Transferring to Cornell from the American University of Paris, bad decision?

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
1

My last posting about Cornell was close to a year ago, and it’s now my senior year, and I’m applying to schools for real now. Anyway, Cornell University is still up there on my list and will actually be my early decision school. With all that said, let me get into it.

One of the schools I will be applying to is the American University of Paris with the hopes being that if I am rejected from Cornell University that I can apply from there upon meeting my requirements as outlined in the Transfer page of Cornell University.

I don’t doubt my chances of getting into AUP, however, some of the other schools I will be applying to have transfer agreements with Cornell. Now I know Cornell does have articulation agreements with a few of the SUNY colleges, some of which I will be applying to, and I also know attending one of these schools doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be accepted for transfer.

I guess my concern is whether or not attending AUP if I am rejected versus going to one of the schools Cornell has an articulation agreement with is a bad idea. I feel AUPs small learning community, location in Paris or rather in Europe, and the pedagogical model of learning would better prepare me for transfer with an opportunity to really get to know my professors, immerse myself into the culture of France and Paris and learn a little bit about myself.

Then again I’ve read on numerous forums that Cornell need-blind admissions for American students (a big concern of mine.) And as I’ve learned from the Cornell website itself, the 2015 Cornell transfer statistics were as follows:

Women: 318
Men: 301
From two-year institutions: 118
African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American transfer students: 187
International transfer students: 80
New York State transfer students: 218
Transfer students from the Northeast: 184
Transfer students from outside of the Northeast: 169 (217 if including international)

While I am African-American and Latino and a New York state resident, I don’t know if I would fall under the international transfer student grouping if I transferred from AUP (which the small number of accepted transfer students being international kind of scaring me in that aspect).

Any thoughts?

2

Maybe it’s just me, but spending two years in Paris sounds a lot cooler than spending two years at some community college in New York.

3

It’s not a matter of doing something cool. It’s about getting an education and a usable degree.
AUP is not a good college. An American without a conviction and a transcript not riddled with Fs, who can pay, will get in. It’s also a good college for rich kids who screwed up to clean up their transcript to transfer elsewhere as full pays.
It’s not in the same universe as Cornell.

If you truly want a respectable program in France, taught in English, you have ESSEC BBA (Economics/Business), Sciences Po Reims (Economics and political science) or Polytechnique Bachelor (Math and engineering).

In addition, a student at any SUNY or at Cornell or most private schools in NYS will be able to study in Paris as part of a study abroad program.

As a NY resident you would apply as a domestic applicant and if applying to one of the contract colleges you’d have an advantage.

Since money is a concern, do you qualify for HEOP?

4

I keep hearing AUP is not a good school, can someone actually tell me why? And would attending there and attempting to transfer from there ruin my chances? No I don’t qualify for HEOP though.

5

Well, because anyone with money can get in. There’s no campus to speak of and not that many classes. So, you’d have rich classmates who couldn’t get into any school but feel too good for public universities.
You’d have better odds attending a school in the US. Or, if you want to study in Europe, a legit school like ESSEC (international BBA) or Polytechnique Bachelor (STEM) for instance. Or a university college in the Netherlands.

6

Hey, so I just began checking out colleges abroad, and happened to come across Amsterdam University College in the Netherlands. Any idea if I would be able to transfer credits from there to Cornell if I were to be admitted? How can I go about finding out?

7

Ask Cornell. However University Colleges in the Netherlands are known to be excellent, highly selective and international, so I don’t think you’d have the same problems as with AUP.

8

Ok, Paris is awesome, but AUP is . . . . . not. So not. Unless you are a trust fund baby who is planning working in your parents business upon graduation (like most AUP students), I would recommend any other school (Some great one have been outlined above, like Sciences Po, which has exchange programs with the top tier US schools like Cornell). AUP isn’t well regarded as a school by those who know of it, but I would say that most American/French businesses have NEVER heard of it at all. Seriously, don’t waste your time or money.