<p>Hey guys I'm a high school senior who is trying to decide between these 3 schools. I am a Georgia Resident so I have a full tuition scholarship to GT along with some merit aid. I have also been accepted by the college of engineering at Cornell and am waiting on a decision from Duke. The cost of attendance are all comparable due to financial aid. </p>
<p>Which school would be the overall best package for an engineering student? I want to have a fun yet fulfilling and college experience.</p>
<p>Questions you need to ask yourself before deciding:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What kind of engineering? Georgia Tech has the largest selection of engineering majors, followed by Cornell, followed by Duke.</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want to work as an engineer (versus investment banker or consultant)? In what region would you prefer to work?</p></li>
<li><p>By “comparable” costs, you mean net cost after non-loan financial aid, and debt, if any, would be similar?</p></li>
<li><p>How likely is it that you will change your major outside of engineering, or want to take extensive non-engineering course work? Georgia Tech is relatively limited outside of engineering.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Cornell</p>
<p>Duke
GT</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus great questions. I am currently undecided on which engineering major I would like to pursue but I definitely plan to study and finish a degree in engineering. The net cost of Cornell and GT are very similar and I would not have to take out much loans at all for either. Since cost is not an issue, I am trying to determine which school is “better” for engineering and the overall college experience</p>
<p>@JamieBrown is there any reasoning behind that order?</p>
<p>For engineering, Cornell and GT are peers while Duke is not quite as good. However, Cornell is a stronger overall university than GT. I agree, if cost is not an issue, Cornell is the way to go. </p>
<p>How do you you got accepted into Cornell? their decisions do not come out under March 29.</p>
<p>i got accepted via likely letter. For some reason though, the Georgia Tech engineering rankings are all higher than cornell’s and its rated as a top 5 college for Engineering. Would I be taking a loss by going to cornell?</p>
<p>If you are undecided which kind of engineering, ask two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Does each school have the kinds of engineering that you may decide on?</p></li>
<li><p>How difficult is it to change to a different engineering major at each school?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>petedawg, you should know by now that rankings are not absolute. It is not logical to assume that rankings are the be-all, end-all. #5 is not better than #10. GT’s engineering programs are significantly larger than Cornell and engage in more research. That explains the difference in ranking. In terms of engineering academic quality, reputation in industry and engineering professional placement, the two schools are equal. However, outside of the engineering domain, Cornell is a stronger university than GT.</p>
<p>Since you live in Georgia, you are more than likely familiar with the mid-town experience around the GT campus. We have 2 dear friends’ children who are in different engineering major at Tech, who are completing 2 extra semesters to have a minor in management I would humbly disagree with the prior poster about GT being primarily engineering. The heart of GT is engineering, but the Ivan Allen College of Liberal arts, the Nunn school for international relations have excellent reputations and graduates do very well in the job market. Cornell clearly has the elite stature of the Ivies-but it is also more remote ( which matters when you want to travel home, etc) and is COLD a good part of the year. GT on the other hand, is in the middle of a huge metro. area with plenty to do ( when you have time). To me, they are very different schools in terms of overall college experience. I can tell you that GT students in all areas and colleges land incredible summer internships, many with job offers after the second year. DS’s best friend is spending second summer with Caterpillar with pending offer and other student just completing sophomore year with double major in German and International Business will spend entire summer with BMW in Germany.</p>
<p>Cornell…</p>
<p>Georgiatwins, I agree that GT is an excellent university. I never said otherwise. But I do believe that it is pretty heavy on Engineering and Science. Two thirds of GT students major in Engineering/Computer Science. For this reason, outside of the tech industry, GT doe not have as strong a presence or reputation as Cornell. </p>
<p>I also agree that setting is important. Cornell is located in a smallish college town in the snowbelt while GT is located in a large, southern city. Something else to consider is the male to female ratio. Cornell is 50/50 in this regard, while GT is 70/30. Just like location and climate, that may not be a big deal for some but it is for others.</p>
<p>Depends a lot on what type of college atmosphere you want. Georgia Tech and Duke are schools in the ACC, with Georgia Tech probably having more of a big time sports culture due to their greater athletic success across the board. Cornell plays in the Ivy League and is obviously not as big time on the athletics scene.</p>
<p>Size is also another deal, with Duke being half the size of Georgia Tech and Cornell. While Georgia Tech is your typical state school, I’m not so sure that there’s a bigger party culture there, it didn’t seem like an incredibly fun school when I visited.</p>
<p>Personally, I would go with Duke. Weather is decent, smaller undergrad population, good girl/guy ratio. I actually think Durham is the worst of the three cities/towns, but Ithaca has horrible (albeit great scenery) and Atlanta is an actual city with a ton to do and solid weather. </p>
<p>If you don’t get into Duke, I think it’s a tossup.</p>
<p>Also, in the small chance you change majors, Duke is a lot easier school to do that at. While Georgia Tech is a very good school, its programs outside engineering are lacking in comparison to Cornell and Duke.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say it’s that small of a chance really and definitely agree with you that it’s something to consider. Nationwide, 1/3 of people going into engineering transfer out. And of the approximately 2/3 that stay in, a large percentage end up not going into the engineering workforce (consulting and banking are popular). Hence, why there’s a shortage of engineers in this country. Every high schooler that goes into engineering thinks they’re completely committed to it, but things change. Thus, I would encourage you to attend a university where you’d also be happy studying something else if your interests change or engineering proves not to be your cup of tea. </p>
<p>All three are great schools, so you really can’t go wrong in my mind. Cornell and GT are more known for the engineering overall, while Duke is more a small niche engineering school with 1/2 of its undergrads studying BME. Since you’re undecided, I’d also inquire as to how easy it is to change within the engineering school. When I applied to Illinois, I had to apply to a specific engineering major. I don’t know if that’s the case at GT or how difficult it is to transfer to a different major, but it’s a reasonable question. I’d imagine Cornell is more flexible in that regard. At Duke, you don’t have to declare until the end of your sophomore year and even transferring to the arts & sciences school is as easy as checking a box.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus’ questions above are great - I’d also encourage you to visit the schools to get a better sense of the feel and what would be a better fit. Good luck.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>However, the stats may differ at highly selective schools. For example, 80% of freshmen in engineering at Berkeley graduate with bachelor’s degrees in engineering. I would not be surprised if the three schools described here also had much higher rates of staying in engineering than the national average (which is actually worse than 2/3, since only 60% of freshmen in engineering are still in engineering after one year).</p>
<p>The investment banking and consulting thing is mostly at a small number of high prestige schools (presumably including Cornell). Other schools do not have a very large percentage of engineering graduates going into investment banking and consulting.</p>
<p>^I second that the national average is not a good benchmark for top students. The GT data are much more applicable:
<a href=“http://www.irp.gatech.edu/sites/www.irp.gatech.edu/files/GeorgiaTech_First-TimeFreshmanRetention%20Study_Fall2011%2001-18-12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.irp.gatech.edu/sites/www.irp.gatech.edu/files/GeorgiaTech_First-TimeFreshmanRetention%20Study_Fall2011%2001-18-12.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here are the pros and cons:</p>
<p>Duke
Pros
General prestige
Targe schools for elite ibanking and consulting firms (note that you should at least be a semi-extrovert, if not an extrovert, to have the personality type most of them look for; for ibanking, probably the thick-skin to handle jack*ss and to be in a culture of questionable ethics)
Cons
Limited offering in engineering
Limited recruiting from engineering firms</p>
<p>Georgia Tech
Pros
Very strong engineering recruiting and industry connections
Great engineering co-op program
Cons
Lack of top-quality programs outside of engineering </p>
<p>Cornell
Pros
Kinda the best of both worlds. But co-op program doesn’t match Georgia Tech
Cons
Weather and location</p>
<p>So there’s really no right or wrong answer here because none of them cover all the basis.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice guys. It helped me see things more clearly. I’ve never visited cornell so I will definitely visit soon and see if I like it there.</p>
<p>Do you have FA packages from all three yet? Do you know the cost will be equivalent?</p>
<p>I have recieved the FA package for Georgia Tech and I am basing the estimates for Duke and Cornell off their financial aid calculators and EFC</p>