<p>I have a tough choice - deciding between UVa and Cornell. While Cornell's engineering program is ranked higher thatn UVa's, I seem to continually read about reasons not to attend Cornell - the weather is lousy, the competition is fierce, the grading is horrible, etc. While I never really hear anything bad about UVa, I still don't know what to think of its engineering program. Clearly UVa is a great school, but is the undergraduate engineering program comparable to Cornell's? While I think I like the prospect of UVa as a whole more, I don't know if it's worth sacrificing a better engineering program for a more enjoyable time.</p>
<p>Anyway - if there are any UVa engineers out there, or anyone who knows something about the program, I'd be grateful to learn some more information. I plan on majoring in Biomedical engineering.</p>
<p>Cornell's engineering program is definitely better than UVA's, but UVA isn't terrible at engineering. It won't hold you back in any way, but it's not at the forefront the same way Cornell is. Cornell, for a top school, has a fairly decent social life, but the weather sucks. I was in a similar position to you last year, choosing between UVA and several schools that were close to the top in fields I was considering majoring in (econ, physics) while UVA was farther down. I made my choice based on money and where I'd feel comfortable, and I don't regret it. Obviously, you've got a tough choice, but you should give careful consideration to where you'll feel comfortable living/partying/studying/etc for four years.</p>
<p>My D keeps coming back to the fact that UVA feels like a better fit for her overall in spite of acceptance to more highly ranked (for engineering) schools like Carnegie Mellon, Duke and Georgia Tech and more highly ranked (overall) WUSTL and Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>But we have to realize that rankings are not everything and may not be determined by factors that are most important to a given individual. </p>
<p>And it's also important to remember that college is what you make of it to a large degree. There are bright folks who attended 3rd tier colleges and are highly successful in life because they applied themselves, etc. </p>
<p>Sometimes making a list of pros and cons for each college being considered can be helpful...</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone during this decision making phase.</p>