<p>woebegone,</p>
<p>With respect to your statement of students choosing MIT over Cornell from Singapore...that's not the case actually.
I know a guy called Vikas Reddy from Raffles who was the best there in Computers and a KVPY scholar (he went to Sing thru SIA schoalrship), and he choose Cornell over MIT. Though MIT is better for Engineering, Cornell does offer a much more complete exprience and there's a heck of a lot more flexibility. And He now is head of Camera systems at UAV devlpmnt team (which is sponsored by US Military) and head of a minesweeper team making techno. for Cambodia!
I too consciously choose pretty good places like Cambridge for Cornell. And a lot of the best from Raffles goto Cornell...I found that out when I recieved the SIA Scholarship to go there.
On a more general basis, if you look at the co2010 profile at cornell site, u will find a hell of a lot of guys who've chosen Cornell over UC Berkeley, and some over Stanford...there a few who have also been accpted at MIT and r going to Cornell. Its got to do with it being the best Engineering Ivy and one of the best Research instituions.</p>
<p>sorry but, i know vikas reddy. and when u say he chose cornell over MIT, i think u mean he chose to APPLY to cornell rather than MIT. if he did get into MIT, i doubt he will choose to go Cornell. and I'm pretty sure he didn't get into MIT. </p>
<p>BUT ANYWAY, since when did i make the statement that "chose MIT over Cornell from Singapore"? be careful before you place words in people's mouths. I said "One of the most outstanding guys from the recent RJ graduating batch got into MIT and Caltech but not Cornell." I might have flopped in SAT writing :( but I'm quite sure this statement is clear enough, that the person got into MIT but got rejected BY Cornell. Not he chose MIT over Cornell, though he would have did it that way, as would almost everyone who did manage to get into both. And besides even if you did comprehend it in that erroneous manner, you can at most say that I know of a person who chose MIT over Cornell. To extrapolate to a general statement "STUDENTS choosing MIT over Cornell from Singapore" is obviously presumptuous, even though that statement does stand. </p>
<p>Rafflesians @ Cornell may be good, but they are usually not the BEST from Raffles. Because of the ridiculous admission rate at Cornell for RJC (topping 40% with as many as 70-90 people getting admitted), many don't see Cornell as a selective and hence prestigious institution - it's dumb but nonetheless true. So many Singaporeans (being the prestige whores that we are) will choose to go somewhere else instead of Cornell, places such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Columbia, Brown and Penn, if we have a choice. That is not to say Cornell is not a wonderful college to be at though.</p>