<p>Compelling arguments, MeasureYourself and Mondo.</p>
<p>I visited both Cornell and Duke, and even though I'll have to pay twice as much for Cornell and my family will have to take out loans and stuff to go there, I just had a much better feeling just walking around at Cornell. It was rainy, windy (this constant gravity wind on the hills), and chilly, but I still had a much better feeling than at Duke. I can't put my finger on it but I think I'll go to Cornell as soon as I'm sure that I'll get Housing financial aid even if I can't get on-campus housing in my upperclassmen years.</p>
<p>In all seriousness, you can't go wrong with either Duke or Cornell.
I would be lying if I said that I loved every moment of my freshman year at Duke.
Both schools suffer from anti-intellectualism though.
However, both schools will get you far. :D
Congratulations on getting into both and you can't make a wrong decision here!</p>
<p>Cmon guys</p>
<p>Duke > Cornell</p>
<p>Compare anything: SAT scores, National Merit Scholars, rankings, placement in graduate schools or professional schools, even just recruitment by top companies.</p>
<p>Duke will provide you with more talented fellow students and a more prestigious degree. Also, its a ton more fun than Cornell. Would you rather be getting wasted at tailgates in 70 degree weather outdoors...or drinking in your dorm room by yourself and going to hockey games?</p>
<p>Seriously, Duke is superior to Cornell academically and socially - most kids at Duke had this choice and it wasn't difficult for them.</p>
<p>The only thing holding me back is the quality of the engineering school. But I guess I'd rather not be worked to death at Cornell. I don't think I'm ready for it. I did no work in HS.</p>
<p>Cornell Engineering > Duke Engineering hands down (except biomedical)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cmon guys</p>
<p>Duke > Cornell</p>
<p>Compare anything: SAT scores, National Merit Scholars, rankings, placement in graduate schools or professional schools, even just recruitment by top companies.</p>
<p>Duke will provide you with more talented fellow students and a more prestigious degree. Also, its a ton more fun than Cornell. Would you rather be getting wasted at tailgates in 70 degree weather outdoors...or drinking in your dorm room by yourself and going to hockey games?</p>
<p>Seriously, Duke is superior to Cornell academically and socially - most kids at Duke had this choice and it wasn't difficult for them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Wow, just wow. You say that most kids at Duke 'chose' duke over cornell, and it was a very easy choice...well, it's bc they're at duke and not at cornell. To put things into the perspective, look at the following chart by ny times:</p>
<p>The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices</p>
<p>Actually, more people would choose to attend cornell over duke, and cornell has a slight edge in cross-admit battle over duke. Not to mention, Duke significantly lags behind every single ivy in the cross-admit battle, thus implying that most admits at both an ivy(including cornell) and duke would choose to attend ivy over duke. This says quite a bit about your argument that duke is 'superior' and a more 'prestigious' institution than cornell. </p>
<p>Besides, i don't know if duke's degree is more prestigious than a cornell degree in the job market. imo, they are similar and duke isn't 'superior' as u say it is. If we are comparing btwn Cornell and say, Stanford, I will gladly admit that Stanford is clearly 'superior' to Cornell. But, duke? Cmon.</p>
<p>The SATs in Cornell Arts and Sciences are slightly below Duke's overall SAT but not by much..maybe 10-20 points. The SATs in Cornell Engineering are about the same as Duke's overall SAT, maybe slightly higher. So, overall, student selectivity is about the same between comparable disciplines. I would say Cornell students have more talent in the arts, sciences, and engineering than Duke students.</p>
<p>According to the "Revealed Preference" study done by Harvard and Wharton, a higher percentage of cross-admits select Cornell over Duke by a substantial margin.</p>
<p>I am not sure about placement and recruitment. I don't think anybody really knows how they compare on placement and recruitment, including thethoughtprocess.</p>
<p>Cornell has a much higher number bright students than Duke by virtue of its size. It also has more strength in math-based majors. Cornell has many more science and engineering majors. Duke is primarily social sciences and humanities, areas where jobs are hard to find, which leads me to suspect that placement and recruitment at Duke are not so great.</p>
<p>Cornell students are generally well rounded and take advantage of the plentiful opportunities at Cornell for athletics, recreation, special-interest clubs, and the arts.</p>
<p>And. I would say that Cornell is superior to Stanford in UNDERGRADUATE education.</p>
<p>You won't notice a significant difference between the quality of Cornell and Duke engineers. You will notice a significant difference in the quality of the engineering programs. Outside of biomed engineering, Duke's just not comparable to Cornell. Not even close.</p>
<p>norcalguy, what do you mean there's no significant difference between the quality of Cornell and Duke engineers? That the students that come there are similar or that the ones that come out of the programs are similar?</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant the caliber of the engineering students (as measured by SAT scores).</p>
<p>Cornell is better at Duke in nearly all engineering disciplines but they fare equally in job recruitment post-graduation. You will have access to perhaps slightly greater resources and slightly more accomplished professors at Cornell in engineering but you will have to suffer to get good grades due to sever grade deflation.</p>
<p>In EVERY other area, Duke is better than Cornell. The quality of the student body is a notch higher at Duke as evidenced by the disparity in the SAT averages. Duke offers you a much more well-rounded college experience with strong Greek life, great weather, terrific sports teams, a gorgeous campus and an incredible amount of school spirit.</p>
<p>Duke students are much much happier than Cornell students. Especially as an engineer, you will be SO RELIEVED to be in such a friendly, noncompetitive environment. I got into both of thse schools and chose Duke without as much as a second thought. I hope you do the same.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Duke is primarily social sciences and humanities, areas where jobs are hard to find, which leads me to suspect that placement and recruitment at Duke are not so great.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And the hilarity ensues.</p>
<p>I'm not even sure whether to take the time to address the absurdity of this comment.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the Dukies on this one</p>
<p>As for this:
[quote]
And. I would say that Cornell is superior to Stanford in UNDERGRADUATE education.
[/quote]
Um. You'd have a really difficult time convincing most people of this.</p>
<p>EAD makes a valuable point that while Cornell’s reputation in engineering circles may be stronger than Duke, its post-graduate placement varies little, if at all from what Duke graduates will enjoy. There is no great institutional advantage that one receives as a result of choosing one or the other undergraduate academic experience. I think that is also the implied conclusion of the OP, given the title of this thread and his/her interest in comparing these two colleges on non-academic factors. </p>
<p>As for all of the revealed preference data, I suggest a tighter use of its results than is being applied here. While there is some overlap with Cornell and all of the Ivies, Duke experiences much greater overlap with places like U North Carolina, U Virginia, Vanderbilt, Emory, Rice, as well as Stanford, Northwestern, etc. while Cornell is going to have much more overlap with the Ivies and other colleges like the SUNYs, U Michigan, Tufts, and the many LACs of the northeast. I would guess that students who look for technical strengths and the prestige factor associated with the Ivies to favor Cornell and I would expect those who favor colleges that stress a blend of academic/social/athletic factors to favor Duke.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Duke students are much much happier than Cornell students. Especially as an engineer, you will be SO RELIEVED to be in such a friendly, noncompetitive environment. I got into both of thse schools and chose Duke without as much as a second thought. I hope you do the same.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Dude, have you even been to Cornell? Many cornell students are pretty happy and i am yet to find anyone who isn't happy about their decision to be at cornell. I agree that duke is a place where academics/social life are well balanced, but so is cornell. But, I would agree that Duke gets an edge in social life mainly due to the sports and the school spirit. Besides, you have to account for the rather large portions of the population who aren't fond of watching sports, getting involved in heavy greek scene, or even being in the south, thus for these people, duke won't be an ideal social outlet. </p>
<p>
[quote]
In EVERY other area, Duke is better than Cornell. The quality of the student body is a notch higher at Duke as evidenced by the disparity in the SAT averages. Duke offers you a much more well-rounded college experience with strong Greek life, great weather, terrific sports teams, a gorgeous campus and an incredible amount of school spirit.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Regarding Cornell avg SATs, like I have mentioned b4, take for instance the college of architecture. It is ranked #1 best archi program in the country, it is the most selective college at Corenll, yet it happens to have lowest SAT average at all Cornell colleges. Other schools like Hotel or CALS, too, are specialized and they look for many things other than just SATs. for hotel school, esp, they place much further emphasis on resume than your sat, much like the business schools. That said, why would the quality of Duke students be above Cornell students? Duke's SAT avg is similar compared to Cornell's CAS and Engineering. And, a gorgeous campus? Yeh, I agree that duke has a beautiful campus, but have u been to cornell and saying that duke's campus is more gorgeous than cornell's? Lastly, I do think that Duke's men Bball team is way overrated each year...</p>
<p>I think I'll probably end up at Duke because soooo many people from my school go to Cornell. From of my 1000-student high school, there are currently over 80 students in all four years at Cornell. </p>
<p>I would still like to hear your input. I will make my final decision after another visit to Cornell next Monday.</p>
<p>Lets not get into a discussion about the NYT cross-admit thing...its so misguided in what it establishes. </p>
<p>Duke</a> still step below top schools - News</p>
<p>Duke still attracts more NMS, higher SAT-scoring students, and places better post-grad then Cornell and non-HYP Ivies.</p>
<p>Duke places better on Wall Street, finance, and consulting in general than every school in the country besides Harvard, Princeton, Wharton, and maybe Columbia/Dartmouth. This is from someone who worked in both MC and IB via internship.</p>
<p>Cornell enrolls about 65% of its students in marketable majors like Engineering, Business, Sciences, and Architecture. Duke enrolls only about 33% of its students in these majors. Duke is about 50% English, Philosophy, Psychology, other Social Sciences. These majors are not as marketable.</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess is saying that Duke placement is better on Wall Street, finance, and consulting based on hearsay from former interns. This lacks credibility.</p>
<p>Hawkette, what you said about cross-admits is irrelevant. So what if Cornell and Duke have somewhat different overlap schools? Those students who ARE admitted to both schools select Cornell by a substantial margin based on the Revealed Preference study.</p>
<p>collegehelp,
Actually, I think it matters a lot. The prism through which your college impressions are formed determine a lot of the choices that are made. Students in the northeast who have had a long exposure to the NE media have far greater familiarity and affinity to any Ivy college. The same would be true for Duke for students coming from ACC country. This is part of the problem with students going to colleges outside of their accustomed environment-the relative regard differs and sometimes significantly. I would expect that a very high percentage of students coming from North Carolina or some other southern state would choose Duke, just as I would expect a higher percentage of New Yorkers and northeasterners to choose Cornell (and especially if their interest in things that Cornell is closely affiliated with, eg, hotel management). </p>
<p>Either way, I'm not sure it matters as students will have great options from both colleges and arguing about relative ranks and who is better is not far from the "how many angels on the head of a pin" debate. I personally believe that Duke has a significantly stronger non-academic undergraduate product, but I'm sure there are Cornell partisans who would conclude differently. Neither is "right" as what matters is what is important to the OP and his/her interests and which environment will he/she find most appealing.</p>