My daughter got in both Cornell and cmu for material science engineering. Which school should she go? Cmu we need only need to pay 30 k and Cornell we need to pay 50k?
Has she visited both? how meaningful is $80,000 to your family? what metrics are important to her?
Both are both super strong programs and they both have a reputation for being intense, so from that point of view there is no wrong answer 
I know that Cornell is running pretty close to 50:50 m:f, but don’t know CMUs gender balance.
Neither is great for weather. Pittsburgh is obviously more of a city than Ithaca, but both are good college towns. Pittsburgh is easier for flying.
I would suggest CMU with the economics, the warm people of Pittsburgh, the museums and parks, and a reputation for not being quite as much of a grind. Engineering people don’t say Cornell “omg” like here on cc. The engineering types might say that to CMU actually.
But congrats to her and best of luck. It’s not like anyone would second guess Cornell either!
CMU engineering is likely to be no easier.
The significance of the $$ is a family matter.
That aside, there is more to one’s college experience than a major, and people may have various preferences.
What’s different about Cornell is, due to its diverse colleges it has a particularly wide variety of people enrolled, with very diverse interests, and excellences across a wide variety of fields. The feeling is you are attending a great university, not just a great engineering school. Students frequently wind up taking courses at several of the colleges there, and socializing knows no college boundaries. And it is set in a college town dominated by students, surrounded by stunning natural scenery .
If the money itself is not determinative, D should go check it out and then decide.