<p>I got into both and need some help evaluating the situation. I understand that Cornell has a much higher ranked Engineering program than Penn, but how much better is this really, outside of rankings? Currently, I plan to major in Materials science, but am not very certain that I will stick with this. I plan to go into graduate/professional school (not necessarily engineering). Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>First of all, if you are thinking about Material Science and Engineering, Cornell is probably the second best school for it on the East Coast (Of course, the best is MIT). So, if you are seriously thinking about MSE, Cornell is the right place for you to go. Plus, if you are looking for research experience in nanotechnolgy, what's better than Duffield Hall, which is one of the most advance nanotech facility on the East Coast.<br>
If you just want to compare Cornell and Penn engineering, other than Bioengineering, Cornell is much better than Penn at all other majors. If you decide to come to Cornell for engineering, you will have four really tough years ahead of you. But, you will get four years of top notch engineering education.<br>
If you want to get an engineering degree and a liberal art degree in four years, then Penn is probably the place for you. However, if you want to focus on one engineering major and be really good at it, Cornell is the place for you.</p>
<p>"---If you want to get an engineering degree and a liberal art degree in four years, then Penn is probably the place for you. ---"</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me what exactly consist of "Liberal art degree"? Is finance or business involve in it? Heard this word so many times, I though it's the degree for art, am I right?</p>
<p>Humanities</p>
<pre><code>* The Classics:
o Ancient Greek
o Latin
* Literature and literary criticism
* Philosophy
* The study of religion
* Jurisprudence
* Art, art history, art criticism, and theory
* Gender Studies
* Cultural and Area studies
o Regional interdisciplinary fields such as East Asian studies, American studies, and African-American studies
- Cultural anthropology
- History
- Sociology
- Political science
- Archaeology
- Some branches of economics </code></pre>
<p>So essentially, you're saying that someone at Cornell will experience a top notch and focused program, while one at Penn SEAS would have more practical opportunity to be better well-rounded with liberal arts? What would you say is the "hummanities" experience for most Cornell engineers?</p>
<p>Cornell College of Engineering requires you to take six humanities courses + two freshman writing seminar to graduate. If you are really interested in, let's say Romance languages, you can take as many Romance languages before you graduate. However, it would be very tough to double in Romance language and Mechanical Engineering if you want to graduate in four years. Most of the engineering students I met here are pretty well-rounded. So, I don't think you should worry about that all Cornell engineers are computer nerds and know nothing about history or political science. However, the structure of Cornell's College of Engineering is just a little bit more "rigid" than Penn's SEAS.</p>