<p>Hi CC Folks!
I was accepted to Cornell's College of Human Ecology and Tufts Engineering school.
At Cornell, I would plan on being a Nutritional Sciences major.
At Tufts, I would plan on being a Biomedical Engineering major.</p>
<p>I am a hopeful Pre-Med from CT and I don't know which school to pick. Does anyone have any insight on which might be the better choice? In terms of academics, community, residential, extracurriculars, food, research opportunities, access to cities, or any other factors - Which do I pick?! I love them both and am visiting both this month before I decide.</p>
<p>Help! :(</p>
<p>For starters, I suspect that you would find that the curriculum at Tufts Engineering (or any solid, accredited engineering school, including of course Cornell’s) is more demendaing than that at CHE.
Academics at Tufts and at Cornell are both generally first rate. (Cornell’s CHE was once regarded as the weak sister, academically speaking, of Cornell’s schools. I don’t know whether that’s true anymore, but you might want to look into it.)
in terms of “access to cities,” Tufts has Cornell beat. Boston and Cambridge are great, and even Davis Square in Somerville offers a lot of fun diversions and dining. Ithaca just doesn’t compare.
And of course, the two campuses have completely different “feels.” Cornell’s is many times Tufts’ size. Both of my kids found Cornell to be too large and too remote, but that’s very much a matter of personal preference.
Your visits will help you decide.
Good luck! You’ve got a great decision to make!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the input… any other opinions greatly appreciated! I will look into the “weak sister” idea of CHE</p>
<p>Does the CHE publish statistics about % accepted to medical schools? I’m sure Cornell’s overall record is great, but I would ask specifically about that college’s track record.</p>
<p>I’m intrigued about why you are pursuing such different majors at these two colleges? I know a pre-med can major in just about anything as long as they meet certain course requirements for medical school, but what is it you are interested in studying? I think that is a MAJOR consideration. What if you change your mind about medical school? Would the BME degree provide you with better career opportunities? Many pre-meds change their minds during their undergrad years, as they get exposed to other areas of study and career possibilities. So think about the CHE in that light. If you have a strong interest in BME, I would pursue that. It is easier to switch out of engineering than into it at any university. </p>
<p>If you were comparing the engineering school at Tufts versus Cornell, I would pick Cornell, but that isn’t the comparison you are trying to make. My family visited Cornell, and although it was bigger than my son thought he would like, he was amazed by the engineering facilities. I don’t think he would have minded the remote location, but I would always prefer to be close to a city.</p>
<p>Cornell is an Ivy however it is 3x larger than Tufts or more. Cornell is in the middle of nowhere. Tufts is near the city. You will be one of only a few women studying CHE at Tufts, probably a similar ratio at CU. Tufts has a Society of Women Engineers where you will get to meet and hang with kids in the same spot that you are in!</p>
<p>CHE major is the HARDEST MAJOR in the Tufts Engineering School. You will work your tail off. There is NO GRADE INFLATION…in fact in one class last spring, the Prof “scaled grades down” because there were too many good grades (85 Avg was scaled to a B-).</p>
<p>Both great schools. Tufts rep is getting better and better and it is really hard to get into Tufts. Tough call, but in the end you can’t go wrong at either school! Good Luck.</p>
<p>“CHE” in the context of this discussion refers to the College of Human Ecology, not Chemical Engineering as is the usual use of “CHE”.
So the decision is between Cornell’s College of Human Ecology (majoring in Nutritional Sciences) versus Tufts School of Engineering (majoring in Biomedical Engineering).
Just to clear things up…</p>
<p>Thanks BeanTownGirl haha.
I am hoping to go to medical school to become a gastroenterologist. I looked at Cornell’s School of Human Ecology because the nutritional sciences major could link straight to diet and then lead me into the digestive system (what I hope to study in the future). I thought that the track in that school would be advantageous, I did not see that major at Tufts. I chose the BME major at Tufts because I am typically a stronger math student and I think that the Engineering school at Tufts is smaller and close-knit and would provide me with ample research opportunities.</p>
<p>Tufts has a nutrition minor, I think (there is definitely a nutrition 101 class). This is probably due to the fact that Tufts has one of the first/only nutrition graduate schools (But it’s in downtown Boston, I think).</p>
<p>Thus, you could do engineering and minor in nutrition.</p>
<p>Tufts does not have a nutrition minor, though the process of adding one is currently in the works.</p>
<p>Since you are going to be visiting both, I would arrange ahead of time to talk to a faculty member who is an advisor to pre-med students at each school and explain your dilemma. See what kind of insights they may have.
Also, have you taken a close look at the course requirements for BME? If you have no interest in engineering, why would you want to spend so much of your time studying engineering, rather than focusing on biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, community health etc.</p>
<p>You certainly can do BME and go to med school, but I doesn’t seem to be what you are really interested in.</p>