re #51: “…why should I as a California resident, who benefits from large tuition remissions at my local UCs and CSUs, pay a premium to attend a school that gives tuition remissions to its local state students that I am unable to benefit from?”
If the situation was actually true, reasonable answers would include: if the subject programs at the school were that good; the school environment and programs seemed to fit the OP so much better; OP wanted to experience life in a different part of the country, (others)
However the stated situation is only true if the OP is admitted to one of the contract colleges at Cornell. The endowed colleges: arts & sciences, engineering, architecture, hotel- do not offer discounted tuition for New York residents.
Someplace on this thread the OP mentioned Dyson. I don’t know if OP is admitted to Dyson, but if so it might be worth it, based on what I’ve read.
Depending of course on how much the money “matters”. If the money matters above all, then there is really nothing further to discuss.
There are tons of past Berkeley vs Cornell threads OP can check, But of them all I can refer to # 20 of this one
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/9995497#Comment_9995497
written by a poster who did BS Cornell grad school Berkeley.
Still looking for the relevant old threads but IIRC California students who attended Cornell cited that it had a more diverse student body, interesting to know “east coast” people who are different (somehow), they liked the exposure to a different part of the country. Among other things.