Which is better Columbia SEAS or Cornell SEAS?

<p>so yeah......</p>

<p>which is better, a red grape or a white one?</p>

<p>In short:</p>

<p>SEAS if you're interested in math and science with a liberal arts "twist"</p>

<p>CC if you're interested solely in liberal arts</p>

<p>Do you want to live in New York City or Ithaca?</p>

<p>mikesown:
congratulations on not answering the question.</p>

<p>From what I have read, Columbia SEAS is more of a liberal arts approach to engineering. You still get in hardcore science/math, but there is the SEAS core to balance it out. Cornell SEAS is ranked higher and focuses more exclusively on science/math (although I am sure there is still distribution requirements in liberal arts). The schools in general are so different that you should decide based on whether you want a large school in Ithaca or a small school in NY.</p>

<p>If you're sure about engineering i'd say cornell for everything except maybe chem E and BME. If you're not sure about engineering as a career, then columbia, it's pretty good for engineering, but it's great if you want to find a job on wall street / go to med or law school. Columbia is also in new york (decide whether or not you want that over ithaca, most prefer nyc), and columbia's engineers are more rounded, with the majority not ultimately working as engineers. Columbia doesn't get worse engineering students though, if you look at SAT scores, acceptance rates, and % of students in the top 10% of their graduating class, columbia seas might actually do better than cornell eng. But the two school are geared differently.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Do you want to live in New York City or Ithaca?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Yep. That's it.</p>

<p>Nice try confidentialcoll, Cornell engineering destroys Columbia SEAS in quality of undergraduates as well as true engineering education. We're a baby-step down from MIT. Just look at the rankings. I have 7 friends from NY who chose Cornell over Columbia because they know it's a much better program. There's even an engineer I know who got into Brown and decided to come here.
This is the only engineering school that still manages to beat MIT at tech competitions.</p>

<p>"Cornell engineering destroys Columbia SEAS in quality of undergraduates as well as true engineering education"</p>

<p>as i said in terms of offering students a pure engineering education cornell is better in almost all disciplines, but in terms of quality of undergrads sadly it isn't the case, look at SAT scores, top % of HS class, acceptance rate.</p>

<p>"I have 7 friends from NY who chose Cornell over Columbia because they know it's a much better program"</p>

<p>yea no s*it sherlock, if you're at cornell that's all you can guage, not the whole other side of the story, if they had spent their whole lives in the city there's a good chance they might have wanted to leave, i've met more than 7 at columbia who've chosen columbia seas over cornell, wanting the sort of education and environment columbia offered for its engineers. so it's a meaningless point of discussion. You have to look at numbers not your or my shallow set of experiences.</p>

<p>"There's even an engineer I know who got into Brown and decided to come here."</p>

<p>and that would say what?</p>

<p>"This is the only engineering school that still manages to beat MIT at tech competitions."</p>

<p>again cornell is a better school if you're sure you want to do engineering as a career. And most tech competitions play to cornell's strengths, they usually revolve around mech E, comp sci and EE.</p>

<p>I went to SEAS because, while I was good at science and math, I greatly enjoyed many other disciplines. In my view, Columbia is a more well-rounded education in general. I could get my A's in science/math classes while still taking a bunch of really interesting liberal-arts classes in history, polisci, philosophy, sociology, CS, etc.</p>

<p>An engineering degree is a good preparation for many things besides just engineering. The majority of Cornell SEAS students go into actual engineering jobs. The majority of Columbia SEAS students do not.</p>

<p>Confidentialcoll, you're mad silly.</p>

<p>"look at SAT scores, top % of HS class."</p>

<p>Impossible to do either of these things, as Cornell does not list SAT scores by college. You can only look at the average for all schools at Cornell.
"Cornell University also does not have average SAT scores available by college." - Dear</a> Uncle Ezra - Questions for Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Cornell University</p>

<p>So, nice try again. Still, I'm not upset by your foolishness, so you shouldn't be at what you perceive as mine.</p>

<p>Also, Cornell engineering acceptance rate might be quite high, this is true, but the group of applicants is extremely self-selective.
Case in point - I have a high school friend who was rejected by Cornell but accepted to MIT. True story.
Clearly, acceptance rates in a vacuum tell you very little of the story.</p>

<p>i just find it amusing you pull this self-selective applicants defense when you're defending your own engineering school's acceptance rate, yet try to attack columbia seas for the very same thing. perhaps some consistency is in order?</p>

<p>From his responses in this thread and from others, it appears as though meurteapablo has some sort of unhealthy obsession with bashing Columbia. </p>

<p>Also, he makes no sense.</p>

<p>Hahha muerteapablo</p>

<p>"Case in point - I have a high school friend who was rejected by Cornell but accepted to MIT. True story."</p>

<p>If you already didn't know, various college acceptances don't mean anything. Someone got rejected from Harvard for economics but accepted by MIT? So that means Harvard's econ program is better than Yale's? Your logic makes no sense.</p>

<p>muerteapablo, though i begin to feel you will call me foolish regardless of what i say, i will try again:</p>

<p>"Also, Cornell engineering acceptance rate might be quite high, this is true, but the group of applicants is extremely self-selective"</p>

<p>this is eqaully if not more applicable to columbia seas, columbia college's acceptance rate is 9% and the seas acceptance rate is 18%, showing you that though the school are practically the same in terms of quality of student, and opportunity durning and after college, applicants tend to shy away from engineering, for what ever reason, so self selectivity is not especially true for cornell eng.</p>

<p>"Cornell does not list SAT scores by college. You can only look at the average for all schools at Cornell."</p>

<p>i realize this, but columbia seas's sat scores are comparable to MIT's (where the majority are engineering or pure science), range of around 1390-1540 for seas, and 1380-1560 for MIT. </p>

<p>College</a> Search - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®</p>

<p>this might offend your sensitivities, but numbers unfortunately don't lie, this is why i say that the averge student who comes to columbia seas is very much comparable if not superior to the average cornell engineering student. the rankings don't measure this, the rankings look at engineering only for it's traditional purposes, and here we agree that cornell on balance is a better school for pure engineering, and you should go there if you're sure that's the set of industries you wish to work in.</p>

<p>muerteapablo - It's pretty hard to compare the two schools considering the vast differences in environment. A lot of students choose Columbia over Cornell because they want a city life. Respectively, A lot of Cornell students choose Cornell because it's a closer relation to the "college experience." </p>

<p>confidentialcoll brings up some very valid points, rankings don't mean *****. As far as I know, nobody chooses a university based on rankings, rather location, reputation and cost. Columbia is a top notch education which appeals to students who want a fast paced city life with many business opportunities. Cornell offers a top notch education as well, no doubt about it. However, the location plays a huge factor, Cornell students are typically more research-oriented. </p>

<p>FU students don't usually go into engineering because of all the opportunities around them in NY. The opportunities are endless and many will take a non-engineering job because of the increased salary, which is perhaps the biggest factor in making that decision when you live in New York, due to the astronomical cost of living. Sure, Cornell engineering has top caliber, first tier engineering students, but Columbia students are just as bright, and more importantly, the education at both schools are as good of an education as you can get, deeming this whole argument irrelevant. </p>

<p>Both have pros and cons relevant to the other. It's just stupid to argue one over the other, because both are great. </p>

<p>One more thing. Take a statistics class the "I know a ton of people who chose Cornell over Columbia" is probably the weakest argument you can make. Cornell students obviously choose Cornell over Columbia or else they wouldn't be at Cornell.</p>

<p>I'll second what UriA702 said; I want to go to Fu for the same reason(though I did apply to Cornell engineering). I love CompSci, and I know I want what I do in my life to involve computers and programming, but I don't want to end up at Microsoft or Apple churning out code all day, with (relatively, compared to a doctor/lawyer) low salaries. I want to go into finance, and make (hopefully) a good salary. Fu focuses much more on the latter, while Cornell trains engineers more than anything. If I wanted to become a so called "code monkey" working for a large company for relative peanuts. I'm willing to work hard and put in the 80+ hrs/week it takes to do this, but I want to be rewarded.</p>

<p>Now, that's not to say you can't go into finance at Cornell, but Columbia/Fu is (in my opinion) stronger in giving you a well-rounded education that not only prepares you for a career in engineering(if you choose that path), but also for a career in finance/business. </p>

<p>If you want to be an engineer for the rest of your life, Cornell trumps Columbia. If you don't want to be an engineer for the rest of your life, but enjoy engineering, Columbia trumps Cornell.</p>

<p>I agree with everything you people say. Columbia destroys cornell for location, no doubt about it.
Also, realize that I'm applying to transfer to Columbia (CC), that's where I want to go.
That said, all I was trying to point out with the anecdotal evidence of my friend who got into MIT and not Cornell was that clearly they're on par with each other. MIT admitted someone that it saw fit to complete the necessary course work. Obviously it could be a fluke on both/either institution's part, but probably not. As for my friends who currently attend Cornell, you're certainly correct that this is not air-tight evidence, but it certainly makes a compelling point. I know a ton of SEAS kids thru high school, and they all respect the Cornell degree more, probably because they understand the rigor involved.
My main point, however, was that confidentialcoll did lie/spin by saying that SEAS SAT scores were higher than Cornell's, when he could not truly know. I found that aggravating.
Let's chill tho, I'd rather waste my time watching movies or something.
Love,
Muerte</p>

<p>Yes, Columbia does destroy Cornell hands down for location. Cornell may have the more rigorous curriculum, but Columbia offers New York City, so much opportunity for internships and part-time work prior to graduation, this should be a huge factor in the decision making process for most students considering the two. It is simply easier to get a good job when you have had the opportunity during your undergraduate experience to locate in-field internships and work minutes away by public transportation. Internships for Cornell students seem limited to Summer and Winter intersessions, in New York this is certainly not the case. I feel that perhaps the greatest feature Columbia has to offer is for those who aren't looking for a traditional college experience - it appeals to those looking to start their professional careers and get their foot in the door while still in school, which can ultimately be priceless when it comes down to bargaining salaries and choosing offers, as opposed to letting offers choose you.</p>

<p>The argument that "Cornell destroys Columbia for engineering" is in the eye of the beholder. As mentioned early, no comparison can possibly be made because of how different the atmosphere is.</p>

<p>mikesown - You do know that computer scientists have the highest starting salary of any of the engineering disciplines, correct? a "code monkey" at google is typically offered a starting salary of 85k annually with great benefits, working for a great company that really looks after their employee's well being and happiness. Microsoft and Apple are similar, very prestigious and offer very good positions. Relatively speaking, the smaller and mid sized companies seem to be the ones over working their employees, demanding better performance, paying less, and not showing much opportunity for growth. </p>

<p>Think Initech lol</p>