<p>I attend cornell university as an undergrad right now, and I absolutely love it. Does that mean you will? of course not. you have to visit both places and see which one is more to your liking, people can feud over which college is better, but in the end you have to make the decision. I'd say visit both, sit-in on some classes, go to some parties and see what college you like overall.</p>
<p>In physics, Cornell and Columbia have had more Nobel Prize winners who actually did their prize-winning work while at those universities. Nobel Prize winners sometimes move on to a different university.</p>
<p>You are likely never to meet a Nobel Prize winner at any of these schools as an undergraduate, except maybe in an annual lecture or two. In fact, you might actually be more likely to meet them as a guest lecturer at a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Be assured they didn't win their Nobel Prizes for teaching undergraduates, or for using undergraduates in their research activities. (For the record, I once, as a grad student, taught at UChicago, and never once in three years saw Uncle Milty.)</p>
<p>Last post wasn't totally honest. I did see Saul Bellow regularly - he was chair of my GRADUATE department. But last time I looked, he was teaching undergrads...at BARD, along with Chinua Achebe and John Ashberry. Now that's something HYPS, Columbia, Cornell, or Chicago can't match.</p>
<p>Among the general public, yes, but to the people that really matter, it all depends on what you're doing.</p>
<p>Guys,</p>
<p>Focus on minute differences between places like Chicago and Cornell at the GRAD level. Undergrad it doesnt matter at all between schools so similar.</p>
<p>Slipper, have you visited both places? And you still believe "schools so similar"? If by "similar" you mean both offer top notch undergrad and grad education, OK. Beyond that, as this thread has discussed, most of us that know both well, think the differences outweigh the similarities.</p>
<p>So please elaborate.</p>
<p>My son was accepted to both Cornell and Chicago. Currently he is a 1st year majoring in Math at Chicago. He selected Chicago because he preferred the "intellectual feel" of the campus vs. Cornell. I'm not saying one is better than the other because I believe both are great schools. For him the fit was right. He uses words like intense, awesome and unique when commenting about Chicago. The best analogy I can give about Chicago is that it is a graduate education for undergraduate students. Truly it is a college for those seeking, "A life of the mind". Despite being a math major and taking an Honors Analysis class from top Professors he revels is reading Plato and Aristotle. If, however, one is looking for the typical college atmosphere I might suggest Cornell because I think you would find that environment more to your liking. My son has spent more than one Friday and Saturday night studying because he found it necessary. He also those has visited downtown Chicago several times, participated in all campus snow ball fights, attended seminars on Friday afternoons with Nationally known educators or sat in coffee shops until 3:00 AM discussing philosophy just like the brochures read. I'm sure students at Cornell might have similar positive experiences.</p>
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<p>Wow, that sounds like a good college experience. From that description, the atypical Chicago experience really seems more fitting. I will probably visit both campuses, but from what I am thinking, Chicago is winning by a long-shot. Maybe I am still excited about getting accepted. (I think they have a better website too!)</p>
<p>In the U.S. cornell is probably more well known than chicago, however if you leave the U.S. alot more will know about chicago than Cornell.</p>
<p>Anthony249, I think you are wrong, because Cornell's Ag school is so well known. I know there are posts around here that include a list prepared by the London Times and I don't remember which was above the other, nor do I think that would be the best reason to pick a college unless you were preparing to apply for a job in some third world nation and thought it would carry weight.</p>
<p>I suggest the biggest difference is that Chicago is a great city unto itself and Ithaca is dominated by Cornell's influence. Cornell is like its own kingdom on top of the hill, with the shadows of Sage Hall casting low over the villagers in the valley below.</p>
<p>As for experiencing events, I must have been too slow or too interested because most of my night memories were inside one of the libraries studying. You wouldn't want to walk back and forth across the Cornell campus too many times in a day (especially in winter. To anyone who has this choice, I hope you realize this is not the worse thing to happen, there probably isn't a bad decision.</p>
<p>Newmassdad,</p>
<p>If you read my previous post I was talking about their reputation and academics. No difference in terms of overall prestige or ability to get into grad school. None. Zilch. Nada. </p>
<p>My point is that people go crazy trying to go to the "best place," when there is a point where it just starts to not matter. Who cares if Chicago is better known internationally, its not, and thats way too subjective. </p>
<p>As I mentioned, I personally would chose Cornell as its a much more traditional college experience. But I personally value things like community and a true campus life, which Chicago does not offer at all. I think it lies at an extreme of the undergrad experience.</p>
<p>just look at ratings that include international prestige (how well they are known in other countries), but thats besides the point. prestige is not very important, academically they are both pretty good, and going into grad school they are about even too.</p>
<p>Slipper, you said</p>
<p>"Focus on minute differences between places like Chicago and Cornell at the GRAD level. Undergrad it doesnt matter at all between schools so similar."</p>
<p>If this comment is about academics, somehow I missed it. Even w/r/t academics, I'm not sure how you get your information. Opinions are cheap. Subjective value judgements are cheap. Information is not. You may note that some of us posters here have refrained from saying "A is better than B" because such statements are too subjective. Better how? By what criteria? Similarly, to say there is "no difference" suffers from the same problem.</p>
<p>I do hope you take some philosophy courses at Cornell, and perhaps learn how complex issues like this are.</p>
<p>Newmassdad, </p>
<p>I was referring to the post prior to that one (I posted twice). Sorry you misunderstood.</p>
<p>I can tell you from experience as an active volunteer for admissions at a top grad school and as an alumni interviewer that there is no difference. Trying to chose between these two on academic grounds outside of certain professionally oriented majors (such as engineering or business) is absolutely ridiculous. #1) When grad schools look at applicants they lump schools together in certain piles and assess a score. Cornell and Chicago are in the same group. #2) The choices you make in school have a much greater impact. Taking advantage of research opportunities and doing well is critical, and you can do this at either place. Also, thinking a particular school has a 'good program' can backfire. Take JHU pre-med. Its so cutthroat that most pre-meds would be better off going to a Northwestern or UVA where there is less "weeding out." #2) I hate to say it, but college is much more than trying to calculate what school will help you the most, because you can't with schools so similar in overall institutional quality. Social aspects are critical to how much you will enjoy your experience, as are academic opportinities. These are reasons to choose a school. #3) As a high school student you often dont know what you will major in anyway, so this is another X-factor. #4) Grad schools look at overall undergraduate quality much more than anything else. This is why Dartmouth/ Williams grads do so well in grad placement. We are talking UNDERGRAD here. I will tell you from experience that having great research from a lesser known professor will go much farther than just sitting in a class with a great one.</p>
<p>There are "opinions," but pattern recognition is a powerful, almost objective tool if you can use it, and I have seen over and over that trying to choose similar schools on purely prestige reasons is nonsense.</p>
<p>Slipper, your most recent post makes sense.</p>
<p>Just some points to ponder....may clarify some views..</p>
<p>1) I can't imagine that U-chig is well known outside of academia.....it just isn't well known. </p>
<p>2) Cornell wins 80% of common admit battles against, U-Chig, which is a huge plus for the Ivy. </p>
<p>3) U-of-Chig has a yield of only 32%, which means 70% of the students decide not to attend....this is quite bad</p>
<p>4) U-of-Chig has a 50% acceptance rate, which is about as high as UC-Davis. Many would say it's too high for any near-Ivy.</p>
<p>5) cornell seems to have a beautiful campus (best in Ivy-League). U-Chig is a collection of buildings....many people commute to it instead of living on grounds.</p>
<p>6) Corny reasons some people don't like U-Chig
a) The name is the same as the city...it sounds like a state school to many.
b) It's in Illinois....not a popular state to be in
c) It's competitors are Northwestern and UIUC....</p>
<p>Some positives about U-Chig are that it does have a huge number of Nobel laureates (more than Cornell/Stanford). However, half of those prizes are in Economics! This is a fuzzy field, and not presitigous compared to physics/chemistry/math.</p>
<p>golubb_u,</p>
<p>Again and again you seem lacking of knowledge in academic matter, and yet you gave such an ignorant post.</p>
<p>"1) I can't imagine that U-chig is well known outside of academia.....it just isn't well known. "</p>
<p>What the heck do you mean? Do you think Chicago is not well-known in financial industry? How about its MBA program?</p>
<p>"5) cornell seems to have a beautiful campus (best in Ivy-League). U-Chig is a collection of buildings....many people commute to it instead of living on grounds."</p>
<p>How do you know that people would prefer the pool of snow in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<p>"However, half of those prizes are in Economics! This is a fuzzy field, and not presitigous compared to physics/chemistry/math."</p>
<p>Where did you get such a twisted idea ?</p>
<p>rtkysg - Those were just points to consider....about the campus, most students prefer lush green lawns on rollings hills sprinkled with arched/pillared buildings. BTW, since U-Chig is on the edge of a lake, it gets more snow than Harvard and Cornell combined.</p>
<p>"about the campus, most students prefer lush green lawns on rollings hills sprinkled with arched/pillared buildings. BTW, since U-Chig is on the edge of a lake, it gets more snow than Harvard and Cornell combined"</p>
<p>Cornell is an isolated place, this is not favorable against Chicago with its access to the city.</p>