<p>I'm from the west coast and haven't ever actually been to either school.</p>
<p>I'm trying to transfer from a community college. Not sure if that matters.</p>
<p>Which is better for pre-med? (I would assume Cornell)</p>
<p>Better dorms?</p>
<p>Better food?</p>
<p>Better financial aid?</p>
<p>Better campus, scenery?</p>
<p>Prestige?</p>
<p>FULL DISCLOSURE: I have not visited Cornell.</p>
<p>Transferring from community college might be easier for Cornell, but I’m not sure about this.</p>
<p>Which is better for pre-med? (I would assume Cornell) Both are just fine.</p>
<p>Better dorms? Probably Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Better food? Cornell, by reputation. But Dartmouth’s food is excellent, just the same.</p>
<p>Better financial aid? Dartmouth, without a doubt.</p>
<p>Better campus, scenery? It comes down to personal opinion. Aside from Cornell’s gorges and Dartmouth’s skiway, the two are probably quite similar.</p>
<p>Prestige? Both are very prestigious.</p>
<p>Really? Dartmouth has better dorms? I’ve always heard Cornell had some of the best dorms.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback!</p>
<p>Just visited both in the last week. Vastly different environments that will both afford you a ton of educational opportunities; I really suggest visiting for your own good</p>
<p>I hope I can. Which did you happen to like best?</p>
<p>For what it’s worth I chose Dartmouth over Cornell for Pre-med plans (at the time). I would say buffalo’s list is pretty accurate. I have heard Cornell Pre-med is a bit more cutthroat than D’s tho. No clue if that’s true, but it’s the reputation.</p>
<p>yes i liked Dartmouth a bit more too. I too am a prospective premed but what really drew me into dartmouth was the tight knit community which it invited you into</p>
<p>I believe at Cornell you have to pay extra to get a single?</p>
<p>Last year at Dartmouth I had a three-room double with private bathroom (granted, most don’t have a setup quite so spacious). This coming year I have a large two-room double. Most people seem to have a setup with a people-to-rooms ratio of <2 or even <1.5.</p>
<p>well, that’s badass.</p>
<p>Which is better for pre-med? Dartmouth due to the individual attention and access to grants</p>
<p>Better dorms? Dartmouth (they are nice)</p>
<p>Better food? Both were fine to me</p>
<p>Better financial aid? Dartmouth has awesome aid.</p>
<p>Better campus, scenery? Dartmouth has more of a community feel, Ithaca has a bigger town/ bar scene</p>
<p>Prestige? Dartmouth in my opinion.</p>
<p>My son is at Dartmouth and I know the campus well. When we visited Cornell, he was struck by how huge the campus is, and by the fact that there are city buses going through the streets right on campus. To us, Cornell had a much much bigger feel. Dartmouth feels smaller and more rural to me.</p>
<p>Just one person’s perception. It’s really an individual preference.</p>
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Last year at Dartmouth I had a three-room double
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<p>That doesn’t even make any sense.</p>
<p>concur with others. D wins on dorms and finaid. Food is a toss-up, IMO. Cornell is rated high, but D has great food as well. </p>
<p>Both are beautiful, but in different ways. “Better” campus is personal preference. Dartmouth is the quintessential NE liberal-arts-style college, whereas Cornell is a big Uni in a rural setting. Some kids find Cornell too big, while others find Dartmouth and Hanover too small.</p>
<p>VeryHappy’s kid preferred D but oldfort’s kid preferred Cornell bcos it was bigger.</p>
<p>Both are equally prestigious in the academic world, but I’d guess Cornell is more well known nationally and internationally (where physical sciences and engineering are of big interest).</p>
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<p>I’m not sure that’s really due to what they “feel” like. Dartmouth is the smallest Ivy with about 5,800 students while Cornell is the largest with about 20,000 undergrad and grad students. That’s a pretty sizable difference and really comes down to what someone’s looking for out of a school.</p>
<p>Size: For what it’s worth, Cornell never really felt overwhelmingly large to me, and I transferred there from a liberal arts college that was too small for my tastes. Its size and diversity is seen as an asset for many because you really do encounter people from all walks of life and have a huge breadth of fields of study. I couldn’t have studied in the breadth of fields I did at any other top school. </p>
<p>Beauty: No one’s ever complained about the scenery of Ithaca and all the wineries, waterfalls, gorges, etc… It really is beautiful and Cornell’s been rated the most beautiful campus in the country (for both architecture and landscape). </p>
<p>Transferring: I’m not sure what sort of luck you’ll have transferring into either from community college. Cornell has an agreement for certain departments with some upstate New York community colleges, but if you’re coming out of state that’s not going to help you. I’d suspect they’ll be concerned as to whether you’ll be able to handle the academic rigor jumping up so far. I had a friend who had to fight tooth and nail to convince Cornell admissions he could handle it coming from a junior college. They rejected him initially. But, overall, Cornell is far more open to transfers than any other schools at that level due in large part to its size.</p>
<p>Prestige is a slippery concept. Internationally, Cornell has a better reputation (especially in research circles). In the Northeast, I’d say Dartmouth probably has a better reputation, but neither school is going to lose you a job. </p>
<p>If it comes down to you and someone from the school you don’t choose (be it Dartmouth or Cornell), I can guarantee you the school factor is going to be a wash and they’ll look to something more individual.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. It really helped. I think I’m going with Cornell. Better chance to get in/ bigger campus. Thanks again.</p>
<p>It is not unusual for Cornell to seem huge to someone, on first impression when they visit the campus. The reality for most students there is that it takes only a short time to grasp the campus, functionally, for their own purposes. It is organized partly into separate quads for each college, and there are likely to be several of them that you have no immediate need for, and can basically ignore. What’s left is of a much more managable size.</p>
<p>The existence of these other areas just means that there continues to be new vistas for you to explore down the road. In contrast, my D1 was bored with her LAC campus after a very short time.</p>
<p>Of course people may variously prefer different things, my only point here is that this university doesn’t wind up feeling overwhelming ultimately, when you live there, as it may seem on first impression.</p>
<p>I have often heard, you can get the Dartmouth experience at Cornell, but you cant get the Cornell experience at Dartmouth.</p>