Cornell or Duke.. what should i do now??

<p>hello.</p>

<p>ohkay. i got into Cornell (yAY!) and... duke at the same time.
i am in dilemma. (i'm from florida btw)</p>

<p>for now, i wanna do BioMedical Engineering, which cornell does not have a major in. (cornell has minor tough) in contrast, duke has a great BME program.</p>

<p>tell me EVERYTHING about cornell (besides stuffs i've already read from a booklet :))
to be honest, I gotta be in a place where CREATIVITY is huge (is cornell?).
plus i like to have some family atmosphere as well as some personal attention(cornell seems to lack this since it's a big school)</p>

<p>please convince me why i should choose Cornell, or not.</p>

<p>what's your stats dreaming? I got into cornell to, applied duke as well, but i couldn't find the id key whatever they ask at the duke website, so i can't check my stats online? I hope I get in duke too.</p>

<ol>
<li>Cornell has one of the best engineering depts. anywhere, period.</li>
<li>Cornell does not have a BME major because they feel theres not enough material in MBE to make it a major. so if you went to cornell you'd probably end up actually learning more ultimately at cornell.</li>
</ol>

<p>cornell's food is awesome...
the kids like to party
since the school is divided into lots of smaller schools, it doesnt feel as big. Not that its as segregated as this makes it sound, but think of say, engineering as your college, and all the other schools at cornell as neighboring colleges. Engineering is relatively small; CAS is the biggest. for an engineer especially, its the resources of a large university with the benefits of a smaller one. also once you get out of intro classes, your class size drops dramatically. I've heard of courses where there are 2 or 3 students and the professor. In large classes, while the professors reputedly dont come to you, they are very available. going to office hours puts you face to face with the professor, not an assistant. also, for the very large classes, very qualified assistants, TAs, w/e you want to call them, will break down into small-group review sessions with you. Once again, the benefit of a world-class professor, and also of a small group. the TA is reviewing, not teaching.</p>

<p>plus cornell's large size makes it a self sustaining community. big name artists like Snoop Dogg and the Game are coming to slope day this year. kanye west came last year i think, and the rolling stones are said to have given one of the best concerts of theirs EVER at cornell. Thats pretty awesome for a college off the beaten path.</p>

<p>Princeton U has the advantage of being halfway between phila and NYC and having Mccarter theater, one of the most active in the country. Cornell can measure up to that. hope that puts a good word in for cornell. anything else PM me</p>

<p>yup...i have dinner with professors from all fields every wednesday night at my house dinner. gotta love the dorm networking (they are faculty fellows...or my dorm calls them house fellow...we have 35 professors including ezra cornell and hunter rawlings...) and many of the professors actually LIVE in your room (they are called house professor...and each townhouse gets one and each dorm gets one). yes, some professors are obsessed with their research and you will never be able to talk to them, but many are friendly, personable, and eager to do activities with their students.</p>

<p>thanks so much sparticus800 , quynh2007 (pton comment was kinda random tough -_-)</p>

<p>(arr.r hate to say this, but having heard cornell is really hard in terms of workload and everything.. arrR)</p>

<p>could anyone compare Cornell with Duke??
how doese Cornell's Chemical engineering do?? (havent heard much tough)
how is Ithaca?? (like creativity , family-ness, and laid back atmosphere and stuff)</p>

<p>sorry just trying to give an example of a really entertainment privledged school (i happen to know alot about pton living in the town), and show how cornell can compare to it. thought you might be interested in the social opportunities by comparison. sorry i dont know much about duke, other than its great academically and at bball</p>

<p>duke is great.... pick it over cornell</p>

<p>we have architecture, textile, hotel management (create projects like building hotels!)...lots of creativity going on besides just art majors...however, that's not really pertinent to BME. duke is great for that. i also know plenty of engineers at cornell who transfer out b/c they realize it's not for them...and they have 6 other colleges to go into. idk about duke tho.</p>

<p>That describes Cornell and Ithaca in a nutshell.... Go visit... you'll love it!</p>

<p>As for workload... do believe it... it's a myth... of course it's challenging... but so will Duke be... if you don't want that you should go to your local community college....</p>

<p>Duke is a fine school... but CORNELL IS UNIQUE in its bredth and vareity of offerings... look very hard at what is going on at each campus... I think that what you'll find at Cornell is a simply unparalleled</p>

<p>Wharf</p>

<p>sempitern555 is both right and wrong, respectively ;)</p>

<p>This is a pretty tough choice. The overall breadth of Cornell Engineering blows Duke out of the water, but they are both great schools regardless. No question about that. I was in a similar situation as you 4 years ago. I had to pick Johns Hopkins BME vs. Cornell Engineering and I picked Cornell because it was overall much better. I ended up not doing BME so in the end it worked out. About half (maybe more) switch majors so keep that in mind. Chemical Engineering at Cornell is fantastic. Ithaca is cold and has long winters, but you get used to the snow. I know people from Florida and they adjusted fine. I'm not sure what you mean by creativity though ... we have an art museum, art classes, and lots of cultural stuff going on campus all the time. Intro classes here are very large and they can seem impersonal. That doesn't mean the professors are inaccessible, as long as you make an effort to talk to them outside of class. They are very receptive to undergrads. Once you get into your major, the classes become a lot smaller and more personal.</p>

<p>I'm sure a lot of this holds true for Duke too. VISIT BOTH SCHOOLS. Since you are so torn, this is an absolute must. Good luck and congrats!</p>

<p>i did nt mean to say i dont want to take hard classes.
i just dont like too much of competitiveness, but collaboration and all that jazz
(and again, "i heard", and also consider i am from the south, Duke is a lot more laid back and friendless whereas Cornell is tough and cutthroat blabhalh)</p>

<p>I will visit both school this month very soon. (and i'm excited yay~!)</p>

<p>Yes, it's a tough choice.
Can anyone tell me more about BME minor in cornell(perhaps one's who's doing it?)
by "Creativity" i meant, some kinda vibe/indie scene stuff going on. (i could totally feel that in NYC..) one Major Thing that hold me back is that Cornell is in kinda middle of nowhere.</p>

<p>Dreaming,</p>

<p>After I greaduated, I moved directly to Manhattan. While Ithaca may be geographically more remote than Duke, it is not culturally.</p>

<p>The VIBE IS STRONG and VERY CREATIVE. You must go visit. Do not let the naysayers who talk about bad weather, etc...deter you.</p>

<p>Cornell and Ithaca are just as happening as good old Manhattan... and they have the added benefit of having a very beautiful tourist region surrounding them... the finger lakes. It truly is the best of all worlds.</p>

<p>When you get out of college, you will likely end up living in a large metropolitan area because that is where the jobs are.</p>

<p>Attending Cornell is perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in a very cool smaller city.</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, Duke is a fabulous school, but you cannot dismiss Cornell because of the urban legends. GO VISIT!</p>

<p>Best of luck in your decision,</p>

<p>Wharf</p>

<p>ohkay here is another simple question</p>

<p>to be honest please.</p>

<p>which school is more well known (in a nation and abroad) ???</p>

<p>p.s ; i will post a reason of asking this later, but wont say here since from statistics, i learned this kinda information can alter responses
(but it's not because i'm a prestigious hoe;;)</p>

<p>duke is probably known more throughout the country soley for basketball. cornell's international reputation is much stronger than dukes</p>

<p>I'm interested in this thread too because I got into Cornell for the Hotel School but I also got into Duke (arts and sciences).
I basically want to pursue a career in business and the Hotel School would definitely jump start that (although maybe in a very very specific field) but many of Duke's programs will let me eventually enter the business world and allow me make it into good graduate school business programs. I'm just wondering what people here think. Where should I go to get a job in business, not necessarily in hospitality administration?
Thanks!</p>

<p>you shouldn't go to the Hotel school if you want to do business ...</p>

<p>shizz, that's a pretty ridiculous post there.</p>

<p>hotel school has the best record in terms of sending MBA students to top ten MBA schools. In fact, a whopping 51 percent of students that go on to get MBAs do their MBAs at top-ten nationally ranked MBA schools. A large percentage of students do indeed enter the business world. </p>

<p>this statistic is quoted directly from the hotel school brochure.</p>

<p>There is no real difference in reputation, both are equally strong, with a SLIGHT edge to Duke. You are splitting hairs though.</p>

<p>Even though Cornell doesn't have an undergraduate major in Biomedical Engineering, there's an undergraduate major called Biological Engineering. Essentially, you studied the same courses as you would in other school's BME. You can take as many courses offer from both the Biological Engineering department and the graduate Biomedical Engineering department. If you fulfill a certain type of requirement in Biological Engineeirng, you will get a concentration in Biomedical Engineering. You can also concentrate in Bioprocess, bioinformatic and one other concentration in the Biological Engineering department.
If you have your heart set on BME, then Duke is the best fit for you. However, if you are not sure the major, then Cornell would be better for you. Just an X factor. Cornell has one of the most advance nanotechnology centers on the East coast, so you should consider Cornell if you are interested in doing nanotechnology. Also, the new life science initiative building is underway. It will be a 140million dollars building for the advancement of biotechnology.</p>