Duke vs Cornell for CS

[1NJParent]

Here’s what I posted on another thread a few weeks ago:

Cornell vs. Brown vs. Duke

If your goal is to become a typical software engineer after you graduate, any of these three will do. However, if you want to dive deeper into a CS specialty, especially a more mathematical/theorectical area in CS, Cornell will be the best choice academically. I visited all three schools a few years ago with my S (and twice to Cornell including both its engineering and A&S divisions). The only concern we had about Cornell CS was the prioritization/waitlisting for some of its CS classes. We also ran into a CS graduate student at Princeton who graduated from Duke, when we were visiting Princeton. We talked extensively and he wasn’t very complimentary about his alma mater relative to Princeton in CS.

Both are obviously good schools, but there’re some significant differences between their CS programs. If OP’s goal is grad school, contrary to some of the posts above, where s/he goes to college also makes a difference because of the courses, and more importantly, the research experience in her/his specialized area in CS.