For some time, I have suspected that even though Cornell put me on their alternate list, I was possibly pretty high on that list.
When I declined to visit the campus, not for an interview but a tour, I was hounded by THREE different administrators who tried to get me to change my mind. But travel to Ithaca, New York in February? Hell no. The weather (although that was a general guess on my part, in hindsight it was a great call), the cost, the time away from classes--the cost to me seemed to be greater than the return. It was a tour of buildings and meetings with administrators, not an interview. I already knew I was an alternate. I didn't feel the need to visit the campus.
But when Cornell didn't let the matter drop, I began to wonder if there was a subtext that I had not originally noticed. As a compromise, they gathered the three most relevant people in the vet school (Asst Dean of Students , the woman in charge of curriculum, and the woman in charge of financial aid) to deliver a video conference to me. It lasted just over three hours. That's a pretty substantial time commitment on their part for a lowly alternate.
On top of that, they were burying me in emails and snail mails stuffed with instructions to fill out forms for financial aid RIGHT NOW. Since I had to fill out the FAFSA to be able to receive financial aid from any school, not just Cornell, I went ahead and did all that back in January, which is why my taxes were done so early.
In short, they seemed to be pursuing me rather more aggressively than my position as an alternate would suggest.
So it was with no surprise that I got a call from the woman in charge of the Cornell vet school admissions office yesterday. Actually, she called three times and emailed once. I missed all the calls because I was in class (and I'm not sure she knows where I am physically; the time difference contributes to missing calls if you don't plan for it). I called her back and she said, Cornell wants to make you an offer of admission. I said, okay, send it on, but you should know that I have accepted one offer and my decision regarding Cornell will probably hinge entirely on financial matters. She said, okay, that's reasonable. We want to send you the offer letter because we want you to come here.
The offer of admission from Cornell arrived yesterday within half an hour of my speaking to her, and my financial aid offer letter from them arrived this morning.
No surprises there either. Cornell vet school has a large endowment and is able to provide more non-loan money to its students than Oregon State. The annual non-resident tuition at Cornell ($48,100) is $5,300 more per year than at Oregon State ($42,768). Unfortunately, that difference was not covered by the non-loan money that Cornell would offer me. Plus, like Oregon State, at Cornell I would remain a non-resident for all four years.
(The matter of residency varies from state to state and also depends on whether the school is private, like Cornell, or state-funded. In Oregon, I would have to quit school for 12 months in order to become a resident. No exceptions.)
And why this flurry of letters and phone calls? After receiving the offer of admission from Cornell, I have about 36 hours to make my decision. Yep, that's right. No pondering or waiting for another offer. This will be binary: yes or no, and it will be done by Friday morning.
I'm flattered that Cornell has made me this offer but in all truth I will probably turn it down. Yes, they are an excellent school. Yes, I might have access to additional financial aid resources in subsequent years, but that's of course not guaranteed.
I don't want to drag this post on much longer, but there are other reasons that staying at Oregon State might be the better choice. I'll elaborate on these in another post.hbfg
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