<p>Please help me decide. I have been accepted into USC Marshall and Cornell U.-College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Applied Econ and Management ( Cornell's version of the traditional business program).
I am interested in Marketing and management. I am only above average in math so I don't think I will be very good in IB. I would like to be able to get some interesting jobs after UG so to set me up for a top tier MBA program, such as Tucks, Wharton, Stanford et. al.
I am also interested in global business opportunities. With the considerations of global reputation, academic standard, competitiveness of fellow students, network and job placement potentials, which one of these would prepare me better for future success?</p>
<p>I am not familiar with USC Marshall, but I am familiar with Cornell.</p>
<p>If you choose Cornell, you will not be making a mistake.</p>
<p>Don't worry about the "agriculture" in the name of the school. Many (perhaps most) of the students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have no interest in agriculture. They are either business students or biology majors (with most of the latter aiming at medical school). You need never see a cow up close unless you want to. The only way in which the business program's location in the ag school will affect you is that you will have to take a year of biology. But no matter where you go, you would have to take some sort of science.</p>
<p>And don't worry about Cornell's remote location. The recruiters come to Ithaca. Lots of them. </p>
<p>You can also persue your international interests at Cornell. There's an undergraduate international relations concentration (sort of a minor) that might interest you. Go to <a href="http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/initiatives/irc.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/initiatives/irc.asp</a> and check it out. You can also study an amazing number of languages at Cornell, which might be important to you if you're looking for an international career.</p>
<p>If you want to read something to get you psyched about Cornell and its history:</p>
<p>Some informal facts about Cornell culture and history that you might like to know:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Cornell has the best food in the Ivy League. Arguably the best college food in the country. Many people who move off-campus still eat on-campus.</p></li>
<li><p>A few years back, Cornell decided to improve the freshman experience by having all the freshmen live together in a single dorm area. This means that some extremely nice dorms are now reserved for freshmen, including buildings that have an abundance of singles and buildings that are set up as apartment-style townhouses.</p></li>
<li><p>You will become an ice hockey fanatic by the time you graduate, even if right now you have no idea what the term "blue line" refers to.</p></li>
<li><p>You can take belly dancing to fulfill the PE requirement. Or fly tying. Really.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell students have to take a swim test (if you flunk, you have to take a swimming course for PE instead of belly dancing or fly tying). Until the mid-1970s, the men's swim test was conducted in the nude. Really.</p></li>
<li><p>You can buy a vibrator at the campus clinic and charge it to your bursar's bill. Really.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>a neighbor of mine had that same choice last year. Plus quite a few other top schools including a few top 5 liberal arts colleges.
All the neighborhood could not understand her choice of USC. This was a kid who had never been away overnight from her family. Her father and grandfather had gone to USC. Not a party girl at all.
She is in the honors dorm and has made friends who don't party. She loves USC. She is also in the business school. (another shocker since this is a girl who loves to learn). We all pegged her for something more intellectual.
As a freshman she just returned from spending her spring break in Hong Kong with the business school. A trip that cost her next to nothing as it was underwritten by a generous donor.</p>
<p>Where do you live? Where do you want to live? If you are a Californian, USC without question. New Jersey to Maine? Cornell. </p>
<p>I don't know much about Cornell that you can't read on the Web, but I do know that the USC alumni network is a force of nature, and that a great alumni program is a big plus for a business grad. I also know that USC is not in upstate New York in the winter time. I seriously doubt you could go wrong with either school.</p>
<p>Washdad. I live in S.F. I have heard about USC networking power. But is it only powerful in southern Cal? I do not plan to live in LA for long. Even though it's cold in N.Y. I don't mind suffering a bit for the sake of exposure to a new experience. My brother is at Penn Engineering and Wharton double major. He has got some amazing internship. But that's Wharton and Penn. I don't know the job/internship placement power of Cornell. Job placement is a great concern for me because I do want to go to a top MBA program. Job experience is crucial for that.I was also told Cornell AEM is ranked #1 in MBA placement. I don't understand what makes it so desirable as compared to USC. These are questions I hope I can get some answers from all of you. Thanks.</p>