<p>If you're planning on doing BME, I would go Duke (considering it's ranked just behind Johns Hopkins which is ranked #1). Also, I would argue that Cornell is more well-known even internationally than Duke. Duke is considered the South's Harvard-- it's academics are stolid and the resources are abundant (the sports is a plus-- it just makes Duke that much more recognized/coveted). But seriously, look at the basics too. Weather is a huge factor- if you don't want snow half the year, I would stay away from Ithaca. Cornell is isolated, too. But in my opinion, I would simply go to Duke because you are planning on pursuing BME.</p>
<p>although a few freshmans actually graduate in the field they initially expressed interest in, many of them are in hotel, aap, and ilr. School's like CALS, HE, CAS, and Eng have a HUGE turnover in their interests throughout their first two years, and some even a change of heart their 3rd year. I myself found out through explorations of no less than 8 majors my love of human development and promptly SWITCHED college no less, and have realized what heaven sent cornell's transfer policies are (very lax). Suffice it to say, if you have no doubt (and there are a few of those people out there) that you are in love with BME, go to Duke, but if you feel even a grain of curiosity towards other engineering majors or anything else for that matter, your best bet would be Cornell, in terms of academic. that said, I would also just like to point out that many old people are retiring in Ithaca -- if they can stand the cold...could not a healthy 18 year old?</p>
<p>dreaming, I agree with Guynh that if you are 100% sure that you want BME, then Duke is a fine choice. But it seems from your posts that you are not completely sure, and therefore, you are smart to consider whether Duke would be your choice if you were to switch into another area of engineering, or into another area completely. As you seem to know, Cornell has a large and impressive engineering program, and even as a BME student, you couldn't go wrong at Cornell. </p>
<p>One thing that stuck me about the engineering students at Cornell is that they constitute a sizable and integral part of the student body. At other universities (not talking about Duke as not that familiar with it), it seemed that the engineering students were small in number in comparsion to the remainder of the student body and were sometimes considered by the other students as something akin to second-class citizens or outsiders (the ones that study all of the time, don't party, are nerdy, etc.) This doesn't seem to be the case at Cornell.</p>
<p>And don't overlook that at Cornell, the other academic areas are also first rate.</p>
<p>Good luck with your choice.</p>
<p>Political Bias aside, One has to seriously consider if a traditional well rounded university education will be availible in any of the "red" states. If they follow the path that florida and colorado are heading universities in states under the influence of the religious right will probably be teaching an "intelligent design" based biology curriculum and gradually lose all credibility in the rest of the world. If things continue down this road places like Duke Rice and Vanderbuilt will not have good reputations outside of the American South in the near future.</p>
<p>I agree, it is not a coincidence that all of the Ivy League Schools, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Northwestern, Chicago (basically the best schools in the country) are all in BLUE states.</p>
<p>Shizz, I do not remember ever saying that Cornell wholistically sucks on this thread. On the contrary, I remember stating that Cornell was an awesome school incessantly. However, triviality such as rankings and word of mouth are unfortunately all one has to go on when selecting a school albeit visting is the best option. Your well placed anecdote about your nobel prize winning professor bears no relevance in putting Cornell above Duke or any other school of this caliber considering that Duke has professors like these as well. Then, you claim that Cornell supercedes Duke in engineering. Awesome! I agree with you 1223523%. However, if it so happens that this child chooses another field later, do you not believe that Duke potentially has stronger programs than Cornell? You mentioning engineering is a tad superfluous (although Duke BME is awesome) considering as how that point has already been made. Yes, there are mitigating circumstances that could flaw WSJ and usnews, but I want to be a lawyer and the number of students at these schools does not lie. Duke is no. 4 in placing kids in these type of programs. That alone basically cancels out any talk of it being lesser school than Cornell and bla bla bla. </p>
<p>Finally, if u want enginnering, go cornell. If you want medicine, go Duke. If you want hotel management, go cornell. If you want law, def. go Duke. If you want BME, go Duke. If you want the sciences (except bio), go cornell.</p>
<p>Are we cool?</p>
<p>Arp, a region's political orientation bears absolutely no relevance as to its prestigious. Rice is so great and it is consistently a top 20 school. The politicians that illustrate Texas' makeup will not nullify that fact. Moreover, the students at Rice (I'm from Houston) and the ones at Duke are statistically coming from more liberal territories. Rice will always be great, Vanderbilt will always be stellar, and Duke will always be great. However, Upenn was struggling to stay in the top 25 in the '80s. It is from a northern territory, yet it still succumbed to being slightly inferior to its peers for a while. So, that alone proves that political orientation bears no mark on prestige or great academics.</p>
<p>It's a purple America.
Both Duke (private) AND Cornell (semi-private) are blue region schools in red/purple areas. </p>
<p>Check it out: </p>
<p>I didn't say anything about a school's location corresponding to prestige,those are the schools where you will simply find the best education. wasn't there a student at duke who refused to read a passage of some Islamic text that was assigned for the class because he was a hardcore christian or something and he took his proff to court, crap like that is why i would never go to duke</p>
<p>Cornell is fully private, FYI (check out USNews and NRC)</p>
<p>Duke is definitely in a red state!! lol....wouldn't be surprised if the students tried to convert you on your first day at school :)</p>
<p>Man, that is so blatantly ignorant that it is amusing. You point out ONE example with hazy validity and justify that as the reason why you refuse to attend that institution. I mean, your diction speaks volumes about how YOU are even unsure about whether or not your conjectures are proven. Moreover, I really would not want to go to a school with a person who insipidly puts absolutes on everything and refuses to expand beyond his own preconceived notions. I challenge you to come to Houston and tell one Rice student what you are spewing on these boards. Schools in the north have better education? Who measures that? You? And Yes, you just did state the boundaries have an impact on higher education. Would you like to know how? Because you just said that schools in the north have an irrefutably better education than the south. A large portion of kids at the southern elites are...guess what...northerners. When I visited Duke, I met so many wonderful people from california, new york, and michigan. I really think that you should just stop right here.</p>
<h1>of elite schools in the north > # of elite schools in the south</h1>
<p>Is that your justification? Wow, what does elite mean, arp? Is elite an Ivy league, is it an accreditted liberal arts school, or is it an in between? Please define elite for me because my dictionary recollection is slightly hazy. Dude, your points are so minute and inane that anyone "in the know" would simple ignore you. Let me pose a for instance with you. Say that you lived in south carolina, studied really hard, and made it into Duke University. Would it matter to you if Duke were in Texas or New Hampshire? Would Duke's credibility go down because the founders simple chose the wrong side of the map?</p>
<p>while I have greatly enjoyed this banter, i feel i must step in so that DMC can see that the others on this board are just baiting him (or her) ;-P </p>
<p>anyone can see that duke, rice, vanderbuilt are not lesser institutions than the ivy leagues, etc, regardless of their location, these colleges are PRIVATE, and can do whatever the hell they want, and being that colleges tend to stray towards the liberal side, they won't be spouting out abstinence only, no gays allowed, deals. </p>
<p>suffice to say, cornell is private AND state-subsidized, meaning I could go to an ivy league school for less than 18K/year (in tuition)!</p>
<p>anyways, i hope the flame war ends soon...maybe ;-)</p>
<p>haha...i think you are right, man. No one one earth could spew this incessant garbage unless they were doing it purposefully.</p>
<p>touche.</p>
<p>I think most people would agree that an instutition of higher education will give a better education in a place where liberalism flurshes, instead of the bible-belt.</p>
<p>The bible belt? Have you ever been to north carolina? THE BIBLE BELT?</p>
<p>Get real. You know what, have fun at Cornell. I wish you all the best. Just don't get angry when your favorite/best professor graduated from Duke/Vanderbilt/Rice/Emory/Wake Forest/ NC State/University of Texas.</p>
<p>Edit: Did you just say that an "institution of higher education will have a better education.."</p>
<p>Uhm...What? An institution of higher education AUTOMATICALLY qualifies to have a great education. You are splitting hairs and looking like an idiot while doing it.</p>
<p>let them live in their academic dream world devil. don't get too worked up over this. the U.S. is home to great schools in the north and south. a school's "greatness" is in the eye of the beholder. why don't we all be thankful that we can get a college education? </p>
<p>go big red!</p>
<p>agreed, hockey...agreed.</p>
<p>I'm an intl student currently deciding between Duke/Cornell/CMU for ECE, here's my unbiased opinion :)</p>
<p>Regarding prestige, I would say that Cornell does indeed have more international recognition than Duke, owing to its strength in technical fields.</p>