<p>I am planning Early Decision at Penn, but I need to decide a couple top schools to apply for RD if I don't get accepted by Penn.
Which one would be the best academic wise? I can deal with everything else. </p>
<p>It depends what you wan’t to study…</p>
<p>Cornell, Dartmouth and Cal are all great.</p>
<p>Cal and Cornell are maybe slightly better than Dartmouth in the STEM fields, while Dartmouth is very strong all-around in its own right and puts the most focus on undergrad education.</p>
<p>So… I think they are pretty even academically. </p>
<p>If you can, visit them all. </p>
<p>Yea I visited Dartmouth and I am going to visit Cornell next month. I’m not applying to Berkeley, applying to USC instead lol.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is an excellent college that is working to shed its party culture reputation. The biggest adjustment is that it is not close to any major city. It is more like a large LAC.</p>
<p>Cornell is not near a major city either, but it is not nearly as remote as Dartmouth. Cornell has a beautiful campus also. One of the best in the country. Like Penn, Cornell is a major research university. That will provide more research opportunities, if that is of interest to you. </p>
<p>Which of these colleges is better academically will depend on your area of interest. Both will provide excellent programs, but each will be better at some things. What is your area of interest? And what is important to you academically?</p>
<p>Well I’m applying to College of Arts and Sciences and looking into Economics or Liberal Arts. I might major in Computer Science later on though. </p>