I am planning to major in sociology, who knows if that is what I’ll end up doing (definitely will be in social sciences and/or humanities) and I want to go to law school so my GPA is a top priority. A lot of my pros and cons overlap for both schools (ex: con: frats are a big aspect of the social scene at both, pro: both have good food and good housing possibilities post freshman year) so I’ll highlight the ones that don’t overlap.
I honestly don’t know how to gauge how good or lackluster the social sciences and humanities programs that I am interested in are at both of the schools, because they both seem fine to me. (Like I said, I want to major in sociology but I’m also interested in art history, history, classics, and anthropology)
If anyone has any insight into ANYTHING about Tufts or Cornell, please share. I am interested in other people’s experiences with these schools and how they feel the programs and overall school experiences vary. I have visited both, liked both enough, and was ready to commit to Tufts after leaving, but…
concerns for tufts:
- I have chronic illness that effects my joints, accessibility+ disability services @ are terrible and not going to improve as per an article recently published @ the daily
- socioeconomic and racial diversity is a big yikes
- housing crisis, bad freshman housing
- everyone there seems like an extrovert and as an introvert I feel like I’d have a difficult time making friends first year, and that I might get overwhelmed with the social scene ?
- not a lot of people at Tufts go (or want to go?) to law school ? (only 17% of the class of 2017 went to grad school after graduating, whereas 1/3 of Cornell alum go to grad school after graduating)
good things about tufts:
- experimental college
- nice community
- it has the ~liberal arts college~ vibe going for it…
- I got selected for a really cool Tufts scholarship program with $$$ to support research
- really liked the students that I met there, they seemed interested and engaged but then again who knows ???
- access to Boston
- smaller undergraduate study body (5,541 vs Cornell’s 14,907)
- more collaborative ? (so I’m assuming less student to student competition than cornell? but this is only anecdotal)
- I got more of an “intellectual/learn for the sake of learning” vibe at Tufts than Cornell but I’m positive I’d be able to find that at Cornell if I sought it out LOL
concerns for cornell:
- in the middle of nowhere, ithaca cannot offer me what medford/boston can
- competitive ? among students
- isolated & depressing
- the winters feel like they are worse in ithaca but what do i know
- student culture seemed questionable
- lacks some of the student culture things that felt present at tufts (but again, what do I know haha)
good things about cornell:
- good disability services
- I have good friends there
- more traditional college experience (see: lots of traditions, idyllic campus, sports → hockey!!!, etc)
- cornell dairy
- nice freshman dorms and I already have a roommate
- name/ivy league prestige (something my family is more concerned about than I am)
- feeds into T15 law schools (?) and I can cross enroll at Cornell Law School