<p>I got into Columbia and Cornell regular decision for engineering, and I'm fairly confident I'm going to do computer engineering ugrad and continue some engineering or computer science for grad.</p>
<p>That being said, I know Cornell has a better reputation for engineering, but how much better than Columbia? Will I still get the same intern opportunities, the same research facilities, the same job recruitments, at Columbia as Cornell?</p>
<p>I also like the liberal arts and want to learn about the humanities. I know Columbia has this with the core, but I feel it might be a little too much. Although I definitely want to focus on engineering, could I have a broad education at Cornell?</p>
<p>In terms of extracurriculars and social life, I want to join organizations (student council, service clubs, etc), meet a lot of people, and just have fun - not necessarily huge parties, but anything. I think NYC will be much better for this than Ithaca. I think I'd enjoy more smaller, tight groups with the option of having the big parties and campus spirit.</p>
<p>I want to try to visit both to see where I "fit", but I'm pretty sure I only have the time/money to visit one . I love the feel of the city and the intimacy people describe about Columbia, but I also love nature, the campus life, and the campus spirit that is found at Cornell.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend Cornell! As far as engineering reputation, especially for computer engineering, Cornell is much better. I don't know anything about career services at Columbia, but at Cornell, engineering career services is awesome. Almost any company you can think of comes to recruit at cornell (as well as smaller companies). There were 130 companies at the regular career fair, the next day at the technical career fair there were almost 200 companies!! As far as research facilities, I'm sure there is more money coming into research in engineering at Cornell than at Columbia. </p>
<p>As far as a "broad" education, as an engineering student you're required to take 8 liberal arts class, two of which are freshmen writing seminars, the rest you can choose from, and you're allowed to take more than 8. </p>
<p>As far as social life and extracurriculars, I think cornell has better on-campus activity because its NOT in a city. Instead of finding things to do in a big city, students at cornell are busy doing things on campus. There are 400 some clubs and organizations to join, and i think "smaller, tight groups with the option of having the big parties and campus spirit" describes life at cornell well. From someone I know who transferred from Cornell to Columbia (she couldn't live w/out a big city) she said most of all she missed the "on-campus" happenings and community that cornell has. </p>
<p>That being said, if you absolutely have to be in a big city, cornell def. isn't the place, but Ithaca isn't too bad, and its really pretty!</p>
<p>That's my input! If you couldn't tell, I'm an undergrad in ECE, so I guess i'm biased :)</p>
<p>Both programs are solid for engineering, but I think I'd have to give the edge to Cornell (hey, I'm biased, but that's my feeling). As a prospective CS major myself, I've enjoyed every CS class I've taken so far, and there are many high-quality professors and research opportunities. Visit both, sit in on some classes, and get a better feel for yourself.</p>
<p>As for liberal arts, Columbia will give you an abbreviated core in SEAS... but if you have the choice between being required to learn about the classics and other specific things, or getting to choose from the massive, massive variety of courses offered at a larger school like Cornell for your Liberal Studies requirements... :) Seriously, where else can you take courses like "Magical Mushrooms," "Introduction to Culinary Arts," etc. and satisfy requirements towards your degree (or just for fun?) From the seven schools and various disciplines, you'll find tons of interesting courses here.</p>
<p>I'm not sure why you think NYC would be better for joining organizations and meeting a lot of people. Cornell is just a bigger school and has more opportunities, more events, etc. Ithaca is not as isolated as it sounds, and there are plenty of things to do even if you're not into huge parties every night. And if you want campus spirit, come see a basketball or hockey game.</p>
<p>Now, if you're sure you're a city person, then that makes things different. But I don't think you should be so quick to dismiss Cornell. Maybe when you visit one, you can take a bus to visit the other? It's about $70 round trip to/from NYC.</p>
<p>If you seek them out, you will get better internships and research experiences in Computer Science at Cornell. Columbia pales in comparison to Cornell's engineering prowess. Cornell CS is at the same level as MIT, CMU, Stanford, and Berkeley. </p>
<p>Columbia engineering students tend to go into business (e.g. Wall Street) whereas a lot more Cornell engineers tend to follow research, academic, or engineering related careers (e.g. CS jobs at Google).</p>
<p>I also will echo the point Cornell tends to have a lot more campus spirit, extracurriculars, and ways to be involved as a 'student' than Columbia, where students tend to preoccupied with the fact that they are in New York City. The Cornell campus is basically a whole bunch of different, diverse "tight knit" student groups. Everybody has their own niche -- from the organic farmers to the jocks, the coffee shop poetry readers to the computer game programmers.</p>
<p>i would pick cornell. cornell engineering, esp cs department, is just way too good compared to columbia's.</p>
<p>The one advantage of Columbia's location is the ability to apply for internships in NYC throughout the year (i.e. spring and fall) and not just have to rely on waiting for the competitive internship positions in summer (that most students have to do for colleges not located near the city). I found some of my friends at Cornell disliking Ithaca's location for that reason. So I would visit both colleges and see what kind of college "feel" you prefer, a lively city or more "college" atmosphere at Cornell.</p>
<p>A friend of mine found a link on Cornell's site that indicated that Cornell's Engineering School (JUST THIS SCHOOL) has accepted approximately 30-40% of its applicants over the years, which in my opinion is VERY high, especially for an Ivy.</p>
<p>I will try to ask him for this link to share with you all. </p>
<p>So in terms of selectivity, it seems like Columbia is much higher.</p>
<p>With all due respects, acceptance rates tell you nothing. Reed and UChicago have relatively high acceptance rates as well, but I don't think anybody would discount the academic environment or experience at either of those two schools either.</p>
<p>One of the reasons why Cornell Engineering has such a high acceptance rate is because it competes for a lot of common admits with Stanford, CMU, and MIT, especially for those students studying computer science or electrical engineering. Less hardcore engineering-types are going to be applying to Columbia's SEAS. Columbia's position is also helped by it's location in New York City.</p>
<p>Cornell Engineering also offers fall or spring internships through it's fantastic Co-op program, and in reality, there's not all that much benefit of a 5-10 hour a week internship during the academic year.</p>
<p>Personally, I don't see the attraction of living in New York City as an undergraduate. You will have the rest of your life to live in cities, so why not spend a couple of years in more tranquil, pastoral settings? But that's just me.</p>
<p>The student quality of Cornell and Columbia Engineering is about the same. The quality of the programs is not.</p>
<p>"approximately 30-40% of its applicants over the years, which in my opinion is VERY high, especially for an Ivy...
So in terms of selectivity, it seems like Columbia is much higher."</p>
<p>Cornell's engineering school is much larger than most, including Columbia, therefore Cornell accepts more applicants, therefore the acceptance rate is significantly higher. It's a meaningless statistic and foolish to base your decision on. Posts with this acceptance rate are always followed up by posters asking if they should apply to engineering because "it's the easiest to get into". This stat doesn't take into account that the applicants have near perfect math scores, and a ton of science related activities.</p>
<p>The 2 campuses are so different, and you'll know which one is better for you. I hope you can visit them both. You'll</p>
<p>It's definitely a very hard decision. You all make excellent points - Cornell just seems to be better for straightforward engineering. However, I don't think by choosing Columbia I'd be gimped in the long run - if I do well in both schools, I'll probably have very similar opportunities and experiences, even if Cornell teaches with more of an straight engineering focus.</p>
<p>In terms of the co-op vs. internship, I can see the advantages and disadvantages of co-oping for a semester or a summer and interning every friday. They're different, and I definitely would do both.</p>
<p>I really don't care about bs acceptance rates and rankings; I know both are very good schools, with Cornell more recognized in engineering.</p>
<p>Also, even though I haven't received Cornell's financial package yet, Columbia's new financial initiative is better for my family than Cornell's, which is also a major factor.</p>
<p>As MomOfTwoTeens says, it's going to come down to the campuses. I'm trying to plan a bus ride to Cornell after visiting Columbia, but synching it with flights and everything is almost impossible and will be very expensive. Maybe after I visit Columbia I'll visit another one of Cornell's days, because I definitely think I need to see the campus and give it a chance.</p>
<p>Heh, this is a decision I wish I had the opportunity of making, the one I thought I'd be making come spring or earlier. I was going to apply to Columbia early, but I found out Cornell and Columbia are both ED, so I had to choose one. I chose to apply to Cornell, but it was a hasty decision (I had less than a week to think it through).</p>
<p>Anyway, I'd be interested in knowing which one you choose, and why. Hope you update us when you make your decision.</p>
<p>Thanks, I found a way to visit both next weekend, so we'll see what happens!</p>
<p>What made you chose Cornell?</p>
<p>Elec, how sure are you that you will remain in Engineering? My S chose not to apply to Columbia because students wanting to transfer out of Engineering are required to reapply for admission as a transfer into Arts & Sciences (and are not given any special consideration in doing so). On the other hand, at Cornell, it is not hard to transfer out of Engineering, and there is a procedure set up especially for this. Two years later, S is still in Engineering at Cornell, but in making his decision he was happy to know that he could change his mind.</p>
<p>I'm pretty confident that I'm going to stick with engineering. Even if I don't want to do Electrical Engineering, I can still stay in the Fu school and do Computer Science or Physics without having to transfer.</p>
<p>My confidence in wanting to do engineering makes me hesitant to pick Columbia; Cornell is much more well known for engineering than the Fu school.</p>
<p>Like I said, I didn't have much time to make this decision, and maybe I chose Cornell for the wrong reasons. I went to Columbia over the summer for it's summer program, and it was pretty fun. I loved the place. But it's campus is pretty small. You could fit 20 Columbias in Cornell.
Columbia says one of its biggest perks is that you could go to the city and what not. I figure I have my entire life to live in the city, but only one chance to experience a college life and college campus. And from what I heard, Cornell has one of the prettiest and most amazing campuses that exist.
But Columbia is close to home (I live in LI), so that would have been an advantage to going to Columbia.
Also, Cornell was way higher ranked in the US News Rankings for engineering so I thought that a Cornell degree for engineering will be much better than one from Columbia. Also, it seemed easier to get into Cornell, and I didn't want to "waste" an early decision application on Columbia, only to get rejected.
The food at Cornell is good too, so that was a plus.
Also, Cornell has much more undergrads than grad students but Columbia has much more grad students than undergrad students.
One thing I didn't take into account was quality of life, and this has somewhat made me regret my choice to apply to Cornell. From what I hear, you have to work like animals at Cornell and the grade deflation doesn't help.
If I could choose again, I still don't know which college I would choose. I might choose Columbia.
Ehh, I made the best decision I could based on the info I had. Oh well, I just hope things will be fine in the end.</p>
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Also, Cornell has much more undergrads than grad students but Columbia has much more grad students than undergrad students.
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<p>This is a very good point that isn't often brought up on these boards. At Harvard, Columbia, and Penn, that ratio is reversed.</p>
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One thing I didn't take into account was quality of life, and this has somewhat made me regret my choice to apply to Cornell. From what I hear, you have to work like animals at Cornell and the grade deflation doesn't help.
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<p>Nobody acts like animals at Cornell, except for maybe on Slope Day. And there isn't all that much grade deflation. As you long as you make a serious effort to study, you will do fine and have plenty of time for fun.</p>
<p>Cayuga Red,</p>
<p>I share your love for Cornell, and i think it's great that you encourage posters to consider Cornell. However, I think it's important to accurately depict what the work load for engineering is like there. </p>
<p>Your statement "As you long as you make a serious effort to study, you will do fine and have plenty of time for fun", may apply to some majors, but in all honesty making a serious effort in engineering really isn't enough. Engineering is really tough and I think your posts on this topic have been downplaying it. I don't know if the amount of work is particular to Cornell Engineering, but I wouldn't want cc'ers making a decision based on misleading info.</p>
<p>It is possible to have a social life and have fun, but clearly there's a serious amount of work.</p>
<p>I agree. And hopefully I'm not misleading anybody. Students should expect to spend two or three nights a week studying until midnight or so, especially in their first or second year. This is what I mean as a 'serious effort'. But this still leaves plenty of time for co-curricular pursuits, research opportunities, and yes, fun.</p>
<p>Granted, I wasn't an engineer, but I took engineering math classes and very intensive writing courses my freshman year, and I often found myself working harder than engineers. The workload is reasonable as long as you have a good work ethic and reasonable time management skills.</p>
<p>In my experiences on campus, there are a fair amount of students who expect to not have to do much studying, and don't. And then they wonder why they do so poorly on their exams and problem sets. Some seem happy to bump along getting Bs, even though if they put another 10 hours of effort into it every week, they could be getting a B+ or an A-.</p>
<p>I lived with a bunch of different engineers throughout my years on the Hill, and all were able to have more than ample free time. One was in the Glee Club and ran varsity cross country. Another was on the Ski Team, did a lot of research with professors, and often went on solo backpacking trips on the weekend. A third... well let's just say he probably watched 20 movies a week, not to mention whatever videogames he was playing until all hours in the morning. But all did really well in school, and now all are doing really well out in the real world. Maybe these engineers were smarter than average. I don't know.</p>
<p>i'm going to cornell :D</p>