<p>Hello, I was recently accepted to Northwestern, Duke, Cornell.
I understand that all three are excellent schools and that other major factors like personal fit, setting, etc. should be factored into my final decision.
Given that, I will be visiting all three schools mid-April.</p>
<p>However, I wanted an honest, professional/student opinion about which schools have the edge in terms of:
1. Raw Academic Caliber (in my area of interest, see below)
2. Internship/Work Opportunities (in my area of interest, see below)
3. Graduate School Prospects (specifics are detailed below)</p>
<p>As of now, I am highly interested in economics and mathematics.
I am also thinking of pursuing a career in law, getting an mba, or doing more graduate work (economics Phd perhaps).
But one thing I am pretty sure that I want to do is to work for our government, particularly the Federal Government and its various departments/bureaus/agencies.
Possibly somewhere like the Federal Reserve or the US Justice Department or the US Dept. of Treasury.</p>
<p>How is Cornell's representation in DC internships/recruitment? What of NYC and all the firms?
In comparison to Duke? Northwestern?</p>
<p>Now, I know how legendary Northwestern's MMSS program is along with its top-notch economics program. But I am having second-hand thoughts about whether it indeed is the best program to be in especially when a lot of top-notch federal and private sector recruiters hire based on name-brand recognition: ex. Cornell is an Ivy School, Duke seems to be more recognized on the eastern seaboard.</p>
<p>Coming from the West, I don't know how Cornell is viewed out East compared to Duke and Northwestern. Some input would be appreciated.
Is the whole IVY LEAGUE thing really important as people/recruiters say it is?
I know that some companies only have internship programs for certain schools and such.</p>
<p>Are you familiar with the Cornell in Washington program? Your interests are very different from my own personal Cornell experience so I can’t really answer most of your questions, but I get a postcard every semester advertising this program.<br>
[Cornell</a> in Washington](<a href=“Cornell in Washington”>http://ciw.cornell.edu/)</p>
<p>bummp 10char 10char</p>
<p>Well, the thing about Cornell Econ is that it’s much more than Cornell Econ. As of this year, the university of making a more concerted effort to unify the various economic disciplines, which should only benefit students. The traditional Econ department on its own is not particularly special. I was an Econ major and enjoyed the classes, rigor, and variety of courses. However, especially now that they’re combining various economics-related disciplines, you should have more opportunity than ever before to explore classes in a top-notch policy analysis program (PAM major), a business program ever increasing in prestige (AEM), and a top labor economics major (ILR). Plus, you have opportunities for more mathematically rigorous courses in the top engineering school through Operations Research (probably something that matters if you want to work for the Fed).</p>
<p>The faculty can be hit or miss in terms of teaching ability, but that’s true anywhere. The true benefit I find in Cornell is that you have a huge amount of options in terms of classes to take. Not sure if anywhere else I could have graduated with a double major in Econ and Govt with minors in International Relations and German Studies.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Raw Academic Caliber – Honestly, I don’t know how to answer this question. If you look at reputations, admissions statistics, etc. These three schools are so close to each other that it is difficult to say that one has any meaningful difference over the others. </p></li>
<li><p>Intern/Work opportunities. You should research internship programs at the three schools – this information is available. Work opportunities – the answer to this may depend on where you want to work. There is the “Ivy League Aura” and I would certainly say that Cornell provides at least the opportunities of the other two overall. Regionally (i.e., NU in the midwest and Duke in the south) there may be advantages to the other schools, but I wouldn’t think it’s great.</p></li>
<li><p>Grad schools – unless someone can point to anything concrete, I would think that none of these schools holds any material advantage over the other.</p></li>
</ol>