<p>Nick, have you visitied classrooms and the dorms at UM? How do they compare to the ones at PSU?</p>
<p>And Alexandre, I in no way implied that UM has poor facilities. I only said that some other schools that are ranked lower than it have BETTER ones for certain departments. You are the one claiming that as far as you know there are only 5 schools better than michigan, not me--should I assume that you visitied and have actual experience inside all the other schools to make such pompous statement?</p>
<p>interacting with you = reading magazine rankings.</p>
<ul>
<li>Yep, nick, i share your disappointment. Hopefully things will work out for me next year as they did for you and I will get accepted into a more intellectual university. I tried to meet studious people, but in a 150 people class, you are pretty much stuck in your seat surrounded by students who are loud and frivolous. I know this may sound arrogant considering my stats coming out of HS weren't stellar, but it is kind of frustrating when 93% of the class had scores lower than you and don't share the same desire to learn. The pinnacle for me was when I heard the students had moved st' patrick's day date, lol.</li>
</ul>
<p>Frasi, I have not made any pompous remark. I never claimed to be qualified to rank universities and I never do. I always defer to the experts when it comes to academic rankings. I neither have a PhD, nor do I spend hours daily interacting with the leading minds in my field, most of which are teaching at other top rated departments around the country like professors at universities do.</p>
<p>I am, however, qualified to rate (not rank mind you) facilities, class size and campus atmospheres. I have visited most top 50 universities (and every top 25 university) in the US. By "visited", I mean spending several days (as few as 5 as many much as a month), sitting in on at least a dozen of classes (spanning all levels and multiple subjects and colleges), closely scritinizing the facilities, dorms, cafetierias and examining many aspects of the campus and suround areas.</p>
<p>Alexandre: I have read many of your posts. You have enlightened many of us with your insight of the academic quality,campus life, student body, of the colleges and universities in the US. I need your advice, based on your personal experience. How would you compare UVa and Cornell, for their respective College of Arts & Sciences. Statistics are known to me and I have met students from both the universities. As is usual, the views are biased:)</p>
<p>Will you please advise me with your considered opinion? Since the size of the undergraduate body is similar, I am more keen to know about the academic environment, teaching style, teacher-student interaction, the life in the dorms, etc.</p>
<p>Size-wise, they are practically identical. 13,000 undergrads and 6,000 graduate students. Both have gorgeous campuses and both arelocated in ideal college towns, although Charlottesville is larger and more conservative than Ithaca. Both schools are very highly respected in academe and in corporate circles and very strong in the social sciences and humanities. That is where the similarities end. </p>
<p>Cornell is stronger than UVa in the sciences (Engineering, hard sciences, life sciences, Medicine etc...). Academically, Cornell is supposedly more intense, but faculty (in general) at Cornell is more involved in research and as such, less focused on instruction. But those differences are marginal and seldom worth dwelling on.</p>
<p>Dorms are decent at both schools, but cafetiria food at Cornell is hard to beat!</p>
<p>Socially, both schools have a large Greek systems that play a large part in campus life, though a larger role at UVa than at Cornell. </p>
<p>I realize this is quite vague and broad, but for details, you will have to do the research as it applies to you. Personally, I think they are both wonderful schools, but they are intended for different types of students.</p>
<p>Thanks for such precise inputs. However, I am not very clear about what you meant by saying, ".. intended for different types of students".
In terms of diversity and building up a collegial atmosphere, which one would you recommend?
For an OOS girl, will UVa be a good melting point?
In terms of job prospect, will the Cornell brand open many more doors?</p>
<p>What I meant by "intended" for different types of students" is that Cornell is more liberal, more isolated and rural, colder, more academically intense and probably less Greek-oriented. UVa is a little more conservative, less diverse, located in a larger town, warmer and slightly more laidback (academically). </p>
<p>Cornell is more diverse and liberal, but UVa is diverse enough to accommodate most personality types. </p>
<p>Cornell's brand will not open more doors than UVa, except in the technology sector, where Cornell has an exceptional reputation. It's not that Cornell isn't awesome (because it is), but rather that UVa is also awesome.</p>