I want to ED to one of these three schools, and would be more than happy to get accepted to any one of them.
My first choice would be Cornell but I know they are particularly discriminatory towards men (in terms of acceptance rate). I know it’s hard to say, but as a male student, which one of these colleges do you think I would have the best chance of getting in ED to?
There is no actual proff that Cornell is discriminatory against men. The fact that there was a higher rate of women accepted than men into their engineering program does not mean they are discriminatory against men. While there is a fact pattern establishing this belief, there are also multiple other fact patterns that lead to different conclusions, such as how men may feel more qualified for the program than they actually are, thus resulting in a higher number of male applicants. That being said, Dartmouth would probably be the easiest to get into ED (statistically). Although Dartmouth might have a higher ED acceptance rate, the two other schools have better engineering programs. If you really like Cornell, just apply ED there. ED is meant to showcase your belief that you belong at that school, and if you feel you do, then do it. (Mainly not mentioning Penn because I want to go there lol)
Dartmouth will probably need more than 12 quarters (i.e. more than 4 academic years) to complete an ABET-accredited BE program: https://engineering.dartmouth.edu/academics/undergraduate/be/requirements/
Most other colleges have ABET-accredited bachelor’s degree programs in engineering that take 8 semesters or 12 quarters (4 academic years), although sometimes with slight overloads (though a student aiming for Cornell, UPenn, or Dartmouth should be able to handle slight overload schedules, as well as likely have some advanced placement in some subjects).
No, they aren’t, any more than Bowdoin is “particularly discriminatory” towards women. Cornell and Bowdoin try to have approximately even gender ratios (which majorities of both genders repeatedly say they prefer), so as a male you are competing for ~half the available spaces and women compete for the other half- again, roughly proportional to the general population, so not discriminatory.
The fact that 3x as many men apply for the male spaces does make it more competitive for the men- just as the reverse situation does at Bowdoin for the women. Note that the stats for both male and female admitted students are comparable: it’s not a lower standard that is being applied. Basic supply & demand is not the same thing as ‘discriminatory’- and is exactly why students sometimes make the choices they do in terms of where they apply, what course they apply to, etc: they play the odds.