I am a California resident. I am interested in doing a major in Physics. I want to go to a university that has a lot of research opportunities in Physics and strong alumni network.
Which college would you suggest applying to for Early Decision? I am a strong applicant for both universities.
What are the benefits and disadvantages of attending both?
They are very different. In fact, it might be hard to find two more different schools.
Cornell is a large university, with large classes, lots of TA instruction, a well respected doctoral program, freezing cold winters and a diversity of majors.
Harvey Mudd is tiny, all professor taught, great weather year 'round, without much diversity in majors unless you add in the rest of the consortium.
My take would be that the research at Cornell would be better, but you very well might not be able to access it as an undergrad. You certainly will at HMC and will get better quality instruction and weather to boot. The quality of research offered at HMC will be fine and you’ll be working with a professor directly since they do not offer graduate degrees. What you do as an undergrad isn’t as important as doing something, it being interesting to you, and getting good grades.
Note, the strongest applicants at both schools get rejected. It doesn’t matter where you fall on their GPA/SAT continuum. They both simply have too many fully qualified candidates. Have a safety or two lined up.
Good luck.
More importantly, though omitted above: the vast number and diversity of course offerings at Cornell. Including many courses at the advanced undergraduate level, and cross-enrolled between grad and undergrad. In areas of potential future relevance such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, engineering physics, materials science, electrical engineering,…
And in areas that may be of general interest outside of your major.
Also it’s big enough that, for many courses, multiple sections of a course are offered. Thereby reducing the likelihood of scheduling conflicts precluding you from taking a course of interest, when you want to take it.
This scheduling flexibility is further facilitated by the substantial curricular duplication between the physics and engineering physics programs.
As an exercise, you can go to the Harvey Mudd registrar’s list of courses given last semester. And do same for Cornell. And just count the courses offered. In both suspected areas of possible interest, and overall.
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Also suggest check the curriculum/ distribution requirements at each school. Cornell’s arts & sciences college has fairly typical distribution requirements. My recollection is Harvey Mudd’s are a bit different than the norm. Though I may be mistaken.
My experience at Cornell was years ago. At that time, FWIW undergraduates of my acquaintance with clear potential for graduate work were able to obtain suitable research opportunities and went on to top graduate programs