USC vs. Cornell

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>(Posted in both the Cornell and USC forums)</p>

<p>I was admitted to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering as a trustee (full tuition) scholar majoring in Chemical Engineering, as well as being named a merit research scholar where I am set up with a professor starting my freshman year to perform paid research. Coming from New York, I loved the campus and cannot ignore the beautiful weather. I also very much enjoyed the extremely apparent Trojan pride, and I place great value in joining a spirited student body (I would LOVE attending Trojan football games). I love LA and Southern California, and definitely enjoyed the social scene at SC during my stay. After the scholarship, I would have to pay about $15,000 a year to attend.</p>

<p>Today I received my financial aid from Cornell, and their package was more generous than I expected. I was admitted to the School of Engineering as a Chemical Engineering major, and am impressed by both the university and school’s reputation throughout the country. I enjoyed my initial visit last year so much I almost ended up applying ED, but decided to apply regular as to keep my options open. A few months ago I would have chosen Cornell without blinking an eye, but my visit to USC made me fall in love. Is it worth it to give up the Ivy League reputation, convenience of a school located just four hours from my home, and a top notch engineering school to attend USC? Or should I pay the extra $20,000 a year above the price to attend USC for Cornell?</p>

<p>I feel as if the biggest barriers I face in choosing USC are that I perceive the students at a level below those at Cornell, and feel as if the Cornell name will take me further in New York than will the USC name. Please help me in making this decision! I’ve been agonizing over college since eighth grade and just want to submit my deposit already and buy a bunch of school clothing already!</p>

2

<p>What on earth!? USC students a level below Cornell!? (Hmmm, maybe you’d fit right in at Cornell!) We are also from NY, and our son chose USC over Cornell, but then again, not for one second in the selection process did we consider that an ‘ivy’ automatically means the education is going to be better. We are finding that our sons acceptance to USC seems to create much more excitement/interest for people than his acceptance to Cornell. Good luck with your decision - you have some great choices.</p>

3

<p>I am currently a senior at USC majoring in Biomedical Engineering, and was fortunate to receive the Trustee scholarship upon my acceptance to USC. Additionally, Cornell was one of the other schools I was considering when I was making my college decision. While Cornell is an Ivy League school and has a good engineering program, I knew I would ultimately receive a high-quality engineering education and degree at either university. However, I don’t think I would’ve been able to have the same outside-the-classroom experiences that I’ve had at USC.</p>

<p>If you have the opportunity to visit both schools, I’d highly recommend it as I found USC and Cornell to have very different campus environments—USC is much more compact and urban, while Cornell is very spread out and rural. USC’s location within sunny Los Angeles is very appealing not only for the opportunities to students after graduation looking to work in industry, but LA offers so many different fun things to do from restaurants and concerts, to sporting teams and the beach—there is really something for whatever your interests may be outside the classroom. As far networking opportunities, USC has an amazing alumni support system and Viterbi has their own Career resources for engineers, including Career Fair every semester specifically for about 100 companies looking to hire engineers! </p>

<p>I was attracted to USC because of the school spirit and resources at the university level (I’ve been able to take classes in economics, accounting, kinesiology, cinema, and even sailing!), with the personalization and opportunities at Viterbi. Viterbi prepares and supports its undergraduates and many BME students choose to go into industry or go onto medical school, law school, get their MBA, or do a Masters in Engineering, which is what I’ve opted to do through Viterbi’s Progressive Degree.</p>

<p>I knew I wanted to get involved with research, and actually started working in a lab my first semester at USC—this is something you wont find at many other universities, and it also allows you to work (and get paid) in a lab where you are interested in the ongoing research conducted by that USC faculty member. </p>

<p>Studying abroad was also something very important to me. I knew after talking to my Viterbi advisors that it was not only possible, but encouraged, and last summer I had the chance to travel to Paris through the Viterbi Summer Overseas Program, take classes and travel Europe. As a nice bonus, I was able to apply my Trustee Scholarship to my tuition costs overseas—and many of the USC scholarships do!</p>

<p>I’ve been fortunate to get involved in a variety of clubs and student organizations, within Viterbi, USC, and Greek Life, while taking advantage of everything that the greater Los Angeles has to offer. I hope this gives you a little more insight into why I chose engineering at USC. You can also check out viterbivoices.usc.edu where many fellow Viterbi engineers have shared why they chose USC. Best of luck with your decision—both are amazing schools! Fight On!
-Claire</p>

4

<p>USC and Cornell are very similar, stats wise.</p>

<p>2012 Acceptance Rate
USC----18.2%
Cornel–16.2% (Keep in mind Cornell’s 2011 acceptance rate was 18%)</p>

<h1>of Undergraduates</h1>

<p>USC-----17,414
Cornell–14,167</p>

<p>2011 SAT Scores of Enrolled Students
USC----1930-2230
Cornell–1950-2240</p>

<p>2011 ACT Scores of Enrolled Students
USC-----29-33
Cornell–29-33</p>

<p>US NEWS Engineering Ranking
USC----#12
Cornell–#10</p>

<p>Truly, they have more similarities than you may think. The differences are minimal and your choice should boil down to personal preference.</p>

5

<p>$80,000 difference over 4 years is a no brainer for me. The schools are essentially equal in reputation. Who would be paying that $80,000, you or your parents?</p>

6

<p>My 2 cents…. </p>

<p>I know students admitted to Harvard, MIT and Stanford chose USC with trustee scholarship. Cornell’s engineering is good, but compared with USC’s engineering, it is not worth $80K.</p>

7

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<p>Hahaha, so true. Also, Cornell is at the bottom of the Ivy League. It is never considered to be in a class with any of the others. It’s acceptance rate is higher, test scores are lower, etc. It terms of statistics, it looks much more like USC (see above) than another Ivy.</p>

8

<p>Just wanted to point out SAT references for both schools are a bit off. USC 2011 freshman profile shows 25-75 is 1970-2180.(not 1930-2230) Modernman quoted stats that are just adding up the individual R,M,W results which is not accurate. That will broaden range at both ends. Pertinent that 1930 is well below bottom 25% and also 2180 will put you in top 25%, don’t need a 2230!. </p>

<p>I think he did same with Cornell so the nearly equal comparison is accurate.</p>

9

<p>If you want to work in New York, Cornell might be a better choice due to the networking and local reputation.</p>