<p>Hello all, I am an international student and considering Cornell, Toronto or Waterloo as the place to spend my next 4 years. I would like to get some opinions regarding these 3 choices for studying computer science. Please help me decide. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>1.Cornell
2.Waterloo
3.Toronto
:)</p>
<ol>
<li>Waterloo</li>
<li>Toronto</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
</ol>
<p>Guys, is there any reason?</p>
<p>Cornell's by faarrr the best choice. Waterloo and Toronto are great places, don't get me wrong. But, its hard to beat the best Engineering/ Science Ivy, which has produced 32 Nobel Laureates, won more RoboCups and SAEs than any other place, has a diverse campus, great academics, friendly students, awesome research oppertunities, great Frat scene, Large International presence, very good counsellors, has sooo many courses on offer, a great degree of flexibility, professors who would appear in the news each day, and btw which Bill Gates is investing millions in... Also, u'll be taught by John Cleese and Bill Nye if you goto Cornell and have a chance to work in the same labs that Feynman, Hans Bethe, Carl Sagan and many other worked in.</p>
<p>Hence, Cornell>Waterloo>Toronto. {Unless ur getting much much better aid elsewhere}</p>
<p>Waterloo is no.1 in Canada for Computer Science, so its a better option than Toronto for Computer Science.
Cornell is the best among the three.</p>
<p>Yeah, but Cornell's in Ithaca... which makes Toronto the best city of the three, as mindboggling as it sounds. Which is why my ranking tried to reflect a bit more than quality of school/prestige ;).</p>
<p>I guess labs and professors are more important than the city. Moreover, Cornell's proximity to NY is also a plus.</p>
<p>Blobof,</p>
<p>True...Cornell's in the middle of nowhere. But, Almost everything you want is on campus or at Collegetown (which has the greates density of restaurants/unit km in the WORLD).
From Bowling Alleys to Theatres, from Dining halls to convinience strores, from Frat parties (with free all you can drink beer) to Science centres...its all on campus.
Look at it this way...a small city of 13,500 where everyone +/-2yrs of your age and have similar interests.</p>
<p>1.Cornell
2.Wateloo
3.Toronto</p>
<p>Cornell has has one of the best programs in CS in the world and the absolute best Ph.D program in theoretical computer science. Even though Waterloo has pretty strong academics and I would say it is on par with Cornell in that aspect it cannot give you the research opportunities that you will have at cornell due to its large size. Also Cornell has more affiliation with firms in the industry and more worldwide prestige. Even if you consider from a social aspect, Cornell has the best social scene with a bunch of fraternities, clubs and an absolutely gorgeous campus. Probably Toronto's social scene is better than Waterloo's</p>
<p>Great thanks to your opinions. Actually, I dont care about the social activities. But I do want a strong academic program with best schoolmates and profs. A large campus and flexible living environment may also be important.
So far, according to your suggestion, it seems that there's no way to choose UofT. But I also got the impression from others that UofT is comparable to an Ivy. And how about the acedemic comparision in CS beween Waterloo and Cornell?</p>
<p>Waterloo's a really good place...But, Cornell's much better.</p>
<p>Out of these choices, I'd pick Cornell unless you plan to:</p>
<p>1) live and work in Canada after graduation, or
2) work for MicroSoft </p>
<p>...and even then I'd consider Cornell.</p>
<p>Cornell is Ivy League, but note that it has less prestige than the major Ivy's like Harvard EXCEPT in computer science, where I'd argue that Cornell is my favourite of the Ivys. </p>
<p>Cornell has great name recognition even beyond the USA. U Toronto is probably #2 on the list in terms of recognition. U Waterloo is #3, and almost of unheard of outside of Canada, except in specific industries. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, and it's a big however, MicroSoft recruits specifically out of U Waterloo. The reputation of the U Waterloo Comp Sci programs is excellent, within that industry. So if computer science is your goal, then I'd rank the schools like this:</p>
<p>1) Cornell
2) U Waterloo
3) U Toronto</p>
<p>But if you think you may move from Comp Science into another field, such as management, at some point in your career, then I might rank them differently, as follows:</p>
<p>1) Cornell
2) U Toronto
3) U Waterloo</p>
<p>And no, U Toronto is not comperable to an Ivy - at least not in terms of international name recognition. But it is certainly a very fine school, one of the best in Canada. </p>
<p>If you are considering Cornell, also consider the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It has, arguably, as much prestige in this field as Cornell. Some might say more. You could also look at Carnegie Mellon to see if that's a fit.</p>
<p>Woh, so many great opinions from RoaringMice.
Firstly, I am dedicated to Computer Science (Engineering) and wont consider any other major.
Secondly, Microsoft can be one of my options in the future. I know Waterloo is really a great place for CS.
Thirdly, I sincerely love the large and historic campus of Toronto. Also it's absolutely better and more convenient for an international student to live there.
Last but not least, talking about the reputation, Toronto may be better than Cornell worldwidely.
So, I am still thinking about the choices. Anyhow, thank you very much for the suggestions.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Last but not least, talking about the reputation, Toronto may be better than Cornell worldwidely.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Please tell me you were high when you said that...</p>
<p>Seriously dude...toronto's good and all, but its not even .0001% of Cornell's prestige and repute (Cornell's the BEST Engineering and Science Ivy dude...Its not Ivy for nothing)</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that Cornell's a very good Engineering and Science school and Ivy is very famous. However, I believe much more people heard the name "Ivy" than "Cornell". You got to introduce Cornell using Ivy. Nevertheless, maybe Cornell is a better choice academically in CS than UofT.</p>
<p>You are pretty mistaken there.
Cornell's much more recognized internationally than Brown and Dartmouth in the Ivies. Its very much more recoghnized that UofT.</p>
<p>Lets take India. At my high school, which happens to be a feeder to Ivies and IITs(Do a facebook check on National Public School or check it up on Wikipedia (National Public School Indiranagar)) , People wouldn't have heard of Dartmouth or Brown or even Columbia. UofT Noone would know of. But, everyone knows of Cornell.</p>
<p>No, you misunderstood my meaning. I definitely agree Conl > Brwn, Dtmth in terms of reputation. But Ivy > Cornell. Also Harvard > Yale > Princeton > Cornell generally in terms of it.
Sometimes, when you try to introduce Cornell, you have to say it's an Ivy. But when talking about Harvard or Yale, people hardly do that. If a person even has not heard about Harvard, most likely he has not heard about Ivy.
Anyway, thanks for your advice. I'll take it.</p>
<p>From a University of Toronto student, i would say University of Toronto is a good school, however many things are lacking. I was a cornell reject, but i think if i were accepted, i would go Cornell!
Going to cornell, you'll be taught well, you'll be surrounded by top students who will keep your goals high!
At University of Toronto, everything is a mess! class sizes are big.
Engineering is competitive with loads of grade deflation.
Where are you from? I would think you are from Ontario, if you are, then definitely go to Ithaca, YOU DON'T WANT TO STAY HERE FOR ANOTHER 4 YEARS DO YOU?
best of luck in your college section.
remember
Cornell>University of Toronto ~ Waterloo</p>
<p>You want to do Computer Science, right?
For the lay man, undoubtedly Harvard, Yale and Princeton are miles ahead. Well, thats not how recruiters see it. Recruiters see departmental strength and the competitivness of the students in that major, also. Also, Cornell's academic rigour is more than HYP's in Engineering and Science. All recruiters know this and a student with >3.6GPA from Cornell ENG is hot property.
Digest these facts, Yield rate of Cornell Engineering>>>Harvard Engineering, which is a fair indicator of Engineering department at both places.</p>