Cornell vs Claremont McKenna

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>So, I was just taken off the waitlist at Claremont McKenna College, so now I have a bit of a dilemma: do I go with the southern californian LAC or the large northeastern university?</p>

<p>I'm looking at economics/possible finance work/possible tech business.</p>

<p>The weather question isn't really a massive matter for me, we can ignore that for now. </p>

<p>Aid/price is not a question whatsoever.</p>

<p>On the margin, I like the Claremont consortium's size, but I also kind of like Cornell's overall atmosphere.</p>

<p>I'm going to see if I have the chance to visit before I have to make a decision, but that's up in the air as of now.</p>

<p>Any opinions?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Anyone?</p>

3

<p>suggest:
-Check the registrar’s’ list of course at both institutions the compare what you can learn in each setting.
Claremont consortium are very small schools.

  • investigate the area around the Claremont colleges. I looked into it a bit when S got into Pitzer, didn’t get great press. But did not visit. IIRC boring, not great suburbs, lots of smog. pretty far to LA, actually. (and I don’t like LA anyway. personally, one has to drive to get anyplace there. YMMV)</p>

<p>Otherwise; school has good rep, classic big-school/small school tradeoffs, but also in very different locations and settings.
Do you like vanilla ice cream? or chocolate…</p>

4

<p>Frankly, I don’t know much about the California school you are considering. Perhaps it has a vaunted reputation in California. But if you plan on having a degree from an internationally recognized, elite Ivy League university, you might want to consider the consequences of having a worldwide network of alumni contacts.
Second, Cornell has 7 colleges and over 4,000 course offerings. Consider the possibility that you may want to change majors or combine majors as you develop intellectually.
Third, although Cornell has 14,000 undergraduates, each college is quite small. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences is the second smallest in the Ivy League. </p>

5

<p>…however at least some CAS courses are enrolled in by a good chunk of those 14,000 undergraduates, particularly in the lower level survey courses. And everyone lives together in the dorms. The effective experience for a CAS student is not that of an LAC. It feels like the larger, diverse university that it is. It will definitely be a different experience.</p>

6

<p>The most distiguishing feature of Cornell, to me, is brought about by the confluence of its seven distinct undergraduate colleges. Together they create tremendous diversity, in terms of the breadth of types of people who are attending and the humongously broad range of course offerings. And energy. But they also create synergy, when offerings in the various colleges expand upon what is available within and around a particular discipline. And even at times a useful redundancy, with some similar courses different in nuanced ways, which you may variously prefer.</p>

<p>For example, for someone interested in economics and finance, at Cornell your vistas are not limited to the College of Arts & Sciences. The Dyson school in CALS is highly-ranked among undergraduate business programs,
CHE offers studies in consumer economics. ILR offers studies in labor economics. The Hotel school offers finance related courses and studies in real estate development. The engineering school offers operations research, a branch of which is essentially mathematics applied to business problems.</p>

<p>The presence of the graduate school, and the graduate business school, on campus means there will be frequent activites and lectures in the field,at advanced levels.</p>

<p>You will meet people from all over the country, and the world.</p>

<p>As an alumnus the university offers many alumni activities, lectures, etc. There’s been an alumni club every place I’ve lived. The university, and its academic reputation, is well known. I jokingly say that a fringe benefit is that people who don’t really kow me well presume that I am smart.</p>

<p>It’s an academicaly demanding school, no question. And the weather is not always pleasant. But there is so much to learn and become there, and it’s beautiful. Also life in a college town is a unique experience, that I personally loved There are over 30,000 people there who are between the ages of 18 and 30.</p>

<p>It’s not perfect, but there are those who love it.
have you seen this?
<a href=“http://vimeo.com/23897683”>http://vimeo.com/23897683&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Course Descriptions - Cornell University - Acalog ACMS™”>Course Descriptions - Cornell University - Acalog ACMS™;

7

<p>@monydad—excellent, excellent post! You perfectly captured so much of what I think makes Cornell special. Your first paragraph provides a wonderful summary.</p>

<p>I ‘used’ the university the way you described, taking courses in Ag Ec, ILR, Hotel, ORIE, & the Johnson School, all in the process of cobbling together my own business degree. The university has now codified that approach in the Dyson U/G business minor, but it was fun digging through the paper course catalog to find interesting courses. I still regret that I was never able to take a course in City & Regional Planning within AA&P; there were too many pre-reqs to satisfy in my remaining semesters. </p>

<p>And, yes, the weather is not always pleasant….but it is a great place to go to college.</p>

8

<p>“And, yes, the weather is not always pleasant”</p>

<p>This might be the mother of all understatements. LOL</p>

<p>Monydad’s description of Claremont is not very accurate. For example, there is very little pollution, if any.</p>

9

<p>Just relaying what I recall reading, have never been there. According to this, apparently things have improved,
Though still perhaps less than ideal.
<a href=“air pollution?? - Pomona College - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/312571-air-pollution-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>I would chose Claremont McKenna for its strong undergraduate programs (especially in what you want to study), stellar residential life, happy students, venturesome location, and sunny weather. CMC’s reputation is accelerating at a rapid level. In the 60 or so years that it has been established, CMC is now the most selective LAC by admission rate, and their graduates rank among the highest for average income according to PayScale. In a 2003 study for graduate school placement, CMC was the 8th best LAC for placement to the top programs (<a href=“http://www.inpathways.net/top50feeder.pdf”>InPathWays - Discover latest hot new trending topic, insights, analysis), and higher than Cornell. Though that shouldn’t be seen as Cornell being a worse place, but rather that CMC will open similar doors to elite places for you.</p>

<p>CMC’s offerings, both academically and experiential, are greatly expanded by the Claremont Consortium, which bring the course offerings to 2500, the dining halls to 7, the student body to 7000, and countless events all within a 10 minute walk from CMC. This isn’t just a simple large university vs. small LAC debate; CMC and the other Claremont Colleges have a more balanced vibe.</p>

<p>That being said, the schools are very different. Location is perhaps the most interesting difference, but there are others. Cornell will be more recognized in the public, and probably also among elite circles (though, again- CMC graduates are doing phenomenally). Cornell has a bunch of academic offerings that the 5C’s will not have, so that is worth investigating. Cornell also has Greek Life. CMC has a liberal arts experience and education; this is evident in the faculty relationships and classroom experiences that CMC students are extremely proud of, and that Cornell is not really known for.</p>

<p>Both top choices! Best of luck with your decision! But don’t forget this ;)</p>

<p><a href=“http://in.princetonreview.com/in/2012/08/the-college-with-the-most-satisfied-students-claremont-mckenna-college.html”>http://in.princetonreview.com/in/2012/08/the-college-with-the-most-satisfied-students-claremont-mckenna-college.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

11

<p><a href=“Tufts, Claremont McKenna or NYU!? - #9 by nostalgicwisdom - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>Tufts, Claremont McKenna or NYU!? - #9 by nostalgicwisdom - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums;

<p>My personal experience about the location (I go to Pomona). The smog issue is blown out of porportion; there are a couple of days (just a couple) where the mountains are made invisible by the smog, but it doesn’t come over to campus due to the high number of trees and the shielding effect of mountains on three sides. The smog issue is more present during the summer, when you won’t be here.</p>

12

<p>Cornell is a great school with a rich, storied tradition, and great research facilities.</p>

<p>That said, I honestly believe that the undergraduate experience at Claremont McKenna is unparallelled…and, not just referring to those who major in Govt, IR, Economics (which is what the school has largely managed to establish its national reputation on in such a short time). </p>

<p>Just check out the speakers at The Athenaeum, and I challenge anyone to find an institution of higher learning where an undergraduate can have dinner in a relatively intimate setting, with world-class speakers on a variety of
subjects, ALMOST EVERY NIGHT (except weekends)…this, at a college of around 1250 students!</p>

<p>Enough has been written about the advantages of small,intimate classes at top LACs (world-class professors - no such thing as a TA - who know you by name…often hold classes at their homes, etc).</p>

<p>The other unique aspect of CMC is its membership in the Claremont consortium (where students can take classes at the 4 other 'Cs"…Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps.), which is basically like one big campus, as its contiguous, but with each college having its own unique campus, architecture, etc. This is unique in American higher education, as its modeled after the Oxford setup, as opposed to the typical 'eastern LA consortium…i.e., Williams, Wesleyan, etc. where you need to take a bus to go to the other colleges.</p>

<p>Kaarboer, I’m 'not saying Claremont is better for everyone…you are fortunate to have two great choices…both wonderful schools, but different in many ways.</p>

<p>I believe you said you had visited Cornell, and were visiting Claremont this weekend.
Let us know how it goes…best of luck!</p>

13

<p>So, to let you guys know, I was going to go Cornell… until I was taken off UChicago’s waitlist.</p>