<p>Ok I am completely on the fence. I have visited both schools and I just can't decide which is for me. I plan to be on either school's equestrian team if that helps and I want to attend law school.
I want to apply early decision because I know it will heighten my chances of getting in.</p>
<p>Cornell/dartmouth students- please help!!</p>
<p>what do you want to know about?</p>
<p>Have you visited? These are really different schools and experiences.</p>
<p>Cornell has more than 3 times the undergrad student population of Dartmouth. While both schools are rural, Dartmouth truly feels it. Cornell, due to its own sheer size and the surrounding town of Ithaca, feels much less so. Dartmouth’s experience will be much more personalized, Cornell’s can feel overwhelming to some. On the upside, Cornell’s size also presents more opportunities on academic and social levels. </p>
<p>From a purely pragmatic viewpoint, admission to Cornell is measurably easier than Dartmouth, both ED and RD. If you’re a borderline candidate, you may want to consider this.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>Dartmouth is only slightly more selective than Cornell Arts and Sciences. I think about 30 SAT points difference.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s admission rate for the Class of 2014 was about 12%, Cornell’s about 18%.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s median SAT score is about 50 points higher than Cornell’s.</p>
<p>Significant differences.</p>
<p>Early decision is appropriate after you have already chosen your dream school.</p>
<p>SAT scores</p>
<p>1330-1515 Cornell Arts and Sciences and Engineering
1340-1550 Dartmouth</p>
<p>acceptance rates don’t reveal much</p>
<p>Actually, Dartmouth’s SAT 25%-75% is 1350-1550 with a median overall of around 1450.</p>
<p>Cornell’s median is in the 1390’s. I’m not sure why you chose to selectively post A & S and Eng. The other 5 undergrad colleges at Cornell all have lower admission SAT scores. Even still, A & S is 1405, 45 points lower than Dartmouth. I’m sure you know that once admitted to Cornell, interschool transfer between Ag, ILR, HumEc and A & S is fairly easy.</p>
<p>Again, admission to Dartmouth is meaningfully more competitive than Cornell. While this is in no way reflects on quality, it is an issue, as I’ve argued, to a marginal candidate concerned about admissions probability.</p>
<p>I chose to post the SATs for Cornell A&S and Engineering because those are the units that are comparable to Dartmouth’s majors. I was trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s SAT range in US News is 1340-1550 not 1350-1550.</p>
<p>The median for Cornell A&S and Engineering is 1423 and for Dartmouth 1445, a difference of 22 points which is not significant.</p>
<p>I have visited both schools and I know I have a better chance of getting into Cornell. The only issue is that I really liked both schools! What makes one better than the other?</p>
<p>“What makes one better than the other?”</p>
<p>The one that better matches your interests and goals.</p>
<p>The median SAT for the recently enrolled class at Cornell, looking at all its undergrad schools together, is 1405. CAS & Engineering have materially higher SAT’s than the university average. Cornell’s other schools are more specialized and focus to a significant degree on fit. These schools [e.g. architecture, hotel, A&LS] are absolutely the best in the country in their respective disciplines. Cornell offers a deep and broad education, as students can take courses in each of the different schools.</p>
<p>What is your intended major? Both schools are excellent academically.</p>
<p>I think there is a greater variety of things to do at Cornell and in Ithaca. Both schools do a good job of placing graduates in law school. Quality of life at Cornell can be excellent. Cornell is labor intensive, especially engineering. Quite a few good restaurants in Ithaca. Cornell campus is beautiful. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about campus life at Dartmouth. Dartmouth has a reputation for drinking but I can’t verify that.</p>
<p>Definitely Ithaca, area is beautiful, you’re 4.5 hours from NYC, great food, a town built on two great campuses.</p>
<p>Here’s personally why I would choose Dartmouth over Cornell - ignoring any prestige/ selectivity criteria:</p>
<p>1) Dartmouth’s LAC like focus- its real. The administration is very friendly and accessible, Dartmouth spends more than any other Ivy on advising and grants, NO T/As teaching classes, a culture of professors catering to students (having them over for dinner etc), lots of grants (presidential scholarship for example, thayer grants) and lots of special advising programs (Nathan Smith society for pre-meds for example). If you want to do something at Dartmouth, the school has almost 3 times the endowment/ student of the non-HYP Ivies and it shows in how willing they are to spend and support their students.</p>
<p>2) Unique Dartmouth Community: 4500 students means you know many people and the network is amazing. 75% of students show up for their 5 year reunion for example. The only other schools with such a strong school attachment in this way are Princeton and Notre Dame as far as I’ve seen.</p>
<p>3) Unique Dartmouth programs. For example Dartmouth has an absolutely unique and incredible study abroad program where a Dartmouth professor chaperons the trip, its other Dartmouth students, and there are programs for languages and MAJORS!! (Example environmental science in Africa or religion at Edinburgh). Its unlike any other program I’ve seen, Dartmouth pays for weekly trips during your program and even a whole week long trip in the middle! Its just how Dartmouth not only is unique from Cornell, but from almost any other school in the country. Other unique programs include special internships set up in DC, Wall Street, etc that lead to very high placement rates at elite firms.</p>
<p>There are lots of other areas where Dartmouth is very unique (sophomore summer for example) but this is a start…</p>
<p>At Cornell you can have an LAC-like experience in the College of Arts & Sciences, which w/Dartmouth are the 2 smallest liberal arts colleges in the Ivies. What’s distinctive is the breadth and diversity of courses that Cornell students can take in the other 6 colleges [anything from architecture to zoology]. The setting is incomparable - an idyllic campus in the country’s best college town.</p>
<p>:) The LAC fans must be smiling at this praise of the LAC-like experience available at some other schools. :)</p>
<p>Look, there are good reasons one might choose Cornell over Dartmouth or vice-versa but boosterism can get a little out of hand.</p>
<p>There is nothing “LAC-like” about Cornell. Any way you cut it, there are over 13,000 undergrads no matter how you slice and dice them into 7 schools. In size, it better approximates state u’s than mid-sized privates. The reality of Cornell A & S is one of very large (as in several hundred large) introductory class sizes and an adminstration that is notorious for being distant and unresponsive. LAC-like? Puhleeeeze.</p>
<p>Cornell Arts and Sciences is about the same size as Dartmouth. When you are walking to and from class, Cornell seems large. When you are in class with the professor, the experience seems intimate. The vast majority of classes are small. Professors are in their offices a lot and readily accessible. You get to know students quite well in your major and, of course, in your dorm or apartment. I was never taught by a TA although they ran review sessions and discussion groups and sometimes graded papers. Dartmouth is probably a little more “intimate” with undergrads but I never felt that Cornell was cold or impersonal. Professors were quite friendly. Students quite friendly. Personally, I liked being in a big university with lots of diverse activities. I think you can learn to like either setting.</p>