Please assume
- cost/ finances not an issue
- US citizen, so will have access to jobs
- campus locations/vibes not an issue
Thanks for you time!
How important are internships/practical hands on experience to you? If that’s high in your priority list, I’d pick GT.
If you’re going just by reputation, Georgia Tech is well known for Engineering, the other two are not.
If you don’t care about money or experience, then you are looking just at the program, yes?
USNWR puts GaTech at #4 (behind CalTech, MIT & Stanford). Cornell at #12. IMO there isn’t a lot of difference between the top 4, nor between 5 & 12, and not an huge difference between 1 & 12. At either GaTech or Cornell you have to transfer into AE, so there is the variable of having the marks to transfer. From the engineering students I know at both places (including a current TA who marks those students!), you will be working hard to get those marks at either place.
This is not true for GaTech. You are accepted directly into your specific major and if you want to change there really is no restriction for your first major change.
I have been admitted to GTech’s aerospace program (within engineering). I have some ideas for a start up in the aerospace industry. At GTech I have enough APs to almost waive 1 year of course work. I am not afraid of technically difficult classes because I enjoy them.
Again, thanks for your time and input
Thanks for the correction, @racereer !
for internships/job opportunities nothing beats NYC - so Columbia is definitely a good option. Also, when will you ever be able to live in NYC for that cheap again. Not saying college tuition is cheap. But, room and board for Columbia can be more affordable than getting an apartment on your own post grad.
really depends what field you are in…
Does Cornell even have an undergrad aerospace major now? They didn’t used to.
Undergrad a Mech E degree is recommended for aerospace anyway, eg:
(see links in post #6 here: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22573361#Comment_22573361 )
Re #3: Unless something has changed, at Cornell you don’t select a major till later. So it’s not a mattter of “transferring” into a major, it is selecting it in the first place.
But still it would have to be a major they actually offer…
Re #1, so far as I’m aware Cornell still offers an engineering co-op program which provides participating students with a year of “real” work experience. Not everyone can or does participate though.
Re #2, Cornell is in fact well known for engnieering.
The universities and settings are different; urban vs. college town. Life in a campus-centered college town is different than in a city. In the latter case, campus vitality may be lessened, particularly on weekends.
At Cornell and Columbia you’d be surrounded by many “types” of fellow students , not just techies. Moreso Cornell. Don’t know about Georgia Tech.
Cornell the university as a whole has a balanced M-F ratio, which is what matters socially. When you throw in Barnard, Columbia leans F. IIRC.
Probably a substantial portion of the class at Columbia does not plan to become working engineers.
At Columbia you would have to soak up some portion of class time taking the modified Core curriculum that they make the Fu students take. You may like this, a lot of engnieering types are less enthused. But I guess the enthused ones are more likely to pick Fu.
It’s cold in Ithaca in the winter, and rainy a lot of the time. But it’s beautiful and is truly a special place.
Those are some of the differences I can think of offhand.
Thank you for those valid points. Yes, you are correct about Cornell not having an undergrad Aerospace program. Living in NYC is indeed attractive to me.
Cornell does not have aerospace engineering as a standalone major.
http://cornellengineeringhandbook.freeflowdp.com/cornellengineeringhandbook/5215877281438417/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=32#pg34 says that students in Cornell Engineering need a 2.5 GPA in a specified set of technical prerequisites, with no grade lower than C- in technical courses, in order to affiliate with the mechanical engineering major.
As an aside - you may be better served to major in mech e right now. All the aero students my D knew had their internships cancelled this summer. I’m sure the industry will rebound but who knows how long that will take.
Good point!
Re#10: living in NYC as a student with no money is not the same experience as the glamorous stereotypical image which is based on living there as an investment banker making six figures. Or at least a working adult with money. A lot of the things NYC is famous for: the great restaurants, theater, etc,- usually require lots of $$$. (Yes students got some great deals for theater, but they are not necessarily the ones you want to see). Also, due to cost most students live in dorms the whole time, and that affects social life. Also one may not really feel like a college student there, just another worker in the big city. My D2 started out in NYC, under such circumstances, and did not like it, for some of these reasons, and some others. She actually transferred to Cornell, and liked it better at Cornell. She actually found more to do, that she could afford to do, in Ithaca. Where she had a great time. There, her social life in part involved hanging out with friends in their apartments (that were private hence did not have RA supervision), in a way the she could never have done in NYC where they had to go out all the time if they want to socialize, because their dorms were not conducive to it.
YMMV.
On the other hand, many students who were not previously familiar with NYC, and had gone there specifically for that, to get that experience, liked it there despite the rest. Because NYC was basically what they got, and what they wanted.
I know you said campus/location/vibe were not an issue, but to her they turned out to be very much the issue, which she did not realize at your stage of the process. There are trade-offs worth considering.