<p>I agree with sheep because I also think that USAMO accounts for everything.</p>
<p>Yes, because every USAMO winner contributes to society!</p>
<p>Sorry Sheep but that is one of the silliest things I have read on CC. Do you actually believe that it takes being a winner of USAMO to attend a Ivy or any top school. My son who attended MIT did not win USAMO nor did my two at Cornell. If you think this is the only sign of true talent in math than you are mistaken and misguided. One of my sons is working in the United Emirates in a job that is sought after by people with many years of experience. I guess his problem solving abilites are less than those who won USAMO. </p>
<p>Cornell was my other kids FIRST choice and they never considered any other school. If you believe Harvard or Yale or any other top school has anything over Cornell you have NEVER studied at Cornell. By the way my son at MIT has always wished he had chosen Cornell. In his opinion from comparing course work and exams with one of his brothers there was no difference. He has always been grateful for his education at MIT but it has never seemed that he was really happy there. He much preferred the environment at Cornell. People choose Cornell for a reason, and if you visit you might understand why. I myself never liked MIT when we visited…we were proud of our son but it was not a great environment for him. Just as NYC would not have been a great undergrad environment for any of my kids.</p>
<p>Cornell is not a shrinking violet in the back of the Ivy league, it is a university that people choose to attend just as some choose to attend Harvard or Princeton or Columbia. Not one of my kids ever considered any of those schools. Out of my three who attended top schools only one chose to go to a school for the prestige instead of the fit…and instead of being as happy as his brothers he looked forward to graduating. I always understood why, and felt that he should have gone with his heart, and not the MIT name. I would also like to add that MIT may have more clout than Cornell but that is the only school that may actually deserve that recognition. The other Ivy’s are just better at marketing and playing the numbers game. I do love Cornell’s mission and that is what sets it apart from the others. They hold true to that, and aren’t prestige whores as the others pretend to be.</p>
<p>momma three,</p>
<p>You make me feel proud to be a Cornell alum!</p>
<p>you have to be kidding me. So you think Harvard is just better at markteting itself?</p>
<p>Well then how do you account for the fact that Gates and Zuckerberg both went there?</p>
<p>^ Neither of those two graduated from Harvard.</p>
<p>
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I’m not clear what your point is. It’s easy for an institution to recognize really smart people and for those smart people to be drawn to an institution with a great brand reputation. I’d say both those individuals were beyond what Harvard had to offer them and were doing their own thing until they could move on, like a great athlete. Harvard did not make them who they are, it merely attracted them. </p>
<p>By the same token, many great CEOs and innovators went to schools that would never be mentioned on this forum. A lot of that comes from within the individual. So, it is possible that a school that has protected / marketed its brand as well as Harvard has would attract such people without turning them into great innovators.</p>
<p>If you can’t succeed after Cornell…please do yourself a favor and look in the mirror…</p>
<p>@applejack - nicely said. I always felt that Zuckerberg and Gates felt being at Harvard was a chore, some sarcastic diploma that they would receive but it wouldn’t mean anything at the end of the day for them. Their heads were not wrapped around Harvard, it was programming 24/7.</p>