Computer Science Cornell vs. Carnegie Mellon

<p>I got into SCS (computer science) and CIT (engineering) at Carnegie Mellon and the College of Engineering at Cornell. I'm trying to decide between the two, because they are very different regarding their social atmospheres, programs, philosophies, and such. Basically, I'm trying to figure out which is better for CS. Thanks</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon (CMU) is better than Cornell for computer science (CS). I’d choose Cornell over CMU for electrical engineering though.</p>

<p>CS for Carnegie.</p>

<p>Cornell and Carnegie have Electrical and Computer Engineering together as one major. You really can’t go wrong with either there. Cornell would probably enter you in a field more away from actually tech/engineering though. That’s just how the Ivy engineering career placement works for some reason…</p>

<p>I’d say go with whichever campus culture you feel you’d enjoy better. Either school will give you a fantastic education and tons of opportunities.</p>

<p>Well, either school is well-known.

  1. Whichever campus you like more
  2. Take potential scholarships into account
  3. Look carefully at their CS, CpE programs and compare and contrast
  4. Look carefully at their CS, CpE functions (events, basically).
    If you want to work as software developer in the future, you probably want to look at the last two carefully. CS is very self-discipline. You have to be motivated to learn. Professors cannot teach you programming - they can explain to you the basics and answer your questions. Either school is fine. But if I were you, I’d pick Cornell. I like the place. LOL not because it’s Cornell.</p>

<p>"Cornell would probably enter you in a field more away from actually tech/engineering though. That’s just how the Ivy engineering career placement works for some reason… "</p>

<p>That’s how engineering career placement may work at the OTHER Ivy league schools, perhaps. Cornell is different from these others in that most of its engineering students actually want to be, and do become, real engineers, or applied scientists. Its true that other paths are open to them, by virtue of the greater university if nothing else, and a subset does avail themselves of it. But what distinguishes Cornell’s engineering college from most of those others is its breadth and depth of offerings in actual engineering. Relatively more students in the engineering college are attracted to it from that perspective, vs. some of those other schools where it may be less the case.</p>

<p>My son is graduating this year from SCS. He’s had great internships, a job offer than pays more than I have ever made. So no complaints on that score. He’s a geeky computer nerd and CMU has allowed to stay that way, but I am pretty sure you can do just find and be more well rounded than he is. Pittsburgh is a nice city - there is lots to do off campus as well as on campus. I think CMU’s division into different schools tends to separate the artists and the techies a bit more than I’d like and it encourages more of a career oriented attitude than a campus dominated by a school of Arts and Sciences, but if you go looking for it everything is there. I have the impression that of the Ivies, Cornell is most like CMU that way - with the caveat that it’s not in a city.</p>

<p>I really don’t think you can go wrong either way. Good luck deciding!</p>

<p>Well, it is in a city, to be technical, but it’s a small city that is a college town where the # students = the number of full time residents. It is not in, or near, a big city. There are those who love it there, though, I am of them.</p>

"Cornell would probably enter you in a field more away from actually tech/engineering though. That’s just how the Ivy engineering career placement works for some reason… "

“That’s how engineering career placement may work at the OTHER Ivy league schools, perhaps.”

Actually this is still prevalent at Cornell - that engineering majors end up doing something else. I know of a junior engineering student that is working summers in banking in NYC. Cornell connections will get you a job but it may not be what you majored in. Hard to turn down an 80k job though when you’re a student.

Thread’s been dead for 5 years! :-/