<p>Hi!
I was recently accepted to UVa, Cornell, and Lehigh for engineering. Right now I think I'm leaning towards UVa, but I don't know if the engineering program is solid enough for me to be chosing it over the other schools. Does anyone have an input on this? (PS- also consider UCONN engineering, I am from Connecticut so I don't know if I really want to go there, but I'm not sure if it has a better engineering program than UVa.)</p>
<p>I dont know much but have read enough on the boards to know that Cornell's engineering program is much better than the others listed.</p>
<p>Cornell!...</p>
<p>What makes you think UVa is better than the other two? Just curious.</p>
<p>The reason I like UVa more is because it seems to have a good reputation, but not be as difficult or as much of a "pressure cooker" as a school like Cornell. It also seems to have a better overall atmosphere, more friendly and social, and on top of all that, decent sports team (it would be fun to go to all of their games). That is why UVa seems like a better choice to me, but I'm not sure if it's worth giving up a school as prestigious for engineering as Cornell.</p>
<p>I guess you are pretty set on UVa. Cornell Engineering isn't really a cut-throat school. The premeds on campus are a little intense, but the engineers are quite friendly and willing to help each other out. About the sports team, you are right. Other than the hockey team, which ranks top 5 in the nation, Cornell sucks at all other major sports. I really think you should consider Cornell Engineering's overall package rather than its "reputation" as a pressure-cooker.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input ecc, I haven't completely made up my mind yet, and it's nice to get some different perspectives on the schools I'm considering.</p>
<p>Cornell engineering probably offers the best academics/research experience among those.</p>
<p>Cornell has the highest suicide rate among the students. It seems like you can really go nuts over there. But I have seen Lehigh, its engineering facilities are excellent. It also depends on which engineering you want to study in these schools. I remember that Lehigh’s materials science department was the best, and so was its mechanical engineering and compt eng. I don’t know why you think UConn is better than an of these schools.</p>
<p>I would chose Cornell for its reputation (Ivy League) and for its broad range of engineering choices. But I would suggest you to go there only if you have a stable psychological state. I think you would have a terrific student life in Cornell, but you would have a social life if you’d choose UVa or Lehigh…</p>
<p>All these schools have good reputations, but you might also want to check the engineering rankings for these schools in US News College Rankings.</p>
<p>Is money an issue? Will you have a bunch of debt when you graduate??</p>
<p>In programming logic…</p>
<p>IF TotalDebtAfterGrad(“Cornell”) <= TotalDebtAfterGrad(“U-Virgina”) + 10000 THEN
Choose “Cornell”
ELSE
Choose “U-Virgina”
END IF</p>
<p>You applied to UVa engineering but not VT’s… interesting choice. I would choose Lehigh engineering over UVa any day.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Given that you are a Hokie, that would make sense. However, to the rest of the country, UVa is at least a respectable engineering school if not a good one. Personally, I would choose UVa over Lehigh.</p>
<p>As for the overall choice, I think it comes down to a lot of personal factors. You will get a good education at all of those schools. Cornell has the “best” program out of all of those schools, but it is also expensive and may not be the right fit. Figure out which place you feel most comfortable in, which will leave you with the least debt, which will have the best career prospects, and add in an “X factor” for just intangible things that you like about each school. Decide which has the best combination of all of those things for you and then go there.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>When you strip away the program size factor that goes into the undergraduate rankings, UVA puts out better engineers than VT and Lehigh. Cornell and UVA are the better of the four schools mentioned. I might be biased, but I’d choose Cornell.</p>
<p>Cornell having the highest suicide rate is simply not true. This has been discussed over and over in the Cornell forum. I’ve attached an article that writes about this. The article is from 2006, but how much can a suicide rate change in just four years? According to this article, Harvard, Duke, and MIT have much higher rate than that of Cornell’s. In fact, Cornell’s suicide rate is LOWER than the national average.</p>
<p>[Hopkins</a> suicide rate in line with national college trend - News](<a href=“http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2006/04/20/News/Hopkins.Suicide.Rate.In.Line.With.National.College.Trend-2242150.shtml]Hopkins”>http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2006/04/20/News/Hopkins.Suicide.Rate.In.Line.With.National.College.Trend-2242150.shtml)</p>
<p>2010 evidently has NOT been a good year for suicides at Cornell. Looks to be 3X the national average.
[Two</a> suspected suicides confirmed at Cornell; total now at six - CNN.com](<a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/20/new.york.cornell.suicides/index.html]Two”>Two suspected suicides confirmed at Cornell; total now at six - CNN.com)
“Ithaca, New York (CNN) – Two suspected cases of suicide on the Cornell University campus have officially been confirmed by the Tompkins County chief medical examiner, bringing the total number of suicides for the academic year to six.”…</p>
<p>…“The national average for school suicides is 7.29 per year for every 100,000 students, said Paula Clayton, medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. That means Cornell, with 19,639 students, should average fewer than two suicides a year.”</p>
<p>Yes, I’m aware that 2009 was a bad year and the suicide number was indeed high. But keep in mind that Cornell had zero suicide during 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. My point is that, suicide rate shouldn’t be determined by one bad year. Even factoring in the recent suicide cluster, Cornell is still at or below the national average for the last 10 years or so.</p>
<p>Putting this aside, UVA, Lehigh, and Cornell are all wonderful choices. I think you have a win-win situation; you really cannot go wrong with it.</p>
<p>This topic is from April 2005. This guy has probably graduated from college. Anyway, I will recommend Cornell to ALD8, should his future children face the same choice.</p>
<p>
That already tells me a lot. Is UVa doing the putting out of better engineers, or is it simply the caliber of students who matriculate to UVa? Asides from rankings, let’s just look at their programs. Which are more comprehensive, which schools have more engineering opportunities, which schools get more outlooks, etc. Some of these that I just mentioned are a bit affected by program size, but nonetheless they are necessary qualities regardless of their derivation.
Who says? I’m certainly not one to be swayed by bias & personal preference, so if you can show me that this is true I will certainly lean your way.</p>
<p>Cornell >> UVA > Lehigh</p>
<p>even Virginia Tech is better than UVA in engineering.</p>