Cornell vs Northwestern

College Search & Selection
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Heyo!

First off I want to just put a disclaimer that I’m not trying to flex or anything and that I know that both schools are REALLY good choices. I feel really blessed to even have an option.

Anyhow, here’s a bit more about me:

I’m a CS major looking towards the future but I really like music. I got into the 5-year dual degree program at Northwestern for the music performance and CS programs. At Cornell, I’m in CALS and I intend to major in CS (I might consider switching to engineering school). Career-wise i’m looking to be an SWE.

Cornell Pros:

Amazing CS program (top 5 as compared to NU which is ranked #30)

The campus is very nature-filled and appeals a lot to me

Campus life is very centralized (which I really like!)

Good food

Alumni connections are cool, amazing cs opportunities in regards to ML/AI research

my parents like it more cause iVy LeAguE

Northwestern Pros:

Pursue both CS and Music at a very high level (but potentially not being as good as I can at both)

Very interdisciplinary focus (but so is Cornell!)

Mid Size school (I didn’t want a too big school but honestly this point doesn’t matter as much anymore)

Smaller private school means more opportunities for research

CS program is supposedly on the rise

NEXT TO CHICAGO!!

Cornell Cons:

Secluded (but I honestly like seclusion? so IDK if this is a bad thing). but middle of nowhere LOL

COMPETITIVE (coming from a bay area hs I’m honestly used to it but maybe I wouldn’t like it)

not much to do outside of campus (but tbh like I don’t really care about much else)

more expensive (I got a 15K annual scholarship at NU)

Northwestern Cons:

The biggest thing is that I’m scared that I’m not gonna be able to manage both music and cs majors. I really like both but I’m not looking towards music as a career. I want to pursue CS post-college so IDK how realistic it is to go to Northwestern.

Northwestern is lowkey much more of a humanities school

Quarter system :((

Apparently, social life is very club dominant (tho they are abolishing greek life!)

I’m a really extroverted Cali boi and like both are cold places so neither checks the weather box HAHA. IF there’s something that I’m overlooking or you have your own take please help me out!!

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You sound more excited to attend Cornell after reading through your pros and cons. Since they’re great choices, go with your gut feeling as to where you’ll be happiest.

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I would vote for Northwestern. It’s more selective and arguably more prestigious for people in the know. US News Rankings - Cornell is #18 and Northwestern is #9. Northwestern has been ranked higher than Cornell for many years. So, do you want to attend a top 10 university or a top 20 university? Despite being imperfect, US News is the most respected / widely used ranking for colleges. It’s also very easy to double major at Northwestern. Transferring between colleges at Northwestern is also relatively easy. If you were in engineering or CAS at Cornell, I would still vote for Northwestern. But Northwestern CAS and Engineering >> Cornell CALS. Please keep in mind that Cornell CALS is a NYS statutory college - so it is a hybrid of a private / public college. Lastly, I know that a lot of people are obsessed with the ivy league but Duke, Northwestern, UChicago, JHU, MIT and Stanford are better than many of the ivies by objective measures. Cornell may be an ivy but it is considered to be the very bottom of the ivies - and it’s US news ranking reflects that. Cornell is a great school but I think Northwestern is in a higher tier. Good luck.

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The various pros/cons need some separating out to id the ones that are seriously relevant/meaningful to you…

Not accurate

Essentially same tier for overall and not reflective of this student’s program (CS)

Which is bad b/c?

This is a meaningful consideration: are you ready for music to be a hobby? The 5 year dual degree program wouldn’t have accepted you if they didn’t think you could do it.

This is a meaningful consideration. Is 4 years of Cornell more than 5 years at NU? does it mean debt? what are the financial implications for your family?

And then there is the metric that you haven’t addressed: where is your heart? b/c there is no ‘wrong’ choice. @StanfordGSBGrad is clearly status-conscious, but I disagree with their assessment. IMO NU & Cornell are peer schools - and you are going into a field where you will be ridiculously employable from either place. We have been down this particular path- one of the collegekids narrowed her choice to NU & Cornell, after declining Columbia, UPenn, and a bunch of others. No regrets. Trust yourself.

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What instrument? Bienen is very good and many of the students are 5 year dual degree kids. This route will keep you very busy. Not that you won’t have a social life, but your evenings and weekends get filled with ensembles and performances etc. Being close to Chicago is a huge advantage as there are cheap subscriptions to both the CSO and Lyric Opera so there is always something to explore. Both great choices. Good luck!

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Easy to understand why this is not an easy decision for you. Good news is that there is no wrong choice.

Why is the quarter system viewed as a con ? Keeps students busy & productive; very little, if any, time is wasted.

Still trying to digest that Northwestern is $15,000 per year less than Cornell.

Confused by your comment that NU is “more of a humanities school.”

Northwestern has a bit over 8,000 undergraduates, while Cornell has almost twice that number of undergrads.

Easy access to Chicago from NU !

5 year dual degree program is something that you either want or do not want. Are you ready to let your talent stagnate ?

Nevertheless, you seem to want Cornell and that is all that really matters.

Enjoy Cornell !

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The decision date is coming in 4 days. I understand that you are frustrated and don’t know how to choose. How about check how other people choose under your situation. Everybody’s choice is based on different reasons, but at least this is a good reference point:

Although it is not statistically significant, but generally speaking, the choice is pro Cornell.

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So, I have a kid at Cornell and live about 20 mins from NU. Most people here don’t really consider NU to be any better of an option than schools like Stanford, Duke, or any Ivy, so it’s funny how it is viewed outside of Chicago.

That said, I have a friend who’s daughter just graduated NU last June in music and the program was amazing. However, you need to create your own opportunities and if you play an instrument where you will shine then you will have great opportunities. For the 6 years since my oldest graduated high school, NU has been trying to gain in the CS arena and with schools like UIUC only a couple hours away and Michigan nearby, it is difficult. Chicago is also just not considered a tech hub like the West Coast or even the NYC. My son in that field wouldn’t even consider staying here since there just isn’t a ton. There’s some, but not enough to make it worth looking here. It is easy to change majors though, and it is Northwestern, the campus is gorgeous and you’re 20 mins from downtown Chicago and they are in a power sports conference if you’re into sports. I was on both the semester and quarter system for college (I transferred) and I LOVED the quarter system so much better. So don’t view that as a negative at all, with the exception that you don’t end until second week of June.

Cornell is tops in CS (ranked 5th), I wouldn’t call it isolated, but kids don’t run back and forth to NYC unless it’s to go home for a weekend. From CA it is really difficult to get to and you will kill and entire day doing so. No direct flights, etc. We had a family function in LA that my daughter went to and it wasn’t pleasant. Trying to catch up on the time change for her also wasn’t good. She should’ve stayed in Ithaca but she insisted on coming. It’s an intense school. Many kids can’t handle getting grades that they’ve never seen before in high school, sometimes I wonder if it’s the parents that can’t handle their kids getting grades and kids afraid to tell the parents they got a poor grade. It is very collaborative and it is actually fairly easy to change majors or Colleges. Dyson is the only one that may be a little more difficult, which is ironic because my daughter has found the dyson classes to be some of the easier ones and students to be a little whinier. Last semester the professor gave retakes on tests. She couldn’t believe it. Said this must be why their GPAs are so high relative to Engineers. I was somewhat surprised too. She didn’t even need to take the retakes so I guess she was prepared. She’s also not my business savy child so not sure what to make of that whole thing/program. Anyway, she LOVES Cornell.

So, if you’re sure you want CS then that’s the place you want. If you want a combination of CS and Music then you really can’t go wrong with Northwestern as it won’t hamper you to go there. I have a senior also going into CS and while he applied to NU he did it more as just because it was an easy essay. It was very low on his list and he would not have gone there for CS over many of his other options. I do think their CS like at Cornell is in both Liberal Arts and Engineering.

ETA: CS at Cornell is not in CALS so if you wants to major in CS you would actually have to transfer into CAS or Engineering so that’s another consideration for you. While it’s not hard to transfer between colleges, you would still have to start off in the CALS and take those initial requirements and that may cause you to be behind in the CS course requirements, so keep that in mind.

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And @srparent15 - in NYC, many people view Cornell as being a safety school for other ivies + Duke, Northwestern, JHU, and UChicago. People that care about “prestige” care about US News Rankings. And Northwestern is #9 and Cornell is #18. Top 10 vs top 20. Cornell is a great school but it’s been declining in the rankings for some time.

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At the end of the day the rankings aren’t what gets someone a job. They get themselves a job. But if you really want to focus on the rankings then you need to break down the rankings of the specific programs this kid is looking at and Cornell and CS is ranked 5th in USNWR and NW is no where close to that as it’s 30th.

Many people care more about fit and where they would be happiest than prestige. There are plenty of people that pick a school for prestige and it winds up being the biggest mistake of their lives because they can’t handle the stress or the program. Northwestern is also a stressful environment that some kids can’t handle, which is why fit is so important there too.

And while Cornell may be considered one of if not the easiest to get into, it’s also considered the hardest to stay in. But honestly, who really cares? It’s not a contest. You seem fixated on prestige while this is not what this person was asking about.

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