<p>I have been admitted to Cornell’s class of 2008 yesterday officially, and about two weeks ago by way of likely letter and I'm thinking about taking up their offer of admission. One of my criteria for making this choice is the difficulty of Cornell’s chemical engineering (my prospective major) versus my next best choice Stanford Engineering. Are Cornell’s courses really difficult, like how hard do engineering students typically work? Also, and this is really important, how interesting are the classes? Are they challenging, but stimulating or are they just dry and require lots of memorization? How much time do engineering students typically have for free time? I came for from a very challenging public high school well known around NJ for math/science (won Siemen's award for science AP exam scores) and although I didn't struggle in my classes obviously, I found them time consuming and earned quite a few "B's". I'm a little afraid I will be overwhelmed with Cornell’s engineering courses, where kids came in not only with the 800's in Math I and Math IIc I had, but also virtually all straight A's in math and science. Furthermore, although academics are paramount, I'm also considering the atmosphere of Cornell. What do Cornell students do for fun? If you had to describe the student body in a few words which would you use? Also, how are the dorms/food? These are really important to me because I'll be living there for the next four years. I only visited last summer so I’m thinking about attending Cornell days and I'll draw my own conclusions then but I also want other's opinions. I don't think financial aid will be a consideration; Cornell gave me a $600 John McMullen "scholarship" (from the likely letter) to entice me to attend and Stanford gave me only loans. I know this was a long post, but I appreciate all replies, not just engineering students! Thank you!</p>
<p>Edit: I think it should be '12 not '08 lol.</p>
<p>I think both Cornell and Stanford are going to involve fairly challenging workloads, but you might find Cornell's curriculum a little more rigorous. Especially in the hard sciences, Cornell has a reputation of requiring a lot of work out of its undergraduates. </p>
<p>A professor of mine at Cornell who recently earned his PhD from Stanford once remarked to me that students at Cornell tend to have a stronger work ethic. He felt that Stanford students were more relaxed, on average. There are probably a couple of reasons for this difference including institutional culture, the weather, and the composition of the student body. Anecdotally, Cornell students come from more diverse social and economic backgrounds, so they tend to have more riding on their academic performance in college.</p>
<p>Both engineering programs will offer you excellent opportunities in terms of academics, future job prospects, research experience, and graduate school placement. You can't go wrong at either school.</p>
<p>Of course, I'm a bit biased for Cornell. I find the down to earth and democratic nature of the University very appealing. But that doesn't mean Cornell is for everyone.</p>
<p>Honestly, common engineering admits tend to choose Stanford over Cornell. This may be due to the draw of Silicon Valley, the weather, a big-time sports program, location, or some idiosyncratic factor. But you should probably choose the school where you will feel the most comfortable at. Hopefully you will be able to visit both campuses.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the information! I'll bear this in mind while making my decision.</p>
<p>from what i've heard, Stanford is better than Cornell when it comes to engineering. Both schools have very beautiful campuses. Stanford has better weather, and many cities nearby to travel to. If I were you I'd go to Stanford.</p>
<p>Stanford is and has been #2 in engineering for a long, long time. Plus, Stanford has (relative) grade inflation. This decision is a no-brainer, IMO.</p>
<p>any engineering major within any school is going to be rigorous and challenging. Engineering is one of the hardest majors at any college, not jut at Cornell, but also at Stanford. Most engineers I know struggle a lot w/ tremendous work load and they are usally very happy to pull off just 3.5. Off course, there are some who enjoy engineering courses and excel at them, but my impression is that many start off engineering not really knowing that engineering is their thing, and they later switch out. So, I would say that it wouldn't be so logical to choose a school based on your perception of which place is more rigorous, bc both Cornell and Stanford are gonna work you hard.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses so far. I was thinking Stanford over Cornell for the reasons bluebayou suggested but all the students I've spoken to that attend Cornell love it so I really want to make sure I make the right choice.</p>
<p>You can't go wrong at either school. </p>
<p>Stanford's not for everyone, though. It certainly isn't for me. I don't think I could stand the homogeneous Taco Bell architecture, the suburban setting, the superficial aloofness of the student body, or being so far away from the Northeast. I've visited it a couple of times and found the campus vibe to be lacking.</p>
<p>Plus their athletic teams have pretty low standards of admission.</p>