<p>Hi, I am a transfer student trying to decide between UPenn SEAS and Cornell engineering for computer science. I know Cornell CS has a far better reputation (5th in the country) but what exactly distinguishes one from the other in terms of:</p>
<ul>
<li>research opportunities</li>
<li>Extracurricular activities: I know Cornell has student project teams, but that's pretty much it. At Penn there's Weiss Tech House, student hubs & residential programs</li>
<li>quality and quantity of recruits, and how employers generally view these two schools</li>
<li>Quality of the engineering curriculum (this one is kinda obvious in that Cornell's engineering curriculum is very, very solid)</li>
<li>The overall experience</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, Penn's CS class only has 20 ppl whereas Cornell has 100. I read somewhere that competition at Cornell is high and that because of this sometimes Penn CS graduates end up with higher salary jobs. Is this true?</p>
<p>Also, I heard that Cornell's very course and GPA oriented whereas Penn's more social and have a lot more activities, is this true? </p>
<p>Overall, what makes a Penn engineer (CS) different from a Cornell engineer? What type of engineers do Cornell tend to produce and what type of Penn engineers?</p>
<p>In general, Cornell has the edge when it comes to producing pure engineers and Penn has somewhat of an edge when it comes to producing engineers that ultimately end up in business. The difference between the two in this regard, however, is almost negligible. You should check career surveys for comparisons in terms of where graduates ended up landing jobs. You’ll notice that Penn CS gets people in at Google (quite a few actually), Msoft, GS, Accenture, Citi, Credit Suisse, etc. In fact, most graduates end up signing on with very respectable employers. Similarly, Cornell also places grads very well in top programs. In terms of competition and rigor, engineering at any school is difficult although I have heard from many people that Cornell is especially competitive. One thing that really impressed me about the Penn career surveys was that, even with the high response rate, CS degrees mostly ended up in what I would consider very respectable positions post-grad. In my opinion, that’s a significant testament to the strength of the degree. Also, as I’m sure is the case with many of the CS degrees and partly the reason for their relative success, there’s the option to take courses at Wharton and pretty much learn whatever a Wharton grad learns (with the exception of a few courses). I had to make a similar decision when applying early last year: Cornell or Penn. I went with Penn for all the reasons mentioned above and also because I preferred the general vibe and culture at Penn to what I saw at Cornell. I feel like I’ll just have a better and more fulfilling four years at Penn than I would have had at Cornell. Other than that, the post-grad opportunities are essentially the same.</p>
<p>Penn CS grads have one of the highest average starting salaries among all engineering majors, and probably among the highest of all majors at Penn. Placement is great as you can see from career surveys. Regarding research opportunities, you can do research with a professor over the summer, see [Penn</a> Engineering: Undergraduate Summer Research](<a href=“http://www.cis.upenn.edu/ugrad/research/]Penn”>http://www.cis.upenn.edu/ugrad/research/). The two post above give great reasons for choosing Penn CS over Cornell. I don’t know a lot about Cornell CS, so I can’t really compare.</p>
<p>At the undergrad level (keep in mind you’re not going for a PhD) I don’t think it really matters which one you go to, one way or the other. Find the one that has the best campus and social atmosphere for you.</p>
<p>^I agree with Venkat89, if you really want the best job, focus more on grad school. Bachelor’s degree in society today just won’t get you a good job. So see which program you like right now (ie. teachers, campus, student life, internship opportunities).</p>
<p>Apple, Google, MS are nice companies, no? I have Penn CS friends who got jobs at all three… clearly some people think they must be good for something ;)</p>