<p>I was accepted to Cornell engineering RD and I have a few thoughts and questions that I'm hoping some of you may be able to answer. I don't know much about the engineering school but I hope to get better acquainted with it when I visit it this month. But till then I have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) US News ratings are based on several factors and ranks Cornell engineering at 10. Is it comparable to MIT? Berkeley? Stanford?</p>
<p>2) What do students generally do after graduation? Do they continue their education at graduate school or apply for jobs?</p>
<p>3) What is the workload like? Does everyone come in with a very strong background in math and science (what I mean by this is are the students who get in already familiar with higher-level calculus, higher than BC?)</p>
<p>4) How would it compare to Columbia's engineering program?</p>
<p>I would highly recommend visiting Cornell Days to get a good idea of what the school has to offer. As for the answers to those questions, you'd be best hearing from current students.</p>
<p>4) Cornell has a much stronger engineering program than Columbia. In fact, Cornell is generally reconized having the best engineering program among all the ivies.</p>
<p>1) US News ratings are based on several factors and ranks Cornell engineering at 10. Is it comparable to MIT? Berkeley? Stanford?</p>
<p>I would say the rigor of the program is comparable to the above schools, but that also depends on the major. The student body might be slightly weaker, but I also know some people that chose Cornell over MIT or Stanford, and plenty that chose Cornell over Berkeley. From my experience, it's tough but not impossible.</p>
<p>2) What do students generally do after graduation? Do they continue their education at graduate school or apply for jobs?</p>
<p>I plan on going to graduate school, but many go on to work. What you want to do is up to you, I think about 30% goes to graduate school, many go to professional schools (medicine, law), and the rest get jobs (we have a really good co-op program that can virtually guarantee a job out of graduation).</p>
<p>3) What is the workload like? Does everyone come in with a very strong background in math and science (what I mean by this is are the students who get in already familiar with higher-level calculus, higher than BC?)</p>
<p>Most people have taken calculus BC, but not as many have taken much more than that. Most people also AP out of one or more sciences.</p>
<p>4) How would it compare to Columbia's engineering program?</p>
<p>Much better... no doubt. But also much harder.</p>
<p>1) US News is trash. Employers and grad schools will give MUCH more respect to Cornell than a school like Ga Tech.</p>
<p>2) Jobs or grad school. I'm not sure what the breakdown is of peoples' career choices. I'm going to grad school next year though.</p>
<p>3) Very few people are familiar with math above the BC level. International students usually are and you'll find the odd kid here or there that took Calc 3 or whatever at his school. Workload is very heavy but you'll have ample opportunities for social life, don't worry.</p>
<p>4) I don't know why anyone would go to Columbia SEAS. It doesn't hold a candle to Cornell.</p>
<p>Does anyone have acutal data to show that Cornell engineering graduates have better job entry or graduate school acceptance than those of Columbia and UPenn SEAS? I'm not denying Cornel engineering's quality, Just curious.</p>
<p>Ignore the U.S. news ratings and actually take the time to see how they make the ratings. Many of the things that causes Cornell to lose ranking has nothing to do with the quality of the education you get. Cornell has a unqiue way of doing engineering in that they will present you with limitless opportunities but they won't hold your hand, you have to want it. Very few people come in with what you're labeling as "higher level" math and science skills. Even in the case where you are weak in these areas, there are classes and resources to bring you up to speed. Cornell's engineering education is more geared towards preparing it's students for graduate school. About 1/3 of the population will do this. If you're interested in industry I'd check out the co-op program and/or join a project team because the design element is lacking in certain areas.</p>
<p>have you ever known anyone to fail out of eng? that is what im most worried about...because i dont know if i'd be able to cope with it...
How are the study groups for psets, exams...?
What is a typical day like? </p>
<p>I'll find out more during the campus weekend april 15th-16th, but for now if anyone has some advice and such..please let me know.</p>
<p>) US News ratings are based on several factors and ranks Cornell engineering at 10. Is it comparable to MIT? Berkeley? Stanford?
A: Undergraduate level, Cornell engineering's workload is comparable to all the top engineering schools. I have friends top engineering schools, and my courses are just as hard as theirs. </p>
<p>2) What do students generally do after graduation? Do they continue their education at graduate school or apply for jobs?
A: About 50/50. More than half of Cornell engineers would go straight into the work force. The other half either go for a one year "master of engineering" program at Cornell or go for Ph.D. The "MEng" option is a popular choice because you pretty much get 10,000 to 20,000 dollars raise after an additional year of school. In general, Cornell engineers get placed in top engineering firm. </p>
<p>3) What is the workload like? Does everyone come in with a very strong background in math and science (what I mean by this is are the students who get in already familiar with higher-level calculus, higher than BC?)
A: Strong background in math and science would be useful. However, if you can also choose to take Engineering Calc1 even if you have AP credits. Cornell Engineering will train you hard, but you will become one of the best engineering students in the nation. Plus, companies and graduate schools know about Cornell Engineering's reputation as a tough program. Your Cornell Engineering GPA will weight more than any other Ivy Leagure GPA. </p>
<p>4) How would it compare to Columbia's engineering program?
A: Do I need to say more? Engineeringwise there's no match. If you want to become an investment banker with basic engineering background or have a wonderful liberal art education, then maybe Columbia is your place. Other than that, Cornell Engineering is "better".</p>
<p>Are there any downsides to Cornell engineering? How bad is it if you have to switch to another engineering major after the first year? Will you lose a lot of time by doing so?</p>
<p>"Does anyone have acutal data to show that Cornell engineering graduates have better job entry or graduate school acceptance than those of Columbia and UPenn SEAS? I'm not denying Cornel engineering's quality, Just curious."</p>
<p>I don't think you can find hard data on Cornell vs. Penn vs. Columbia, but one of the indicators you can use is the on campus recruiters. Almost all the top engineering or computer companies recruit from Cornell every year. Columbia gets more top financial companies than top engineering companies. You can also look at the recruiter assessment score from USNews' engineering program ranking, Cornell is higher than Penn and Columbia.</p>