Cornell vs Columbia vs Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

I’ve seen multiple threads on this already but I wanted some opinions specific to my situation. I plan on studying computer science/ engineering but want to keep my options open for Economics or Mathematics as well.

With respect to computer science and engineering, I would appreciate your thoughts on-

  1. The quality of research conducted (primary research topics) and access to this research
  2. Hacking/ technology entrepreneurship culture outside mainstream academics
  3. Undergraduate experience/ social atmosphere/ being in Ithaca vs New York vs Providence
2

Well, if you’re serious about studying CS, Cornell is the place to be. Cornell has the strongest CS department (top 5-ish vs lower top 20-ish for Columbia and Brown) and is also clearly stronger in related areas such as ECE, IS and ORIE. The CS department at Cornell is larger and higher quality than the other two schools.

Tables 2 and 3 of the link below make this clear:

http://cs.brown.edu/people/alexpap/faculty_dataset.html

For your other interests, Columbia has a slight edge on Cornell for economics and for math the three schools are essentially tied (Brown is especially known for applied maths). But none of these schools are weak at all in math or econ!

Columbia is the more selective school here, and it is in New York City (which many prefer to Ithaca), but it also features the common core, which is humanities heavy. If you really like prestige and/or NYC and don’t mind going to a weaker CS program, go to Columbia. Brown is also a noted school for undergraduate studies in CS (grad, not as much). If you look at where people in Silicon Valley get there undergrads, you’ll see lots of Cornell and Brown, but not so much Columbia.

If you are serious about CS or tech-related endeavors, go to Cornell. Not only is the school stronger for CS, the student body is also more tech-oriented, more people are doing hacker and start-up things, and the new Cornell Tech campus promises to be the epicenter of the newly emerging tech industry in NYC. The new campus has managed to poach and hire absolute top people and will give you access to even greater research opportunities. For CS, it’s the clear choice unless you really like being in the mega-city.

TDLR: Cornell is unequivocally stronger in CS. The three are essentially tied for math. Columbia has slight edge for econ and for wall street finance jobs out of undergrad. Student body at Cornell more tech-oriented than Brown or Columbia. NYC is one of the most influential and wealthy cities in the world, whereas Ithaca can feel boring and isolated at times; I’ve never been to providence.

Source: I’m a Cornell PhD student.