<p>I need to make a decision between Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown or Duke by May 1st. I am going to major in engineering, but I am not sure yet which area within engineering. I am leaning towards Cornell because it has the strongest engineering program of the four, but there are so many other factors to consider.</p>
<p>Please help. Where should I go?</p>
<p>money factors?</p>
<p>Well, all schools offer pretty much the same caliber of student body. Some may claim that Cornell students have lower SAT scores, but I can guarantee you that there are just as many bright kids -- in absolute numbers -- at Cornell as there are a school like Dartmouth or Brown. It's just that Cornell's a lot bigger so you will also find hotel students, architects, or agricultural majors who may not be as bright as the rest of the student body, but more than make up for it in their passion for their course of study.</p>
<p>The distinction between the schools in terms of student culture is pretty big. But I'm trusting you already know about this. Go to Brown if you want to find yourself, go to Duke if you love southern preppiness, basketball and beer, and go to Dartmouth if you love being outside and beer. </p>
<p>The best way to explain Cornell would be that it is a mixture of a bunch of different schools, and it can feel very different to different students. It can be like Dartmouth with frisbee throwing on the quad and big fraternity parties. Or it can feel like a MIT or CMU, with a lot of students doing cutting edge engineering research. Or it can feel like RISD, if you are an architect. Or it can feel a bit like Wharton, only a Hotel-focused Wharton.</p>
<p>The one thing about Cornell though, is that it is the only school that offers a true bona fide engineering school and research environment for all sorts of different engineering fields. Duke has a very good biomedical engineering program, but is lacking in terms of CS, Civil, Engineering Physics, Materials Science, etc. Cornell produces <em>real</em> engineers, while a lot of the engineering students at the other schools go on to do something else. A good friend of mine from high school went to Dartmouth for engineering, but he freely conceded that if he was really interested in engineering he should have gone to Cornell. He ended up going into divinity school, so it wasn't that big of a deal to him.</p>
<p>So for sheer engineering prowess, go to Cornell. Else, choose the school that seems to be your best fit, socially and culturally.</p>
<p>The financial aid offers I received were very similar for all four schools, so money is not a factor.</p>
<p>CayuagaRed2005, that was really helpful. </p>
<p>I visited Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. I liked Cornell the most and the engineering facilities were amazing. </p>
<p>The other thing I am concerned with is the social scene, especially at Cornell. I have heard that fraternities are big at Cornell and Dartmouth. I'm not sure how well I would fit into that scene. I don't know much about it though.</p>
<p>For Duke, a lot of people have happy social lives without getting involved with the Greek scene. There is a niche for everyone at Duke.
Are you planning to visit Duke?
I think Duke and Cornell are equal in terms of engineering (better than Dartmouth and Brown). However, Duke has a more inclusive social scene than Cornell.
Duke is less stressful and less cut-throat. Both are 'bubbles' in their own ways though.</p>
<p>Duke and Brown have opposite 'student cultures'.</p>
<p>if your primary interest is engineering, definitely go with cornell (or better yet, MIT, georgia tech, or one of the many better straight engineering schools than brown/dartmouth/duke.</p>
<p>if you're interested in engineering but also have a lot of other academic interests, brown may be the best bet. it has the oldest engineering program in the ivy league the preparation in this regard is very solid. but in addition to engineering requirements you will be able to take advantage of the open curriculum.</p>
<p>depending on your personality type, dartmouth or duke may offer some social advantages--particularly if you are into the greek scene</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Brown don't really have engineering programs. They offer degrees in "engineering science". Big difference. Except, I think Brown might offer Biomed.</p>
<p>Cornell has a much better engineering program than Duke except in Biomed.</p>
<p>Don't go to Brown or Dartmouth for engineering unless you plan to do something other than engineering as a career.</p>
<p>Cornell hands down!</p>
<p>I don't know if I would describe Cornell engineering as "cut-throat". All the Cornell engineers I knew would routinely work on problem sets together and spend a lot of time helping each other in the labs or in programming sessions. </p>
<p>Cornell engineering may be considered more stressful than Duke, simply because the workload may be a <em>bit</em> harder, and for some reason some Cornell students really like to stress themselves out. But you don't have to stress yourself out if you don't want to.</p>
<p>I wasn't too much into the fraternity scene at Cornell either. As a matter of fact, I never stepped foot in a fraternity after my first semester. The first year social scene tends to revolve around them, but it's pretty easy to find other distractions for the weekends -- whether that be traveling with the Pep Band to hockey games, being active in club sports, or simply taking in movies or concerts with friends. There is a niche for everybody at Cornell.</p>
<p>The best way to find social success at Cornell is to seek out the type of people and activities you want to surround yourself with during your first year -- some people join religious organizations, others get really involved in service work, or play video games, or join the Marching Band or a club sport. And yes, a fair amount will join fraternities and get drunk every Friday and Saturday night -- probably 40% of the campus. But that still leaves 60% of the campus doing something else. I didn't drink much my freshman and sophomore years; instead I would go on overnight backpacking trips to the Adirondacks or check out a concert in downtown Ithaca or over at IC. By junior and senior years, social life on campus is much more spread out and varied.</p>
<p>Either way, Cornell won't necessarily be a place where your hand will be held, but there will be plenty of support and resources available for the student willing to take advantage of them.</p>
<p>And I tend to disagree with the idea that Duke and Cornell are equal in terms of engineering. Duke is definitely superior for biomedical engineering, and the students are probably at the same level, but for everything else, Cornell is a notch above -- in faculty, research, industry connections, and facilities.</p>
<p>^Cornell also simply offers more fields. ChemE, industrial engg, or mat sci are not available at Duke.</p>
<p>I said in an earlier post that the financial aid offers were similar for all four schools, but my parents financial situation is going to change radically in the next year, so while financial aid won't be a factor for the upcoming year, it could be important for future years. </p>
<p>Can anyone tell me which of the four schools is the best for financial aid?</p>
<p>I got $52,000 at Cornell, if that helps you.</p>