<p>My best friend was accepted to Cornell and University of Virginia last year. She was rejected at Brown.</p>
<p>She chose the University of Virginia over Cornell. I kept telling her, "How can you deny an Ivy?" but she said that Virginia is much more prestigious in the sense that Cornell is not as competitive as other Ivy's, and the out-of-state admissions for Virginia is very low. </p>
<p>Does her argument make any sense?</p>
<p>No because:</p>
<p>a) Her argument is entirely based on how easy it is to get into a college.
b) No one, outside of HSers, care about how easy it is to get into a college. An employer or grad school will see that you are a UVA or Cornell grad. They're not going to know (or care) you got into UVA from out of state. Your education is still a UVA education.
c) UVA and Cornell are different. It's impossible to say which one is "better." Depends on the student. If your friend chose UVa because she likes it better, then great. If your friend chose UVA because it's harder to get into, then she's an absolute moron. Her reasoning essentially is "I'm choosing to pay OOS tuition to go to a public school over Cornell because if I were in-state I wouldn't want to go to this public school."</p>
<p>...does it matter what the out of state acceptace rate is for UVA, when choosing it over another school? That is like the dumbest reason I heard from anyone for choosing a school over the other. Not to mention, UVA in-state admissions isn't that selective anyways, and the majority of the student body at UVA is in-state.</p>
<p>That's what I told her!! It's Cornellllllll!!!! But she chose UVA anyway.</p>
<p>Isn't UVA a great school, though? Like I know a lot of people who speak highly of it.</p>
<p>Wow, that is really crazy. As long as she's happy I guess?</p>
<p>UVA is a good school. But, very few people would choose UVA, paying out of state tuitions, over Cornell with the reasons that your friend provided.</p>
<p>UVA is a great school. But, by her reasoning, if she were in-state for UVA, she'd choose Cornell. If she were out-of-state for UVA, she'd choose UVA. If that's not faulty logic, I don't know what is.</p>
<p>Employers see: Ivy League Cornell University and State school University of Virginia, granted both are great schools...but perception is all that matters</p>
<p>depends on the major...</p>
<p>also...are you sure that UVA isnt more affordable for her?</p>
<p>You know, I wouldn't take what she said at face value- she could have made it all up and UVA was the best school she got into. Which is good UVA isn't easy to get into. But I wouldn't take that "more selective out-of-state" argument seriously even if she did get in Cornell, she may have not wanted to go into all her reasons and just gave a quick answer so people would shut up. Maybe she likes the campus or something better? And as an aside, UVA is definitely much harder to get into out of state as they give VA residents priority.</p>
<p>She is majoring in Engineering. Does that make a difference?</p>
<p>btw: UVa is only $40k for OOS, so it's still cheaper than Cornell (at $50k).</p>
<p>U.Va</a>. Financial Aid - Estimated Cost of Attendance</p>
<p>...except her argument wasn't based on cost.</p>
<p>Cornell engineering is regarded as the best among the ivies</p>
<p>... so are a bunch of other programs at Cornell.</p>
<p>UVa is a fine school that offers a fantastic undergraduate experience. You can't really go wrong with either, but strictly speaking from an academic perspective, Cornell is a bit better regarded.</p>
<p>Like candidates from either school would probably not be treated very differently on the job market, save for engineers and other technical majors. However, I would argue that Cornell offers a slightly more enriching academic experience to the average student.</p>
<p>Don't forget that if you take away the Ivy League distinction, Cornell is still Cornell. Nobody would start deriding Cornell if it was in the Big 10 or the ACC. Hell, it might actually become better regarded.</p>
<p>Who cares your friend made her decision and has to live with the consequences/success after that it doesn't really matter.</p>
<p>Why would your friend go to UVA when Cornell engineering is better. Plus, the more prestigious thing was really funny.</p>