<p>So I posted this in the CMU category, but I want some good responses. I visited both this past weekend. I was at Cornell for 3 days, and Carnegie for 1 day (just how the plane tickets worked out...) I loved both immensely. I thought after seeing Cornell that the decision would be clear-cut, but then when I saw CMU, I was equally impressed.</p>
<p>Here are some pros/cons I have in my mind:
Cornell - Really nice students, beautiful campus. However, it's not in a city as I would want, and it's really big.</p>
<p>CMU - In a nice city (Pittsburgh was surprisingly really nice), milder weather. However, I don't know about the students as much. At cornell, I had time to meet a few random students, and one of them even let me take a look at her town house. They were really friendly and inviting. Are students similar to this at cmu?</p>
<p>Basically they have equal academics (in my view), so that isn't a factor. CMU offers plenty of courses for me (plus cross-registration with Pitt), although I'm sure Cornell has more. Can anyone help me sort this out?! I'm going to visit CMU once more next week, but I would prefer to ease the stress by having a better idea of where I'm going now.</p>
<p>Btw, I'm an ECE major (very very likely), and I'm a sort of sociable-nerdy kind of guy.</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>There’s definitely going to be a broader type of students at Cornell – sociable nerds, jocks, super-nerds, thespians, hipsters, all-around average students, etc.</p>
<p>Additionally, although you are an ECE major I think you should consider the prospect that you don’t end up in that field. At Cornell it’s pretty easy to transfer between majors and colleges. How is it at CMU? Cornell and CMU may have equal academics in ECE, but I think Cornell has the edge in most subjects outside of ECE.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh is a great city. But Ithaca has its own special charm.</p>
<p>I was in the same situation when I was deciding where to go, and agree with Cayuga–Cornell and CMU are equals academically (at least in engineering), but Cornell has so much more to offer outside of academics. I felt similarly about the student body at CMU as you do…I wasn’t thrilled about the 60-40 guy-girl ratio and the fact that the majority of students there are either engineers or theater majors. The Cornell student body has a lot more diversity. </p>
<p>I was also surprised by how nice Pittsburgh was. My thoughts were, however, I will probably be living in or near a city my entire life, so why not spend 4 years in a place like ithaca. Ithaca really is an amazing town. </p>
<p>you may also wish to consider your career goals. I’m not sure about how CMU’s career services works, but Cornell does draw a lot of firms in a great variety of fields. Cornell will be (in my experience) more east coast based (particularly NYC). </p>
<p>Ultimately, I really did like CMU a lot and am definitely planning on considering it for graduate school.</p>
<p>As an alum of Cornell who has great respect for Carnegie and Pittsburgh, I’ll just add that you should not make your decision in this case based on weather. Any minute differences between Ithaca and Pittsburgh weather will not be worth going to the wrong school for you. Winter is winter. </p>
<p>I also wouldn’t worry about Cornell’s size. You can find your niche easily, or bounce from one niche to another or put a toe in 4 niches. Whatever you want. Certainly doesn’t feel that big once you figure out what you want to do there.</p>
<p>I also fall in the “you’ll probably live in a big city the rest of your life” crowd. It gets said a lot on here by myself and other alumni, but is no small point. For starters, Ithaca isn’t THAT small. I mean, there’s no shortage of good restaurants, theatre, live music, good groceries, etc… When you’re old enough to go out to clubs and have enough money to spend on all the cultural amenities, then city life will be far, far, far more enjoyable. No big city Cornellian I know has ever complained about their time amongst the gorges, wineries, and quirks of Ithaca.</p>
<p>I am an ECE major freshman right now, and I had to choose between CMU and cornell too. I definitely felt that Cornell had a better social life and a wider range of possibilities, plus they gave me a bit more fin aid, so I chose Cornell. I actually like CMU’s campus better though, since I dont care so much for nature.</p>