Cornell vs U Penn bio major

I am a Junior debating if I should apply early
decision for Cornell or University of Penn. I have talked to an admission counsler with Cornell University and I fell in love with what she said. I plan to major in human biology health and society and I know that if I apply ed I know I can get accepted as the college has a high acceptance rate. Although, my dream school is UPenn as a high number of its premed students get into medical school plus I’m more of a city boy. The thing is I don’t want to waste my early decision on UPenn if I have a lower chance of getting in when I know if I apply ed to Cornell I will for sure get in. So should I go with my dream school or the safest bet?

Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t the ED deadline passed? Also I wouldn’t consider anyone an automatic admit for Cornell, but best of luck!

ED is for your singular first (and realistic) choice – I would never advise using it as a strategy to game one college’s admit rate vs. another. Your perceived marginal boost by getting into Cornell early, to me, doesn’t sound like it’d be equal to a solid Penn application. If you’re viable for Cornell ED, your viable for Penn ED. Could you be rejected/deferred? Of course – neither is a guarantee.

BTW: @Jcannon1023 OP is a junior

@T26E4 ohhh thank you for clearing that up! Just missed it!

ED for your top choice – otherwise if you get accepted to a non-top choice school you will have to live with the “What if???” You can’t go wrong academically with either one, but there is a big difference in the location of the two schools.

And sorry to tell to you, but unless your parents donated a building or something there is likely no guarantee you’d be admitted to Cornell. The acceptance rate at Cornell may be higher, but it is still super competitive and not always predictable.

neither school is a safe choice, and a few percentage difference in acceptance rate isn’t going to make that big a difference in reality.