<p>I've narrowed my decision down to these three schools. I don't know that much about Cornell (or Stanford) yet, I was admitted early to MIT and honestly pretty set on going there until recently. I'm also going to say right upfront that there is a general conception of HYPSM being slightly more prestigious and have more opportunities than Cornell, so anything unique about Cornell would be awesome! Basically anything you can share about the schools would be a big help to me.</p>
<p>My major concerns are about:
- Undergrad research opportunities
- Rigor (MIT has a reputation for being insane but idk?)
- Social scene (Stanford seems laid back/party, MIT seems intense)</p>
<p>If it matters I was offered "Cornell Tradition" or something like that but probably would not accept.</p>
<p>Let me know if I can provide any more info.</p>
<p>I heard that Cornell is extremely rigorous, too. Perhaps even more so than MIT, as MIT has that Pass/Fail for first year, and I think maybe its grades aren’t deflated as much as Cornell’s.</p>
<p>I also heard that it is a very pretty place. That’ll do for me.</p>
<p>Pass/No record is one semester. Are grades really deflated? Because I want to go to grad school (or at least to keep that option open). And yes it looks GORGEOUS. Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>Well I heard MIT was all nerds and problem sets and Cornell was that too with some social life. I would love to go somewhere like Cornell for undergrad and MIT for grad school. But MIT has the best engineering school and its pretty absurd (to me) to turn it down for Cornell. That’s just my opinion. My uncle went to Cornell undergrad and MIT grad school, so I don’t think Cornell’s deflation ish hinders you from getting to a good grad school. Though he said Cornell was tough.</p>
<p>That’s a recurring theme I’m getting - no one turns down MIT for Cornell. Thanks for the advice. MIT people are definitely nerdy, I don’t think Stanford people are.</p>
<p>Stanford is a tough school. You will need to work hard from day 1 in the quarter system and your first year or two will pretty much have most classes with a curve with median being a B or so and classes of 300-500 are common for many of the beginner courses. Since it is a quarter system, you will be hit with midterms before you realize you are in college. I believe the competition is quite severe at the top end of 50% or so. Not sure about the definition of nerdy here but I have met some of the freshmen kids in one dorm and some of my kid’s friends and these kids blew me away in terms of accomplishments. I came home after parent’s weekend last month thinking my kid is lucky to have gotten in. Until now I foolishly believed what one of her teachers wrote to me that Stanford is lucky to have her.</p>
<p>Physics and Engineering Physics people actively recruit students to major in their area and offer all kinds of research programs as an incentive. Their professors host lunches in winter quarter trying to recruit freshmen to major.</p>
<p>I do agree that Cornell and MIT are not easy. You are going to be successful once you graduate from any of these three schools. The real question is to understand where you might like living those 4 years and which student body appeals to you. It is best to visit all schools under contention to get a feel if you have not visited any of them.</p>
<p>Your question has half answer included - you ask Cornell vs. MIT/Stanford as if MIT and Stanford are one Congratulations for being in such a situation with excellent choices. I say go with “MIT/Stanford” - Sorry you have to decide on what you feel is best for you between those two.</p>
<p>^Yeah right now I’m trying to ascertain if I should be considering Cornell or not. MIT and Stanford are my clear top two choices, and then I have a bunch of other schools I ruled out, and then Cornell in the middle haha.</p>
<p>Thanks for that response, texaspg. That sounds very appealing.</p>
<p>Wish I had seen this thread before to help you out but I rejected MIT for Cornell because I was accepted into the Rawlings Presidential Research Program, which is one of Cornell’s Commitment Programs. The Tradition Program is one of the three, veered towards community service. They’re actually very prestigious, of course research would’ve appealed much more to you but you should have definitely considered it as it is possible to switch programs once you accept. So far, being a Rawlings Fellow has taken me so far in the past year in terms of opportunities for research experience that you would probably not get as easily at MIT or Stanford. My factors were similar to yours and honestly, I couldn’t find a balance at MIT nor Stanford. Cornell is definitely rigorous, but it also has an amazing campus that really relieves stress and the social scene is great. The connections I have made in the past year have been overwhelming, definitely made me value how professors here really want you be as great as them and not just some other student. Grad school is a long way down the road but the commitment programs really make you a competitive candidate for the future. </p>
<p>Anyways, good luck to ya where ever you have chosen to attend. Hopefully this will help others if they face the same conflict.</p>
Congratulations for being in such a situation with excellent choices. I say go with “MIT/Stanford” - Sorry you have to decide on what you feel is best for you between those two.</p>