<p>My daughter has been happily admitted to Cornell (HumEc) and Wesleyan and is having a hard time making a decision. Her interests are biology and society -- she loves the Human Ecology program, but thinks she might enjoy Wesleyan's smaller size and (so we hear) less competitive students. Any advice is appreciated, especially from current or recent students.</p>
<p>i understand your concern about Cornell's size. It was a big worry of mine before coming here. But you never really notice how big it other than the physical size and subsequent requirement of walking pretty far to go somewhere. Your daughter will probably be closest to other people in her major and the people on her dorm floor. I was never aware of the fact that Cornell had 14,000 ugrads vs. say 7,000. Of course, Wesleyan is probably even smaller, but that's my two cents.</p>
<p>As far as a competitive environment, this is 100% a MYTH. In my 3 years, I did not even one time encounter someone who I thought was unwilling to offer help b/c they felt it would hurt them. And I was in engineering. If anything, engineering probably has too much collaboration and not just amongst friends. Random people in office hours are often willing to help. Do not worry about this at all.</p>
<p>^ Good to hear this!</p>
<p>I always think of Hum Ec as a very fluffy, touchy feely school (probably due to the number of females). Bio and society is probably less competitive than the straight bio major in CAS/CALS (not that the normal bio major is cutthroat).</p>
<p>My daughter in Human Ec has found advising to be helpful and personal, plus with basic classes (econ, bio et al) taken by all students she has had great interactions all across the colleges. Lots of work, but competition not an issue. The exception she says is pre-med tracks...she reports friends say it's pretty fierce.</p>
<p>Culturally the two schools are really, really different. I'm sure your student is well aware and will make a choice that suits. Cornell: traditional, career minded, political action on campus but fairly low profile and no assumptions, huge greek system, active sports enthusiasm. Wesleyan: hipster, political, media minded - just a different animal altogether. Both great schools, but very different choices.</p>
<p>There are two varieties of Bio & Society majors...the pre-med bunch and the non pre-meds. The non pre-meds are laid back...us pre-med folks tend to be slightly more strung out about things...but not competitive really. We always help each other out. In fact, if you go around campus around exam time you'll many study groups for bio/chem/orgo/physics. I really want my friends to succeed and I love to help when I can...plus, you sometimes learn more in group study :-)</p>
<p>At the time I applied to Bio & Society it was not that competitive but it is getting much more competitive as people discover what a great fit it is for a variety of fields...including medicine and law. And by competitive...I mean admissions. In terms of the students...we're pretty laid back and have awesome support/advising staff.</p>
<p>I'm also fairly sure the Bio & Society major is unique to Cornell (but I have no data to back it up...I just never came across it when researching other colleges) so that might be a reason for your daughter to consider Cornell. I personally love the size of the university. I came from a small, conservative, white town and Cornell provides the diversity and culture I so desperately wanted.</p>