<p>I plan on majoring in engineering and going to med school. I need a high GPA. I'm completely split on which one I should apply ED to. Cornell has better reputation but Northwestern as better research opportunities. Can anyone help me?</p>
<p>If you think you have a chance at it, Northwestern’s HPME should probably be your first choice, even above engineering.</p>
<p>But, excluding HPME, I’d lean towards Cornell. Research opportunities in medical-related fields are going to be plentiful there, and while the medical school is in NYC, Northwestern’s is still in downtown Chicago, meaning on-campus opportunities for both will be approximately the same. </p>
<p>As for GPA, neither school has an incredible amount of grade inflation, but Northwestern arguably has slightly more (though not enough to really matter), and AFAIK, neither weed out pre-Meds significantly.</p>
<p>I will say that Cornell Engineering generally beats Northwestern Engineering, but since you’re looking at going into med school, that factor isn’t extremely important.</p>
<p>Cornell is, however, more recognizable as a good school to the average person than Northwestern is–there is something to be said for Ivy clout, after all.</p>
<p>Given this choice, I’d go with Cornell, but I’ll admit that the question has more to do with environment than with academics–do you want to be in a town that’s entirely based around the student population surrounded by farmland, or a sleepy suburb (with access to one of America’s great cities)?</p>
<p>Other, similar options: Duke, Hopkins, Rice, and Penn.</p>
<p>Northwestern is in Evanston which is 30 mins away from Chicago and Cornell is in the middle of nowhere. Research opportunities don’t concern because I can go anywhere in the country during the summer to do research. I assume Cornell’s engineering is cutthroat by the number of suicide rates but in general, which school will I be able to earn a higher GPA?</p>
<p>I’d re-think engineering if you’re intent on med school. Med schools want high GPAs. A 3.5 in an engineering school is really good. Med schools don’t care if you major in dance as long as you’ve taken the prerequisites.</p>
<p>Ok but if I don’t get into med school I want to fall back on engineering</p>
<p>Let me just clarify something in regard to your comment above: Cornell DOES NOT have a higher suicide rate than anywhere else. People always say Cornell is notorious for suicides. However, that is not true in the slightest and it is very frustrating for me to keep reading it. I volunteer for Ithaca’s suicide prevention and crisis services and I can tell you that Cornell is one of the safest places to go. The rates are no higher than anywhere else (and may even be lower). Suicide rates only seem higher because the few suicides here are often done in very dramatic ways, such as jumping off gorges and bridges, and are therefore made more public. Many of these suicides are not even Cornell students but rather ithaca residents. In recent years, nets have been installed under the bridges and the Crisisline number is posted around sites where people have died by suicide in the past. So please pay no heed to that stereotype as it is not accurate. Cornell’s engineering may be “cutthroat,” but any suicides you may hear about are largely unrelated.</p>
<p>I really don’t have any idea how you can tell that Northwestern has better research opps than Cornell. And with engineering as your major, I’d go with Cornell.</p>
<p>Can you afford either school? And what will the rest of your list consist of, in the off-chance you don’t get into either school.</p>
<p>Cornell and Northwestern are peer schools: faculty and program quality, student strength, academic rep.</p>
<p>You can’t make a wrong choice here.</p>
<p>It sounds like your real issue may be which major to choose to get the high GPA you’ll need to get into med school, while still getting the type of undergrad education you think will support you in lieu of med school.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I’m going to apply to all the UC schools, USC, UDub, UT Austin, </p>
<p>Here are my stats</p>
<p>2290 sat
35 act
4’s and 5’s on 12 ap tests
gpa: 3.86 UW 4.39 W</p>
<p>Berkeley, Northwestern, or Cornell is a reach for anyone. Austin is a reach for the OOS student because of the limit they put on OOS students of 10% in any class. I don’t know why USC and UDub and the other UCs are on the list unless you’re from CA. They’re not all particularly strong [any kind of] engineering schools. Good GPA and very good ACT. </p>
<p>Have you run the net price calculators for these schools? Have your parents said how much money, a number, they will provide you each year?</p>
<p>Money is not an issue. Are my stats good enough for Cornell or Northwestern ED? I haven’t listed my EC’s but their pretty decent. </p>
<p>I know people with lower stats and no need of FA get into Northwestern by ED. I am not familiar with Cornell’s admission. Two Cornell engineering students I know seem to study much harder than the Northwestern engineering student I know.</p>
<p>Well one difference that hasn’t been mentioned is that Northwestern has a smaller undergraduate population, which means overall smaller class sizes than Cornell</p>
<p>Why not go to Cornell then is your roommate commits suicide you can get a 4.0? No, the Cornell suicide thing is just another college myth, but if they occur they get inordinate media attention.</p>
<p>I also wouldn’t draw that conclusion about Cornell class size. The different colleges at Cornell are each small.</p>
<p>
On the contrary, I think the wrong choice would be applying ED to either. </p>
<p>Northwestern and Cornell are rather different universities. Given the OP’s waffling between them - and that a third, also very different university (Duke) was in the running only a few days ago - I think ED is a terrible decision. </p>
<p>As far as I can tell, the OP has only cursory knowledge of either university. Vague interests in pre-med and engineering are hardly grounds for the selection of a college, particularly a binding ED commitment! </p>
<p>“Why not go to Cornell then is your roommate commits suicide you can get a 4.0?”</p>
<p>Why, we have the exact same rumor going around at my boarding school. This is so weird.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Northwestern and Cornell are peers academically. For Engineering, I’d pick Cornell because its co-op program still allows you to graduate in 4 years, as opposed to Northwestern’s 5. But social life/Chicago is an important criterion, you can’t go wrong with Northwestern.</p>
<p>Oh, and if you’re planning on going to med school, don’t do engineering.</p>
<p>OK @warblersrule I worked my ass off to get those stats I want to go to a good school. early decision gives me the greatest chance for that. </p>
<p>I know it’s hard to convey the proper nuance in these quick posts, but OP, you are coming across as a jerk. This is a forum where an anonymous person (you) asks a question and gets a bunch of responses from anonymous posters. It’s up to you to “separate the wheat from the chaff”, but getting combative is the surest way to kill the thread. </p>
<p>Yes, OP, your stats are definitely good enough to get you into Cornell or Northwestern ED. Will they? There’s no way of telling. My D had incrementally lower stats, lots of ECs but little leadership, applied RD for non-engg, and didn’t get into either school. No one, I think it’s safe to say, can tell you that you will be admitted to either of these schools. I would think you’d have a better chance at Berkeley, but that’s another school where it’s hard to tell. If someone tells you what you want to hear about any of these three, read the last sentence of @mobius911’s post.</p>