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I am a community college transfer applicant. My major is Civil Engineering, and I have been accepted to both Cornell and Berkeley (out-of-state). I have been awarded full tuition scholarship at Cornell (which is a about 30K), and they have told me that I can cover the remaining 11K with a combination of Federal Sub(5500), Perkins(2470), and Work Study(2190). One the other hand, Berkeley has awarded me 12K in grants, and they told me that I can cover the remaining 20K with a combination of Work Study(3000), Fed Sub(2625), Parents Plus(12810), and Perkins(2100).

Can anyone please tell me which one should I choose?

I appreciate your comments in advance.

By Mrworried (Mrworried) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 09:26 pm: Edit

You should definetely choose Cornell. Not only is the tuition package better, Cornell is also better than Berkeley in Engineering.

By Quarky (Quarky) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 10:04 pm: Edit

Cornell

By Nsk (Nsk) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 10:16 pm: Edit

Thank so much for your help

By Lethalfang (Lethalfang) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 11:15 pm: Edit

Hmm, I doubt Cornell is better than Berkeley in engineering.

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 12:24 pm: Edit

Glad to hear you're not a prospective business major (only kidding)-- on the basis of comparing only the figures you stated, Cornell wins hands down. Generalizing a bit, in Berkeley your parents have to go in the hole nearly $13K each year... and at Cornell they do not. I would guess that your parents have already noticed this little item---and may have offered their thoughts on the matter. Even though YOUR debt might be higher, it's still a better deal.

Both are great colleges. Assuming you don't unearth some problem with Cornell that really rubs you the wrong way, it sounds like you've got a deal that allows you to get a great education... with some student loans to contend with at the other end.

By Yourlocalmayor (Yourlocalmayor) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 07:02 pm: Edit

you will loose lots of money if you go to Berkey. Do you know the differences between a scholarships and grants? Just think about it, go with the scholarship.

By Neyha (Neyha) on Monday, May 05, 2003 - 08:05 pm: Edit

Go for Cornell, but my US News 2002 says that for Civil Engineering Berkeley is #1 and in general for Engineering, the rankings are MIT, Stanford, Berkeley with Cornell coming in at 7.

But it does not matter. The average starting salary would not differ over 5k to 7k a year and you will need that money to pay off Cal.

In the overall ranking, Cornell ranks just a bit higher than Cal.

Rankings really dont matter as much..