<p>I can't decide between Cornell Chemical Engineering and Carnegie Mellon's Electrical Engineering. Both are really great!</p>
<p>My take: Cornell is an Ivy League school, and as much as I don't want to admit it, Ivy League status does hold some weight (however, I'm not going to dwell on this). Cornell has a great overall engineering program (the ChemE isn't ranked that high though), and actually may end up being cheaper for me than CMU. Carnegie Mellon's Electrical Engineering also has a great overall engineering program and has an AWESOME Electrical Engineering program. How hard is the ECE program at CMU? I've heard that the engineering workload at Cornell is pretty hardcore.</p>
<p>Another thing I'm considering is ChemE vs EE. I've been told that job prospects for EEs are better than those for ChemEs. I haven't had much experience with computers, but I did find the electromagnetism and circuits units from high school physics very interesting (which probably have little to do with college-level courses but is worth mentioning). I am pretty good with chemistry though. I looked through some past forums regarding EE vs. ChemE, learned a few things from them, but additional insight would be wonderful: if possible, share your thoughts about job prospects, salaries, and what exactly do ChemEs and EEs do...</p>
<p>I realize I may get some biased answers here, so I posted a similar post in the Cornell forum... Any advice is much appreciated!</p>
<p>These are both excellent schools for engineering. If your concern is about the potential impact or wow factor for future internships, employment or graduate school in engineering- either school will get you the resume punch you seek. Yes, an Ivy league diploma holds a great deal of weight-- but unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer or go into something other than engineering or science–CMU is equally highly rated and highly regarded. Cornell has a much stronger chemistry department overall-- should you decide to become a chemist-- having several Nobel Prize winners on staff in both chemistry and physics. (and others). CMU has comparable awards in science, engineering and computer science from its faculty.</p>
<p>CMU offers more opportunities for undergrads to engage in research than Cornell does simply because of the numbers of undergrads vs. grads and student-faculty ratios.</p>
<p>Cornell is in a beautiful rural settings…CMU is in a city offering many sports & cultural events that Cornell does not offer. Weather sucks both places-- long snowy winter. If you like to ski-- you can do that at Cornell more easily only 30 minutes away.</p>
<p>Academics-- comes in very equal. You can switch majors in engineering in both programs very easily as the freshman classes are nearly identical in all engineering programs. Engineering core classes are about chem, physics, math and some intro-electives in engineering and freshman english.</p>
<p>You need to decide about the fit to the student body-- and that is not easily done in one overnight visit. In fact it is probably impossible to determine that without talking to lots of students.
Cornell is large, 4x larger than CMU. Cornell has a larger greek systems in place. Cornell gives you more opportunities outside of science and engineering should you ultimately say - hey, I want to be an English major! While you can major in English in CMU-- why would you want to do so - when you could do so at a place like Cornell. Especially true for history, politics, language, agriculture, etc.</p>
<p>Both my children had the Cornell vs. CMU decision for engineering. One is thrilled with CMU and the other is soon going to equally thrilled. </p>
<p>Best of luck-- you cannot go wrong with either school in either major! Pick where you heart rests…and if money is significantly different- than let that be the final factor in favor of one school or the other if all else feels equal to you. You will decide…you will wake up one morning and know which one feels right…place your deposit and don’t have any second thoughts or regrets…</p>