I'm currently going to Cornell, but I've been thinking a lot lately about transferring.
First, some background: I plan on double majoring in English and History and becoming a high school teacher when I graduate.
What really got me thinking was that teachers are so deperately needed in this country that having gone to Cornell won't really net me a better teaching position. And even if it does, it'll probably only be a few thousand dollars more a year, and with what I would save going to a state school, it wouldn't really be more money anyway.
I've been thinking about transferring to the University of Rhode Island or UMass. I live in RI so would qualify for low tuition to either of those places. It just doesn't make sense to me to be paying $40,000 a year on college when I'm "just" going to be a teacher making basically fvck all for pay.
The problem really comes in from two directions:
The first is, I don't know if I'll get a better education at UMass or URI, though I haven't exactly been blown away by the classes here at Cornell, either. I'll admit it, though, the "prestige" of the Cornell name is gonna be hard to give up. That's probably not the best reason to stay, but it IS a factor.
The second one is that state schools don't tend to give out as much money in grants. So, for Cornell, I'm paying about $15,000 in loans. About $20,000 a year is in the form of a Cornell grant. So, assuming I have to pay most of the state school tuition in loans, etc., it would only be a few thousand dollars cheaper per year. Is that really enough of an incentive to transfer, considering the "prestige" of the Cornell name?
Any opinions would be most appreciated.
First, some background: I plan on double majoring in English and History and becoming a high school teacher when I graduate.
What really got me thinking was that teachers are so deperately needed in this country that having gone to Cornell won't really net me a better teaching position. And even if it does, it'll probably only be a few thousand dollars more a year, and with what I would save going to a state school, it wouldn't really be more money anyway.
I've been thinking about transferring to the University of Rhode Island or UMass. I live in RI so would qualify for low tuition to either of those places. It just doesn't make sense to me to be paying $40,000 a year on college when I'm "just" going to be a teacher making basically fvck all for pay.
The problem really comes in from two directions:
The first is, I don't know if I'll get a better education at UMass or URI, though I haven't exactly been blown away by the classes here at Cornell, either. I'll admit it, though, the "prestige" of the Cornell name is gonna be hard to give up. That's probably not the best reason to stay, but it IS a factor.
The second one is that state schools don't tend to give out as much money in grants. So, for Cornell, I'm paying about $15,000 in loans. About $20,000 a year is in the form of a Cornell grant. So, assuming I have to pay most of the state school tuition in loans, etc., it would only be a few thousand dollars cheaper per year. Is that really enough of an incentive to transfer, considering the "prestige" of the Cornell name?
Any opinions would be most appreciated.
