<p>Just wondering why one would choose Columbia over Cornell for engineering? For me the first reason would have to be location (NYC v. Ithaca) but I want to hear real reasons why</p>
<p>As an SEAS grad, I’ll say:
pros: better location (easier commute and more to do, slightly better weather); more intimate departments; closer to dorms, engineering building, and liberal arts buildings
cons: Cornell engineering has the better reputation</p>
<p>I would also like to know</p>
<p>it comes down to location and fit, cornell engineering has a better reputation in the engineering world, but many engineers go into consulting/finance/law/med/international development and for all these columbia is either as good or better. The incoming students are also comparable (columbia might have a slight edge here on the stats front), but basically both schools are filled with intelligent, ambitious and driven students, cornell’s focus is on traditional engineer, columbia engineerings (while there are several true engineers) want to go into consulting/finance/law/med/international development there’s also a growing bunch who want to get involved with or run tech-start ups. People land great jobs all the time from nasa to google to apple to boeing, so recruiting for traditional engineering seems pretty good even if the rankings don’t reveal it.</p>
<p>So if I were to state on my application that I would like to be a doctor (when applying for seas columbia), won’t they see that as a negative?</p>
<p>^ I’m in the same position. I want to study ChemE but possibly be pre-med</p>