<p>Hasn't Cornell been 6th before? You just never know...</p>
<p>It has been ranked 6th, but as far as I know, that was because of faulty data, or at least inconsistent data. You're right that you never know what's gonna happen in the future, but there really isn't anything that indicates Cornell is going to move up significantly in the near future.</p>
<p>Cornell's main downside is its location. If you look around, not too many top universities are located in a remote area like Ithaca, NY. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Caltech, Stanford are all in a major business region.</p>
<p>Move Cornell to New York City, for example, and you will see it break into top five in no time. Why? Because Cornell actually has excellent resources and reputation even as it stands now.</p>
<p>I personally chose Cornell for its rural location and great academics. Wooooo Cornell rocks. Rankings can eat it.</p>
<p>yea, let's move the whole college to the city, grand idea.</p>
<p>I like the location, personally...</p>
<p>i dont think the location necessarily hurts Cornell. I think it's more about how the school utilizes its resources, not how many are available. There are even more collges in cities that aren't top ranked than there are that are top ranked. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is rural, Princeton is a small town. Cornell has plenty of hook-ups in the NYC area as it is.</p>
<p>There are many people, including myself, that like rural settings. However, keep in mind that a remote location will deter many potential students and their parents. So, again, put Cornell and Harvard next to each other in Cambridge, and you will probably see the two compete head-to-head.</p>
<p>I personally believe Cornell has long been doing a very good job building and maintaining its fine reputation despite its location. Dartmouth and other fine colleges should get the compliments too. But I am sure there have been some missed opportunities for the schools simply because they are located too far away from the center of activities. </p>
<p>BTW, Princeton and Stanford are not located in a big city, but they are within 30 minutes to 1 hour drive from major business and cultural hubs.</p>
<p>reputation wise, internationally - cornell is better known than dartmouth and brown. not necessarily saying that makes it better.</p>
<p>Below is an old joke I found:</p>
<hr>
<p>Ezra Cornell and A.D. White are sitting around talking.
Ezra: "I had this great idea. I will found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study."
A.D. White: "That's a wonderful idea, Ezra, but it sounds like a place everyone will want to go. How are you going to restrict the number of students?"</p>
<h2> Ezra Cornell: "Wait 'til you see where I put it..."</h2>
<p>lol that's good</p>
<p>reputation wise, internationally - cornell is better known than dartmouth and brown. not necessarily saying that makes it better.</p>
<p>i have no respect for brown whatsoever.</p>
<p>Well... I think that you'd have to support it up with some reasoning, regardless how flawed they are.</p>
<p>Maybe because of a sports rivalry? lol</p>
<p>dunno about prestige, but some results from the recent revealed preference study -- statistically determining which of two schools students enroll at when given a choice (admitted to both) is included here:</p>
<p>there is a link off of this article (left, bottom) to the main chart with a lot of data.</p>
<p>A preference study tends to capture (more or less) what high school kids and/or their parents think of two colleges. "Prestige" is more focused on reputation in the community. And the pertinent community should be the post-undergraduate community, i.e, what do employers/grad schools/etc. think of graduates of Cornell (or of any other school).</p>
<p>high-school kids and their parents <em>are</em> "in the community." also, the "post-graduate community" went to college once, too. they had to make the same decision a few years ago, and the kids in this study will be the "employers/grad schools/etc." of the future. additional decision factors that the study captures but are not overall-school-prestige-related are: financial aid packages, quality of life considerations, and the perceived quality/prestige of the smaller academic program the applicant will attend - as opposed to that of the entire school.</p>
<p>What's the difference between that data and the revealed preference ranking thingy?</p>
<p>So, as I understand it, you consider preference rankings of high school seniors as the indicator of prestige? (OP asked re: prestige, not preference rankings.) </p>
<p>You have graduated Cornell, haven't you? If so, how long have you been out? Do you do any hiring? Or reviewing of applicants for graduate work? Do you come into contact with graduates of schools with lesser preference rankings than the ranking of your school? What has been your experience so far? How has going to Cornell disadvantaged you in the job market or in applying to graduate school?</p>
<p>Move Harvard to Ithaca and Cornell to Cambridge, and you will see their fortunes reverse (both have been very fortunate, by the way, but one is more fortunate than the other). That's what I always say to people. I personally would choose Ithaca over Cambridge, so you can put me in the 4% group.</p>
<p>Prestige can be measured by the "Wow!" factor. Which one will you hear more often: "Wow! You got into Harvard?" or "Wow! You got into Cornell?" I bet it is the first one.</p>
<p>Luckily, prestige and substance are two different things, and people respect substance. That's why Cornell is still very well respected despite the fact that it has relatively less prestige.</p>