<p>I got accepted to both universities, but I'm having trouble deciding between the two.</p>
<p>I got into the School of Computer Science at CMU, which is what I am tentatively deciding to major in. I like its smaller student population size, cooperative environment, professors who are apparently rather accessible and genuinely interested in teaching, and the fact that if I make it through, I'm virtually guaranteed an amazing job. It's also closer to home, which would make my life easier if I ever needed anything.</p>
<p>At the same time, I'm not sure CS is what I really want to major in. I don't have a distinct passion for it, but at this point it seems doable and nothing else has really stood out to me. That's why I'm also considering the Engineering department at Cornell. I like the idea that I could switch majors rather easily, the more vibrant student life, and that it has connections to plenty of internships. However, I don't know much about the student competitiveness (i.e. is it cutthroat?) or accessibility of the faculty/administration, which is an important factor for me. </p>
<p>Both weren't my top choices, and even after visiting each campus, I didn't feel like I really fit at either one. However, they're my only two choices at this point, so I have to choose one of them. I don't exactly know what direction I want to head in college, but I feel like I'd be missing out on a great opportunity at CMU. On the other hand, I want to graduate knowing I actually enjoyed the experience and tried out a lot more new things like I could at Cornell. </p>
<p>I am in the exact same position as you (except i’m in computer engineering, which is equally prestigious I believe at CMU).</p>
<p>I’m really leaning toward Cornell though for a few reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>switching majors is easy like you said</li>
<li>cornell isn’t that much lower than CMU for computer engineering in rankings</li>
<li>cornell gave me a bit more fin aid</li>
<li>cornell seems like it’d be a better social place</li>
<li>i’m not really gonna have the chance to live in the middle of nowhere in my life, so cornell gives me that one unique chance in my lifetime</li>
<li>ivy league prestige</li>
<li>stupid, but I know a few more people going to cornell</li>
<li>cmu kind of screwed up a lot in their admissions process, kind of turning me off a tiny bit</li>
</ol>
<p>cmu’s only got 2 things going for it for me right now:</p>
<ol>
<li>its ranked 2/3 in US for computer E</li>
<li>its in a city (which I kinda still wanna be around)</li>
</ol>
<p>but if anyone can give me more reasons for CMU (doubt it since this is cornell boards), please tell me :]</p>
<p>I had to choose CMU vs Cornell as well. I wanted to major in pre-law, and ended up choosing Cornell, though.</p>
<p>I felt like Carnegie is just as difficult as an ivy without the extra perks (never-ending supply of alumni donations, connections, career placement, diversity, etc). </p>
<p>If you’re unsure of your major, but know you want to go into an engineering-type field, I would recommend Cornell because that’s supposed to be one of our flagship schools in terms of ranking and quality. From my experiences, the professor-student relationship was surprising reciprocal; if you make an effort to go to their office hours and get to know them, they really make an effort to memorize your name and get to know you. My classes (ILR) are notoriously large (100-300 students), so I can imagine the relationships in the engineering school are better because the classes are typically smaller.</p>
<p>Job placement is great. Google, Intel, IBM, AMD, what have you, all come here and recruit a lot.</p>
<p>I’m not recommending Cornell just because I’m a current student, but because it seems to suit your situation better based on what you’ve posted.</p>
<p>@ Feral24
It’s nice to know there’s other people in the same situation as me. I’m actually the only one who got into Cornell at my school, so I’ll be winging it on my own if I decide to go there. So far the only other reasons why CMU’s better that I can think of are the shiny new Gates building and co-op opportunities.</p>
<p>I was in the same position as well for engineering. Ultimately it came down to campus feel. I liked the student body more at cornell–I felt CMU was mainly full of engineers and musical theater people and the girl-guy ratio there is around 40-60! Cornell has much more diversity. Cornell also offered me more outside of academics. The cornell campus is also much prettier. I also figured I would be spending most of my life in or around a city, so spending 4 years in ithaca would be a good experience. </p>
<p>I am, however, highly considering CMU for grad school though…</p>
<p>Cornell has co-op for engineering. Just hired a summer intern who did co-op with Goldman last fall. Engineering school has its own career placement center. They have good people working there, very responsive.</p>
<p>Without going comparing each specifically department between Cornell and CMU, Cornell overall has a better name than CMU. At the same time Cornell’s Engineering School is very well regarded by employers. Cornell has a great reputation outside of the US. There are events where only Ivies are invited (maybe shallow, but great for network).</p>
<p>There are a lot more course offerings at Cornell. My daughter is a CAS student double major in math and econ. She could take an almost exact same finance course in AEM or Hotel (she couldn’t get in one, so she took one in a different school). She takes econ courses that are more math focus, whereas other econ majors take “easier” courses. She has a lot of options to fulfill her majors within her own school, plus the ability to take classes at other schools. She is taking many business and finance courses to round out her education. Many of you may want to consider to do the same - major in CS, take some finance courses - it would open doors for you to work in financial institution’s technology department.</p>
<p>A friend of ours son is at CMU for business. He is enjoying it. But if he had an option of choosing between Cornell or CMU a year ago, it would have been Cornell.</p>
<p>I was in engineering, so I can comment on the profs.</p>
<p>They’re as accessible as you want them to be. They will almost always be open to discussing homework, the course, your career or internship aspirations. I rarely encountered a prof who wasn’t willing to help me out. They all seemed very diligent in preparing for teaching the course and the education you receive can;t be better anywhere else.</p>
<p>CMU is in a city, but I heard it’s extremely ugly.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat (except add Cal to the mix). I’m leaning more towards Cornell because, in terms of Engineering, #2 isn’t that much different than #5 or whatever it is (depending no whose rankings you look at). I’m liking Cornell because of the better social life and flexibility in engineering.</p>
<p>Congratulations. Enjoy the remainder of your school year, and probably the last care free summer you will have. You will have a lot of fun during the Orientation Week.</p>
She has a lot of options to fulfill her majors within her own school, plus the ability to take classes at other schools. She is taking many business and finance courses to round out her education. Many of you may want to consider to do the same - major in CS, take some finance courses - it would open doors for you to work in financial institution’s technology department.</p>