<p>I've been accepted into both schools (Stanford early action and Cornell regular decision) for the class of 2015. I am planing on majoring in biology (possible double major in psychology or Spanish or something) and I would like to know which is better for premed. I also got into MIT regular decision; I'm not considering it really, but factor it in if you have a case for it... Please help(: Thanks!</p>
<p>Wow, you are one smart young lady-congrats. I’d go for Stanford-I think for QOL reasons, and I think Stanford is a tiny bit more pretigious.
Of the three tho, I’d pick where you feel the most at home-can’t go wrong prestige-wise.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1122176-bluedevilmikes-ten-step-guide-picking-premed-school.html</a></p>
<p>Doing premed at any school, especially a top school, is tough and a cut throat competition. Between Stanford and Cornell, I would pick Stanford in a heartbeat – location weather … is the prime factor. No need to even think twice.</p>
<p>Stanford.</p>
<p>It’s really not even a competition.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Don’t necessarily agree with cut throat everywhere; competition will be strong at either school but with Stanford you also get weather, location, mix of academics and big time athletics plus easier transportation access…not even close on this one-Stanford.</p>
<p>
Agree except ‘mix of academics’ — Cornell gives you that too. About ‘big time athletics’ – Cornell gives some athletics in Ice Hockey and some basketball too. Transportation access to Cornell is not good – closest Airport is in Syracuse, about an hour away, but they do provide ground transportation. </p>
<p>Any time you shoot for 3.8+, it will feel like ‘cut throat’ no matter what the general atmosphere :D</p>
<p>Almost forgot, someone said, if Cornell can figure out how to charge for breathing the air, they will do it 
They charge for hopping on the campus shuttle to go to classrooms.</p>
<p>“I think Stanford is a LOT more prestigious.”</p>
<p>There, I fixed it for you. There is a reason that the acronym is known as HYPS+M. :)</p>
<p>All three are extremely strong in Bio & Psych. I’d probably give the home field advantage to Stanford for Spanish, however. Sure, all offer language courses, but you can easily practice your skills outside of class. A good friend attended Stanford, was a Spanish minor, and volunteered as a translator at Stanford Hospital. Such skill are becoming much more valuable to professional schools.</p>
<p>“I think Stanford is more prestigious.”
I’d go ewith this.<br>
Just because a school’s first alphabet letter appears in capital in HYPeSMug it doesn’t mean that only tehy are prestigious. I’d say the program quality is best judged by their program ranking and in SPANISH, Stanford comes not that high:</p>
<p>SPANISH</p>
<p>1—Yale
2—Brown
3—Penn State
4—NYU
5—UC Davis
6—UVA
7—Berkeley
8—Stanford
9—U. of Pittsburgh
10–Purdue</p>
<p>In Biology, not many of those schools in the aboive HYPe-filled SM-ug acronym appear in the top ten:</p>
<p>BIOLOGY</p>
<p>1—Cal Tech
2—UC San Diego
3—UC San Diego (different department)
4—Princeton
5—Rockefeller U.
6—Stanford
7—UCSF
8—Yale
9—Yale (different department)
10–Columbia</p>
<p>BIOENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—UC San Deigo
2—Cal Tech
3—Berkeley
4—UCSF
5—MIT
6—U. of Washington
7—Duke
8—Boston U.
9—U. of Michigan
10–Yale</p>
<p>In Physics and Astrophysics, Stanford doesn’t even appear in top ten (which surprises me a little):
PHYSICS</p>
<p>1—Harvard
2—Berkeley
3—MIT
4—Princeton
5—UC Santa Barbara
6—Cal Tech
7—U. of Chicago
8—Harvard (different department)
9—Cornell
10–U. of Illinois Urbana</p>
<p>ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS</p>
<p>1—Princeton
2—Cal Tech
3—Berkeley
4—MIT
5—Penn State
6—Harvard
7—U. of Chicago
8—JHU
9—U. of Washington
10–U. of Arizona</p>
<p>Even in Economics, Stanford ranks relatively low (barely above Cal Tech !)
ECONOMICS</p>
<p>1—Harvard
2—MIT
3—U. of Chicago
4—Princeton
5—Berkeley
6—Harvard (different department)
7—Stanford
8—Cal Tech
9—Yale
10–NYU</p>
<p>==> So, stop spreading this silly acronym and disinformation.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html#post11257461[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html#post11257461</a></p>
<p>Stanford is not even that good a value:
[url=<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/privatecolleges/]Kiplinger.com[/url”>Kiplinger | Personal Finance News, Investing Advice, Business Forecasts]Kiplinger.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Last I checked, the OP was not interested in Econ or Astrophysics, but could obviously change his/her mind. But thank you for (inadvertently?) supporting my point. In none of your lists, does Cornell show up. :)</p>
<p>But why cherry pick BioEng? For engineering in general, Stanford is generally considered top 3, along with MIT and Cal. Cornell Eng is #8. But, if you are gonna cherry pick majors which the OP did not ask about, why not Hotel schools, or Ag programs, where Cornell is a leader? Or is the point of your post the other Ivies?</p>
<p>small nit: It’s Caltech.</p>
<p>fwiw: Suggest you research Kiplinger’s analysis before using it as a credible source.</p>
<p>^the point was, those schools in the acronym are not the only prestigeous schools. I put bioeng because the op asked about bio, and some premeds consider biomedical eng also. look, the main thing is that the academic program reputation as suggested in the the very reputable NRC ranking when the applicant is looking at specific programs. Of course Stanford is better than Cornell in those programs mentioned and thats what I said in the earlier post too. What the Hypesters do with acronym and disinforming the highschool kids and their parents as if they are the only ‘elite’ institutions.<br>
Caltech, Cal Tech or caltech, they are all used interchangeably at various places. I know in socal it is written (by the institution itself also) as you say.<br>
I just mentioned Physics because as a hard schience and engineering school I expected Stanford to be top ten easily, but not, to my surprise. My point was to point out Stanford’s academic rank and the silly nature of HYPeS(mi)Ters.
I mentioned Econ because Stanford is known for this discipline too and Caltech, I never imagined they will be ranked this high. In both Bio and Spanish, Stanford ranks in 6-10; only in Psychology it ranks in 1-5. DO NOT SPREAD DISINFORMATION WITH THAT SILLY HYPeSTer acronym.</p>
<p>PSYCHOLOGY</p>
<p>1—Princeton
2—Harvard
3—Stanford
4—U. of Wisconsin
5—Yale
6—U. of Rochester
7—U. of Michigan
8—Brown
9—Columbia
10–UCLA</p>
<p>I have no idea what’s happening here. If I were advising you the decision would be very simple. If you’re from California, don’t go to Stanford. If you’re from New York, don’t go to Cornell. Otherwise pick whichever one happens to catch your fancy.</p>
<p>(I think each school has one major disadvantage: Stanford has a notoriously terrible premedical advising department, while Cornell is very very large compared to… well, Stanford. I have no idea which of these is more important.)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. To bluedevilmike: I’m from Texas so it doesn’t seem to matter in that sense where I go(: and did you attend/are you attending Duke? My boyfriend chose Cornell over Duke and he’s doing premed… This is another part of my conflict. Does anyone have any real argument in favor of Cornell? (:</p>
<p>I’m a Duke alum from a few years ago. Visit both schools and see which one you like better. I suspect the answer will be Stanford, but who knows?</p>
<p>Therein lies the issue. I loved Cornell when I visited, and I really liked Stanford, too. I know that Stanford is technically the better school, and my parents would prefer that I go there, but should I let prestige outweigh my potential happiness?</p>
<p>Basically it boils down to four questions. (1) Are you prepared for an Ithaca winter after coming from Texas? (2) Will having the boyfriend on campus be isolating or reassuring, and might it negatively affect your relationship being too close (or too far)? (3) Does Ithaca’s more rural setting (compared to Stanford’s suburban) excite you or bother you? (4) Cornell is a lot bigger than Stanford. Is that okay?</p>
<p>If these answers favor Cornell, then go there.</p>
<p>To answer these: 1) I was born in Boston, and I like the cold, so winter shouldn’t be too bad. 2) He’d be at Cornell with one of his best friends and his sister, so I’d feel a little left out, but I’m not sure if it’s healthy to let that dictate my decision. 3) I like that Cornell’s environment is more undergrad-friendly and affordable. 4) I’d prefer a small school only because I’ll feel like I have better access to professors, but I like how I can take classes at different schools at Cornell. I also plan on rushing, so I don’t think size will be as much of an issue when I’m in a sorority.</p>
<p>And would you say that, despite rank, these schools are REALLY comparable as far as premed programs are concerned? And even programs in such fields as economics, spanish, and psych? I just feeling like their rankings are far apart for a reason…</p>
<p>If you’re really set on being a premed, then the ranking of specific academic programs like … well, psychology isn’t really going to matter. Besides, I don’t know of any good rankings for undergraduate majors anyway. I don’t know much about Cornell’s program. Stanford has a lot of really great students who tend to do well, but their advising is famously terrible.</p>
<p>Is Cornell much more affordable? What’s the financial difference?</p>
<p>They are pretty much the same. My parents would rather me not focus on finances as a criterion. The main reason why I brought up specific academic areas is because I am tempted to either stay on course with my plan and major in biology, or double major and tack on economics or psychology…or minor in Spanish. I just feel like it never hurts to have a back-up plan these days.</p>