Tufts vs BC vs Cornell vs USC vs UMich

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I have narrowed this down to tufts vs Cornell. If anyone can vouch for the other ones, I would appreciate it. </p>

<p>So about me:
-I am a premed. Good grades are important as are research, internships, etc
-I am not sold completely on medicine. I need strong options in other fields (buisness, IR, etc.)
-prestige and reputation is important to me
-I feel like this is the most divisive issue between tufts and Cornell: city life. I have been wanting to live in the city all my life, but the otter great things about Cornell are drawing me towards it. Is life at Cornell boring? If I live in a city, will I even use it?
-socially, I am not a huge party guy. I can change but I am more comfortable chillin in smaller groups
-cost doesn't really matter. We are too wealthy to get fa. USC is 48k, tufts and Cornell are full pay, waiting on BC, UMich is 30k
-any other considerations?</p>

2

<p>I think you would fit very well into Cornell since it’s solid in every field: Business (AEM), Law (ILR), Medicine (H.E.), Hotel Management, Engineering, Arts&Sciences.
Life in Cornell is certainly not boring. Ithaca’s a great college town and you are only a couple of hours away from NYC.
Cornell’s also by far the most prestigious of the group, followed by UMich and Tufts.</p>

3

<p>What about the competition/difficulty of coursework at cornell?</p>

4

<p>“Cornell’s also by far the most prestigious of the group, followed by UMich and Tufts.”</p>

<p>Nonsense. Cornell is not BY FAR more prestigious than either school. Btw Michigan is solid in every field as well as is Cornell. It seems that it is going to be less expensive than the others. Sounds like something on the order of a savings of at least $72,000.00 over the course of four years.</p>

5

<p>“I have been wanting to live in the city all my life,…”</p>

<p>As I understand it, Tufts is not actually "life in the city ", if that’s literally what you are envisioning, it is “life on a campus located in a suburb”. One can readily get into the city of course, but it maintains a campus-based identity, so I was told on CC. When you walk immediately off campus there you are in a suburb. </p>

<p>Cornell social life questions might be best addressed on the Cornell sub-forum. You might also scan the entries of Cornell’s “Life on the Hill” bloggers to get an idea of some of the things they do. </p>

<p>The short answer is, at Cornell you will find both: big parties, and “chillin in smaller groups”. Many upperclassmen live in houses they rent just off campus in collegetown,and this is conducive to the latter. And the former too, I guess. Whether you are bored has a lot to do with the friends you make. This is true there, and it is also true if you are living in New York City. And everyplace in between. Many people living in New York are lonely, and bored. Clearly there is more “to do” in Boston, but many people have a perfectly good time with their friends in Ithaca. Remember there are about 30,000 students in Ithaca, that provides a lot of energy right there. They also have to study, from time to time!</p>

<p>IMO it would be difficult to reliably distinguish differences in the relative levels of course difficulty . There was someone who transferred to Cornell from Tufts who posted that his work was harder at Tufts. But the major he is taking at Cornell is thought to be relatively easy there, so this is difficult to interpret IMO.</p>

<p>"-any other considerations? "
Other differences: Cornell is larger and more diverse than Tufts is, in terms of programs of study and, partially as a result, the types of people that go there. You can view that as a plus, or as a minus, your choice.</p>

6

<p>Umich at $30k is a deal. I realize that you said your family is well off, but saving $80k over 4 years is still nothing to sneaze at. </p>

<p>Academically, all of your schools are excellent, so well done! I would say that academically, Cornell and Michigan are the top 2 closely followed by the other three. </p>

<p>Since you said “prestige” is important to you, it is worth noting that prestige is highly subjective. As an alum of both Cornell and Michigan, my experience has shown me that both schools are considered equally prestigious overall, with each school having the edge in specific niches. The other three schools on your list are obviously prestigious also, though probably not to the same extent, though in certain areas (USC in California and BC and Tufts in New England), they probably have equal, if not superior, reputations to Cornell and Michigan.</p>

<p>Michigan offers excellent research opportunities (as do the other schols on your list of course) and internship options in its own hospital (only USC does that since Cornell’s hospital is in NYC). </p>

<p>It is worth noting that Michigan has a top 10 medical school that strongly favors its own students, so going to Michigan will give you a leg-up when applying there. </p>

<p>Finally, although Ann Arbor is not a big city, it is definitely more of an urban area than Cornell or Tufts.</p>

<p>I honestly think Michigan is your best bet.</p>

7

<p>We are talking about undergraduate here. I think you are also wanting to be happy.</p>

<p>No offense to Cornell, but they had a record amount of suicides last year. Indeed, the school had to put nets in order to make people not jump off.</p>

<p>In contrast, Tufts is ranked as one of the happiest schools by the Princeton Review.</p>

<p>Tufts is also really well known as being a pre-med school but also a great school for International Relations The Fletcher School is unmatched in this instance. Tufts is really well regarded in IR).</p>

<p>Plus, you can take classes at the Fletcher school for some business classes, etc.</p>

<p>But not having a business school doesn’t matter. Goldman Sachs recruits at Tufts for Investment Banking. Other firms that recruit are JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, DE Shaw, Fidelity, PNB Paribas, and much more.</p>

<p>Plus, even at a school like Harvard, students don’t have a business degree for undergrad, what matters more are extracurriculars, GPA, GMAT, and job you land.</p>

<p>But Tufts undergraduate investment club is seen as pretty prestigious:</p>

<p>[Big</a> Execs on Campus](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>

<p>Indeed, Tufts ties Upenn and Dartmouth for second in the number of graduate alumni that are current Fortune 100 CEO’s.</p>

<p>Other places include Google, Microsoft, the Treasury Department, the State Department, Harvard Medical (They come to recruiting events), and many more.</p>

<p>Tufts also has a better student teacher ratio than all those other schools. Cornell’s is like 11:1 while Tufts is 8:1.</p>

<p>Tufts also the best of both worlds–you have a campus, but it’s so easy to access the city. You don’t need a car. It’s nice to have both of those dynamics. Tufts has Boston! You can see the Boston skyline from campus! But you also have a beautiful campus. It’s great.</p>

<p>As for Prestige, Tufts is well regarded in all the fields I mentioned above. I mean, it’s a little ivy. Go with what makes you happiest at the end of the day.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

8

<p>Sometimes a picture can say more than words.
[Panorama</a> of Cornell University](<a href=“http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/images/PanoramicPicture.jpg][b]Panorama”>http://internaltransfer.cornell.edu/images/PanoramicPicture.jpg)</p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>You almost had me sold, buzzers until you ruined it with your last line, which tells a lot. There is no such thing as “little Ivy.”</p>

<p>My rec is Cornell, with Michigan being a close second, unless you are a big sports fan. If so, reverse the preferences.</p>

10

<p>“No offense to Cornell, but they had a record amount of suicides last year.”</p>

<p>They did have a tragic suicide cluster occur there, whch followed four years with no such incidents whatsoever. The long-term suicide rate there is below national norms for college students.</p>

11

<p>on second thought…Big Red is coming up on a lacrosse game in 30 minutes…</p>

12

<p>Blue, you are right, there is no official term, but generally NESCAC schools have been considered that since they are heavily liberal arts schools. Doesn’t really matter about the label, as all the schools the OP got into are excellent schools. No one would look down on a person who went to any of these schools because they are all excellent.</p>

<p>You are right about Cornell Money Dad. But that’s because the campus went on a huge campaign to stop it. Which is good. But it’s a tragic. I think Cornell has been taking the right steps lately and it’s a shame that it has occurred. Though there have been other suicides related to people unaffiliated with the University and recent graduates. Not clear if those are counted in the statistics.</p>

<p>But, to be fair, any amount of suicide, while tragic, does not represent the school. Such suicides account for way less than 1% of the overall student body.</p>

13

<p>@buzzers
Bringing out the suicide card is (once again) aiming unfairly below the belt, in my opinion. No offense to Tufts, but has the administration there done anything to combat its perennial crime problem? Isn’t Tufts ranked number one for having the highest collegiate crime rate by the Daily Beast?</p>

<p>[Tufts</a> - No.1 College for Crime](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2085/1/?newsmaker=279&redirectURL=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/college-safety-rankings/]Tufts”>http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2085/1/?newsmaker=279&redirectURL=http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsmaker/college-safety-rankings/)</p>

14

<p>" But, to be fair, any amount of suicide, while tragic, does not represent the school. "</p>

<p>Agreed, so please explain to us all the point of your second paragraph of post #7 above?</p>

<p>“But that’s because the campus went on a huge campaign to stop it.”</p>

<p>The “huge campaign” was a recent, necessary and appropriate response to the cluster. That campaign had nothing to do with the situation in 2005-8 when there were no student suicides there whatsoever. Measured over a longer period the student suicide rate there is below national averages for college students.</p>

<p>Suicide clusters are in part a “copycat” phenomenon that occurs in various places from time to time, interested parties may read up on them.</p>

<p>“Though there have been other suicides related to people unaffiliated with the University…”</p>

<p>So what??</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>Perhaps, but only by NESCAC schools… :)</p>

16

<p>"on second thought…Big Red is coming up on a lacrosse game in 30 minutes… "</p>

<p>Thank you bloubayou, I’'d forgotten about the game, just watched it.</p>

17

<p>buzzers, Cornell University’s (as in students, faculty and staff) suicide rate has been below the national average since the early 1990s. The last couple of years were unusual. </p>

<p>At any rate, unless the OP’s parent’s are multi millionaires, I don’t think Cornell is worth paying $220k when Michigan only costs $120k. The $100k difference is too large to overlook, even for upper middle income and lower-mid upper income families. Academically and reputationally, those two schools are identical. The same goes for Michigan vs BC, Tufts or USC.</p>

18

<p>Ok guys, let me interject here. </p>

<p>My main concern with Cornell, especially as a pre med to the point where it is cut throat and classes are curved to a c or something like that. I know it is strong academically, and it’s nice to have that ivy league label. </p>

<p>Tufts is very strong in reputation regionally in the northeast. I was talking to a woman at my hotel when visiting and she saw my admission to tufts as godly. This is nice because tue northeast is probably where I want to make my living later on. </p>

<p>However, it is hard for me to psychologically get over the fact that I would be throwing away a shot at the ivy league.</p>

<p>I got accepted to the honors program at michigan. Alot of people say it’s great and it has in state tuition so michigan may be a clear choice. However,
-I hate michigan the state and I have been waiting for an opportunity to leave.
-I’m not sure that I would agree with the social life at Michigan. at least tufts am Cornell have an academic vibe.
-I don’t care much about sports
-Michigan’s prestige in the northeast lags behind Cornell and tufts in my opinion. I mentioned it to numerous people when I was in Boston and they didn’t seem to care for it much
-I did research at Michigan last summer and I experienced their admissions debacle last year. I experienced more than a fair share of rude, stuck up people. This may not be indicative of the rest of the university but I was not impressed with the people at Michigan.</p>

<p>I am not super rich, but our efc is ridiculous because of assets and trust value. I spoke with my dad and he seems not to care much about saving 100k by going to Michigan if I am not going to like it.</p>

<p>There were a bunch of conflicting viewpoints on Cornell v tufts. Does anyone (preferably a strong of people) want to vouch for one?</p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>Ha! I hope you’re joking. It’s well-known that the Daily Beast’s rankings are completely flawed. Harvard is ranked #2 for most dangerous school, I believe. Anyone who actually goes to Tufts or Harvard could tell you that that’s absolutely not true. What happens is Tufts and Harvard both report crimes that occur in the surrounding communities (Somerville and Cambridge, respectively), while most colleges only report on campus crimes. In addition, the suburbs that Tufts and Harvard count in their crime reports overlap, so essentially, the two schools are reporting some of the same crimes. Crime problem at Tufts? If Tufts isn’t safe, I’d like to know what is.</p>

20

<p>Noticed a typo in the Cornell section. I am concerned with the level of competition at Cornell and how it compares to the others. I am a sharp kid in my opinion (4/210 class rank in high school), but it is hard for me to gauge what it is like. In my ap bio class, I am one of the top three students out of 30, and I almost qualified for the usabo semifinal (2 questions off). So I am good at bio, bit I dont know of I am good enough to beat out or compete with the kids at Cornell.</p>