<p>Hey everyone, I'm kinda stuck in the decision process.. I just got off the waitlist, so I still have a week to decide where I'm going.</p>
<p>I'm looking into opportunities at both schools--they are all amazing institutions, and I'm thankful that I have been accepted, but the reality is that I have to pick one over the other.</p>
<p>I recognize all other factors that might or might not play into the making of a college life, but the foremost factors I really weigh are academics(perhaps Cornell has a disadvantage because of its sheer size?), job placement, and alumni network (in terms of job placement I would think). Of course, it doesn't hurt having a top-notch athletic team and good weather, good food, good college town and so on, but these are secondary.</p>
<p>I'm think of going into finance (Investment banking, consulting, quant and so on) and probably going to major in Economics and Math (this is still tentative). So maybe Cornell has an edge over Duke on this one? Because of its proximity to New York ( I mean it's in NY state ) and of its Ivy League name? More active on-campus recruiting perhaps due to alumni network? I'm in CAS by the way.</p>
<p>I would love to hear your opinions--let me know what you think and you would do! Thanks.</p>
<p>As much as I hate to say this, Duke, although without UG b-school, is more of a target school for IB and top MC (M/B/B) than Cornell.</p>
<p>The Ivies that are target IB and MC recruiting are: HYP, Wharton, and Dartmouth (banking only)
Duke and Stanford (for west coast jobs) are the non-ivy targets.</p>
<p>If you are looking at equal cost for Cornell and Duke, I would suggest going to Duke based on your career goal.</p>
<p>Not really. Equal candidates with equal backgrounds from Cornell and Duke will be given the same consideration. And that’s just for Arts & Sciences. For engineering with a quantitative/financial focus, Cornell’s ORIE program is stellar.</p>
<p>I do think what’s true is that Duke students are more likely to consider a career in finance/investment banking than Cornell students, especially in the Arts and Sciences school. Cornell students are more likely to go on for a PhD or the like.</p>
<p>In my experience, I have not noticed any banking recruitment differences between Cornell and Duke. Both are targets. I have noticed far more Cornell students at my bank, but I would expect this simply based on student body size and the fact that they recruit at Cornell for multiple divisions, not just IBD. The thing holding you back won’t be Cornell vs. Duke, it’ll be your GPA and how well you can interview. </p>
<p>And do take plenty of math classes plus financial accounting and modeling. Most bankers don’t give a crap about all of these fluffy business classes students like to flaunt.</p>
<p>My D was accepted at both for engineering and visited both campuses with overnight visits. Her choice was easy and it was Cornell. </p>
<p>She loved the collaborative nature of the student body at Cornell, the strong academics and the many opportunities to put knowledge to use via research or projects, etc. The professors were really approachable and standards seemed really high. She did not see as many students working together at Duke. And the girls at Duke were very status conscious–noticing what brands of clothing people were wearning and stuff like that. </p>
<p>She also felt that the student body at Cornell was more academically focused, yet still very fun. Her overnight at Duke was a real eye opener. Her host wanted to take her to a frat party and get her drunk on a Tuesday night. In the dorms, everyone was drinking (and this was on East campus where the freshman live). Duke had a major party feel and this was 2 weeks before finals. (and this was not right after they won the final four). My D likes to have a good time but does not want her social life to revolve around alcohol.</p>
<p>It also seemed like the administration at Duke was more reactive than the admin at Cornell. For example. At Cornell they were very proactive in addressing the suicide issue and talked about what they were doing to address it at all levels–student/peers, professors, staff. At Duke when parents asked questions about drug use and drinking, the admin just seemed to say that Duke was no different than other schools and it was not really a big problem. And of course that was not my D’s experience. (and frankly, I think it may be condoned. The student ambassador should have been in fear of expulsion for taking 3 high schoolers to a frat party to get drunk!–she was not, which reinforced the admin attitude)</p>
<p>The Duke Campus feels smaller as the buildings are closer together even though the stated campus size is similar. </p>
<p>There are a lot of pros and cons to both. On paper we thought Duke was easy winner till we visited both schools. D loved Cornell and couldn’t get off the Duke campus fast enough. And the Cornell food is much better! Duke weather is nicer but D likes seasons and is used to snow.</p>
<p>I would encourage you to apply to both but make your decision after visiting. My D would have been very unhappy if she had ended up at Duke. Also recommend visiting when the student body is there so you can spend the night. We visited Duke during the fall and it seemed great. We learned later that most of the student body was away at a football game so the campus vibe was really different in the fall than in the Spring when she did her overnight visit.</p>
<p>I know you don’t have a lot of time to check out the schools, but I would if possible and at least see what the summer school crowd is like.</p>
<p>My experience is that Duke has an edge over Cornell in terms of finance (proximity to NYC means absolutely nothing). But its not a big edge. Both are targets and both will get you in the door. Choose the school you will like more.</p>
<p>Not that any of this matters, but just bear in mind that Duke is having a hard time with yield this year. There yield may be less than 30%. They started taking people off their waitlist in late April, and as of today have taken over 200 students from the waitlist, maybe 300 by now. Something even weirder is going on, some students that did not check that they wanted to be placed on Duke’s waitlist are being contacted that they can go on the waitlist with a reply email. Many is associating this with really bad financial aid from Duke this year. I really dont know whats going on, but Duke is in full panick mode trying to full their class.</p>
<p>I am not saying that Duke is a bad school, what I am saying is that many are choosing not to go there this year for some reason. please do some serious homework on Duke. At least Cornell is stable, and over enrolled, and not in a panick to full seats.</p>
<p>60% of Cornell’s student body is from the Northeast(incl. mid-atlantic), and of this the NYC area representation is significant. That’s probably highly correlated with why there’s so many NYC metro area alumni activities here. 7% are from the South. </p>
<p>By contrast, according to the only numbers I could find, 36% of Duke students are from the south, with 15% from North Carolina alone. Probably lots of alumni stuff for you down there, I imagine. 17% Mid-Atlantic, 14% Northeast.</p>
<p>Narendly, ask anyone who doesn’t go to Cornell and they will tell you the same. I think Slipper said it best. You’ll be fine at both schools but you’ll be a bit better off coming from Duke.</p>
<p>I think my daughter would totally disagree that coming from Duke would be better for IB recruiting. As a math Econ double major at Cornell A&S, she did very well even competing against students from HPMS. She consider herself as a fairly average student at Cornell. But every where she went, her math major was very well respected. At one of those white shoe firm’s rounds, there were students from HMS and Wharton, she was the only one who was offered a job on the spot (yes, bragging on my part). </p>
<p>At one of those firm’s sell day, Cornell was the only school which had a full table of recruits. It could very well be because size of Cornell. Nevertheless, it’s nice to know that there are so many alums at those firms. My daughter is going to be working at a desk where the head is an alum of Cornell. Every alum she’s met at the firm has been in touch with her to make her feel welcomed. As far as she is concerned, it just doesn’t get better than that. </p>
<p>I don’t know what Duke’s placement is like, but I don’t think my daughter could have done better. Two of her close friends (one from Hotel and another from Engineering) will also be working at a top finance firm. One thing I would like to point out is all of them got their internships through Cornell’s career center, not through personal contact.</p>
<p>oldfort: What capacity is your D working in? The general sense is that target school’s graduates get hired as ibankers. Other schools do place students into IB, but not always as ibanker, often as researcher.</p>
<p>When HYP, Wharton, Dartmouth, Duke and Stanford graduates work on Wall Street, they typically get the higher visibility/potential jobs.</p>
<p>That’s a little restrictive. While its true that non-target grads have a tough time landing IB, target school grads also seek and choose placement in trading and institutional sales.
Truth is though, it’s tough to get any of these jobs, and they all can be great if that’s what you want to do. My relative recently took a job in research out of columbia and he seems happy to be there. Over the years I worked in finance, front office, we had two analysts from cornell. And none from Duke, FWiW. that was a long time ago now though.</p>
<p>Seems to me that fit is more important than the marginal advantage you might glean by going to Duke in terms of getting an IB job.</p>
<p>The experience you have in college is more important (at least between two roughly comparable schools) than the fact that you might have a 13.4% better chance of getting an IB job out of college from Duke rather than Cornell.</p>
<p>And don’t forget how many students change their majors/career goals during college anyway.</p>