Cornell vs Wesleyan vs Colgate (Computer Science)

<p>I am so confused right now! Because I am an international student, and do not have the chance to visit them, I am heavily relying on CC.</p>

<p>My major is CS, and I do want to get the best possible education. I can be smart and competitive enough. But that doesn't mean I want unfriendly, cut-throat competitiveness. I might have a hard time trying to keep up with other geniuses, and end up giving up or something.</p>

<p>Financial aid is okay for me, so it should not be a factor. And location doesn't matter to me. It could be either urban or suburban.</p>

<p>I want classmates who will be my all-life friends, not enemies. I crave for the environment in which students work together.</p>

<p>If ranked in prestige and CS curricula, Cornell will be the first one without question. And I am kind of leaning towards Cornell. But people are telling me the environment there is harsh and unfriendly. And that there is a lot of pressure.</p>

<p>If the fact above is untrue, I will definitely go to Cornell.</p>

<p>So help me and tell me your opinions! Thanks!</p>

<p>Please, I need some advice from current students. From what I have heard from the other people on the other threads, Cornell comes nowhere near to Colgate's friendly environment. And that people do not have fun at Cornell.</p>

<p>I'm a recent grad, and that is an absurd notion.</p>

<p>I never heard anyone say that about being unfriendly. People work hard at Cornell, but there's certainly no shortage of fun.</p>

<p>I don't know Colgate to compare. But Cornell's a beautiful campus in a beautiful setting with a lot of really intelligent, down-to-earth people.</p>

<p>Cornell engineering (or Arts and Sciences, whichever) actually is not cut throat at all; engineers actually work together. It's academically challenging, but CS is going to be tough anywhere. You might as well study at Cornell. I also feel that Cornell students overall are very down-to-earth.</p>

<p>The environment is fine. All of my engineering friends would work together on projects, etc. Typically you study alone, though, but that's the best way to study. Ever since they built the Duffield Atrium I get the sense that the amount of sociability in engineering has really gone up. It's light years ahead of place like MIT, where people compete over trying to be more hardcore and don't even look up at people when they walk.</p>

<p>Its too bad you can't come visit Cornell, because you would immediately see that the environment is anything BUT harsh and unfriendly! There is a very cooperative atmosphere in engineering and many classes encourage group work by allowing partners or teams for homeworks and projects. There is a lot of hard work involved, but there is a very strong sense of engineering community because we are all in it together working hard :-D</p>

<p>Tsenguun, didn't you already post this question? I thought I saw this thread already.....but here is my opinion.....of the three I think you will receive the best CS education at Cornell. It offers more classes in CS and a strong engineering program as well. Colgate and Wesleyan are much smaller schools and more focused on the traditional liberal arts and sciences. I think you will find more of a community of CS people at a larger place like Cornell. </p>

<p>Cornell, while I guess you could say it is isolated, is definitely not as isolated as Colgate. The town of Ithaca is much larger than Hamilton, NY. Ithaca is a lively and progressive place. Middletown is OK--I've actually lived there but I don't like it as much as Ithaca.</p>

<p>Yeah, I'm a CS junior at Cornell and I agree with all of the above posts. CS is not cut-throat; most people in CS, it seems, don't actually care about the grade s but rather getting their projects to work properly. Sure there is pressure to do work, but you aren't going to get a good education without a little pressure.</p>

<p>""tsenguun - with the financial aid packages you've already received from Cornell and Wesleyan, you are unlikely to have to worry about graduating with much debt from either school. With that in mind, you're probably going to go to grad school. A good, solid LAC (liberal arts college) now and a sprawling research university later, after you've had more experience as a young adult in a strange country, is a perfectly rational approach, IMO.""</p>

<p>What do you think about this quote? It really makes me feel different. </p>

<p>A question: Can I get that education LAC offers also at Cornell?</p>

<p>@ Cornell75</p>

<p>Sorry about the double thread (actually triple). I just thought by doing so I would get as many opinions as possible. And people who visit "College Search & Selection" don't necessarily have to visit Cornell's or Int'l Students' Forum. And vice versa.</p>

<p>Absurd. Is Cornell demanding and competitive? Yes. But it's more like each individual is "competing" to do the best THEY can do - they're not competing with one another. Cut throat? Not at all.</p>

<p>For computer & engineering majors, I disagree with the core curriculum concept. (ie, Colgate & Columbia). The electives at Cornell allow you to explore liberal arts.</p>

<p>That was so clarifying post, MomOfTwoTeens! I think I should send my acceptance coupon asap!</p>

<p>"A good, solid LAC (liberal arts college) now and a sprawling research university later, after you've had more experience as a young adult in a strange country, is a perfectly rational approach, IMO."</p>

<p>I think that could be considered a fair assessment. But I would argue that Cornell offers a lot of the social experiences that a liberal arts college offers -- you can play frisbee on the quad and join a fraternity at Cornell just as you can at Wesleyan or Colgate. The benefit of Cornell is that you have access to all of the outstanding resources that a major research university can offer.</p>

<p>If you were majoring in one of the sciences or humanities or social sciences, then I would agree with the post that a solid LAC now and a research university later would be fine. Or if you were choosing between say Cornell and Berkeley, both places with strong CS departments, then you could go to either and base your decision on other aspects of the school. But seriously, the CS background you will get, the choices you will have in terms of classes and probably research opportunities in CS are not equal at Cornell, Wesleyan and Colgate. Also Cornell has a coop program so you could get work experience for part of your four years. I like both Wesleyan and Colgate but in the context of majoring in CS, I think you should go to Cornell for sure.</p>

<p>Cornelli75, are you implying that Cornell is worse than Wesleyen and Colgate for sciences, social sciences, and the humanities? I thought Cornell, despite its size, also has a strong liberal arts department with very small, seminar-like, upper level classes.</p>

<p>thejoker: I don't think she was implying it is worse, just more or less equivalent, so that other factors, such as preferring a smaller school, would be worth considering, whereas with CS, Cornell is so much better that it seems like that might outway other concerns.</p>

<p>And, OP, honestly, as a Wes student who loves her school to death, I think I agree with Cornell75. I mean, I know a couple of CS majors and they all enjoyed their time here and got good jobs working on software development right out of college, so it’s not as if you’ll be totally screwed if you come here. You’ll get a good education, a lot of opportunity to work at ITS if you want, and a TON of individual attention from your profs. But the reason for that is that our department is TINY, with only a handful of majors and not THAT many classes (if you haven’t yet, you should check out the course catalogues at the respective schools). We’re definitely not known for our CS, and because the department is just happy to have majors, it’s not particularly rigorous (not that it’s easy, but it’s not our top department). </p>

<p>If you’re really devoted to CS, Cornell is probably the way to go, though, again, Wes will serve you pretty well.</p>

<p>so ivy league liberal arts are equivalent to Colgate and Wesleyan? Is it just that , while these schools provide excellent education, noone has ever heard of them?</p>

<p>Basically. The liberal arts colleges offers a stereotypical "experience" that certain types of students are looking for -- knowing everybody on campus, for instance, or eating dinner with your professors every week. A major research university like Cornell will offer a much greater breadth of courses and different types of opportunities on campus. For instance, I doubt most liberal arts colleges have a curling team and a cricket team. But most research universities don't have a clothing optional dorm, like Wesleyan has. Which, I got to admit, is kind of cool.</p>

<p>Like everything in life, there are trade-offs.</p>

<p>ahhh, I see. So while the academics are almost parallel, many prospective liberal arts students want to go to a school that's the size of their h.s.; they want to be in more of a tight community where everyone knows everyone. As for me, NO THANKS! At least not if the academics are similar, which I believe they are, if not better at Cornell.</p>

<p>thejoker: to be fair, at LACs, at least larger ones like Wesleyan, not everyone knows everyone, though people do like the less anonymous environment (though midsized unis provide a nice medium between huge state school and LAC for those who don't like either extreme). One of the main reasons people chose LACs/one of the purported differences is the undergrad focus. Most LACs have no graduate programs, some, like Wes, have very small ones. That means professors are there to work with undergrads both as mentors in class and out of class, on research and such, the entire school is set up to support undergrads, classes are always taught by full professors, not grad students, etc.</p>

<p>Now, at top unis, especially the smaller ones (I know less about Cornell, though I believe this is still true), most claim that there is still a lot of undergrad focus, and I see no reason to doubt them, though you might want to look into it yourself. But yeah, just so you understand, it’s not just about size, it’s about the focus of the institution. </p>

<p>(Also, Wes doesn't actually have a clothing optional dorm. That is a rumor started when a couple of Wes students tricked a NYT writer who didn't bother to fact check, which I find equally amusing).</p>