<p>I received an early write acceptance letter from Swarthmore for political science/pre-law and was also granted admission to Cornell's ILR program. What are your opinions on which program I should choose? This is broad but I'd appreciate your feedback.</p>
<p>Also I would like to hear some feedback regarding the campus culture of both schools as I have not had the opportunity to visit either. Thanks!!</p>
<p>It really depends on what your purpose of going to college is and what you want to do coming out of college but all that aside, I would have to go with Cornell…</p>
<p>You’ll get a great education at either school but I think ultimately, Cornell is going to be the more prestigious degree to help you land whatever job you are looking for. </p>
<p>And by the way, I thought Swat was extremely math/sciences oriented. Are you sure their Poly sci program is going to be strong as well?</p>
<p>Almost as different as two schools can be?</p>
<p>Look, Swarthmore’s culture is as it’s reputed - deeply intellectual and academic. Cornell’s is more representative of standard college fare with a pretty diverse, less defined group of undergrads. </p>
<p>ILR is ILR, not political science. It’s a very regimented major with deep requirements. A very good program if that’s what you want. Is it what you want? </p>
<p>The largest top-tier private (13,000 undergrads) in rural upstate NY vs. one of the smallest (about 1,500) in suburban Philly. Night / day. </p>
<p>These are obviously very, very different choices (with Arts and Sciences at Cornell one might find at least some overlap). You should already have a sense where you’d feel more comfortable. Whatever you do, I wouldn’t let some concept of difference in perceived reputation drive your decision. Both are obviously excellent schools.</p>
<p>To me, this question is almost a joke… Swarthmore Poly Sci dominates Cornell. At Swarthmore, poly sci is very strong, the faculty are amazing, and the culture at Swarthmore revolves around politics. Swarthmore also has WAR NEWS RADIO… a radio station that talks about the war in Iraq. The station is the highest ranked college political radio station, I believe. Swarthmore to me will offer you a much better education than Cornell. The prestige factor with these two is minuscule as well. In fact, Swarthmore is more prestigious for undergrad students and is tougher to get into than Cornell. Plus, the Swarthmore vibe when it comes to politics is something that sets Swat apart from other schools. If I was you… Swat in a second.</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with Rutgers89.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is a very prestigious and exceedingly selective undergraduate institution that sends an impressive number of its students to top graduate schools and premier professional programs. Swat is 10 miles away from Philadelphia, and it’s campus is breathtaking. Swatties are intellectually earnest, and you’re sure to get a superior academic experience at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Thank you kwu!</p>
<p>Choosing a college solely based on your intended major is risky. You can choose to switch major later on and also, the department rankings of different schools won’t matter a bit in your quality of education or future job/grad school prospects, especially comparing between two top tier schools. With those facts in mind, I find the other guy’s post to be somewhat misleading. </p>
<p>Also, who says that Swarthmore is more prestigious than Cornell? I did not even know of this school until second semester senior year only after I found out one of my friends was attending there. I suspect that many high school students, college students, school teachers, and even many adults in the country have no clue about what this school is, although I don’t know how the employers view the school.</p>
<p>“Swatties are intellectually earnest, and you’re sure to get a superior academic experience at Swarthmore.”</p>
<p>Yeh, maybe so. Although I don’t know much about this school, I do know that Cornell also has its fair share of student body who are intellectually earnest.</p>
<p>Patlees88,
With all due respect Swarthmore is a better institution than Cornell, especially in the social sciences. If this was a pre-med post, I would say go Cornell for a few reasons that I will not discuss. But until you visit Swarthmore and understand what Swarthmore is, than one cannot judge it. I have been to both. Swarthmore is a much nicer campus IMO, has a way more intellectual student body, and is not as “standardized” as Cornell. What I mean by that is Cornell is sort of like a mid-size university whereas Swarthmore is a close tight knit community that shares an identity as the intellectual and best students of America, in and out of the classroom. </p>
<p>In terms of high school students, college students, school teachers, and adults not knowing of Swarthmore does not say much about its prestige. Only 22% of US citizens have college degrees so the general public really doesn’t hold water on what universities are more prestigious or not.</p>
<p>I imagine the curricula/ list of required courses, distribution requirements, at these two colleges are substantially different. An examination of this alone should be sufficient to make a decision. What do you want to learn?? Or, conversely, do you want to avoid something?? ( If one has distribution requirements that the other doesn’t; e.g. I assume ILR has no foreign language requirement).</p>
<p>ILR is a small college within a large university, with undergrad student body of over 13,000, located in a small upstate city. Cornell has (mostly bad, but still) division I sports, and an active fraternity scene.
Swarthmore is a small liberal arts college, under 1,500 students or so, located in a suburb of a big city. With less of those other things. </p>
<p>The number of courses readily available for study at Cornell are obviously much larger than at Swarthmore. [At Swarthmore one can extend the offerings via consortium arrangements , but this is time consuming to use extensively in practice, we were told]. But, for what they do have Swarthmore undoubtedly has a lot smaller classes. [In general; however I don’t really know about ILR.]</p>
<p>These are substantially different environments, and you ought to have a preference.</p>
<p>ILR tuition is significantly subsidized for NYS students, and if you are one of them, and like so many of us, would not qualify for need-based aid but really need the help anyway, this may be a factor.</p>
<p>I personally don’t share the notion that Swarthmore has a much nicer campus. It has no gorges, of course, and, though the buildings and grounds looked nice, I perceived little diversity in architecture and style. It’s nicer than the ILR school building though.</p>
<p>If you go to Swat you can get both the rigorous and excellent Swarthmore education and also have access to more obscure classes you might only find at a larger university by taking advantage of the Quaker Consortium, which lets you take classes at the nearby University of Pennsylvania…</p>
<p>FWIW:</p>
<p>[File:Ithaca</a> Hemlock Gorge.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Hemlock_Gorge.JPG]File:Ithaca”>File:Ithaca Hemlock Gorge.JPG - Wikipedia)
[Around</a> Ithaca, New York Photo Gallery by Unexplained Bacon at pbase.com](<a href=“http://www.pbase.com/unexplained_bacon/ithaca_area]Around”>Unexplained Bacon's Photo Galleries at pbase.com)
[Explore</a> Cornell - Natural Beauty - Introduction](<a href=“http://www.cornell.edu/tours/scene308f.html]Explore”>http://www.cornell.edu/tours/scene308f.html)</p>
<p>I would expect that the Government department in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences would be more likely to offer equivalent coursework to Swarthmore’s Poli Sci major than the ILR program.</p>
<p>Here are my questions:
Are you a NY state resident?
Would the true full Cost of Attendance (tuition, fees, books, housing, food, local travel, long-distance travel, football tickets, laundry, bubblegum, you-name-it) be the same at Swarthmore and at Cornell after you factor in any grant (not loan) financial aid?
What do you want to do after college?</p>
<p>The ILR program is not for everyone. There are very specific course requirements including courses in Labor and Employment law, collective bargaining and History of American Labor.
My d just graduated from ILR, is currently working for a labor union and plans to attend law school. For her- the ILR program at Cornell was absolutely the right choice. As NYS residents, the lower tuition costs were great for us. </p>
<p>My gut tells me there is a very different campus environment at Cornell vs. Swat. I think you need to visit both schools and see what works best for you. </p>
<p>Though there is a set curriculum in ILR. my d was able to take many electives in the college of arts and sciences and was able to do a study abroad semester in Italy. There is still alot of flexibility within the ILR curriculum.
My d absolutely cherished her time at Cornell and is now a very satisfied and proud alum.</p>
<p>Haha, I don’t know how many people in the real world would say Swat is better than Cornell, people on CC are all ■■■■■■</p>
<p>
Who cares about people in the real world? They don’t know anything. The elites are the ones who count.</p>
<p>Go Swarthmore!!!</p>
<p>The pervasive tone at the two schools are very different. A simple visit to either campus will quickly help you make your mind. That said, there are likely 2,000 students at Cornell who would fit right in at Swat. At the same time, there are probably 8,000 students at Cornell who wouldn’t fit in a Swat in a million years.</p>
<p>I do agree that the social sciences are marginally stronger at Swat than they are at Cornell, but if you are seriously interested in issues of labor and political economy, you should definitely look at the ILR school more closely. </p>
<p>While the majority of your peers will likely be more professionally-oriented, the school has a history of producing top-level academics in its fields, and is widely seen as the best place in the country to study issues of labor/employment. The last Cornellian to win a Rhodes Scholarship was an ILRie, and many of my friends have gone on to be placed in top five economics and political science grad programs from the ILR school.</p>
<p>Happymom, I am a resident of California and would like to attend a top tier law school upon graduation. I am assuming my cost of attendance would be relatively similiar.</p>
<p>Well, both programs have top law school placement rates. If you really just care about a law degree (which is a pretty cynical perspective) you might want to take rigor and grading into consideration, in which case Swarthmore would be seen as having a much more demanding course load, which might affect your GPA and law school chances.</p>
<p>ILR has a pretty good placement rate into schools like Harvard, Columbia, and NYU. (Every year it seems like there are at least 2 or 3 Harvard law bound ILRies, which isn’t bad out of a graduating class of 200.) I’m certain Swarthmore is similar.</p>
<p>handz- if law school is your aim, then being a swat or cornell grad is not going to make that much of a difference. law school admission is tied into your LSAT score and neither one of the schools will prepare you any better for the exam. </p>
<p>The atmosphere of these 2 schools is way different. Though I am not too familiar with Calif schools, it’s probably like comparing Berkeley with Pomona ( or another California LAC). I’d suggest strongly you visit both schools. Sometimes it really does come down to personal preference and fit.</p>
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<p>Uhhh, Political Science, Econ, and Social Sciences in general have been Swarthmore’s specialty for decades. It is the number one producer of poli sci/government PhDs. (per graduate) of all universities and colleges in the United States. It is also the number one per graduate producter of Economics PhDs in the country. As well as the number one per capita producer of all social science PhDs.</p>
<p>In addition to War News Radio which is both syndicated and podcast each week and had a former NPR producer hired by the college to guide the students, the college produces fairly steady stream of political active organizations, including a signficant Darfur organization started by undergrads, and a Swarthmore student who was one of the three MTV correspondents travelling to Dharfur. A good portion of the senior class each year moves to Washington DC and becomes active in some area of public policy.</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Hemlock_Gorge.JPG]File:Ithaca](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Hemlock_Gorge.JPG%5DFile:Ithaca){kind=link}
