<p>I got accepted in Echols UVA. How would you weight between these two. thanks</p>
<p>visit both see which one you like more. There's no "wrong" choice here.</p>
<p>If you're a virginia resident, go to UVA. If not, visit both and decide. If you're a complete prestige whore, then go to Cornell because it's IVYOMGzLoLz and people on this site tend to value that.</p>
<p>Picking Cornell over UVA doesn't make one a prestige whore... fyi</p>
<p>No, of course it doesn't, but there are people on this site who would lead you to believe that Cornell would be the ONLY option in that situation...fyi.</p>
<p>If you pick Cornell over UVA based solely on prestige, then you're a prestige whore. If you pick Cornell over UVA for some valid reason, such as believing its engineering to be stronger, then that's perfectly all right.</p>
<p>Of course. Sometimes I worry about people on this site, though...</p>
<p>Some are actually rational, but yes.... there are a lot who worry me as well..... if I hear one more US News ranking cited.....</p>
<p>Well, according to USNews... haha jk</p>
<p>Prestige is in the mind of the beholder. There are some who think getting into UVa out-of-state is more prestigious than Cornell. There are plenty of people who got into Cornell but not UVa, and there are also many UVa students who turned out an Ivy to attend UVa for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>Tutu1922, what do you want to study?</p>
<p>i was making this decision last year, UVa won.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell. My son goes to UVa. Let me give you some things to ponder that might not be apparent.</p>
<p>UVa's strategic goals are encapsulated in something caled the 2020 plan. I've read the plan, and, while the goals are grand, I have a sense that they lack a certain focus on how to achieve them--especially in the sciences, engineering, advanced technology, and student experience. UVa has made little progress in allowing certain students to do a semester overseas (the e-school is particularly ineffective in this). Choose Cornell if overseas study is and important part of your academic arc. </p>
<p>Cornell's future plans cluster around the "great global university" concept generated by past president Hunter Rawlins. The four focus areas look to be well chosen--in my mind--and I believe Cornell has the vision and resources to get there. (I'm talking expertise, here, not money. Cornell has more money but it also has a larger infrastructure to support.)</p>
<p>As for the prestige factor, I think there's a regional nature to this prestige thing. North of the Potomac, Cornell has more prestige. Between the Potomac and the Rapohannock, they are about equal. South of that, UVa is more presitgious. </p>
<p>And, of course, it varies by area-of-study. UVa does nearly nothing in space science. Cornell undergraduates built parts of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opporunity(?). I'm thinking hard to find an area that UVa does well but Cornell does not. Political science, perhaps, but if Larry Sabato moves to Chicago then all bets are off.</p>
<p>UVa has more stability in its leadership: President Casteen, an able and well-respected leader, has been at UVa for some time. Cornell is in it's fourth president in two years. (Okay, Hunter Rawlings gets counted twice.)</p>
<p>Of course you can't go wrong with either school, and lots of people will tell you things you already know. (Did you know that Ithaca has worse weather than Charlottesville?) </p>
<p>UVa was founded by an early Democrat. Cornell was founded by an early Republican.</p>
<p>awesome post...thanks because im going through this decision as well</p>
<p>Redbeard,</p>
<p>You bring up some good points though I strongly disagree w/ you in regards to foreign study. Though the E-School may not promote it like many of UVAs other schools, UVa is very much about including foreign study as a part of the student experience. (In fact, UVA's goal by the year 2020 is to have at least 80% of its students study abroad during their 4 college years.) UVa has a number of its own exchange programs to places like Brazil, Tibet, Peru, Spain, Jordan, India, and China among others, and UVa students also have access to tons of other programs as well.
<a href="http://www.studyabroad.virginia.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.Home%5B/url%5D">http://www.studyabroad.virginia.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.Home</a></p>
<p>Furthermore, its because of UVAs push for more internationalization that it was aggressive about obtaining Semester at Sea, which the University is currently trying to raise the programs academic standards to UVAs level. </p>
<p>Plus, Virginia is the only American school in Universitas 21, a consortium of universities worldwide from Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
<a href="http://www.universitas21.bham.ac.uk/members/%5B/url%5D">http://www.universitas21.bham.ac.uk/members/</a></p>
<p>The students from the member schools partake in exchange programs, joint undergraduate research projects, and international conferences, etc. Personally, I think its pretty exciting stuff. This year's Universitas 21 Undergraduate Research Conference will take place in Brisbane, Australia. The first conference was held at UVa.
<a href="http://www.universitas21.com/students/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.universitas21.com/students/index.htm</a></p>
<p>Re. the Sciences, UVa has made some significant strides to improving itself since Virginia 2020 was first conceived just 6 years ago. In 1996, UVa conducted only $150 million in scientific research. Now, it does over $300 million. Plus, it's trying to expand its programs (like for example Computer Science/Information Technology with the planned construction of a new $50 million IT Engineering building.) UVa has a ways to go before it can compete at the level of say an MIT, but progress takes time.</p>
<p>i'd say uva.. cornell is too hard. echols gives you a lot of freedom.</p>