<p>My DS is looking at engineering schools, and he will be applying to Cornell for fall 2015. Generally I don't see any Ivy schools ranked well for engineering except Cornell, but sometimes Princeton gets a mention. Does anyone have thoughts on how the two schools compare?</p>
<p>(I know that there are many schools ranked better than either of these in engineering, and we're looking at some of them too, but the no-loans FA of the Ivies make them <em>very</em> tempting for a student with our family's income.)</p>
<p>They are both good. How good will depend on the student and the field of study. Honestly, though, in these sorts of cases, the better decoder should probably be where your son feels more comfortable: Ithaca, NY or Princeton, NJ.</p>
<p>Both good and both hard to get into, notwithstanding the fact that Ivy League engineering doesn’t quite match the programs at places like U Illinois, U Michigan, Purdue, U Minnesota, Texas A&M or U California-Berkeley.</p>
<p>Relatively few Princeton U engineering graduates actually end up working as engineers, and are more likely to go into other fields, such as business, law, medicine, etc. (For context, I’m an engineering manager in NJ, and heard this directly from a Princeton engineering professor.)</p>
<p>Good to know, sacchi, thanks! And LakeWashington, all research says you’re right. But we could never afford U Michigan, Purdue, Illinois, etc. But we’ll do what we can .</p>
<p>While all the Ivies give very good financial aid, they don’t all give no loan packages. Cornell caps loans based on income, but if your total family income is above $60,000 then loans start to creep into your package.Also worth mentioning that Cornell is more or less regarded at the same level as the aforementioned state schools barring UC Berkeley</p>
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