<p>My stats pale in comparison to what I saw when I skimmed through a couple of pages of the Cornell accepted thread, but I figured I'd still give applying a shot and I put a lot of effort into my essays that reveal my passion for politics and international relations. I have a 29 ACT and good ECs but that's not really close to a 2380 and curing cancer that many people seem to have that apply to Ivies :).</p>
<p>With that said, I've already been accepted to St Andrews' International Relations program and plan to visit in the upcoming months. The program looks fantastic and does garner worldwide respect as offering an elite IR degree.</p>
<p>So, assuming I were to be accepted to Cornell as a major in Government, which would give me the better education? Obviously, I'll be able to make a more rational decision after visiting St Andrews but that's going to be a couple months and I'm too impatient to not get opinions beforehand. My feeling is that St Andrews may have the better program but Cornell is going to have an Ivy-quality faculty regardless of what the major is and would be a great option too. Presumably, the student life would be similar too apart from a more international feel in Scotland and drinking legally but I don't have much to base my assumptions on having not visited yet. So yeah, any insight is great. Thanks!</p>
<p>Choose Cornell. St Andrews is inexplicably highly regarded by Americans/CCers, but the truth is, it’s nowhere near Cornell’s level.</p>
<p>In the UK, UCL and LSE have better IR programs, and if you want a truly top-notch education in government and politics, Oxford’s PPE course is the way to go. It’s arguably one of the most prestigious undergrad programs in the world. King’s College London, and of course Cambridge, are also very strong in the social sciences.</p>
<p>St Andrews, however, is simply not on that level (Cornell’s, I mean).</p>
<p>As you can see, for IR, St. A has the highest student satisfaction rating (94%) and the same level of major-related employment (80%) as UCL and LSE, with very decent UCAS points (but below oxbridge): </p>
<p>As student satisfaction rating varies from website to website (no, really. Check the Times league tables) and employment rate is probably of no concern to people who aren’t interested in settling in the UK (and the OP’s references to “worldwide respect” would suggest he/she is one such person), I don’t really see this as a strong argument.</p>
<p>But anyway. It is my opinion that Cornell is superior to St Andrews.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone that’s posted so far. Cornell is definitely superior to St Andrews as a whole, I don’t think many people would dispute that, I guess my main speculative question is if St A’s arguably most reputable major in IR would surpass Cornell’s version of Poli Sci. that I don’t believe it’s particularly known for. It may sound like I’m trying to be a prestige whore about it (not trying to be :)), but it’s really just about where I’m going to have the best opportunity to do big things after attending. If Cornell’s alumni networking surmounts St A’s (which I assume it does) then that’s certainly a legitimate point just as whatever degree is more marketable is another good point.</p>