Schools like Cornell

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Which schools are the most similar to Cornell? </p>

<p>Criteria:
earthy, green campus
outdoorsiness
good engineering
good, competitive sports
good prestige
greek life</p>

2

<p>The prestige isn’t the same as Cornell, but Grinnell is supposed to be a lot like it. Also, Harvey Mudd College in California, its super tiny, but really wonderful, especially for engineering. Its the best undergraduate engineering school in the country, actually, that doesn’t have a grad school.</p>

3

<p>Oh yes! I don’t know if anyone thought this, but Duke came off to me as a LOT like Cornell…Super competitive sports, green, earthy gorgeous campus, amazing engineering, and a lot of prestige.</p>

4

<p>I’m not a huge fan of super tiny schools, so I’m leaning away from HMC and Grinnell. I like Duke, though.</p>

5

<p>Northwestern would fit the bill. Michigan (though it’s somewhat larger)</p>

6

<p>I could see Ann Arbor’s being outdoorsy, but is Evanston? I just equate Evanston to Chicago more so than to a big college town like Ann Arbor or Ithaca. Please enlighten me because I love everything else about Northwestern besides its setting.</p>

7

<p>Seconding Michigan, it’s highly underrated on CC</p>

8

<p>I would include University of Vermont for outdoorsiness but not as prestigious as Cornell. Dartmouth would also be outdoorsy and prestigious but I can’t speak for its Engineering program. Northwestern is a suburban campus - the campus has nice grounds by the lake but not outdoorsy. Michigan is in a campus town but there are outdoor activities in the vicinity.</p>

9

<p>I think UVM is a great safety/match school for folks interested in Cornell … great college town, similar weather, outdoorsy, bit of a hippy vibe, multiple schools, and similar size … although frats are not nearly as big as UVM.</p>

10

<p>Michigan and Cornell have a lot in common. Andrew Dickson White, co-founder and first president of Cornell, was a professor of History at the University of Michigan. Including White, 6 of Cornell’s 13 presidents were either alumni of and/or faculty at Michigan.</p>

<p>Michigan definitely fits all your criteria. North Campus, where the college of Engineering is located, is especially green. Wolverine sports are exciting, particularly Football and Hockey, although Baskebtall is on the rise. The college of Engineering is ranked #6 at the undergraduate level. The university overall is very prestigious. Greek life, although not dominant, is certainly alive and well.</p>

11

<p>University of Colorado. Having grown up in Toledo, Michigan is not that outdoorsy, although it fits all of your other criteria.</p>

12

<p>Colorado is not a peer of Cornell. Not even close. Michigan has a very nice arboretum and also the Huron River as well as several metro parks/state recreational areas nearby it.</p>

13

<p>“Oh yes! I don’t know if anyone thought this, but Duke came off to me as a LOT like Cornell.”</p>

<p>With the exception of one niche area of engineering, Duke is nothing special in that discipline.</p>

14

<p>I think UVM is a great safety/match school for folks interested in Cornell</p>

<p>It might be a safety for admissions, but it has a high OOS cost and doesn’t give great aid. So, it’s not a safety unless the student can afford to pay the costs and doesn’t need aid.</p>

<p>RM…</p>

<p>Do you need and also qualify for aid? If so, that will also affect your choices. You’ll need either schools like Cornell and Grinnell that give great aid or other schools that give great merit.</p>

15

<p>Berkeley is similar to Cornell. Even down to the clock towers:
[UC</a> Berkeley Images: campanile5.jpg](<a href=“http://berkeley.edu/photos/campanile/source/campanile5.html]UC”>http://berkeley.edu/photos/campanile/source/campanile5.html)
<a href=“http://blog.une.edu.au/insectecology/files/2010/08/cornell-clock-tower3.jpg[/url]”>http://blog.une.edu.au/insectecology/files/2010/08/cornell-clock-tower3.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Berkeley is more urban and larger, but plenty of outdoor activities can be had in the Berkeley Hills/Bay Area and Tahoe isn’t too far.</p>

16

<p>

Considering that US News ranks 170 engineering programs among universities, #24 (#11 among privates) isn’t too shabby.</p>

<p>

Outside magazine provided [the</a> following ranking](<a href=“http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/north-america/united-states/california/Outside-University--The-Top-40.html]the”>Outside University: The Top 40) for the best colleges for access to the outdoors. I’ve bolded the colleges with engineering and added blue for the ones that are generally considered the most prestigious. </p>

<p>UVA in particular seems like it might fit you pretty well. It’s the only public university in the country that both offers engineering and promises to meet full financial need for all students – Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin, etc. are good schools, but you may not be able to afford them if you’re out of state. UVA is virtually identical in size to Cornell. </p>

<p>1. UC Santa Cruz
2. CU Boulder
3. Middlebury
4. Warren Wilson
5. Montana State
6. Simon Fraser (Canada)
7. Dartmouth
8. UVA
9. Northern Arizona
10. U Iowa
11. UVM
12. Humboldt State
13. Colorado College
14. Cornell
15. U Montana
16. Bowdoin
17. Stanford
18. U Wisconsin
19. U Hawaii
20. Southern Oregon
21. Prescott College
22. Williams College
23. U Arkansas
24. Evergreen State
25. St. John’s-Santa Fe
26. Sheldon Jackson (defunct)
27. Brevard College
28. U Oregon
29. U Idaho
30. Fort Lewis College
31. Alaska Pacific U
32. UC San Diego
33. U Arizona
34. U Wyoming
35. Princeton
36. U Minnesota-Duluth
37. Cal Poly SLO
38. UGA
39. UT Austin
40. U Miami</p>

17

<p>It’s definitely good, just not in the same league as Michigan or Cornell. UVA is not a school I would recommend for engineering either. </p>

<p>“Berkeley is similar to Cornell. Even down to the clock towers”</p>

<p>Michigan has not one, but two clock towers. One houses the fourth heaviest carillon in the world. :-)</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Memorial_Tower[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Memorial_Tower&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurie_Tower[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lurie_Tower&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

18

<p>Colgate has some similiarities</p>

19

<p>I would need aid and would qualify for good need-based aid. Merit is good, too, for safeties/matches.</p>

<p>i like UVA (OOS)! no engineering at Colgate :confused: Berkeley wouldn’t give me any money as an OOS.</p>

<p>how are USC, Lehigh, Villanova, Vanderbilt, and Bucknell? </p>

<p>do colleges located in cities generally lack in the outdoorsy area? i’m sure it’s a self-explanatory answer, but i’m just making sure. i’m really interested in academic programs at both Northwestern and Penn, but the setting may leave a little to be desired, for me.</p>

20

<p>

True … but it does give merit aid to OOS students … it’s not guarenteed and it’s not huge money … however, for my son, the merit aid got the cost a lot closer to UMass than to privates … and there were larger awards than the one he was awarded which a strong Cornell candidate would be in the hunt for.</p>