NY Times Article (4/22) - "Cornell's Worried Image Makers Wrap Themselves in Ivy"

<p>That's not quite true. If the really top people don't come to Cornell, the quality level drops. The entire purpose of choosing a school for its acedemics is surrounding yourself with other great students and great faculty to help you and challenge youi through four years. As soon as the great students and faculty are slightly less great, the entire school loses out.</p>

<p>Shoofy is right. Most of the learning at college happens with and as a result of your peers.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cornellsun.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=86dab7fc-dd14-4773-9294-e743e1a57dea%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cornellsun.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=86dab7fc-dd14-4773-9294-e743e1a57dea&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If people are obsessed with status then they probably WILL apply to Cornell because of it's extremely high ranking and of course the "Ivy" mentality.</p>

<p>"I couldn't begin to count the number of conversations I've overheard or been a part of in recent years that center on why Cornell does not get as much respect or national attention as Penn, or whether it's the Hotel School or the school of Industrial and Labor Relations that is the true cross to bear on our road to success and recognition."</p>

<p>I really didn't enjoy reading this...that's not the type of atmosphere I'd want to be in, especially because I'm going to go to ILR.</p>

<p>"At the end of the day, Cornell will always be a large, research-driven university in which half of the colleges are funded by the state of New York. Some of the students here even got below a 1500 on the SATs, because the university does not evaluate a candidate's qualifications based on only one test score. These things are what allow the university to expose students to a vast number of ideas and perspectives and what makes it unique; it's what keep us out of the top five, but what gives us some hint of personality."</p>

<p>On the other hand, this (and the other parts of the article like this) is just the kind of school I want to go to! lol</p>

<p>Cornell is easily the best Ivy after HYP.</p>

<p>In terms of research, it does very well, with more than three times more federal research funding than Princeton:</p>

<p>Federal Research Funding in 2005 (no particular order):</p>

<p>Yale $415.4 million </p>

<p>Harvard $507.9 million</p>

<p>Cornell $381.0 million </p>

<p>Stanford $484.6 million </p>

<p>Northwestern $302.8 million </p>

<p>Emory $261.2 million </p>

<p>Washington U. $433.0 million </p>

<p>Princeton $114.0 million </p>

<p>MIT $424.0 million </p>

<p>Rice 59.0 million</p>

<p>Figgy, I have an undergraduate degree from Cornell's business program. I was recruited by a fair share of Investment Banking firms during my senior year, and I ended up choosing a top 5 IB company. They paid for me to get my MBA at Wharton (not because they thought I was unprepared, they just liked their upper level employees to have MBAs, it looks good in annual reports!) I have to say that after spending a significant time at both campuses, students at both campuses have insecurities. Cornell we have discussed ad nauseam on this board, so everyone is familiar with it, and many Penn students (SAS, SEAS, Nursing) have insecurities about being inferior to Wharton. They are also insecure about their name, if you can believe it. I'm not saying these thoughts accurately portray the quality of the programs at Penn, it’s silly, actually. </p>

<p>I honestly believe that both Penn and Cornell are incredible universities. I’m just trying to illustrate a point that the inferiority complex students feel at times is not unique to Cornell. The fact that people feel they have to judge how good their experience is by comparing it to other universities or programs within their own university on such a micro level is picayune.</p>

<p>Tahoe - i didn't know you went into IBanking after Cornell. I looked at a few firms who came to campus, but i'm not really sure if it's something I want to pursuit yet. Are you still at the original firm you were hired for?</p>

<p>Hi Gomestar,</p>

<p>I try not to talk too much about my personal life on these Internet boards, but I will tell you that after about 15 years at the firm, I left on good terms to start a hedge fund company with two partners - one that I met during my undergraduate days at Cornell, the other I met at Wharton! </p>

<p>Have you checked out Cornell's Entreprenuership program?
<a href="http://epe.cornell.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://epe.cornell.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>yeah, i didnt want to bring it up on the public boards but i can't PM you!</p>

<p>I am considering signing up for one of the listed classes sometime. I have a few friends in 121 and they really like it. Maybe it might help me decide what to actually do with my life :)</p>

<p>Yah. I also heard that most of Penn's focus is on the Wharton school.</p>

<p>It truly is. If you've ever visited Penn's campus, pretty much ALL the money goes to the Wharton School. I mean there's this HUGE building that looks like a missile silo with flat screen TVs every 10 or so yards all over the place. And the private study rooms are incredible with smart boards, new computers, etc.</p>

<p>"I couldn't begin to count the number of conversations I've overheard or been a part of in recent years that center on why Cornell does not get as much respect or national attention as Penn, or whether it's the Hotel School or the school of Industrial and Labor Relations that is the true cross to bear on our road to success and recognition."</p>

<p>Cornell doesn't get as much national recognition at Penn because half of the people who say "Penn" are actually talking about Penn State.</p>

<p>Tahoe...I hope you can read this within the next day or so...</p>

<p>But I was admitted to Cornell Engineering. I'm really looking towards ibanking as my career. (Likely Operations Research and Industrial Engineering as my major)</p>

<p>As of right now, my deposit is paid at Michigan (March 15 or so). I have a huge preference for Cornell over Michigan, but my parents are willing to pay up to the full cost of Michigan. Anything beyond that is my own cost (no financial aid).</p>

<p>Would a degree from Cornell Engineering give me a huge advantage over Michigan? And perhaps more importantly, will I be reasonably able to pay off $80,000 or so in loans?</p>

<p>all these articles are so embarressing for Cornell. ranking and reputation on the stupid US News list is based mostly on none-academic based factors including endowmnet, admittance rate, blah balh blah. if any prospective student had any REAL interest in getting a good education in a certain field, they would look into all the vast opportunities available at Cornell instead of comparing the general vibe against other ivy's/top tier schools. Cornell undoubtedly dominates in many fields like engin, hotel, architecture, etc etc etc etc. if applicants are going to see this school as a "back up ivy," then i hope they get into "better" schools and stay the hell away from cornell.</p>

<p>forget reputation. you cant go wrong with cornell so just go and have an awesome time, freeze to death, swim in a gorge, and learn a ton. there's no reason to defend out school against ignorant people.</p>

<p>Cornell ranked #6 in 1999, until its class size was recalculated in such a way that instead of 74% of classes of 20 or under, and 10% of 50 or more, it fell to near its current fairly low rank of 44% under 20, and fairly high 22% of 50 or more.</p>

<p>This category, in which it ranks 40th, more than any other factor, except, possibly its 10:1 student/faculty ratio with respect to which it ranks barely in the top 25, has adversely impacted Cornell's USNews ranking; from #6 in 1999, it fell to #11 in 2000, and currently stands at #13.</p>

<p>The best way to raise its USNews ranking is to hire more faculty - which, of course, costs money.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. I didn't know it ranked #6 back then. Has it ever been better?</p>

<p>2001: 10
2000: 11
1999: 6
1998: 14
1997: 14
1996: 13
1995: 15
1994: 10
1993: 11
1992: 12
1991: 9</p>

<p><a href="http://thecenter.ufl.edu/usnews.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://thecenter.ufl.edu/usnews.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>1990: 9 (beginning of current multi-factor format)
1989: 11
1988: 14
1987: 11
(sporadic survey of presidents 84-86)
1983: 8</p>

<p>And since then:</p>

<p>2002: 14
2003: 14
2004: 14
2005: 14
2006: 13</p>

<p>hey... can any of u guys get the rankings for upenn during that time period... for some reason the above link doesn;t work for me</p>