<p>I am currently deciding whether to attend </p>
<p>Cornell University (College of Human Ecology - Policy Analysis and Management) </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>Northwestern University (School of Education and Social Policy - Social Policy)</p>
<p>Other than majoring in public policy, I am interested in double majors, probably in social sciences or statistics.</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>
<p>It’s pointless to nitpick the difference in academics. The only thing I want to say is quarter system would give greater flexibity to do things like double-major or even double-major + minor. Other than that, I don’t feel like putting anything else to influence your decision.</p>
<p>Being on the NU waitlist, I’d say you should go to Cornell.</p>
<p>Take into account the locations as well. Some prefer Cornell’s rural setting, others NU’s suburban setting. NU is more accessible in that we have 3 El stops on campus, a 24-hour CTA bus that runs through campus, and NU’s very own intercampus shuttle to Downtown. Evanston also has a lot of amenities, but the downside is that you might overspend. Still, it’s good to know you have the option of, say, having Chicago at your doorstep when you turn 21 or a Borders & B&N within walking distance of campus should you tire of the library. The campus community is cohesive in either one.</p>
<p>As for prestige, I would say NU is more prestigious, but that’s probably because I come from the Midwest. NU also connotes a more dynamic, vibrant, and exciting atmosphere due to its prominent alumni (Zach Braff, David Schwimmer, Stephen Colbert, etc.) and Big Ten affiliation. Cornell is Ivy League, true, but it also has the “nonsmart Ivy” reputation associated with it, deserved or not. I don’t feel that perception has to do with rankings, as Brown has a very healthy reputation despite being ranked lower. Rather, it’s Cornell’s state schools, which people unfortunately look down on. Going to Cornell means you will be perpetually compared to the rest of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Goldwater Scholarships </p>
<p>Cornell 4
MIT 4
CalTech 3
Michigan 3
Northwestern 3
Princeton 3
Rice 3
Berkeley 2
Chicago 2
Dartmouth 2
Emory 2
Harvard 2
Vanderbilt 2
Yale 2
Johns Hopkins 1
WUSTL 1
Brown 0
Penn 0
Duke 0</p>
<p>============
Brown is ZERO. In science and engineering, I would take Cornell over Brown.<br>
<a href=“http://www.act.org/goldwater/pdfdoc/2009scholars.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/goldwater/pdfdoc/2009scholars.pdf</a></p>
<p>We are not talking the school of A&S at Cornell, or its engineering school, but the College of Human Ecology, which is the least respected of the Cornell schools. It is not on the same level as any of NU’s schools.<br>
That being said, pick the school and the atmosphere you like best. Personally, I would think it’s an easy choice: Ithaca vs. Evanston and Chicago.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone…
I guess I should visit both campuses before deciding.
I like both schools though…</p>
<p>Toughyear, why the mention of the Goldwater? The OP doesn’t even list the sciences as his primary interest. In any case, I don’t think the # of fellowships a school has won should be a deciding factor. It reflects more the strength of the fellowship office at a college than the strength of its students (though I suppose the strength of the fellowship office is also important). Also, strict number comparisons are misguided since they don’t take into account the sizes of different colleges. Cornell, for example, is larger than Brown by 5,000 students. Most would also agree that Brown’s student body is stronger as a whole, and ultimately, that’s what matters. This whole discussion is irrelevant though because the OP isn’t even considering Brown :)</p>
<p>Gad, visiting is a good idea. Ultimately, you should go to the one you “click” with more.</p>
<p>I have another question.
Is the School of Education and Social Policy full of students learning to be educators?
I do not want to be studying social policy alone while all the others are studying education…</p>
<p>You will have plenty of company, gad. If this site is any indication, social policy is actually the most popular major within SESP:
[Undergraduate</a> :: Students](<a href=“http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/ugrad/people/students/]Undergraduate”>http://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/ugrad/people/students/)</p>
<p>I would say learning/organizational change is second most popular then education then human development. If you change your mind, you can always transfer to a different school altogether. The process is easy.</p>
<p>Liontree, I majored in Social Policy. The Secondary Education majors are not the most populous group in the school. There are four majors in SESP: Social Policy, HDPS, LOC and Secondary Ed. All four groups are equally represented. The beauty of the Social Policy major is that it is interdisciplinary: outside the core courses, you can create your own individualized study. (I focused my classes mostly on urban issues)</p>
<p>T^T…</p>
<p>It’s too hard to choose between NU and Cornell…</p>
<p>I like both schools so much.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the percentage for acceptances to grad schools?</p>
<p>gad</p>
<p>I’ll probably differ on a couple of points made thus far.</p>
<p>First, while it’s true that traditionally the “land-grant” colleges at Cornell (Hum Ec, Ag, and ILR) were considered a bit less prestigious than Arts and Sciences there, that is really no longer the case. If attending as a NY native, with tuition substantially lower than at the privately endowed colleges, these schools have always been a relative bargain. Especially in today’s economy, these colleges are going to be more competitive than ever and any on-campus stigma associated with them pretty much a thing of the past. As you know, they each offer programs not found in A&S, so there are also very good reasons academically to consider them preferentially.</p>
<p>Statistics at Northwestern is offered via an independent WCAS department as both a major and minor. This would seem a great option for you and it may be a deal breaker in deciding between NU and Cornell. Stats is not as flexible at Cornell where only Biostats as a department exists. Otherwise, you need to work through A&S’ math dept.</p>
<p>SESP is a great place. Small program (usually fewer than 100 grads yearly) with kids getting a lot of attention. As tenisghs points out, they pretty well distribute themselves between the four different departments (only one being secondary teaching) and ultimately careers in law, business, teaching, psych, and social policy. </p>
<p>Forget about grad school, law school, business school acceptance. You’ll do equally well (and you’ll do well) with either degree. Prestige and placement are very similar. Go where you think you’ll have the better experience.</p>
<p>I vote for NU. Better size, less of a cut-throat competitive nature, and Chicago is an invaluable attribute, especially as you get in your Junior and Senior years.</p>
<p>for me its a no brainer…I hated Cornell…the people seemed weird, the campus seemed isolated, the atmosphere seemed dark and dreary, it just kind of depressed me.</p>
<p>NU’s campus was beautiful…the people seemed warm, upbeat and exciting…the school spirit was obvious…Chicago is right there</p>
<p>Academically, both schools are the same…NU just seems (to me) like more fun</p>
<p>gad- you’ve gotten some good thinking here. The only point i would disagree with is the suggestion that Cornell’s College of Human Ecology is as highly regarded out in the professional workplace as the other “land grant” schools. ILR is especially well thought of, and Ag pretty darn close, but in my experience Human Ec just isn’t thought of in the same way.<br>
But put that aside; for a lot of reasons I personally would strongly prefer NU over Cornell.</p>
<p>As someone who didn’t quite get into either (WL Northwestern (but for WCAS), GT Cornell PAM), Northwestern was significantly higher on my list for many of the reasons stated above. HOWEVER, I’m a NYS resident, so Cornell was higher on my parents’ lists. Don’t know if that’s a factor for you.</p>
<p>my s is also deciding between cornell-cas and nu-wcas. he is slightly biased against cornell thanks to the experience of his cousin who graduated cornell and currently in med school. my s just heard too may times of the competition his cousin had to put up. i have a good respect for cornell though – when i was a grad student at caltech one of my professors spoke very highly of the quality of cornell grads. as my s is planning on pre med, he is very mindful of the competitiveness og the program. one thing thats making the decision difficult is the pres research scholor position he was offered at cornell. otherwise he is a ‘natural’ fit to nu for his affinity to performing arts. WCASParent – would you list some of your concrete reasons why you prefer nu over cornell?</p>
<p>I don’t really mind the competitiveness… but since I am from South Korea, a country that values the “Ivy League” namesake, I am worried about attending NU, since it is not really known in my home country.</p>
<p>gad- ^^ it sounds like that might be the answer: if you are concerned about the value of the Ivy League “glitter” in South Korea, and that is the country where you will be marketing yourself and your CV after your education, and you think (probably correctly) that within South Korea people will be more focused on the “Cornell” name and Ivy League status and less focused on the particular Cornell school (evidently not realizing that “all that glitters is not gold”), then I guess it’s Cornell.</p>
<p>toughyear- as I’ve said elsewhere, this is all very subjective, and when the choice is between two approximately equal schools, a student should go where s/he thinks they’ll be happier. In this case, I don’t think that the particular Cornell school is a particularly big deal, and qualitatively and reputation-wise behind NU. Beyond that, though, I find Cornell a bit large (14,000 undergrads to NU’s 8000), the location unappealing (as I said above, Ithaca vs. Evanston and Chicago is no contest), and I personally find NU’s atmosphere far more appealing than Cornell’s, which is seems overly-intense to me. But they are both top-of-the-line schools offering great academics; there’s no going wrong.</p>