I was admitted to both Cornell and Penn for Computer Science, and I am absolutely dead split between the two. I was wondering if anyone would be able to offer me advice in making a choice.
On the one hand, I love Cornell’s campus and the town of Ithaca, and they have a great engineering program that is usually ranked higher than Penn’s, but I’ve heard that the school is cutthroat, miserable, and grade deflated. I noticed there were nets under the bridges when I visited, which doesn’t seem to bode well for the mental health of the students. Not to mention that I really hate how Cornell is viewed as the “wannabe Ivy.” I also don’t like the focus on greek life, although I suppose that is a problem at Penn too. I’ve heard that Cornell students are more studious, which is a positive aspect, because I like being surrounded by people who want to talk about their studies all the time.
For Penn, they have great stats in terms of who recruits there and the starting salaries of their students is insanely high for Computer Science majors. They have a good engineering program, smaller than Cornell’s, which is nice because I don’t want to be lost in the crowd. I have some friends going there too, and the rep overall is much better (though the rep stems mostly from Wharton, from what I understand). But they have a reputation for being a bit of a party school, and I’ve heard the people there are unfriendly and snobby, and I’m not really social enough to attract a friend group. Not to mention, I’m not a huge fan of Philadelphia.
I don’t think there are significant differences in the quality of education, but who knows, there might be. Mostly I feel like Penn has better career services, but that Cornell has a nicer campus. I’m worried about the cultures of both schools. Has anyone been to either school, or just generally has advice? I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!