<p>Hello,
Please, I have been accepted as a sophomore transfer on full funding at : University of Pennsylvania; Cornell University;Tufts University and waitlisted at Brown University My EFC was 0 so I dont need to pay ANYTHING.. ,
At Cornell, I will be majoring in Human Biology, Health and Society; at UPennBiological Basis of Behavior (Neuroscience) and at TuftsCognitive and Brain Sciences.</p>
<p>Please feel free to comment and help me decide based on : 1.Best premed program, 2. Small class sizes(personalized attention students receive) 3. Level of difficulty of grading (easiness to get a strong GPA for Medical School application) and 4.location/weather ..Thanks in advance</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations!
Anyway, I’d say simply go to the school you are most interested in/ the one you like better between Cornell and Penn. I’d say Cornell is a bit tougher and has larger class sizes in the intro level - but at Penn you are going to have the same giant classes for the intro classes anyway and you are not going to get the attention you want at the intro level (Where cornell will give you more of a choice but it would be a bit tougher). At upper levels, classes get smaller and grading gets easier, and it’s really comparable between the two. Ultimately it’s down to which program and school you like better and where you’ll have a more enjoyable time. They will both offer you many, many comparable opportunities for you to excel. At cornell, you’d be very close to the #1 vet school in the nation while you study while you’ll be close to Penn’s top med school in the cities - more than an ample amount of opportunity for research and related activities. So which one do you prefer, the big or small city?</p>
<p>Both are big schools relatively within the Ivy league, and both have pretty good pre-med programs, I would probably go with the school with the location, fit, and overall feel that you like better.</p>
<p>Have you visited them? All 3 are excellent schools and med schools obviously like all of them. Tufts is the most intimate. The others are large, especially Cornell. Tufts has been ranked as having “happier” students than Penn and Cornell. I don’t know how such ranking were compiled though. Boston is great for college students. There are just so many students from so many good colleges. The weather isn’t great at any of them but Cornell has the worst weather given it’s location…Can you tell I favor Tufts!!!</p>
<p>If you like tufts and you have an equally amazing financial package there, then by all means go for it if you like the environment and you think that you will excel there.</p>
<p>Tufts is a good school, but it is located in a tough and dangerous urban locale. Tufts was ranked #1 by the Daily Beast for being [the</a> most dangerous college](<a href=“Most Dangerous Colleges 2010”>Most Dangerous Colleges 2010) in terms of overall crime. Cornell was found to have the least crime of the 8 Ivy League schools by this same magazine. This is only one factor, but for me it would be significant.</p>
<p>What makes you think that being 42nd out of 50 colleges surveyed is a poor showing? The lower on the list the better. Princeton is relatively safe – it was 6th of the Ivy 8 for crime in the Daily Beast’s separate list of Ivies, meaning it’s the 3rd best for low-crime behind Dartmouth and Cornell (Cornell having the least crime). With respect to USC, I’d assume that they simply weren’t included in this survey of collegiate crime stats.</p>
<p>Ok, I’m a Cornell student, but I just have to correct some misinformation being posted about Tufts. Somerville isn’t Beverly Hills, but it definitely isn’t a “tough and dangerous urban locale.” I know people who have lived their for years and have witnessed no crime other than college student shenanigans. It is perfectly safe to walk around Somerville at night. The crime rate in Somerville is actually below the national average. I’d be interested to see that websites methodology…</p>
<p>That is the most ridiculous claim I’ve ever heard. What about schools in Detroit, etc. No need to create an unfounded issue…Princeton Review constantly rates Tufts as having some of the happiest students. How does that jive with your claim of no.1 in crime. Have you seen the neighborhood surrounding University of Chicago? It may be the worst that I have seen.</p>
<p>^ It is not my claim, it is a report of the Daily Beast’s collection of public data. They list publicly gathered statistics. However, the fact that a larger volume of schools weren’t included included in the survey may give an imperfect impression.</p>
<p>Perhaps you just don’t like urban environments, Colm? Seems that list you posted certainly skews that way. To say that Tufts and Harvard (#1 and 2 on the list, as well as MIT just down the street but somehow at #13) are in “tough and dangerous locales” is comical. Have you been to their campuses? Cambridge and Somerville are quite wonderful. In fact, I’d say most of Boston is quite nice and safe to wander about at all hours.</p>
<p>Life happens in large quantities in large cities and sometimes that means the bad parts of life happen there too. That doesn’t mean people are walking around in fear or getting bludgeoned every time they turn around. I don’t think introducing irrational fear is valuable in picking something as important as one’s education.</p>
<p>^ I accept what you are saying applejack, and I also trust what countryheart related in her post above. I was simply going on the statistics listed in the Daily Beast’s survey, and I am willing to defer to folks who have on-site experience (who I see as unbiased) at the campus. I’m perfectly willing to admit that I’ve never toured Tuft’s campus, and was simply citing a statistical survey that I now understand may well give an imperfect impression. Live and learn.</p>
<p>Just one thing more applejack-- you gave the impression that MIT and Harvard were just “down the street” from Tufts. After a quick check on google-maps I see that Harvard is 2.5 miles away, and that MIT is 4.2 miles away from Tufts. That kind of distance can be substantial in an urban setting. I’m still, however, conceding that the Daily Beast survey may be incomplete, and it might give a false impression; and if that is the case then I’m sorry for having linked to it.</p>
<p>^
Sorry for the confusion. I meant MIT, ranked 13th, is just down the street from Harvard, ranked 2nd most dangerous. I’ve walked that route many times between the two universities and couldn’t tell you any noticeable change in the safety / quality that would make MIT that much safer than Harvard. Just illustrates how subjective rankings are.</p>
<p>if you want something urban, go to upenn. if you prefer the more isolated environment of cornell, go to cornell. since you are getting the same financial aid package from all three, you shouldn’t even be considering tufts unless you feel like you have a really great fit there</p>
<p>Are those crime stats for students or the surrounding area? I found this article that indicated that the date included areas near the Tufts Med School buildings near Chinatown - that is a dicey area at night. Also, apparently the murder was not on-campus and didn’t involve a tufts student or faculty member. It was in downtown Boston.</p>
@ alias95…thanks for your comments too…</p>