<p>I'm trying to figure out where I may apply early decision next year. I think it will either be Cornell or Dartmouth. I want to go to a school where my courses offer a challenge, but I still have the ability to party on weekends, and do some activities during the school year, like mountain biking, hiking or fishing. I'm really into the outdoors. I want to be in a beautiful natural setting. And I don't want other students feel like they are directly competing academically with each other, promoting egotism and such. I am more into science and math than the humanities, but I wouldn't limit myself to ONLY math and science courses. I might major in some environmentally focused area.</p>
<p>I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible here.</p>
<p>Partying: Dartmouth (slightly)
Outdoor life: Cornell (dominating win)
Humanities: Honestly can’t say, would call it a split.
Math/Science: Cornell (dominating again)
Environmental/Ecological/Nutritional Majors: Cornell (Dominating) </p>
<p>NORMALLY I would say Cornell vs Dartmouth is a pretty close call, but in the case of what you’ve described, I would say Cornell would be a really good fit.</p>
<p>Wow, you’re exactly like me haha, and my decision came down to Cornell and Dartmouth as well. Both schools are definitely going to be a challenge and both have the best party scenes in the Ivy League (Dartmouth is well known for this, Cornell tries to act as if all they do is study but there is definitely a party scene). You will find immense activites at both schools, maybe more so at Cornell with the larger school and student body. The settings are both very natural and prestine, Cornell is most noted for this one. As for science, math, and anything environmental I’d have to say Cornell, slightly. For humanities I’d give the edge to Dartmouth, once again slightly. Both schools are awesome, work hard, party hard prestigiousuniversities. I chose Cornell because I’m more of a big school guy</p>
<p>I will say that if you come to Cornell for math/science, your opportunities to hike/bike/fish will be fairly limited, unless you’re some sort of a super genius. You’ll have time to party on weekend nights, but as the semester winds down I think you’ll spend most of the daytime on schoolwork, leaving you little for nature exploration purposes. At least, that’s my life as a CS major. Dartmouth is probably similar though.</p>
<p>You will meet way more math/science type in Cornell than Dartmouth, so take that into consideration.</p>
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<p>I think this is highly variable from student to student. I knew engineers who would spend their study week packpacking in the Dacks or would think nothing of getting home from class and go skiing or do a circuit of Cayuga Lake.</p>
<p>I would say that there are just as many students interested in the outdoors at Cornell as there are at Dartmouth, it’s just that at Dartmouth you will find much higher percentages. Cornell has a fantastic outdoor education program and a pre-orientation freshman wilderness trip.</p>
<p>The fact that you are really interested in the environmental sciences makes it hard to not recommend Cornell. My only pause would be if you wanted more of a homogeneous student body experience (e.g. everybody running around a fire at homecoming).</p>
<p>Well, considering that my courses at either place would be similar, don’t you think that I would probably end up do about the same amount of work in the end? and have the same amount of free time? Or will Dartmouth’s D-Plan in comparison to Cornell’s semester system make a difference in the amount of work? When I visited Dartmouth, I liked how everyone was friendly with everyone, which I think might have been because of the small homogenous student body, but when I visited my sister at Cornell (She is PAM major in Human Ecology), I liked how EVERYONE on her floor (in Clara Dickson Hall) was friendly, and they all went to parties together, and all hung out in the hallways at night. I mean I like that close knit sort of family-like bonds. Also, I don’t want to be stressed out. Also, my current SAT scores I don’t think are at Dartmouth level. I have only taken them once and my score out of 1600 is 1410 (790 math and 620 reading). My reading may not be good enough for either, but I will get a tutor before the October test. Still, I don’t know if I will get it up enough. I mean if my SAT scores aren’t high enough for Dartmouth, I wouldn’t waste my time there. Ugh, I really don’t know.</p>
<p>are you a NY state resident? how did your sister score on the SAT? </p>
<p>you said
this depends on how well you organize your time and execute your work…</p>
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<p>Cornellians do develop intense family-like bonds with each other. It’s just that you are less likely to have a lot in common with a random student you encounter because there is more academic and socioeconomic diversity at Cornell.</p>
<p>Getting into Dartmouth with anything below a 700 reading and a top 2% class rank will be very tough. The Ag School likes people with an interest in the field, above all else.</p>
<p>Resurgam: Yeah I’m from Long Island. My sister got 1420/1600 (760 math 660 reading).</p>
<p>CayugaRed: I haven’t had any coursework or tutoring for the SAT yet, so I plan on getting that stuff, and hope to get a 700. My school doesn’t rank, so to be completely honest, I don’t know where I would be placed. I know my GPA isn’t the greatest though. THey only tell us our weighted, which is a 98 for me. I calculated my unweighted on a 4.0 scale and its something around a 3.93ish. Still, the ACT may come in handy, I have been getting 33s on practice tests, which may put an end to the SAT crisis, but not sure yet. I do think I have an interesting resume though, which is a bit different from the ordinary, but I mean admissions are really unpredictable. Hopefully, I can get some tutoring and get the numbers up a bit. I think if I fail to break 700 on reading, my chance at Dartmouth may be small, but their middle 50% range does extend to the 600s, and my math is over their 75th percentile. I really do have an interest in the field, which hopefully will help for Ag. I’ll probably do some environmental major, but I like the more science aspect of it rather than the policy, so I may do Science of Natural and Environmental Systems or while I don’t know much of it, the Biology Major with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Still don’t know. But do you have any time at Cornell to chill a bit with your friends, or walk under the falls or hike or bike or any of the outdoorsy things?</p>
<p>Also, how much do SAT Subject Tests play a role. I have taken 3 so far including math 1, chem and bio. Math was 760, bio was 740 and chem was 800, but I just took physics and math 2, and haven’t gotten them back yet, but I am pretty certain they are both above 780.</p>
<p>your subject tests look very strong.</p>
<p>Academically, I would say Cornell is more of a competitive environment, in math/science or humanities.
however, I must say that humanities professors at dartmouth are slightly more renowned than those of cornell while cornell is a science powerhouse</p>
<p>Thanks NJDS. And I just got back both the Math Level 2 and Physics SAT Subject Tests, and got 800s on both of them, which makes me a bit happy. By any chance does having 3 perfect SAT Subject Tests give me a little bit of a leg up compensating for my mediocre SAT reading score of 620?</p>
<p>^^800s on chem, math, and physics = very good</p>
<p>"… some activities during the school year, like mountain biking, hiking or fishing. "</p>
<p>You can no doubt find your own information, but here’s some links</p>
<p>[Geneva</a>, Ithaca, & Watkins Glen Area Mountain Biking - Mountain Bike Trails](<a href=“AllTrails: Trail Guides & Maps for Hiking, Camping, and Running | AllTrails”>AllTrails: Trail Guides & Maps for Hiking, Camping, and Running | AllTrails)
[Ithaca</a>, Syracuse, & the Finger Lakes Region Hiking - Hikes](<a href=“AllTrails: Trail Guides & Maps for Hiking, Camping, and Running | AllTrails”>AllTrails: Trail Guides & Maps for Hiking, Camping, and Running | AllTrails)
[Ithaca</a> NY: Finger Lake’s Fly Fishing, Upstate New York’s Undiscovered Fly Fishing and Outdoor Resource](<a href=“mwflytying.com”>mwflytying.com)
[Finger</a> Lakes Fishing Tips and Information](<a href=“http://cayugafisher.net/pages/fishing_info.php]Finger”>http://cayugafisher.net/pages/fishing_info.php)</p>
<p>“I want to be in a beautiful natural setting.”</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=“Unexplained Bacon's Photo Galleries at pbase.com”>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>
![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}
<p>"I am more into science and math than the humanities, but I wouldn’t limit myself to ONLY math and science courses. I might major in some environmentally focused area. "</p>
<p>When considering how Cornell might mesh with yur interests, please keep in mind the resources of all of its colleges, not just one. I imagine you will find that several of its colleges offer courses and programs of study that may be of interest.</p>
<p>Also, perhaps this maybe of interest:
[Cornell</a> Center for a Sustainable Future](<a href=“http://www.sustainablefuture.cornell.edu/index.php]Cornell”>http://www.sustainablefuture.cornell.edu/index.php)</p>