<p>Hey so here's what's up:</p>
<p>I'm a rising sophomore transfer student who is currently thinking of pursuing environmental engineering. I have a passion for the environment and a knack for numbers, physics, and the like. I applied to transfer, got my acceptances, and narrowed my list down to either Carnegie Mellon's Institute of Technology: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering OR Cornell's Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering.</p>
<p>I just visited CMU and really liked the campus and the location - Pittsburgh, in my opinion, is a nicer place to live in than Ithaca. BUT, I also found out that CMU doesn't actually offer a degree in Environmental Engineering - the closest thing is a degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering. </p>
<p>As a side note, I want to have a couple of years working in between undergrad and grad school so as to help pay loans and save money. </p>
<p>So I think that what it boils down to is this:</p>
<p>-CMU is a wonderful place to live for climate, location, and general feel but it doesn't exactly have the degree that I believe will fit me most</p>
<p>-Cornell has exactly what I want in a major but is located in Ithaca where the climate is bearable but not great and the city is practically non-existent. </p>
<p>Now I ask you, CC community and friends: Where should I go in my situation?</p>
<p>That’s a great position to be in (and a brutally difficult decision). Go with your gut and you won’t regret it either way. Both of them will set you up nicely for grad school. Congrats.</p>
<p>Happydad and I were in Ithaca for seven years while we were in grad school, so you surely can tolerate it for three years or so. For a smaller city, it has a lot of life in it. Not to mention that once you are buried in the bowels of a lab building or the library, you aren’t going to have much free time to be missing “city life”.</p>
<p>Cornell is a much better place for this particular field of study. The combined resources that are available through the College of Engineering and the College of Ag. and Life Sciences simply have no parallel.</p>
<p>Besides city & climate, the other differences are social life and size. Cornell is D1 and offers a lot of school spirit. For some, that is important; for others, not-at-all. If you are planning on grad school, the undergrad minor at CMU will probably suffice.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d choose Cornell easily, bcos I like Ithaca and the smaller college town feel. But if you are a city person, don’t care about school spirit, and would like a smaller campus, then CMU is probably better for you.</p>
<p>The weather is a non-factor. It will cold in either location.</p>
<p>Cornell offers your degree, CMU doesn’t. Unfortunate. If CMU offered a degree in Env. Engineering, would your decision be much easier?</p>
<p>I guess to each their own. I’d much rather be in a beautiful campus with an active social life made up of students than a city like Pittsburgh that isn’t exactly LA or DC. I have a friend at CMU and I don’t think he’s thought much of the campus environment itself. Personally I would think the social life and college experience at Cornell would be much better, not to mention it has your major. I think Environmental Engineering is one of those majors that you have to go to a place with the infrastructure to support your every specific needs.</p>
<p>Hi OP,</p>
<p>I’ve attended both Cornell (undergrad) and CMU (grad), both for Civil and Environmental Engineering, and worked as an environmental engineer for several years before eventually getting my MBA and transitioning to a career in finance.</p>
<p>First off, I absolutely loved both schools. Even though I am not an engineer any more, I am still active in both schools engineering alumni associations and donate regularly to both institutions. The two are similar in a lot of ways and, at least in the engineering schools, compete head to head for the same students regularly. In fact, the most common cross admits for Cornell’s college of engineering are CMU and MIT. Similarly, the most common corss admits for CMU are MIT and Cornell.</p>
<p>Both schools have very rigorous engineering curricula. Both will prepare you well for a career as an environmental engineer. To be honest there is not a whole lot of difference between a Civil/Environmental and straight Environmental program. In fact, when I was at Cornell the environmental program was a concentration in Civil Engineering. I’ve looked recently, and despite the change in nomenclature, the curriculum is unchanged from my day. I wouldn’t let the title on the degree sway your decision. Environmental engineering employers won’t care about the distinction, and generally will actually prefer Chemical Engineers to both Civil and Environmental Engineers.</p>
<p>What is very different are the environments of the colleges themselves. Cornell is much more of a traditional college experience. Its a big school with lots of people majoring in different things. You have frat guys, preppies, nerds, and any other stereotypical student you can think of. At CMU the culture is very engineering focused. Lots of tech nerds with a few drama people thrown in. Its much more like MIT or Caltech, whereas Cornell is more like Berkeley or Michigan (big schools with good engineering). Also, Ithaca is a much better city then people give it credit for. That said, you should be a person who likes the outdoors if you go to Cornell because the best of what Ithaca offers is its hiking, cycling, kayaking, etc. Pittsburgh on the other hand is a legitimately cool city. If your an urban person you’ll be much happier there.</p>
<p>Hope that’s helpful. Let me know if you have any specific questions that I can help you with.</p>