penitentwanderer

For anyone who is on the fence, or knows someone on the fence, deciding between Cornell and other schools (only for those who want to be nudged or who can't make up their mind, obviously you do you and do what's best for you!) - If you need or want a reason to pick another option, trans fiction candidate here on the waitlist desperately hoping to stay in the safety of NY. Have acceptances to certain Midwest schools, but frightened of possible soon to come adult restrictions on healthcare access/other rescissions of rights. So if all else is equal, feel good about picking the other school! (But again, this is just for people torn between their options. If Cornell's your school, congrats, go to Cornell!) (Also just sayin - Ithaca was rated in the top 6 US cities with the lowest sunlight hours 🙃)

Reputation is a component, but it's one of those components that starts to break down (a little) once you speak to accepted students/get insider intel. There are things we can't know/that have a high amount of flux--for example faculty/mentor availability, program culture, etc-that are only apparent later on. For example, I got to speak with alums from 2 "Top 10" programs. One said, there was absolutely no mentorship available. At another, one alum said there was a generous amount of faculty involvement, but a slightly more recent grad said that was the disappointing factor. Some alums revealed they had no access to agents. Others said the atmosphere within the program was toxic. These are things that can't be known until you get accepted and speak to current students. So prestige is easy to identify, but perhaps not something to rely on. Location, teaching duties, and stipend were most important to me. But mostly it matters what's important to you!

can you confirm if you got the call (sorry to put you on the spot)? we've been hearing lots of contradictory things!