Alternate vs Acceptance

[birty88]

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Hey everyone!

So I am fortunate enough to have been accepted to two schools and am an alternate for another. I have seen the two schools where I have been accepted and have already made a decision between those two, but am still on the alternate list for one school and am waiting to hear from another. I signed up to go to a "prospective student info session" for the school for which I am an alternate for but now I am having second thoughts about attending.

The admissions office was no help when I called and inquired about where on the alternate list I am. They said since it can change quickly (although I suspect not until the end of march/beginning of april)they don't tell students where they fall - I could be the very first person, or the very last person. For me, this makes a big difference in whether or not it's worth the time and money to go see the school. It is about a 6 hour drive from my home, and I would have to miss a day of class to go see it. The school has a great reputation but I have never been before. I am having trouble deciding if I should go to the info session or just stick with the school I was already accepted to - I did love it there when I visited. I don't want to waste the time and money on or end up falling in love with a school that I might not even end up getting into.

What are some of your opinions on this type of situation?

 

[birty88]

If you rank the three schools just based on the facts (location, cost, etc), where does the alternate one fall?
I'm assuming it's either Penn or Cornell,

I am on the alternate list for Cornell. I am leaning towards Ohio State right now and from what I understand the major difference between OSU and Cornell is that Columbus is urban where Ithaca is rural. I really like that both schools have all the different fields of vetmed on the same campus and I think with OSU's instate tuition after the first year the cost kind of evens out. I'm from NH so I don't have an instate school. My dad used this excel matrix thing to see how the schools compared to each other according to different attributes and the only thing that separated the two schools was the fact that I am currently guaranteed a spot at OSU til April 15th. I don't know if it's worth going all the way to Ithaca for something that's not a sure thing, and won't help my chances.

 

[birty88]

(PS... Salem = 😍 Some of my favorite places are in that area. I'm a Newmarketer )

Haha yay! I'm actually at UNH for my undergrad- right around the corner!

Last I heard was that with Cornell the contract is more of "IF you happen to get in, and IF you're from NH, and IF you're the top New Hampshirite, you MAY get IS tuition"

But the bit about them not calling people on the wait-list til after April 15th kind of settles things. I'm not going to wait around for a maybe when I have another school that already said yes! I just kind of feel guilty...like when I decide sleep is more important than going to class haha

 

[turnbackhelly]

i don't know anything official about the cornell waitlist (plus it can vary greatly from year to year anyway), but i can say that there seem to be quite a few people in my class who were accepted off the alternate list. i can think of 5 right off the top of my head (out of 87 students), and there are probably more that i don't know about. i think the cornell OOS waitlist probably moves a decent amount, given its high OOS tuition - but again, this is nothing official, just my impression.

whether or not to go is of course a personal decision, but personally, i would go if i were you (and not just because i'm at cornell and love it!). i'm the type of person who would always wonder "what if..." if i didn't go. also, if you DON'T go but DO get accepted off the waitlist, how would that affect your decision? i'm guessing it might make it more difficult. conversely, you might visit cornell and not really like it, and then feel 100% confident in your decision to attend the OSU, which would be good too. i think cornell's open house does a really good job of giving prospective students a thorough and candid look at cornell, in order to give you all the information possible so you can make the best decision for yourself. as you said, you always run the risk of falling in love and then not getting in which sucks, but i would imagine it would also be difficult to be accepted and then not have much to go off of in deciding whether or not to accept the offer.

i don't know if that helps at all, but that's my $0.02. if you have any specific questions about cornell feel free to PM me. either way, you can't go wrong - the OSU is also a fantastic school and i hear only great things about it. i LOVED it when i interviewed last year and was sad to turn my seat down. congrats!

 

[sumstorm]

Remember, the mutual deadline for deposits is to keep students from having to make difficult decisions before they are ready too. Some folks will know right off what schools they want to cut off their list and notify those schools.

I thought Cornell used PBL, so might consider whether that suits you or not.

If you were accepted at a school that you aren't going to, cut them lose, let them know that you are not accepting a position. Then, if you aren't sure yet, hold on to your deposit until you are closer to the deadline date and see what happens.

Also, don't get upset about unranked waitlists. We don't rank ours, and in talking to our ad coms (while in vet school) it is more because they are trying to balance out classes, so if someone OOS has extensive food animal experience and doesn't accept a position, they will look at everyone on the OOS waitlist and see if anyone has a profile that matches the balance they are looking to create in the class.

 

[rosyreef]

Cornell does do PBL with small group tutorials that meet for ~2 hours/3 times per week. Each new weekly case that is discussed is fully integrated with what is being taught in lecture and lab.

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/students/docs/FINALHandbookCL2014.pdf

If you go to page 49 (4-37), there are a lot of details about the tutorial groups. Going to the information session was incredibly helpful in understanding exactly how the groups work; in fact, one of the parts of the session for students is to participate in a mock tutorial group. I personally enjoyed it and am looking forward to this style of learning, although I also understand that it may not be for everyone. I have friends who have attended and are currently attending OSU who are much more comfortable with the traditional lecture/lab methods. However, if you are interested in Cornell's curriculum and how they approach PBL, I'd definitely look more into it and consider the information session.