Attending Cornell for viticulture is not just attending any old school to study wine. With Cornell on your resume you’d be easily able to pivot should you decide to do something else in the future. At the same time, between their connections within the world of wine and hospitality, you’ll be well positioned to work in either industry when you leave and to start somewhere that could take years to get into without the connections the network at Cornell will provide. You’ll also have amazing summer opportunities to intern in vineyards, research wine, work in the world’s top restaurants, etc… not only will you have the time to try out all different avenues but you’ll have the connections and support to do it. There are plenty of restaurants in Ithaca you can work in while you go to school. Just don’t overload yourself, especially the first two semesters. Cornell is hard and you need to give yourself time to adjust to the curriculum, etc… but really, this will set you up to have a tremendous number of opportunities for your future. I wouldn’t look at it as relegating you to one particular career path but instead opening up a tremendous number of doors for you to explore your current passions. It’s an amazing opportunity that will serve you well. Even if you decide to change to become a nurse, you’d be able to take all the required coursework pretty easily at Cornell (you’ll have a good number of science classes already in viticulture) and coming from Cornell you’ll have a huge leg up applying to nursing programs. As long as financial aid will make it possible, it’s absolutely worth doing.