I’ve been fortunate enough to have been accepted to Cornell, Duke, and Brown, among other schools. I’m also fortunate that cost is an absolute non-factor amongst these schools.
Anyway, a quick background on me: I’d love to double major in CS and Applied Math with maybe an Econ minor, but the humanities are still very important to me; I’d want a school where top tech companies regularly recruit for internships; I love watching sports and playing them in informal settings; and I’d like a vibrant social atmosphere, but not one dominated by frats.
I guess I’ll assess each school individually now so you can get a sense of my pros and cons for each:
Cornell:
Pros
[] Great CS program, pretty good at applied math and econ
[] As a Tanner Dean’s Scholar, I have guaranteed funding for research
Cons
[] The weather, which is an especially salient factor since I’ve got asthma and get sick a lot
[] A bit too big for my tastes
[] Intense, cutthroat atmosphere in Engineering with everyone fighting to be above the curve (according to a grad who worked for my dad)
Duke:
Pros [ul]
[li] Probably the best econ program of the 3[/li][] Like I said, I looooovvve watching sports. So Duke basketball, obviously (as a side note, they’ve locked up 3 of the top 4 HS recruits so they might win the title next year). And Duke football was toying with the top 25 until they crashed and burned in the second half of the season.
[] Weather
[] Easy to double major
[] Especially strong alum network
Cons
[] Preponderance of rich, stuck-up fratboys
[li] Doesn’t seem to have amazing departments in CS and applied math[/li]
Brown:
Pros [list]
[] Probably the best all around academic experience. They’re great at CS, Applied Math, and alright at Econ. Because of the Open Curriculum, I’ll be able to concoct a customized academic path that’s got a healthy mix of the humanities and STEM courses. Lower competition and pressure b/c of Pass/Fail. I can drop/swap courses if I hate the profs/material because of their shopping period.
[] Providence is the chillest college town of the bunch
[] Great social scene for an Ivy. I know I’m likely to have the most fun here.
Cons
[] Brown’s image, especially in the Finance world. I want to explore the intersection of tech and finance for as long as I can, but eventually I’ll need to pick one. My dad works in finance, and he (and most of his co-workers) roll their eyes at mention of Brown. They think they’re lightweights. Maybe they’re not that well-respected in the tech circles, either?
[] The rampant liberalism. As a moderate, I wouldn’t want to be verbally attacked at every turn just because I don’t like Bernie Sanders, who in my book doesn’t understand basic economic principles (alright, I’ll stop politicizing things…but seriously, all these presidential candidates suck). I don’t like the image of batsht crazy chicks with like purple hair and dreamcatcher earrings screaming at me for being a bigot or chauvinist just because I didn’t express my thoughts in the most PC manner. I really hope I’m wrong, because if I am then I DEFINITELY go to Brown. If I’m right, I’ll probably pick Duke.
[li] Weather[/li][/ul]
Any input or additional information would be great, guys. Which best fits my academic needs? My desired social atmosphere?
Thanks in advance. Your thoughts, along with my final visits to these places, will be very influential in my ultimate choice.
@lostaccount Just personal preference, I guess. I don’t like how Ithaca’s in the middle of nowhere whereas Providence is very cosmopolitan and has lots of stuff to do.
Check out Gates Hall. It’s the computer science building that was recently constructed. Donated by Bill Gates because of all the great employees at Microsoft who came from Cornell. Clearly the best academic option for your interests. My S also did the Dyson Business minor for engineers and absolutely loved it. Nice combination for people like you. Don’t make a hasty decision based on weather…it’s 4 years and you will carry a Cornell engineering degree forever. My S. told us that international kids frequently told him that doing engineering at either MIT or Cornell was their goal. Congratulations. It’s clear you worked hard in high school and are talented.
The most important part of this process is not what others think, but what YOU think. Where do you feel most at home? Reread your own post and listen to yourself. You’ve already picked Duke, I think, and are just looking for confirmation of your choice.
I agree with that (and I’d say it even if he hadn’t picked my alma mater)! At the end of the day, the top students at Duke, Brown and Cornell are all equally well positioned to be world beaters.
@TheGreyKing What make you think I’ve picked Duke? Are you reaching into the depths of my subconscious that I can’t access? I’d like to think I’m undecided, in the truest sense of the word. I’m in love with the academics at Brown and Cornell, but the social scene (and basketball, as petty as it sounds) keeps me intrigued. I keep seesawing between schools every 30 mins or so.
How much money are you receiving for each school? If affordability isn’t an issue for you, I would definitely visit the schools the three and I think you’ll be able to more easily tell which is right for you. Congratulations on The Big Red!
@Burdened I didn’t apply for FA anywhere. And I’m doing just what you said – I’ll be visiting all 3 schools and going with what feels right for me.
@NerdyChica It’s great to see how enthusiastically you advocate for your alma mater, but there’s no need to get passive-aggressive. In the subjects I’m interested in, CS and Applied Math, Cornell and Brown have outstanding departments in both areas; I don’t know enough about Duke to definitively comment. If I liked Public Policy or Biomedical Engineering, I might be inclined to favor Duke, but I’m not. So in that sense, I stand by my comment – yes, I do think that Brown’s and Cornell’s institutional strengths better align with my academic tastes than Duke. But only by a hair.
I think the OP has an unusually good grasp of these three schools and their relative merits. I wanted to comment because you said that your father and a lot of his finance peers roll their eyes when they hear Brown. I think that is generally not something to worry about and Wall Street recruits very heavily at Brown. My brother is an investment banker and he said that you would be surprised how many people you encounter on Wall Street that went to Brown. Many of the econ or applied math hotshots go to Goldman Sachs, and I think Brown is an especially well-suited education for a tech oriented finance person, as both CS and econ/applied math are strong departments at Brown as the OP noted. I know of at least two Wall Street CEOs whose children are currently undergrads at Brown. Duke probably has a stronger “pipeline” to Wall Street than Cornell or Brown, but along with that goes the problem you identified that you have to put up with the Greek system and lax bros who are part and parcel of the Wall Street pipeline.
A couple of other observations: In terms of engineering/CS, I would rate Cornell the better of the other two, but it is a very intense and competitive engineering school. Brown CS has excellent tech recruiting and has a great network with Silicon Valley, but Duke and Cornell do as well. I saw one Silicon Valley magazine survey that said that all three schools are among the top 10 schools for where Silicon Valley recruits.
As for politics, Brown is more liberal than Duke, but you’re really talking about it at the margins; does that really make much of a difference to a college experience? No. In each school the reality is that two-thirds of the student body comes from very very wealthy big city liberal backgrounds who don’t wear their politics on their sleeves and are more concerned with a profession than with feeling the Bern. I would put politics far down on the list of reasons to choose a school especially because some of the schools are stereotyped or exaggerated in the the national media.
And I totally agree with you that Providence is a far better place to go to school than either Ithaca or Durham. The location is much more convenient for flying in and out of, getting to Boston, NYC or anywhere else on the eastern seaboard, and the campus is gorgeous. If I were choosing an idyllic college campus and town, I would put Brown very high up on the list.
Duke basketball will be great next year and may well take another national title.
Cornell CS grads are extremely highly regarded, in the same peer group as MIT, Stanford, and Harvard CS grads, but Brown CS grads are no slouch either. MongoDB was founded by a Brown alum and has a fondness for Brown CS majors.
You can create your own major at Duke: known as Program II, and is designed for multidisciplinary study. Judging from your interests, it might be a good option for you.
Economics is the second most popular major at Duke, so if you decide to minor in it, there is a very strong Econ dept at Duke.
On-campus incubator. Duke has invested in an Innovation Co-Lab. If you are of an entrepreneurial mind, then this is the place for you. Equipment to use includes: 3-D printer, Epilog, Shopbot, makerbot and lots of other things.
All of the schools listed above are great choices, you can’t go wrong. But I hope you choose Duke.
@Sheroman2020II The Ivy League rating you cite seems a bit dated. Brown and Providence are ten times better than they were twenty years ago. Ithaca is pretty much frozen in time. Providence is safe, compact, walkable, interesting, and has great, great Italian, seafood, and Portuguese restaurants and a growing foodie culture. Anyway, I think you have to take into account the geographic location. No matter how nice Ithaca itself is, it is a heck of a difficult place to get in and out of. If you don’t live in upstate NY, it’s hard to get home for long weekends or catch a flight out of there. Providence has a direct-jet airport, tons of Amtrak dailies, plus Boston is only one hour away. I went to college in a place in a place like Ithaca that was four or five hours from the nearest major metro area, and I can tell you if felt very isolating for my four years.