<p>Seems like everyone uses Cornell as their backup, but I got a ?, is anyone choosing Cornell over other ivies. I mean Cornell is top and is better than other ivies in certain areas, such as science and engineering. Also, is it really that much harder to do well at cornell than at like lets say UPenn or Northwestern or Duke.</p>
<p>First of all, Northwestern and Duke are not ivies. I know lots of people here choose Cornell over other ivies. I even know one person choose Cornell over Harvard because it's much cheaper to attend Cornell as a NY state resident than to attend Harvard.</p>
<p>Trust me. Everyone does not use Cornell as their backup. There are some who do, but that is the case with a lot of ivy league schools. A girl I know didn't get into Harvard and Cornell, so now she is choosing between Dartmouth and UPenn. A really good friend of mine didn't get into Cornell, and is now juggling between UPenn, and Columbia. I've gotten into every school I applied to. Cornell isn't my backup, yet I'm contemplating on attending to the school. Everyone does not use Cornell as a backup, and that's an ignorant generalization to make.</p>
<p>To echo what others have said, Cornell is a unique school, not a back up. It's the only Ivy I applied to, because frankly I didn't want to go to any of the others.</p>
<p>It has a certain niche for people like me who know they want a strong science or even engineering program, but don't feel like they want to dive into MIT/Caltech/etc. I feel like Cornell offers a powerfully strong science program but will allow for unencumbered exploration of other fields. It's large size is something I was looking for, too - nearly 25% of "Ivy League" undergrads attend Cornell.</p>
<p>2 of my friends got both accepted at Harvard and rejected from Cornell. Some backup...</p>
<p>one person on the cornell myspace group chose cornell over harvard, and esi, i think her CC name is pryncess, chose cornell over yale</p>
<p>i've heard a lot about how great cornell is in terms of sciences/engineering. can anybody comment on their social science programs, specifically economics?</p>
<p>The econ department is excellent as well. I don't think there's an ivy league school with weak econ department.</p>
<p>I know a couple friends that dumped Yale, Dartmouth and Brown for Cornell.</p>
<p>When you are talking about an Ivy League education, you can't go wrong. It's like comparing Pepsi and Coke... Different strokes for different folks, that's all. I would say the most important thing about choosing which Ivy is where you feel most comfortable. For me, that means Cornell, but for someone else, Stanford may be a more desired environment.</p>
<p>Wow... it feels great to finally read some civilized responses to this type of thread! A great improvement over the school-bashing that's become so popular on CC in the past weeks.</p>
<p>I think blackferrari2006 said it best: </p>
<p>
[quote]
I would say the most important thing about choosing which Ivy is where you feel most comfortable.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would only add that this also applies to choosing any school over another. What matters is what is right for you.</p>
<p>I applied to Cornell and Princeton. I got waitlisted at Princeton and accepted to Cornell, but I probably would have taken Cornell over Princeton for engineering.</p>
<p>Easy decision! Cornell over Penn and Columbia for Engineering.</p>
<p>a guy at my high school got into Princeton but was turned down by Cornell ^^... So, it is obviously not a backup...</p>
<p>i think i'll be taking penn engineering over cornell engineering.</p>
<p>Reasons:</p>
<p>Fin. aid package
Location
Wharton is next door
Top-tier engineering school in its own right
Vibe</p>
<p>It really isn't as easy of a decision as you make it out to be. The most important factor for me was the feeling I got on campus, but the financial aid more or less clinched it.</p>
<p>Penn? A good location? Maybe you should try walking a bit more off campus before you jump to that conclusion. (j/k)</p>
<p>Anywho, I did choose Cornell over Penn and Brown because Cornell has by far the best engineering school, had what I was looking for in terms of size (vs. Brown), and had a lot less preppy people (vs. Penn).</p>
<p>There are always people choose Penn Engineering over Cornell Engineering or vice versa. There are also lots of people choose Cornell A&S over Penn A&S. In the end, it's all about financial aid package.</p>
<p>Just to add something, I think Wharton next door is so overrated. People go to Penn all think they can do duel-degree in business and engineering, but there are only a few people good enough doing that. After all, Penn is just playing the Wharton card to attract students.</p>
<p>Well, I'll most likely be choosing Penn engineering over Cornell or Columbia engineering because I'm going to biomedical engineering. So, although Cornell is awesome in the eng. field, it's not as awesome in BME. But, it was very hard to think about choosing over both Cornell and Columbia..such good schools.</p>
<p>Teahelps, Cornell doesn't have a BME undergrad major. However, they have biological (and environmental) engineering, and depending on how you choose your courses, you can make it very similar to a BME curiculum. It will also satisfy the requirements for grad schools in BME. The major is taught jointly between CALS and Engineering.</p>
<p>Cornell U determined that BME was too focused for an undergraduate education, and that biological engineering had a broader focus. Keep in mind that some of the classes you will take are different, all the schools are good.</p>
<p>I took a look at Columbia for engineering, but was waitlisted. Keep in mind that Columbia is NOT ABET Accredited, but with a columbia degree it might not make that much of a difference, but just passing on the info.</p>