Hey everyone, as the title suggests, I was wondering which would be best for me. Personally, I’m leaning towards SC (which is why I spend the most time here), but my parents like the idea of Cornell. Anyone else in a similar situation, or have any experience with the differences between these schools? Thanks guys and fight on
Im doing the exact same thing, and I’d say SC. Especially if you plan on becoming a lawyer in LA…the Trojan family network is incredible.
Cornell has the dubious distinction of being a lesser ivy, which means it’s forever stuck in the HYPCDPCB hierarchy (perhaps the main reason the suicide rate is so high). Just look at the Keith Olbermann/Ann Coulter debate. USC has no such constraints and has a viable chance to achieve greater distinction. Northwestern’s most illustrious alumnus is David Schwimmer, which speaks volumes. In their defense, both schools are fine choices but I believe of all three only USC has the resources to break into the top echelons of higher education, largely because of its location and strong corporate and alumni financial support. As far as law school, all three would open doors to a T14 law school. Good luck and congratulations on getting into three top schools.
Re: your decision: You asked “which would be best for me”. But provided very little information about you. So I really have no clue.
I can offer some information regarding Cornell. I’m not sure it offers a “poli sci” major per se, actually. I think it has a “government” major. Cornell offers a wide variety of courses for someone interested in this general area: from courses in the Government department in CAS, Policy Studies in Hum Ec, Urban Planning in CAAP, and various courses in ILR. Suggest you might check out the course catalog in each of these areas and see whether their offerings may be appealing to you.
The suicide rate is actually not particularly high there. And some say being a “lower Ivy” is like having a “smaller mansion”. As if these strawmen should dictate your matriculation decision.
You can apply to law school, anyplace, from any undergraduate college. My D1 is reviewing some great law school offers right now. She attended college at someplace no more compelling than any of your choices.Given her results, and what I’ve read elsewhere, it doesn’t seem like the particular undergrad college really plays that much of a role in Law school admissions. Especially among places that are so similar, why would it? They will care first and foremost about your LSAT score, secondly your grades.
Indeed, O.J. Simpson is more famous than any Cornell and Northwestern’s alumnus.
That said, USC hasn’t caught Cornell and Northwestern yet. Locations haven’t stopped Cornell, Penn, Dartmouth, Yale, Duke, etc. from being great. “Resources” mean different things to different folks, apparently it’s not endowment and certainly not endowment per capita to you. Regardless of resources and locations, I don’t think any school that axed its German program, starves its liberal arts departments, and focuses almost solely on trades/pre-professional programs would be among the best candidates to “break into the top echelons of higher education”.
OP,
For your major, Cornell and Northwestern likely have stronger departments. Graduate rankings may not be good proxy but when the gap is significant, it may be worth to take a closer look. Cornell and Northwestern are ranked around the 20th while USC’s is around 50th. The number of PoliSci faculty is considerably smaller at USC even though its undergraduate enrollment is the largest of the three (19,000 vs 14,400 at Cornell and 8,500 at Northwestern). You may want to research and compare the course offerings and selection.
USC has an interesting trial advocacy program while Northwestern has a legal studies program (an adjunct major through the lens of liberal arts). But in terms of preparation, this link from Cornell sums it up the best:
http://admissions.cornell.edu/learn/academics/prelaw
You may want to use it as your guide for your next four years. Go luck!
Actually, Ann Coulter is Cornell’s most famous alumna.
The locations of Duke, Cornell and Penn have affected their attractiveness. USC has the California sunshine, a major asset. As far as poli sci, I don’t believe any of the three are more distinguished than the others. There are more USC undergrads in the business and engineering programs, so size is not a factor. USC gutted the German major, not German language courses. Regarding endowment resources, USC is gaining momentum and ground in catching up, Northwestern in particular is lagging. Bottom line: think long term.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2009/12/13/the-decade-s-hottest-schools.html#slide1
To me, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is Cornell’s most famous alumna. Or Pearl S. Buck.
Most people outside the US don’t know Ann Coulter. But the world certainly watched the Trial of the Century. I was very young in Asia but I still remember the scene in which he put on the black gloves! O.J. Simpson is way more famous. 
Often, it’s easier to show bigger momentum when the base is lower (think China).
But when it comes to endowment growth, Northwestern has been the better performer. I just looked up the data and it went from $4.2 billions in 2005 to $9.8 billions.in 2014. You have been misinformed.
I don’t think we’re taking about who was more famous when you were young and in Asia, were we? But even assuming that to be the case, Schwimmer was famous in that time frame as well, at least in America.
And I don’t use China as a baseline for anything other than perhaps an example of exploitative cheap labor, poor quality, human rights violations and rampant piracy of intellectual property rights. But I get your point.
And I’m not talking about endowment size, but funds raised on an annual basis and that’s where USC and Cornell beat NW, though I admit they have smaller endowments.
When discussing endowment, people often fail to consider that several of Cornell’s colleges receive funding from the State of New York. In fact its colleges are divided internally into the “endowed division” and the “statutory division”.
I will just cut and paste from a prior post of mine:
"Upon a quick look, this was taken from a June 2008 article:
"The yearly check from Albany functions as a de facto endowment for the statutory colleges, funding professor salaries, student services, and research initiatives. Last year, Cornell received $175 MM in state support. That’s the functional equivalent of a $3.5 billion endowment.
Next year? $169 MM."
It goes on to decry that these sums represent less than 30% of the statutory college’s budget, whereas it used to be 70%, and that the support in real terms has been declining.
That trend is undoubtedly accelerated currently, as the NY State budget is certainly challenged these days. Nevertheless, that’s still a lot of money that has been coming in that is not accounted for in [endowment amount listing] Just back of the hand, $3.5 billion divided by 20,000 students is additional $175,000 endowment equivalent per capita.
External research funding is probably also not accounted for.
“Thus true inter-institutional endowment comparisons which do not detail quasi-endowments represented by state funding initiatives as well as external research funding grossly misstate the comparability between institutions which may, or may not, be inherently non-comparable.”
List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"
SeattleTW,
So “endowment resources” are not endowment but “funds raised on an annual basis”. It’s not on per capita basis either. You can slice and dice any way you want. Let us know when that translates to better resources for the liberal arts departments or reduction of their relatively high average indebtness at graduation.
If you are talking about the present, quite a few other Northwestern alums are more famous than Schswimmer. That’s why you confused me. Maybe Schswimmer is your type. Anyway, I think Reggie Bush is the most illustrious one out of USC now.
And let us know when you make the top ten list of funds raised in a single year…
Wow USC so many famous alumni including let’s say the first person to land on the moon. For him/her to even bring up OJ Simpson shows that the person came here to bash USC and nothing more. Cornell and Northwestern are amazing schools, they don’t idiots advocating on their behalf.
Now if you are pre-law it makes sense to consider the cheapest option especially since law school is even more expensive than undergrad. If you come from an affluent family that can easily pay the bill I guess you can anywhere you want.
Let’s give the guy a break. I’m sure he had to Google Reggie Bush to realize the guy played football.
XMaSTeRx,
The tease was started by SeattleTW mentioning David Schwimmer. You don’t have to resort to name calling. Maybe you just need some sense of humor.
"Northwestern’s most illustrious alumnus is David Schwimmer, which speaks volumes. "
Well actually these days it would be Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers, which speaks very favorably to the school. You are one odd bird if you think Schwimmer is the “most illustrious” alum.
Admittedly that’s from a 1990’s perspective when my buddies from NW and U of Chicago used to argue about which school was better. We used to tease our Brown colleagues too about Amy Carter being it’s most illustrious alumna as well…
Not even believing you had “buddies from NW” because it’s NU, not NW. And NU people really don’t spend their time thinking about the U of Chicago, because it’s perfectly possible to think “these are all fine schools that simply appeal to different personal preferences,” as opposed to being the kind of person who needs to “tier” them. @@
Admittedly I don’t know much about NU. Is it affiliated with Northeastern, which is in Boston, and can one take classes at both?
Actually the Northwesterners did obsess about Chicago, and that’s how I learned that Schwimmer went there.
Yes. Northeastern in Boston and Northwestern in Evanston are sister schools. Now go away.