<p>I am a Cornell alum, who earlier chose Cornell over Dartmouth, so let me chime into this conversation. I graduated from A&S and went to work for a Bulge Bracket i-bank in NYC. I then went to a Top 5 B-School (Not H or S). Throughout my time on Wall Street I have yet to see the prestige difference that D-Mouth grads like to trump. During on campus recruiting every major i-bank recruited both for full-time and summer interns in pretty much every area of their firms. Similarly, for consulting, BCG, Bain and Booz recruited on campus and McKinsey and Monitor had resume drops after which they invited students to interview at their offices. My incoming analyst class had 8 other Cornell grads, which was probably more than Brown and Dartmouth combined. Many of my former classmates now work at top PE firms, hedge funds, attend top law schools, etc. So, if you are looking for opportunities post-grad, I fail to grasp how Dartmouth beats Cornell. Perhaps there is an alternate universe out there, but it is certainly not on Wall Street. </p>
<p>A popular statistic around this forum has been Cornell's low rank on that infamous WSJ placement report. I would have been very surprised to see us place highly there, because so many of the school's students do not go to Med, Law, or Bus. Architects, Engineers, HumEc, most Hotelies, etc. are really not geared toward these schools. In contrast, D-mouth is much more pre-professional. As an example, despite Cornell's size, last year, it had fewer fewer applicants to top law schools than Yale, which is only slightly larger than D-Mouth. Assuming that Dartmouth's student body is roughly similar in focus to Yale's, then Cornell's placement into Harvard Law relative to Dartmouth (45 vs. 35) implies that the schools are quite comparable. </p>
<p>Cornell does get a lot flak, some of it justifiable, for its high acceptance rate. It is true that the state-sponsored schools are somewhat less selective for NY staters. However, the private divisions, which are the real source of Cornell's reputation, are simply fantastic. A&S and Engineering are just as competitive admission-wise as D-Mouth. Engineering's accepted students had an accepted SAT range of 1380 - 1560 and A&S is usually about 20 points behind. Those numbers are right in range with the other top schools, although Engineering's acceptance rate is artificially inflated because its applicant pool so heavily overlaps with Stanford/Caltech/MIT. Architecture is simply the best in the nation and Hotel, well, I guess it is also the best, but I could never really figure out the reason for its existence. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is a fantastic school, so if you prefer a small college type of environment, then you should definitely go there over Cornell. Cornell is a large research institution with all the advantages/disadvantages that implies. There is an amazingly diverse group of people who go to school there, but there is very little hand holding. It is very much of a fend for yourself environment. I preferred to attend a larger school and did not mind finding my own way, so I made the Cornell choice without hesitation. My wife, who is also a Cornell grad, chose Cornell over Brown for exactly the same reason. </p>
<p>Academically, both schools are excellent, and the question really comes down to preference. For instance, if you are into sciences, then at Cornell you can do research with professors who are at the top of their fields. In contrast, at Dartmouth, while the profs are somewhat less accomplished, they will probably give you more personal attention. Some people choose the latter while some like the former. </p>
<p>Both schools will give you tremendous opportunities, but you can only maximize those opportunities if you do well. Because for every Darmouth/Cornell grad that is doing well, there is another who is sitting at Uconn Law and wondering how he let a golden opportunity slip away.</p>