<p>I got a really tough decision to make. Which one would you pick for engineering and job prospects after graduating. Is it easier to get high paying jobs from columbia rather than cornell engineering? I will post on both threads to take out bias.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the strengths of the engineering departments, but I would point out that from an engineering standpoint there’s probably more going on in NYC, especially when it comes to internships. I’m sure they are also available at Cornell, but you’d have to uproot I imagine to come to NYC for some of them.</p>
<p>If you are sure you want to do traditional engineering, choose cornell for most disciplines. If you want to work in finance or go to law school, I’d say Columbia gets the edge.</p>
<p>Engineering jobs often pay considerably less after bonus compared to finance jobs. Engineering jobs usually pay 50-80 first few years out of college, finance jobs usually pay 80-150 first few years out of college. But what are you interested in?</p>
<p>Columbia’s seas students are just as qualified at Cornell engineering students, a few years ago, the SAT scores for seas were higher than those for cornell engineering, so you’ll be challenged equally at each. Cornell’s engineering depts are ranked higher, but that is based on peer assessment, so you cannot take them precisely. Schools with significantly less qualified students and significantly less resources are also ranked higher than Columbia, (but it wouldn’t make sense for an undergrad to choose that school based on the rankings). Likewise, both UT-Austin (at the graduate level) and UIUC, are ranked above cornell, but there’s no way you should take them over cornell.</p>
<p>If you are unsure of what you want to ultimately do, then you should probably visit the colleges / learn more about them and choose based on where you think you will fit in better.</p>
<p>If you are sure you want to do traditional engineering, choose cornell for most disciplines. If you want to work in finance or go to law school, I’d say Columbia gets the edge.</p>
<p>Engineering jobs often pay considerably less after bonus compared to finance jobs. Engineering jobs usually pay 50-80 first few years out of college, finance jobs usually pay 80-150 first few years out of college. But what are you interested in?</p>
<p>Columbia’s seas students are just as qualified at Cornell engineering students, a few years ago, the SAT scores for seas were higher than those for cornell engineering, so you’ll be challenged equally at each. Cornell’s engineering depts are ranked higher, but that is based on peer assessment, so you cannot take them precisely. Schools with significantly less qualified students and significantly less resources are also ranked higher than Columbia, (but it wouldn’t make sense for an undergrad to choose that school based on the rankings). Likewise, both UT-Austin (at the graduate level) and UIUC, are ranked above cornell, but there’s no way you should take them over cornell.</p>
<p>If you are unsure of what you want to ultimately do, then you should probably visit the colleges / learn more about them and choose based on where you think you will fit in better.</p>
<p>“Likewise, both UT-Austin (at the graduate level) and UIUC, are ranked above cornell, but there’s no way you should take them over cornell.”</p>
<p>I disagree. One should not base a decision based on the overall reputation of a school because it has nothing to do with how strong the engineering department is. Both UT-Austin and UIUC are engineering powerhouses and are comparable (and sometimes even better) than Cornell. If the OP actually wants to become an engineer, he should choose Cornell COE. If he wants to move onto finance or law after undergrad, Columbia SEAS will provide a good foundation.</p>
<p>I agree with all the previous posts. One aspect of engineering and science school rankings is the quality of publications made by faculty. Not going to lie, Columbia SEAS is not an engineering powerhouse when it comes to producing research in many major disciplines (Someone can correct me, because this is an impression. A friend told me how a ChemE professor from CalTech came to give a talk and deprecated the ChemE professors in SEAS but gave a lot of respect to Robert Breslow and the highly esteemed Chemistry department professors) The rankings, therefore, don’t reflect the undergraduate experience and learning as well as everyone on the forum would like.</p>
<p>If you want to make as much money as possible, you will probably want to work in the financial services. Therefore, Columbia SEAS is the way to go. The IEOR department places many students onto Wall Street in traditional and quantitative roles. However, if you want to work in any traditional engineering jobs at firms such as Bechtel or Shell, your best bet is to go to Cornell. Their engineering program is much stronger and has better recruiting from engineering firms.</p>