<p>Hey everyone, I'm trying to decide what university I should attend: Cornell, Columbia, or UPenn. I got into the engineering schools from all three. I would appreciate any advice on which school I should choose:</p>
<p>I guess you should know these things too:</p>
<ul>
<li>I don't care if I go somewhere rural or urban.</li>
<li>The more undergrad research opportunities, the better.</li>
<li>Doing some sort of Co-op/internship is very appealing to me.</li>
<li>I'm very interested in nanotech.</li>
<li>I'll probably go into either materials or applied physics; although, the possibility of doing a completely different engineering major does exist (people change majors all the time...).</li>
<li>I find liberal arts to be interesting and important, but remember I applied to engineering schools to be an engineer not an historian, etc.</li>
<li>I'm definitely going to grad school.</li>
</ul>
<p>Your advice can be on anything, but if you could note on the pros and cons of each school and then give your verdict I'd appreciate it.</p>
<p>If you need any more info please ask. If I can think of anything else to add I'll post it. Thanks for all of your help!!!</p>
<p>Everything you said leads to the conclusion that Cornell would be the best choice. It is by far the largest engineering school of the three which means that it has a wide variety of programs and resources. You must already know about its nanotechnology program and the research being done at Cornell. If not, go to the Cornell Engineering School website and search "nanotechnology" or "nanoscience." </p>
<p>There are many opportunities for undergraduate research in engineering and Cornell's co-op program is well-established. Unlike the other two, Cornell's engineering school makes up a sizable percentage of the undergraduate population. I think this is one of the reasons the University gives it a lot of attention, support and resources. I'm not sure that the engineering schools of the other two universities get the same level of attention. </p>
<p>What are your thoughts about the merits of the three schools?</p>
<p>Hi. Both Penn and Columbia are great schools. But if you are talking engineering, the debate is over: you should go to Cornell. At Penn and Columbia, engineering and (to a certain extent) sciences seem marginalized and even eclipsed by, for example, business and medical school (in the case of Penn) and humanities and social sciences (in the case of Columbia). Cornell, on the other hand, has been maintaining its reputation as the top ivy in engineering. It offers a diverse learning experience with plenty of research opportunities for those who want them.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptances to three of the toughest and most sought after schools. I can say all 3 are great; from the info sessions that I've attended, campus visits, internet information, and I know students at all 3. </p>
<p>However the School of Engineering at Cornell and the Fu Foundation school of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Columbia is where I feel that you should limit your decision between. UPenn is great, but I do feel they are more business oriented. The two other aforementioned schools have stronger engineering programs, and more prominent reputations.</p>
<p>Go with Cornell in the end, because I just feel you more likely will get involved in what you want the nanoscience related field, and do well. You can count on Cornell to give you good prep for grad school.</p>
<p>If you want to go to an Ivy League school for engineering, then it's Cornell hands down. And from what I know, Columbia's Fu Foundation School of Engineering only offers certain specialized engineering majors, not the diverse amount that Cornell's College of Engineering offers. </p>
<p>I wouldn't go to UPenn for engineering; as people have said, they are more business oriented, even though they are good for medical, which is science. </p>
<p>I'd pick Cornell. Lots of good reasons were already mentioned. If you can get a good gpa in the best engineering school out of all of the ivies then getting into a top grad school would be a very achievable. GL and Congrats!</p>
<p>Bear in mind that Columbia has the core curriculum - even for Engineers. That means you'll be taking philosophy, language, etc. Very different than taking liberal arts requirements at other schools. You either love that or you don't.</p>
<p>Forget about "rankings" and go with your gut on how you felt when you visited the schools (hopefully you did)</p>
<p>I don't think there is enough of an academic difference to choose between them - go to whereever you like the environment better. </p>
<p>That said, Duffield Hall (the nanotech building here) is brand new and apparently the labs in it are awesome. My current advisor is also in Applied & Engineering Physics - that seems to be a very strong department here. Make sure the other schools have Applied Physics in the engineering colleges (or else it could be kind of a pain to transfer). Coop is also very popular here.</p>
<p>I've never even been to Columbia or Penn, so I can't really say anything about them. They both have great reputations, however.</p>
<p>Based on a few of the items you mentioned before, my advice (as a Penn grad) is to choose Cornell. All thre schools are of similiar overall prestige and academic quality, but each has areas of strength. In lib arts, you'll do very well at all three. Columbia's core provides a strong intro into Western Civ, if that's what you want....otherwise you'll get great exposure to the humanities and social sciences at all three. </p>
<p>For nanotech/materials science, the ranking is Cornell>Penn>>>Columbia.<br>
Both Cornell & Penn have top 10 ranked programs in both areas. For Penn, that's one of its few Cornell level strengths. On balance, Cornell beats both other schools by a large margin. Cornell has better engrg and natural sciences programs, a larger research budget in those areas and better advising. Those enable Cornell to give you better placement into grad school. The undergrad engineering programs at Penn and Columbia are roughly balanced.</p>
<p>Make sure you visit all three though to ensure the place is as good for you as the stats may indicate. Best of luck</p>