Cornell is a no go

Corey Bit Spank · 07-24-06, 07:38

Well. This has been a difficult decision. When I put it down on paper today I couldn't come up with a two year plan. It would be a 3 year plan, and at 33,000 a year it just isn't a good idea. I would be sacrificing the quality of my education in order to not go an extra semester.

I'm actually excited about going to the University at Buffalo for chemistry instead. It's not elite. Bha. I'm not elite...

There's something about the underdog that's appealing. I have some neat courses that I'm taking this semester. Neat, challenging courses, as opposed to the courses at Cornell which would have been a lot of biology courses which I don't find challenging.

And so it goes.

Five Star · 07-24-06, 08:28

I know a girl who went to Smith College completely on Scholarships.

It entailed submitting thousands of applications.

If you apply yourself... you can do anything you want.

Corey Bit Spank · 07-24-06, 08:51

Meh the degree isn't what I want

http://www.biology.cornell.edu/acade...chemistry.html

versus

http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu...rams/che.shtml

Joshua312 · 07-24-06, 09:10

Just wanted to say good luck...Im going to be starting my Sophmore year of college in about a month. A lot of my friends went to colleges that had big names, mainly to party and be with other friends. I decided to go to school...based on the degree I wanted and my interests (Computers and Business) I don't regret my decision one bit and Im sure you won't either. All of my classes I enjoy and find very interesting and I can easily see how they will be applied in my career. Once again, congrats and good luck!

truzoom · 07-24-06, 09:53

Y'know, I've always wanted to go to Cornell because they have such a prominent Ornithology program. But, that would mean moving up to the north, and frankly, you guys have it bad up there in the winter. I'll stick down here for now.

themightytimmah · 07-24-06, 10:24

A lot of times things happen for a reason. I knew two guys who went to Cornell for engineering and they both ended up pretty messed up from the stress - the big red has the nation's highest suicide rate.

I know how you feel though, I wanted to go to Bucknell in the worst way, but it didn't work out and I ended up at Florida Tech. I was pretty torn up over it at first, but the workload is much more manageable at Tech, and after spending a year there, I'm quite happy that things worked out the way they did. Plus you'll make roughly the same money out of college anyways.

What are you looking at going into, chemistry-wise? I'm a Chem-E myself and I'm looking towards alternative fuels/coal to gas technology.

G35stilez · 07-25-06, 04:23

Good Luck!

The 'name brand' college will work 'easier' for you when you get out, but being that you are rather persistent and confident now, I don't think you will have a problem getting noticed.

Enjoy!

DETAILKING · 07-25-06, 06:50

I looked at all those schools, bucknell, lehigh, cornell, VA Tech,etc. I ended up at RPI (Rensselaer polytechnic Institute) in NY state.

If it's the money you are worried about, one other plan is to go to a community college for one yr and then transfer. My friend did that at RPI. He graduated the same time as me (4) yrs, and sacrficed little in educational quality. You see the first yr is very basic and general with the course work. Universities look for top transfer students each yr and you are more likely to get a scholarship that way. He got half tuition paid for.

In the end I looked at two main things:

1. Quality of the coursework and university in general

and

2. Recruiting. At RPI, the career development center was sweet, and recruiting was excellent. Companys would come and do on campus interviews and plan on hiring X people this yr from the graduating class, and the placement % graduates was very high by graduation date. That means just about everyone got a job by graduation. Some of my other friends that had to deal with all that themselves with little help from their university were not so lucky

Now once you have that job you can start paying back all your college loans, so don't be afraid to spend a little if it's really where your heart wants you to be.

Well, that's just my 0.2 c.

Corey Bit Spank · 07-25-06, 07:32

I did go to community college. I have 82 credits and they accepted 50 of them.

DETAILKING · 07-25-06, 10:22

Sweet.......

My friend did the same thing, and when he went for his interviews he was offered money left and right. I guess these places want good transfer students. Times might of changed though, since then, of course. You'll probably just have to take an extra course or so a semsester to be on cycle with the 4 yr students. Good luck!

Corey Bit Spank · 07-25-06, 03:00

No, I would be behind. The course load is a joke at Cornell in comparison to UB. The courses that I have to take at UB are going to be more challenging. Cornell and many private schools offer students the option of taking a lot of electives. The choice to go to Cornell was actually a means to save me from doing work. 2 years would be a stretch at Cornell, but not possible at UB.

I don't mind going another year, but at Cornell I would be retaking classes. I would essentially be paying for the Lexus ES and not the Toyota Camry.

oh snap.