A Look at the College Selection Process STEP ONE Emily Chang B. Arch 1st Year Cornell University

LOCATION

Big City vs. Rural Town Consider how convenient (or not) the school will be, whether it is part of a college town or in a large city such as NYC or Chicago. The environment of the school will change depending on its surroundings. Also think about how important it is for you to have an actual campus Check what cities and major airports are nearby, especially if you are going to be using them frequently.

Weather Being from California means we are spoiled by good weather year-round, be prepared for real winters (snow, etc) especially if you plan on going to the east coast. This means you will probably have to invest in a set of cold weather clothes to be fully prepared for college life! I have some friends who immediately crossed out all schools that are past Arizona because they cannot live without the wonderful weather we have on the West Coast, so if you are like them, think twice before adding East Coast schools to your list.

If you ask me: Cornell is a very different place, even compared to other schools on the East Coast. Ithaca is a very small college town for one, and being in upstate New York means I am not really close to any major city. Not to mention the winters here are very cold and snowy, making it inconvenient when flying home (flights get cancelled, etc). The upside is that I am learning how to work around and plan. Also, I initially decided to apply here purely based on the architecture program. I figured that I could deal with anything Cornell and Ithaca would throw at me once I got here. I definitely do not regret coming here, though there are days when I would (almost) give up anything to trade the impossible snow/wind for some California sun.

SIZE

BIG One major issue that comes with bigger schools is the "lost" feeling that you can get when entering a college that is much larger than the high school you went to. However, a lot of larger schools also give you the opportunity to experience a "small school" atmosphere On plus side, big schools usually have more choices when it comes to the types of classes you can take. If you are undecided, or would like to take courses that may not necessarily be related to your major, big schools will be more likely to have the variety of classes that you want. To put it into perspective: a private “big” school is about four times the size of Lynbrook and a public “big” school can be up to twelve times the size of Lynbrook.

If you ask me: Cornell is big compared to Lynbrook, and I remember feeling slightly overwhelmed that first week of orientation when the entire freshman class was all in one place. The special thing about my experience here at Cornell is that though the campus is huge, there are only 50 freshman architects and we spend a lot of time together. In a program like this, I am lucky enough to get a small college and large university experience. I am sure that this is the case for many larger schools as well, there are so many opportunities to meet people in academics or extracurriculars.

PRIVATE/PUBLIC

Similar to the size of the school, whether the institution is private or public will result in some differences in your experience there. Private schools usually have smaller classes. Though there are still the big lecture hall classes, these classes have small discussion groups that give students a chance to go over the material in a more personal environment. At Cornell, these discussion groups have 20 or less people. Public schools are naturally larger, and so classes also grow in size. It is also harder to get classes since funding for public schools is limited. Public schools tend to have more students who are from the immediate area while there seems to be a greater number of international students at private schools.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

If you ask me: I applied to a pretty diverse group of schools when it came to cost. I had UCs, a CSU, out of state public schools (which would cost about as much as a private school), and private schools. One other school awards a full tuition scholarship to admitted students(The Cooper Union). Even though cost was not one of the major concerns while picking colleges to apply to, I thought about this issue a lot more carefully after hearing back from the schools. *No matter what schools you end up choosing, be sure to look up scholarships and apply for financial aid.

RANKING/PRESTIGE

If you ask me: The most important criteria I had while selecting colleges to apply to was the major that I wanted to apply for. Taking into account both ranking and area of study, I looked up the top architecture schools in the US, and used that to create my list of colleges. Since I was already very sure of my decision to study architecture, this was the easiest way for me to finalize my own list.

ACADEMIC INTEREST

If you ask me: The best way to get to know the college’s academic strengths is to reach out to students who go to those schools. The great thing about Lynbrook is that there are tons of alumni at practically any college you’re interested in. Shoot them a quick Facebook message and ask them about the department you’re interested in!

Helpful Websites and Resources: http://www.collegeboard.org / http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ http://www.collegeconfidential.com/ http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/ https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/default.aspx

THANK YOU! EMILY CHANG CORNELL UNIVERSITY TWEEMILYTY@GMAIL.COM