<p>I know Cornell is a better school, academically, and it's co-ed and has a lot more campus activities but...
Wellesley is near Boston, and Cornell isn't near any major city.
I know people say that Cornell's campus activities makes up for the location, but do Cornellians ever miss going to cities for concerts or to go clubbing or whatever?
And also, Wellesley's size vs. Cornell's size. I am a little put off by how big Cornell is. I always wanted to go to a smaller school, but because it is so small, Wellesley doesn't have many clubs etc compared to Cornell. </p>
<p>Any thoughts? Please?</p>
<p>Have you visited both campuses? They are very different in feel.</p>
<p>If you are the type of person who is going to be looking to be going out to a different restaurant or club every weekend, don't go to Cornell. If you want to spend four years in one of the better college towns in America, surrounded by a lot of outdoorsy things to do, go to Cornell.</p>
<p>For most students at Cornell the largeness size never affects them detrimentally. All of the undergraduate colleges are relatively small, and the College of Arts and Sciences is one of the smaller liberal arts colleges in the Ivy league. The bonus is that there are all sorts of different clubs and extracurriculars that you can pursue on Cornell's campus that you might have to look elsewhere for on Wellesley's campus.</p>
<p>I personally would really think twice before sending my daughter to Wellesley, if I had one. The relationship between Wellesley and MIT seems a little bit unfortunate if you ask me.</p>
<p>I have. I spent 6 weeks at Cornell summer college, and my sister went to Wellesley and I stayed with her many times there. I dunno, that aspect doesn't seem to be making this decision much easier.</p>
<p>I guess the more I research these colleges, the more Cornell seems to be the better choice. </p>
<p>But I guess I just really want to know how Cornell students feel about how isolated the campus is from any major urban area. How convenient is it to get to Boston or NYC from Cornell? Are there buses, etc? Or do you pretty much have to have a car?</p>
<p>From what I read Wellesley is wonderful school and all that except on the Explore USC day, one student who has a relative at Wellesley(with boyfriend from Harvard) said this person's experience is not that great at Wellesley. So that is just one person points of view. I fear sometimes these forums have kept people from voicing the real truth that prevents people from making a good decision.</p>
<p>It really depends on what type of person you are. I was incredibly happy living in Ithaca -- snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the winter, and swimming in the gorges and barbecuing on my porch overlooking golden sunsets in the summer. Other students might not be happy if they feel they need to have the resources of a city at their fingertips. And it's not like Ithaca is Hanover or Hamilton. It's a pretty bustling area of 100,000 people.</p>
<p>There are multiple buses a day from Ithaca to New York City -- it's around a four and a half hour bus ride. Some students go down to New York City once or twice a semester. Others have absolutely no use to be in NYC.</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't mean to beat this to death, but what about the trip from Ithaca to Boston? I google-mapped it and it said it's about a 5 hour trip, but I was looking at Greyhound schedules, which said a 10 hour trip..</p>
<p>i live in wellesley, and while you are near the city, the actual town of wellesley kind of struggles as a college town, not a whole lot to do, and with lots of snobby neighbors</p>
<p>Ithaca to Boston is a little bit tougher. I lived in Boston for two years while my girlfriend was still at Cornell, so I have some experience making the trip. There are a lot of individuals constantly making the trip, and you should be able to find a rideshare on Craigslist or different Cornell listserves without much problem most weekends during the school year -- especially for homecoming and things like Slope Day and the Harvard hockey game. Otherwise you would need a car, and it's a five and half hour trip -- 79 to 226 to 88 to 90. Pretty drive.</p>
<p>I wouldn't recommend busing the whole way except on breaks when there are direct buses -- you can take the train from Syracuse to Boston (five hours) if you can get a ride to Syracuse. The Albany to Boston train and bus connections are good, but beyond that it gets pretty bad as you are really starting to get into the Midwest.</p>
<p>And if your family has money, the other option would be the Ithaca airport. You can fly Ithaca to Boston in three hours or so, connecting through LaGuardia. It would be nice if they added a direct flight to Logan.</p>
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i live in wellesley, and while you are near the city, the actual town of wellesley kind of struggles as a college town, not a whole lot to do, and with lots of snobby neighbors
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<p>Yeah, if I was a Wellesley student I would constantly hate having to take the **** Truck in to MIT parties. At Cornell it would be a two minute walk.</p>
<p>Personally, I would go to Cornell, because I could never survive at an all-girls school. But it looks like you've already taken that into consideration, and it's not an issue for you. </p>
<p>If you don't want a bigger school, and you want a tighter knit community, then Wellesley sounds like a better choice. It's also closer to Boston, like you said, so if you ever feel like you're suffocating then it's easy to get out to the city and take a breather :) I'm kind of in the same boat as you - I'm deciding between Wash. U in St. Louis, and Tufts. I think it's awesome how close Tufts is to Boston, though. And I'd really love to experience New England to the fullest.</p>
<p>My vote would be for Cornell.</p>
<p>If you really like Wellesley, go there. Don't pick Cornell just because you feel you "should". And where, exactly, did you get the notion that Cornell is a "better school, academically"? These places are very different, but they both attract extremely smart, competent, young people. Given the Wellesley graduates I've known, and the Cornell undergraduate students I knew when I was a graduate student, I'd say they are on a par, with a possible edge to Wellesley.</p>
<p>Ithaca is beautiful, but it is indeed a long way from just about everywhere else. I did two road-trips in seven years to the Boston area. Long, long road trips. It would be tough if you felt you had to be running to Boston every month or so.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>