Trying to make a decision… Cornell wins for overall well-rounded college experience, better name recognition, is closer to home, and in general more appealing, but I have a suspicion that Georgia Tech may win for resources, labs, teaching spaces, maker spaces, and ‘techie’ fun. Soooo frustrating that we can’t get a proper campus tour including going inside the facilities.
Has anyone toured these schools with ECE in mind?
as a Cornell CS grad I vote Cornell … (assuming they are close financially)
if GT is > 10k cheaper - go with GT.
Freshman year, they would be the same price. After that, especially junior year, Cornell would likely go up, possibly 10k or more, because of increased family income. Ugh. I wish Cornell could guarantee the same aid for all four years. It’s just so unpredictable.
it’s a close one … GT is a fantastic school too with a lot of companies nearby to intern at
(it’s tougher with Ithaca)
I’d say if youre looking more for research opportunities and labs then GT otherwise Cornell(you wont get that same caliber of engineering experience as GT tho). Are these your only options or did you get in to more schools?
What are you looking for in a school and location? Ithaca and Atlanta are about as opposite as you can get.
Cornell has a pretty campus but why does Cornell win for overall college experience? Also debatable about name recognition. That said, the saying is you don’t go to GT for the accommodations. The dorms are average and the food awful although GT is brining dining in-house this summer.
Do you want to do co-op at GT?
Can’t comment specifically on EE but son is doing ISyE at GT. Lots of money flowing onto the campus for new buildings and research.
He has a big list to choose from…
Rutgers Honors @ 21k/year
Rowan Honors @8k/year
Northeastern @43k/year
Michigan @56k/year
GA Tech @44k/year
Cornell @46k/year (unknown past freshman year b/c of potential financial aid changes)
NJIT Honors @ 4k/year (he says absolutely not, so not an option)
Pitt Honors @ 28k/year
A few others all around 43k - Case Western, Rose Hulman, RPI
Also on Harvard waitlist
Budget is 40k, but we are comfortable stretching up to 50.
Would really like to be within 6 hours of home (central NJ).
Yes definitely interested in co-op!
Most of those schools aren’t within 6 hours drive of NJ unless that includes flight times. Pitt and Case would be close to the limit. If it includes flights your list would expand but Cornell would still be tough. I doubt there are any direct flights to Ithaca. Lots of cheap direct flights to Atlanta.
For low cost, Pitt and Rutgers are great options. Especially with Honors on the table.
All are good schools but the only ones worth paying more are obviously GT and Cornell assuming Michigan is too expensive. Maybe Northeastern? Good school, Boston and co-ops. It’s an urban campus. People seem to either love it or hate it. S20 liked it. I thought it was Ok.
I would really push for answers how classes will be held in the fall. I saw my sons GT schedule and the math classes are still online. I’m not happy about the direction they’re going.
You need to whittle this list down to three or four schools and then drill-down into the programs. Map out a 4 year plan to see if any school jumps out.
Ahem … I am in NYC and my door-to-door to Cornell averaged < 4 hrs, and took a decent amount just to get out of the city. From Central Jersey one can DEFINITELY make it up there under 5 hrs.
IMO Cornell is a clear winner from that list, but then again, I am partial.
I stand corrected. I keep forgetting Ithaca is further east than I thought. One of the longest drives I remember was Syracuse to the Canadian border. Was shocked how desolate it was.
Ithaca is a neat college town.
Thanks for the replies and discussion! Definitely helps us work through it in our heads…
I am a Cornell alum, so also pretty biased, and Ithaca is an easy 4 hour drive from home, making it so attractive because DS’s college experience could be part of our lives - camping trips up there, wine tasting, sailing on Lake Cayuga, etc. If he goes to GT, we’ll likely never see him again. Given the choice, he’d pick GT because he thinks its engineering program & facilities are superior (he’s probably right, but so hard to tell without a proper tour), but he’s also 100% happy to go to Cornell. with GT we know what we’ll be paying for all four years, which would make us more comfortable, but yes, GT is still planning on having online classes, and no requirement for vaccines for students. Cornell has an excellent plan in place, is requiring vaccines for everyone, and is planning for a completely normal fall term. They also have two brand new freshman dorms, and all the great outdoor activities he loves.
We toured Rutgers(outside only), and while the Honors dorm is gorgeous, the engineering campus is downright depressing. We’ve read that they don’t have enough space for their engineers, and are planning on completely replacing many of the buildings in the next 10 years. Not a place he really wants to be.
We haven’t been to Pitt(though we are familiar with Pittsburgh), and honestly don’t know a ton about it. If he had gotten a bigger scholarship, we would probably have paid more attention to it, but at almost $30k, it doesn’t seem that interesting. Maybe it’s worth another look.
Northeastern, at the same price as GT and Cornell, isn’t worth it, in my opinion. We’re waiting on one big scholarship decision from there, which might change our minds.
Rowan is a regional university in south Jersey that has an up-and-coming engineering program. Great brand new engineering building, and some nice labs & equipment. Great location, and nice campus. Problem is that the caliber of students there is just not at my DS’s level. He’d be among the top few in ECE, and we worry he’d be held back by his peers.
Round and round we go, only 21 days left to make this decision!
When in doubt, go with private 
Come on! 2nd generation (or more?) in Cornell! A true legacy!!!
Pitt is a nice option but it sounds like it’s GT or Cornell.
GT has handled Covid pretty well. Lots of testing. They may not require a vaccine but they’ve offered them to students and the turnout was high. I think my son said 70-80% as of last week. He gets his next week. The online classes are a point of contention with a lot of students and parents. Math class online with recitation in-person. Flights are direct, easy and cheap so it’s actually more convenient.
I still think Northeastern is a wild card. Good school but the co-op program is strong and Boston is a great location for college students. The campus is either love it or hate it.
Good luck.
I have to completely disagree with your assessment of Rowan. Many top achieving kids pick Rowan over other prestigious schools due to their excellent, hands on Engineering program and lower cost. They are getting a top notch program at a good price. I don’t believe your son’s peers will " hold him back."
Cornell ECE: 199 undergraduate students, 44 faculty – 4.5 students:faculty ratio
Ga Tech ECE: 1100 undergraduate students, 126 faculty – 8.7 students:faculty ratio
Cornell ECE is a smaller department. It is a much smaller department now than when I was a student in that department in the early 80’s (it was EE then, not ECE). On the other hand CS has grown many fold.
The main difference in this student/faculty ratio is access to quality department advising and also access to research.
The other differences are qualitative things like: do you like the more rural environment of Ithaca vs. the urban environment of Ga. Tech.
As for airports, who in their right mind would fly from NJ to Ithaca? It can be less than a 3 hour drive depending on where in NJ you live. There are so many NJ students at Cornell that ride-share opportunities abound.
I apologize - I didn’t mean to put Rowan down. We’ve researched it extensively, toured multiple times, and spoken to several ECE upperclassmen there. Believe me, to be at the top of our list (it’s in our final 3), it must be a pretty amazing program, no doubt, beating out other great engineering programs like Rutgers and NJIT. However, for example, the first two years of engineering clinic are comprised of projects that my DS did on his own when he was in 6th grade or before. He’s taken four years of engineering at high school, and doesn’t need to learn the ‘engineering process’ over again. The average SAT score for the university is around 1100. These are some of the reasons we are tentative, given the other choices that we have. But seriously, it is very tempting because of the facilities, leadership, and location.
Thanks for your response. Do you have a source for the number of ECEs at Cornell? I can’t find anything anywhere. In fact, I’m having trouble locating any real information about the ECE department. No ECE specific online information sessions or virtual tours. I did find out that it’s headquartered in Phillips hall, which looks like it is WAY overdue for a renovation.
According to College Scorecard, there were 76 graduates of ECE, but according to the only info I can find from Cornell(a data sheet from 2018), it says there are 258 total in the department(averaging 64 per year). Is the department getting smaller? I wonder why?
We are heading up this weekend to take a look around. I desperately wish we could have a proper tour. Making this huge decision without seeing inside these facilities just seems insane.
Rowan’s SAT average for the college is not the same for Engineering, which is definitely higher. ME is 1350 average.
For the same price, I would pick Cornell. GaTech is a terrific deal for in-state GA, especially with the HOPE/Zell Miller making it almost tuition-free, but you’d likely get more resources per capita undergrad at Cornell. And while GaTech has a strong alumni network for a public, Cornell’s would be much stronger in and around NYC (with its own private social club). Also more avenues outside of engineering/traditional tech companies.