Currently deciding between these two schools, and I plan to major in Economics. Weather, location, size, and “fit” are NOT important factors to me; I have visited both schools and really like both. Thus, I am now mainly concerned with the strength of the Econ major at each school and each school’s academic prestige.
- Which school is more academically prestigious overall? In terms of Econ?
- Which school has more name recognition? Is it Cornell because it is an Ivy League school?
- How IMPORTANT is name recognition? In other words, should I let name recognition be a factor in choosing schools?
Thank you all!
I’d say Cornell has more name recognition because it’s an Ivy League School. Even if someone doesn’t know about it, all you have to say is that it’s an Ivy and they’ll get the picture. Northwester, although arguably the better school, is just less well-known. So in terms of prestige/recognition, Cornell has the edge.
Depends what you want to do/where you want to go after…if you want to do wall street/NY (east coast) cornell might have the slight edge but if you want to stay in chicago post-grad (midwest) NW would obviously be the choice. Splitting hairs though since they’re very much on the same tier. For the general public, Cornell’s ‘ivy’ status might make it more well-recognized but that’s not as important as the regional bias recruiters may have towards an institution.
- Overall, both universities are equally prestigious, with Cornell having a very slight edge overall, while NU has the slight edge in Econ.
- Where it matters, among the educated, both universities are extremely prestigious, with the tiny edge going to Cornell, but insignificantly so.
- Name recognition can matter in some circumstances, but there isn't enough of a difference between those two incredible universities to differentiate them based on reputation/prestige.
You really cannot go wrong here. I would go for fit. Quarter system vs semester system? Suburban vs rural? Close to a major city vs out in nature? Big 10 athletics vs Ivy League athletics? etc…
Northwestern offers a high-math version of its econometrics course (381 instead of 281). Cornell offers an “intertemporal economics” course that lists “basic knowledge of real analysis” as a prerequisite (4160). If you intend to go on to PhD study in economics, taking high-math economics electives is likely to be advised. Both schools’ intermediate economics courses otherwise have the typical single variable calculus prerequisite.
Northwestern Econ is more prestigious among academic circles (Nemmers Prize), plus you can take classes through the Kellogg certificate program. Northwestern gets alot of attention, because Kellogg gets alot of attention, and corporate attention to Kellogg also trickles down to the undergraduate programs (NU ranks 6th in McKinsey recruiting after Harvard,Yale, Wharton, MIT and Stanford as a recruiter told me).
Cornell has name recognition in that it is an ivy league, Northwestern has name recognition despite standing alone as a Big10 school, but also carries name recognition from its business school, Kellogg.
OP -
NU is building a new joint economics/Kellogg building, so you can likely take classes there if you attend:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/about/transforming/priorities/global-hub.aspx#ad-image-0
If you are international do NOT go to Northwestern
This is truly splitting hairs on the prestige factor. I would look closely at the characteristics of the department and any other special features you like with regard to the undergraduate experience.
Well then you are being foolish, because weather, location and “fit” are the only truly distinguishing features of these two great university. Other distinguishing features are
2 semesters vs 3 quarters per year
flat vs hilly
Thank you all for the responses! You guys were all very helpful and I truly appreciate your feedback! 
I don’t understand how people can tell you that Cornell has more name recognition than NU and that it is slightly more prestigious overall. If a recruiter doesn’t know NU, not sure you’d want to work for them ! Us news ranks NU higher than Cornell and from my New York high school, it is more competitive to get into NU than Cornell because Cornell takes a lot more kids. But I’m sure it is different coming from other states because of the land grants. Anyway, they are both excellent institutions but if you are majoring in economics, I agree that NU has the edge and in my book, the better location. But you can’t go wrong with either choice. Good lick!
“Northwestern has name recognition despite standing alone as a Big10 school.”
What exactly does that mean?
They are equal in all categories you asked for clarification on. That’s why you need to consider fit. If you don’t go by fit, you could very well go there and go there and hate it and not be successful and get nothing out of your education there. Rockerdad is right. You would be very foolish to ignore fit and go for prestige. Schools also have different name recognition in different areas. Many people cannot even identify Cornell as an Ivy League college. Others have no clue where Northwestern is. Don’t be foolish. Make a choice based on the best fit for you.
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Thank you for all your replies. I ended up choosing UC Berkeley (look at my other thread) because I would be saving a lot of money as a California resident instead of going to a private school!