<p>Helllo guys I am trying to decide between these schools. I am planning on bio as a major (hoping to be a doctor in the future). Other interests include econ, music. Please help me to evaluate the two schools, according to the categories, if possible. any input and past experiences are welcome!</p>
<p>-Academic (areas of strength, flexibility)</p>
<p>-Campus Life</p>
<p>-Off Campus</p>
<p>-Dorm/Campus/Food</p>
<p>Where are you from? Cornell can be a bit of a culture shock if you are not from NY. the weather generally presents its own kind of shock as well. I'm not sure very many people would ever <em>choose</em> to live in upstate NY :)</p>
<p>Not knowing anything about you, I'd pick WashU for premed.</p>
<p>Cornell recently infused its biomedical sciences with a gift of $400 million. They have a new biology building. Very strong in biomedical sciences. Campus food is among the best in the country, many options. Ithaca is a pretty cool small city. Campus life has lots of opportunities for your particular style, whatever it may be.</p>
<p>Where are you from?</p>
<p>DunninLA: FWIW I lived 4 hours from St. Louis fo several years, it was unbearably hot in the summer and colder in the winter that NY. It was the worst weather I've ever experienced. And I've lived in Ithaca and Chicago.</p>
<p>-Academic (areas of strength, flexibility) -- pretty similar. Pre-med probably goes to Wash U</p>
<p>-Campus Life-- Both have active social life on campus, with a fairly hefty focus on fraternities (more so at Cornell). Once again probably about even, but from what I hear from students at Wash U they just seem happier--so I pick there.</p>
<p>-Off Campus-- St. Louis by default. Ithaca sucks</p>
<p>-Dorm/Campus/Food-- Wash U has one of the highest quality of life standards out of any school. The dorms, campus and food are all terrific. I am not knowledgeable enough about Cornell to say, but at Wash U that is a major asset.</p>
<p>monydad... are you saying it is colder in St. Louis in winter than Ithaca? I'm wondering if you've temporarily taken leave of your senses...</p>
<p>OK, you made me look.... here are the average temps for St. Louis and Ithaca:</p>
<p>Average</a> Weather for Saint Louis, MO - Temperature and Precipitation</p>
<p>Average</a> Weather for Ithaca, NY - Temperature and Precipitation</p>
<p>You will notice Ithaca is several degrees colder. To be exact, December through February, Ithaca is on average 5 degrees colder midday, and 9 degrees colder at night.</p>
<p>maybe I hit a bad string of years.</p>
<p>FWIW, those Ithaca numbers for the summer do not match my recollection at all. I expected st. Louis to be much hotter, as shown; basically you couldn't go outside in the summer after 9am without frying. But it was not nearly that moderate in the summers in Ithaca while I was there, it was hot. Just nowhere near lower midwest hot..</p>
<p>Cornell seems more fun, though you'll probably be more pampered and poodled over at WashU :)</p>
<p>Cornell has not only the College of Arts and Sciences, but also the College of Human Ecology, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the College of Veterinary Medicine. For a biologist, Cornell wins hands-down. The depth and breadth of the possible options and opportunities in the biological sciences are truly hard to beat.</p>
<p>And, the food service is among the best in the nation thanks in large part to the School of Hotel Administration.</p>
<p>That said, you know in your heart which of these places you prefer. It is OK to prefer WashU over Cornell. It is OK to prefer Cornell over WashU. It is even OK to honestly prefer fill-in-name-of-true-favorite-here over both of them. You will be fine wherever you end up this fall.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>-Academic: premed strength is about the same, Cornell's probably a little stronger in the bio department; what academic departments is WashU actually known for?</p>
<p>-Campus Life: exceptionally strong at Cornell; lots of things to do on campus: parties, D1 sports, bowling alleys/movie theaters ON CAMPUS, etc.</p>
<p>-Off Campus: weak at both schools; not a lot to do in Ithaca; St. Louis is....St. Louis</p>
<p>-Dorm/Campus/Food: Beautiful campus at Cornell; Cornell is also known for the quality of its food</p>
<p>
[quote]
-Off Campus-- St. Louis by default. Ithaca sucks
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There is actually a ton to do in Ithaca. Between Cornell, IC, and the city's offerings, Ithaca can easily rival a city five to ten times its size in terms of cultural amenities. As a student at Cornell, I attended great art openings and film screenings, ate at fantastic restaurants, and spent many a weekend exploring the wineries and hiking trails of the surrounding countryside.</p>
<p>Cornell easily!</p>
<p>Re: the weather in St. Louis: I grew up there, now live a couple of hours away after 21 years in much colder climates. Winters are completely unpredictable. Some winters see a good number of days over 60 degrees; you put on your shorts and take a bike ride. Other winters, like this one, are cold and damp without the regular intervals of sunny days. There are usually several half-way decent snow falls, but not every year. Some winters get nasty ice storms. Summer: hot and humid, mostly the latter. However, if a student is not staying in St. Louis over the summer, that doesn't matter much. It is a true 4-season climate, but the most notable thing about the weather is that the temperature can swing 40 degrees--or more--from one day to the next. It has something to do with the jet stream over the middle of MO and small shifts north or south causing large changes in the weather. The thunder storms can be interesting. I actually missed them during the New England years.</p>
<p>St. Louis is certainly less isolated than Ithaca, but then again, there are no other urban areas less than 4 hours away by car (or train, in the case of Chicago).</p>
<p>Academic- Both have their virtues, Cornell does have a multitude of options for the path of a doctor, with all the schools of things relating to biology they have. Wash U has a 6 yeart pre-med program though, and it's scholarship attributes are great as well.</p>
<p>Campus life- Cornell has a variety of things to do on campus that you don't really find elsewhere, plus the standard sport facilities and activites. I'll give this one to cornell</p>
<p>off campus- St. Louis hands down, Ithica is one of the most bare places there is. </p>
<p>Dorms- St Louis has quite nice dorms, with some cool amenities in the residence halls. Cornells aren't bad though.</p>
<p>Food- Cornell, Great salad bars, stir fry, sandwich bars, international meals, seafood, and kosher, plus more.</p>
<p>Campus-I'd say Cornell because of all of the foliage and trees.</p>
<p>lol contrasting opinion all throughout</p>
<p>Phead -- now that's what I like, a good discussion.</p>
<p>hey guys on concern recently popped up. i know that washU has top notch medical programs. however, i am worried that there would not be enough diversity and that if i decide to switch majors (bio as of now) i would lose out becuase their other departments are weaker in comparison. so i guess the question is this: how do the academics of cornell compare to that of wash U? what are their strengths and weaknesses? thankss!</p>
<p>In general, Cornell is a much more comprehensive research university than WashU – from engineering to economics, English to plant science, architecture to human development, Cornell basically has it all. </p>
<p>If you look at the composite NRC rankings for department reputation, you will see that Cornell is easily a much more academically expansive place than WashU.</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#TOP60]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#TOP60)</p>
<p>Those rankings are from 16 years ago.</p>