Ohio State versus Cornell. Is 30k worth the IVY league prestige?

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toratora

toratora

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Hello all. I recently got accepted off the waitlist for Cornell and am having difficulty deciding whether to turn it down or accept it. Honestly after they waitlisted me and I got acceptances elsewhere, I didn't look much into the school after that. Additionally, I've already accepted my offer at Ohio State. A lot of my peers and mentors are urging me to take the Cornell spot due to the reputation of the school. The difference overall in cost of attendance for all 4 years is $30k. Is it worth it? Any advice would be helpful.

I only have 2 hours to decide.
 
toratora said:
Hello all. I recently got accepted off the waitlist for Cornell and am having difficulty deciding whether to turn it down or accept it. Honestly after they waitlisted me and I got acceptances elsewhere, I didn't look much into the school after that. Additionally, I've already accepted my offer at Ohio State. A lot of my peers and mentors are urging me to take the Cornell spot due to the reputation of the school. The difference overall in cost of attendance for all 4 years is $30k. Is it worth it? Any advice would be helpful.

I only have 2 hours to decide.
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Eh. OSU (sorry, THE OSU) is a pretty damn good school, from everything I hear.

Up to you. Do you want another $30k in debt to say you went to Cornell? It does have rep value. Whether it's $30k rep value.... up to you.

I <personally> would go OSU. But that's because I've never really heard anyone assessing a vet based on where they went to school (other than some of the fading island school stuff).

Are there other plusses and minuses for you about the schools? $30k is getting to the point where I wouldn't just automatically say 'pick the cheaper school' like I did in the $100k vs $200k thread, but ... if the only difference to you was the reputation of the respective institutions, then I'd say go OSU. To me the rep isn't worth it, since nobody actually cares. But maybe to you that's important, or maybe you have other things you like / don't like about the schools. Dunno.
 
allykd said:
The OSU is a fantastic vet school and I highly doubt the difference in reputation between the two would have any true impact on your future career. And 30k (plus interest on your loans!) would buy you a fairly nice new car. I personally think that's pretty significant and would go with OSU in a heartbeat if I had that choice.

That said, there's more to consider than just reputation and cost, so if I were you I would make a pro-con list (making sure to take into consideration location, curriculum, and other differences between the two) and see which school comes out ahead.

Good luck!
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You chose Cornell! Can you tell me about the location and curriculum and what it's like over there? I'm from California as well!
 
If I had plans to specialize, would Cornell provide more opportunity?
 
$30K difference in tuition. What about living expenses?

$30K at 6.8% over 25 year repayment on an IBR plan could easily have you up to $75K not including the taxes you'll owe on that at write off if you do IBR.

Your choice but $30K in tuition difference isn't really only $30K.
 
toratora said:
If I had plans to specialize, would Cornell provide more opportunity?
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Not likely. And certainly not above and beyond what you could provide for yourself by applying yourself at any other school.
 
**
 
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toratora said:
Hello all. I recently got accepted off the waitlist for Cornell and am having difficulty deciding whether to turn it down or accept it. Honestly after they waitlisted me and I got acceptances elsewhere, I didn't look much into the school after that. Additionally, I've already accepted my offer at Ohio State. A lot of my peers and mentors are urging me to take the Cornell spot due to the reputation of the school. The difference overall in cost of attendance for all 4 years is $30k. Is it worth it? Any advice would be helpful.

I only have 2 hours to decide.
Click to expand...

In my experience, the people who talk about the reputation of the school are graduates of that school and think their school is The School for Veterinary Medicine. I've encountered this with older Cornell grads and especially with older Penn grads and it frosts my cookies. Back in the day when they went to that school, tuition and debt/income ratio were not the catastrophes they were today. Today, you will get a solid education at any of the accredited schools. Tuition/debt has to be your deciding factor.
 
allykd said:
I did choose Cornell! Granted, Cornell was my only acceptance so it was a pretty easy choice. That said, I am thrilled that I'll be starting at Cornell in the fall 🙂

I'm probably not the best person to ask about what makes Cornell great since I haven't started yet and have only been to Ithaca once. That said, Cornell uses PBL a fair amount in their curriculum and the mock tutor session at the accepted students info session really sold me on the school. I'm not a great lecture-learner and I loved the opportunity to talk through the case with my peers. I think that OSU is more lecture-based, but I'm not entirely sure.

As far as location, Ithaca is also relatively rural, whereas Columbus is more of a city, and since its further north I'm pretty sure that Ithaca gets more snow.

I was also going to mention distance from home as a possible factor to consider, but since you're from California too they're both going to be pretty far from home.

Check out the stickies thread up near the top about factors when picking a school; it should have more info from current students about what makes each school great 🙂. Good luck!
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I did look at that thread but unfortunately the posts were from 2012 so it's not an updated reference.

I appreciate everyone's advice!
 
Let me know if I can answer any questions about OSU for you. I really like it here (OOS student originally).
 
NStarz said:
Let me know if I can answer any questions about OSU for you. I really like it here (OOS student originally).
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A few questions I have after reading the "Factors when choosing schools thread"

What time does the vet med library close?
Are exams returned to us?
Is it true we need to BUY our class notes?
Is it still quarter system?

Also, would OSU provide ample opportunity if I were to specialize?

I have to call the Cornell admissions in 15 minutes and I'm freaking out over here D:
 
toratora said:
If I had plans to specialize, would Cornell provide more opportunity?
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No. Many if not most people do residencies at a different institution than their vet school anyway. In fact, many vet schools actively discourage their graduates from seeking specialty there. Fresh blood and all that.
 
Whatever a single anecdote might be worth...

I lived in western NY (about an hour and a half or so away from Ithaca) for a bit over two years and worked in a small animal hospital. Cornell had a great reputation, of course, but among the people I worked with, Ohio also had an awesome reputation. People didn't really care too much about reputation in general, but in my experience in that region, OSU is just as highly regarded. I wouldn't make reputation a factor in weighing your decision.
 
WhtsThFrequency said:
Why the hell did you leave it this long? For real?

These are all questions you could have gotten answers to a long time ago.

Idiotic.
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Well. They offered me the acceptance yesterday and wanted me to decide by today (noon pacific time). I work at a hospital until late at night on weekdays.

As stated in my first post, after receiving all my other acceptances, did not look into this school.
 
toratora said:
Well. They offered me the acceptance yesterday and wanted me to decide by today (noon pacific time). I work at a hospital until late at night on weekdays.

As stated in my first post, after receiving all my other acceptances, did not look into this school.
Click to expand...

Then tough cookies.

If this is a school you would consider going into 30k more debt for and you are obviously into for the "prestige" (lol), you should have looked into it more.

I mean FFS you can't even be bothered to google the library hours?
 
toratora said:
A few questions I have after reading the "Factors when choosing schools thread"

What time does the vet med library close?
Are exams returned to us?
Is it true we need to BUY our class notes?
Is it still quarter system?

Also, would OSU provide ample opportunity if I were to specialize?

I have to call the Cornell admissions in 15 minutes and I'm freaking out over here D:
Click to expand...

1) Not 100% sure on that. I know the hours generally are pretty sucky. They have extended hours around final exams. We have study rooms that are accessible 24/7, and most people tend to study off campus as who really wants to be here more than we have to? Lol!!!

2) For the most part, no. OSU is moving towards most exams being taken on ExamSoft. So you can see which questions you get wrong after it is released by the professors (which is pretty much the same thing, I suppose). Paper exams are not returned to us, and it is an honor code violation to have an exam you shouldn't have access to. You are always more than welcome to view the exam along with your answer sheet in the professor's office.

3) For now, yes. They don't really cost that much--$40 or so each semester. It just goes to cover the cost of printing. I believe they are experimenting with just offering notes online and not requiring you to purchase anything in hard copy (so this would be free). I think it's important to realize that your notes are pretty much your bible and everything you need to know for an exam is in there. You don't need to consult outside sources (ie, textbooks), which saves you a lot of $$$ in the long run.

4) Nope, semesters!

5) I think so! We have some of the best clinicians around, IMHO. Our professors go out of their way to be available to us (our cardio prof offered us his cell # the night before our first exam for last minute ?s because we were all freaking out...and that is the rule not the exception). We have pretty much every specialist available here (except exotics, which is a bummer), and our professors are all SO approachable and amazing. They truly want to get to know you as a person.


Sorry for the brief answers...going on 2 hours of sleep and need to be back at the hospital in 40 minutes. Let me know if you would like me to expand on anything. Hope this helps!
 
NStarz said:
1) Not 100% sure on that. I know the hours generally are pretty sucky. They have extended hours around final exams. We have study rooms that are accessible 24/7, and most people tend to study off campus as who really wants to be here more than we have to? Lol!!!

2) For the most part, no. OSU is moving towards most exams being taken on ExamSoft. So you can see which questions you get wrong after it is released by the professors (which is pretty much the same thing, I suppose). Paper exams are not returned to us, and it is an honor code violation to have an exam you shouldn't have access to. You are always more than welcome to view the exam along with your answer sheet in the professor's office.

3) For now, yes. They don't really cost that much--$40 or so each semester. It just goes to cover the cost of printing. I believe they are experimenting with just offering notes online and not requiring you to purchase anything in hard copy (so this would be free). I think it's important to realize that your notes are pretty much your bible and everything you need to know for an exam is in there. You don't need to consult outside sources (ie, textbooks), which saves you a lot of $$$ in the long run.

4) Nope, semesters!

5) I think so! We have some of the best clinicians around, IMHO. Our professors go out of their way to be available to us (our cardio prof offered us his cell # the night before our first exam for last minute ?s because we were all freaking out...and that is the rule not the exception). We have pretty much every specialist available here (except exotics, which is a bummer), and our professors are all SO approachable and amazing. They truly want to get to know you as a person.


Sorry for the brief answers...going on 2 hours of sleep and need to be back at the hospital in 40 minutes. Let me know if you would like me to expand on anything. Hope this helps!
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This is great. Thank you!
 
To me this is like asking if it is worth paying $100 more for a name brand pair of jeans.

Also, many vet schools charge for printed off notes.

Also, most schools don't return exams, you can still view them with the professor usually but since they reuse questions from year to year, you can't have the exam back.
 
Well I ultimately turned down the offer. Thank you everyone for your great input!

It was just one of those moments where you reach for the stars, and SURPRISE! You make it! I could have been better prepared but hope the next person to take the seat will be happy.
 
toratora said:
Well I ultimately turned down the offer. Thank you everyone for your great input!

It was just one of those moments where you reach for the stars, and SURPRISE! You make it! I could have been better prepared but hope the next person to take the seat will be happy.
Click to expand...

It's tough when you're on the spot and not expecting it. You'll be fine at OSU. But as a lesson for vet school, I would start getting in the habit of doing your own research. Some of your questions were easily googled (library hours, quarter vs semester, etc.). Clinicians love questions, but many really dislike questions you could have investigated all by yourself. No time like the present to start good habits. I was in a hurry a bunch of rotations back, and my clinician wanted a sedation protocol for something RIGHT NOW, and I couldn't remember the dose of something I wanted to use, so I asked her. The response: "What am I, a library? Go look it up."

Clinicians are really good at sending mixed signals like "c'mon, c'mon, hurry up, we need to do this now now NOW" and then getting on your back for asking instead of looking something up (which would, of course, take up more of that time they were just pushing you to use less of). But in the end, they are the ones evaluating you, so you have to play their game.

Just a gentle suggestion. 🙂
 
toratora said:
Well I ultimately turned down the offer. Thank you everyone for your great input!

It was just one of those moments where you reach for the stars, and SURPRISE! You make it! I could have been better prepared but hope the next person to take the seat will be happy.
Click to expand...

Good choice! You're going to be happy at "THE" 😉 OSU. I have a really good friend who just finished her first year there, and she loves it!! Best of luck!!
 
I think you'll be happy at OSU! Maybe it's just my in-state bias talking, but I think it's a pretty good school also!
 
toratora said:
Well I ultimately turned down the offer. Thank you everyone for your great input!

It was just one of those moments where you reach for the stars, and SURPRISE! You make it! I could have been better prepared but hope the next person to take the seat will be happy.
Click to expand...

Also, don't forget that at The OSU, you can become an in-state resident after your first year. Just another thought to remind you that you made a great choice! 🙂
 
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