college rankings, such as those of US News & World Report.
Suppose a school tightens up the standards for freshman admissions, by requiring higher stats and lowering the acceptance rate. Both of those things will make the school look better in the rankings.
Thereâs just one problem: if you become more selective about freshman admissions, you will probably end up enrolling fewer freshmen. So how do you make up for a smaller freshman class? Easy â you enroll more transfers. So your transfer admissions may actually become less selective, but thatâs OK, because the rankings donât consider that.
In other words, college rankings look very hard at freshman admissions, but they pay zero attention to transfer admissions. So there may be an incentive for colleges to make freshman admissions as competitive as possible (through the âfront doorâ that is everyone is watching), and then transfer in lots of additional students (through the âback doorâ that nobody is watching).
@CADREAMIN Thank you for your words. They mean a lot to me.
@JenniferClint @CupCakeMuffins @Corbett Interesting discussion of the transfer situation, but in this thread, I was asking for specific information about the three schools. So if you can refrain from irrelevant advice (e.g. go to an LAC) and discussions, it would be much appreciated.
@student909 No problem. Good luck with your decision.
BBB and neuroscience are quite different from biology. Does Cornell not have an equivalent major?