<p>I'm trying to decide between Cornell Eng and Stanford Eng.</p>
<p>I like the atmosphere at Cornell a lot better... I don't like the richness/fakeness of Stanford and when I went for admit weekend I didn't feel like I really fit in well there.</p>
<p>But I'm sure I could adjust to Stanford and I'm willing to go there if it would give me a lot more opportunities than Cornell Eng.</p>
<p>What is your own experience and what do you think? Even if I like the atmosphere at Stanford less, is it worth going because it's "better than cornell?"</p>
<p>but if you do have to make a choice, it'll depend on a lot of factors. West coast/east coast, etc...</p>
<p>Stanford was modeled after Cornell so there will be some similarities but you should go to whichever you will feel best at. I doubt you'll have fewer opportunities at Cornell Engineering as compared to Stanford Engineering.</p>
<p>yeah i agree with mercury, both top notch programs. and cornell's is after all at the top of the ivy league.
merc is right, EC/WC, warm/cold, etc... will play somewhat, but i say go on your feel.</p>
<p>Stanford would definitely not give you a lot if any more opportunities than cornell.</p>
<p>To the contrary, sparcticus800, stanford, purely by its location, could have an edge. It is in the middle of silicon valley, a major recruitment center for top engineering and computer science talent in the country. Stanford is also a little more respected, and hell, its got an atom smasher. Elitist sentiment (if real) negates those advantages though. None of these advantages are that major.
I dont hate cornell, in fact, its my top choice for engineering (cant get into MIT, CIT, or stan).</p>
<p>One thing that does bother me about Cornell engineering though, even though I've heard good things about it, is that it has a very high acceptance rate and low yield.</p>
<p>Has that bothered other people? Stanford has like a 10% acceptance rate and 70% yield while Cornell Eng has a 35% acceptance rate and 40% yield.</p>
<p>With such low numbers, how can the students at cornell be as good as Stanford's?</p>
<p>People are afraid about how good Cornell Engineering is, and don't think they will be able to handle it. Its acceptance rate has to be high otherwise it could not compensate for the low yield rate.</p>
<p>you beat me to it psquared. ;-) and we have the james bond: goldeneye radio telescope...</p>
<p>even though stanford is silicon valley area (could help in internships), cornell is very heavily involved in projects like, for example, the mars rover. While I'm not an engineer, cornell's rep as a top research institution makes it seem to me that there have got to be lots to do project and internship wise. Plus, the time after graduation is when your ability to have made connections really counts, and then, it won't matter if your internship is within a reasonable distance from campus, or even on cornell's side of the country.</p>
<p>I think the high acceptance rate is due to the fact that not as many people want to go to Cornell as they do to the other top Engineering schools (MIT, Caltech, Stanford, and maybe even Berkeley). The reason is probably other intangible factors--location, weather, size, and all that crap. Furthermore, talking to my dad (who is an engineering professor (btw, he got his Ph.D at Cornell)), most students prefer studying in a more practical program--MIT and Stanford's programs, according to him, are designed thusly. Cornell, however, takes a more theoretical approach to engineering and fewer students are interested in that. Correct me if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>I honestly feel that you will be awarded the same post-bacc opportunities at either school. Stanford has amazing weather but I've heard the same sentiment about the student body that you felt when you visited. I know that here at Cornell my friends have jobs lined up or will be attending the top grad schools in the country next fall.</p>
<p>One advantage of Cornell engineering is that it has more majors available. There are Operations Research and Engineering Physics departments, and a biomedical engineering major is currently in the works. </p>
<p>"With such low numbers, how can the students at cornell be as good as Stanford's?"</p>
<p>I dunno but a lot of the kids here are pretty damn smart. I can give you some anecdotal evidence of what my classmates and friends are doing after graduation and it's quite impressive.</p>
<p>Shizz, I would be interested in some examples of kids in engineering physics. ie. What they are doing after Cornell and how they got ot where they are. </p>
<p>go for the grade-inflation school. This should be a no-brainer. If you want to feel better once you on out on the coast, go down to USC for some "real" fakeness and richness. LOL</p>
<p>"Shizz, I would be interested in some examples of kids in engineering physics. ie. What they are doing after Cornell and how they got ot where they are.</p>
<p>That would be the coolest!"</p>
<p>I didn't speak to the entire class but this is what I know is going on so far:</p>
<p>Work - defense company in Boston, Work - Google, Work - Nokia (I think), 3x I-banking
PhD UC-Boulder, 2x PhD MIT, PhD Michigan, 2x PhD Caltech, PhD Stanford, PhD Cornell, PhD Columbia, PhD UCSB, PhD Boston U
2x MEng BME Cornell, 4x MEng AEP Cornell, MEng CS Cornell
Law school - somewhere
Another guy is applying to med school next year</p>
<p>That's a little over half the class. Almost everyone in AEP does well but that might not be representative of all engineering disciplines. If you work hard you will do well and will reap the benefits by landing a spot in grad school or a cushy job. That's not to say EVERYONE turns out okay. I have a friend that did both his B.S. and M.Eng here and he's working some low pay job that he doesn't like, but I blame that on the fact that he did a lot of heavy drugs during his 5 years here.</p>
<p>To really determine which engineering schools are best one can also look to the myrad of competitions between engineering schools. The number and quantity of competitions that an engineering school enters and wins can show you the opportunities open to students and the quality of engineering students, teaching and facilities. For example:</p>
<p>Formula SAE ( student built car racing competition, winning team offered plum jobs in the auto industry). Cornell wins championship again this year as they have 9 times before. Stanford--pitiful showing.</p>
<p>Robocup soccer ( autonomous soccer playing robots, international competition). Cornell has won more times than any other US university.</p>
<p>this is just a sample, there are many others from human powered moon rovers, to high fuel mileage retrofit vehicles. </p>
<p>Please do the research yourself to see which engineering program really is the most grounded in real world projects and more often than wins when competing against any of the other engineering schools in the country.</p>
<p>shermanbus, the competitions you chose to mention were VERY biased in favor of cornell. I do not know much about engineering competitions, but of the ones I have read about, specifically in Wired magazine, MIT usually makes a strong showing, either tops or near that.
Rankings in SAE would not really give you a good ranking. Would you pick cal state northridge (16) over MIT (42)?</p>
<p>Yeah as much as i love cornell engineering, those competitions are really just flashy things that the admissions ppl like to put on their documents and talk about way too much. The FSAE kids are huge tools who live in the car shop 24/7 and a lot of them end up almost failing out because they dont spend any time doing their classwork. I'd say less than 10 percent of the engineering students are on the competition teams (probably way less). And competitions really arent a good way to judge a school. That said, cornell engineering has plenty of opportunities for research and other useful endeavors. Overall, its about even with stanford in every respect. I think it just comes down to your own choice. East coast or west: Personal preference. Mine? Cornell all the way.</p>