Please PLEASEE help me make a decision between these two colleges. I’m in the college of arts and sciences for both, not major declared. I’m an international Latin American student. What I like about Cornell is the selectivity and the brand name it carries, however Ithaca and the weather don’t attract me that much. What I like about UT is the laid-back stereotype, the social scene and Austin, however I don’t like that it is such a big school and maybe that carries a huge party scene.
Since you can afford it, on academics and reputation I’d pick Cornell. Learn how to ski while you are there and you might develop a different perspective on winter! The Cornell campus is beautiful, but isolated and the college is pretty much the entire town.
If you are interested in great music and food, a vibrant technology scene, politics, and a very entrepreneurial community in a mid-sized city I’d pick UT. UT’s reputation continues to rise and it is exceptional in engineering, technology, and business.
If the difference in selectivity or SAT scores is not significant between schools, then I’d ordinarily suggest they be ignored. However, that’s not the case here.
Ithaca is a vibrant college town in a beautiful natural setting. In contrast to Austin, the area has water everywhere. Cornell’s winter weather is suitable for the adventurous.
Valerie, my daughter didn’t apply to Cornell after visiting it. So you need to decide what’s important to you. She loves snow and skiing and all outdoor activities. I would say she’s adventurous, skiing at an advance level, well on some slopes. The isolated location, it took us a while to find Cornell(perhaps that was our fault) was the deciding factor. But we drove through corn hell to get to Cornell. Prestige means nothing if you are not happy. Good luck with your decision.
Cornell has a bit of an edge in economics, and an excellent reputation worldwide. You may consider that UT-Austin has one of the best, if not the best Latin American history and studies departments in the country; UT also performs well in many categories. UT probably also has a larger amount of Latin American students and faculty.
Which academics are you referring to? In the aggregate across fifteen major disciplines – for current graduate rankings according to the popular U.S. News – yes, Cornell wins out, but not substantially so. However, when considering individual departments, atmosphere, undergraduate offerings (is there a chance to participate in specialized programs at UT, such as Plan II, etc.?), each of these schools will have its own unique advantages, otherwise they would not compare so closely:
Also note the following, in which both schools are featured: “Eleven of the 45 schools on the list below have no academic department ranked lower than 30th in the nation. The private elites in this group are Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell; the public universities in the group are UC Berkeley, Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, and UT Austin.”
I would probably choose according to personal fit here, if cost is not a concern. I have no qualms recommending either; they are both excellent.