<p>thethoughtprocess,
When I created the social life thread, I listed the following criteria:
*Welcoming nature and friendliness of the students
*Musical scene (both locally and for bands that come through)
*Athletic scene for entertainment purposes, ie, sports teams
*Greek life (good or bad)
*Strength of party scene
*Size, diversity and cohesiveness of the student body and how this impacts social life
*Weather and its impact on social activities
*Proximity to urban life/arts
*Student activities including community service, club activities, intramural sports, etc.
*Alcohol and drug scene</p>
<p>I suspect that Cornell lags the mentioned schools on many, if not most, of these criteria. </p>
<p>Academically and engineering-wise, I think we all accept Cornell as a terrific school. However, I do think it benefits greatly from its association with the Ivy League. If not for that, then it might well be closer to a school like U Rochester than it would be to Princeton. There are TONS of kids who apply (and probably attend) there because it is an Ivy and the easiest one to get into. Take that Ivy affiliation away and the story has a lot less appeal. </p>
<p>Re athletics, great that Cornell has a lot of hockey fans. Do you think any college sports fan outside of the Northeast knows or cares anything about that program? Contrast that with USC football, Duke basketball, Rice baseball, etc. and the differences are enormous. Cornell and the other Ivies cannot compete athletically with the schools that I have mentioned throughout this thread (Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Rice, Notre Dame, USC). The scene associated with these non-Northeastern schools and their football/basketball/baseball athletic programs is much, much bigger and better than Cornell and any of the Ivies. If you've been to any of these schools and seen it first-hand, it is obvious and it is exciting and it is FUN!</p>