I would be grateful for information on pros and cons of each school, keeping in mind that my child is interested in computer science and natural sciences and enjoys research. Also, for Rochester, a full ride scholarship was awarded.
Thank you!
Which college at Cornell?
I know someone who is a senior studying sciences and doing some research at Rochester. She is really happy there. Her mainly complaint is the amount of school work.
I will be following this. Those 3 colleges will probably be on 11th grade DS’ list. I don’t want him to apply to Cornell. I think that he would be better off at a smaller school, and Naviance shows that his chances would not be good. But he’s interested.
Congratulations to your and your child on the great choices, Tara108!
Carleton has very strong programs in the natural sciences. My wife visited with D1, she loved the campus (more than D1 did, actually). It has sort of a “geeky/quirky kid” reputation which might actually have some validity in influencing campus culture, since LAC student bodies tend to be more homogeneous that way. Such environment can be great if a kid fits in, and less great if a kid doesn’t. At least that’s what D1 found, where she went. (Which was not Carleton).
Cornell is nearly opposite in that regard. It’s student body is much larger and is very diverse, in interests and objectives.
There will not be one “undergraduate experience” there, but rather myriad, as varied as the students themselves are.
Academically it will have larger classes. The tradeoff is its course catalog undoubtedly dwarfs’ Carleton’s. There is simply more one can learn there.
Rochester is a 'tweener, size-wise. One can argue whether that represents the best of both situations, or the worst. Someone I know well who went there long ago complained about TAs and said it was grad-school oriented.
We toured Rochester when my son was college hunting. My son chose not to apply. Personally I prefer Cornell, by a lot. But people of my direct acquaintance who have attended Rochester have done great for themselves. Based on those people’s results, I could not represent that attending Cornell would certainly secure a better life outcome for someone of substantial ability than attending Rochester. Depending on how much the money means to you, I would be tempted to take it. If you dont need it, give to child later for a house downpayment. Or present that as an option. It’s so much money.
My middle son is a current junior at URoc and absolutely loves it. He’s applying for their Take 5 program due to wanting to stick around more (and study more variety). This summer he was selected for a paid research internship at Stanford. According to Stanford, approx 240 applied and 13 were accepted. It makes me think he’s doing ok academically as far as others are concerned too.
He’s majoring in BCS and Bio, and minoring in ASL and Psych - plus he’s pre-med. That won’t help you with CS thoughts, but he’s had many of the natural sciences. He’s been involved in research for quite a bit now.
Pros to Rochester? Tons of good peers and many opportunities for research as well as many different club opportunities for fun. These probably are true at many colleges to be honest.
Cons for Rochester? He’s never mentioned any. He doesn’t even mind winter there.
College of Arts and Sciences.
Then your child should be very happy at U.Rochester. Could be happy at the other two also, but a full ride is hard to beat. UR is a bit of a “nerd” school, and is especially strong in all the sciences.
If money is a major factor, I would choose UR enthusiastically. If money is not a factor, then Cornell.
It depends what you can comfortably afford. If money is an issue then a full ride at UR is hard to turn down. If money is not a concern at all I’d go with Cornell.
CS, the natural sciences and research are not the issue here. Money and fit are. All 3 have very strong offerings in all these areas.
Carleton is appropriately known for its top PhD productivity in these fields, stellar teaching, and deserved respect by industry when seeking new hires. CS has become a very hot major on campus now competing with the sciences in numbers and tends to offer up real depth. Rochester is no slack either, with its also science heavy leanings tied, in part, to the city’s optics history. Cornell is uniformly strong across the sciences, math and CS as well, with the plus of great engineering depts backing them up.
But the atmosphere at these places are very different. Carleton will feel the most intimate and campus-centric. The kids are fiercely individualistic and probably more uniformly intellectual. They are insanely happy undergrads that turn into devoted alums. Cornell will feel the most pre-professional and pays for the breadth and depth of its departments by fielding more than 13,000 undergrads - the place is big and feels it with chronic complaints about bureaucracy and often the feeling that one is anonymous. Rochester is somewhere in between in all these regards, much closer in spirit to a LAC, in my experience, than the vast majority of its mid-sized peers.
Money is for you to sort out, we know nothing of your resources and the relative costs of these 3 options. But a full ride at UR does sound awfully appealing.
I’ll add my vote for full-ride at Rochester. We loved the school, but ultimately went with an offer with higher financial aid. I still get wistful about the school now and then.