I’m incredibly grateful to have been admitted to Cornell , Columbia and Penn. But I can’t decide! I plan to major in economics or physics, haven’t decided yet. I have pros and cons for each school.
Cornell: I think Cornell has the strongest science. I visited and love Ithaca but grade inflation and reputation of “easiest ivy”?
Columbia: Most prestigious of all three? New York City will give me the most internship and job opportunities. But I don’t like humanities? Will the core be a problem for me?
Penn: I think the presence of Wharton will help me find internships even though I’m in CAS. Strongest economics department of all three I think but weakest in physics. Also, I think it has grade deflation from what I’ve heard(more than Columbia).
ATM I’m leaning towards Columbia for the name. But I feel like that is a bad reason to choose it =/. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!
Columbia is the one I would cross off the list. If you don’t like the Core, why suffer through it when you have two other fine choices?
Cornell is not known as the easiest Ivy; it actually has a reputation for being the hardest Ivy to stay in. I don’t think any one of those colleges carry more weight on their name than any of the others overall, so I wouldn’t choose Columbia just because you think it’s the most prestigious. And I wouldn’t worry about finding internships since all three will give you a ton of connections. I think you really need to focus on the specific programs, keeping in mind the fact that you seem to want to major in two different subjects, so you should make sure that whichever school you choose is strong in both economics and physics in case you change your mind.
Penn: This is a broad generalization, but unless you’re in the prestigious colleges like Wharton (ex: Jerome Fisher program) or their med program, it’s not as renowned as other programs throughout the Ivies.
Columbia: Fantastic school, much smaller and individualized program which is nice. They accepted only 6.1% of their applicants, which is a record low. But it’s not the “stereotypical college experience” with a big campus that Cornell or Penn has. You’ll be there for basically the academics only.
Cornell: Is leaving that “easiest Ivy to get into” perception far behind. They’ve become much more selective recently. Many classes at Cornell practice grade de-flation, which can be frustrating. However, graduating from Cornell opens you to a fantastic, vast alumni network. Cornell is making moves on the global stage with the Cornell Tech campus in NYC. They outbid schools like Stanford.
Stanford withdrew its bid at the last minute, presumably because it would rather drop out than lose.
Cowards.
Hi! Maybe I can help give some insight?
- Well I think you need to decide the value of being a city vs. Ithaca. For me, I love having a tight-knit community, so I immediately crossed off colleges in a big city. Again, my opinion, I don't think i could ever trade the opportunity of having 4 of the best years of my life with a strong community and students that are like me and my age. I knew I could just live in a big city after college for the rest of my life. These "best four years," had to be spent with fellow peers and students. People always told me that you can never get these 4 years back which ultimately made me choose a school with such a tight bond.
- Anyways. All three schools are prestigious. You'll beat yourself up later if you choose one because it simply has "5 extra points, on the prestige line." Honestly....in the real world outside of CC aren't as knowledgable with college rankings, unless it's Harvard or Yale...Columbia is just as prestigious as Penn as Cornell. People know all are in the Ivy League which simply speaks for itself. You tell someone you go to Penn, they'll be in awe. You tell someone you go to Columbia they'll be in awe. You tell someone you go to Cornell, they'll be in awe.
- Note, I like what the person said above, "if you don't like the Core, why suffer through it when you have two other fine choices?" If you're unhappy, you'll be asking yourself everyday why didn't you pick Penn or Cornell. "Was this pain worth having "Columbia" on my degree vs two other fine ivies that would give the same impression?
- I can't tell you much about the specific programs...but I hope I helped :)
Congrats on some amazing choices! You can’t go wrong. Just listen to the happiness factor. if you’re happy, you’ll be successful. And for most people: If you’re successful, you’ll be happy.
Since Cornell is such a big school though, I don’t think it is really “close-knit.” Also about Columbia, how much of the core is literature or history or culture? ( I hate them with a passion)
A lot of it is literature, history, and culture. You can read more about it here and see the classes: https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/core
Does Cornell have a core that requires a lot of courses like Columbia’s or is it more flexible ?
@admit201515 keep in mind that you aren’t just a part of “Cornell.” Cornell consists of many schools all of which are tight. I know from experience that SHA is very tight knit. I don’t know much about the others. All I was saying was that you will really get a “campus feel” at Cornell. Even if it’s big…everyone around Ithaca will mostly be students at Cornell. (or maybe Ithaca college). This is also what makes Ithaca special: it relies on the students and is so respectful and kind to Cornellians!
and Cornell doesn’t have a “core curriculum” like UChicago or Columbia. It has required courses within your designated school but I can’t imagine like Columbia or Chicago.
I always thought cornell had grade deflation.hm
If you got into Cornell’s AEM Dyson School, I would personally pick that. School is right next to Wharton is rank. It’ll be tough to transfer from UPenn CAS Economics to Wharton.
@CGZoo42 please Penn not renowned? better biz school than all of the ivies except harvard, better med school than all of the ivies exccept harvard, #4 law school in the ivy league, best ugrad biz program,best nursing, top 10 econ, English, history,bioengineering, sociology and others. penn outranks cornell( and most other ivies) in most departments. Penn’s undergraduate employment outcomes are only comparable with harvard’s. also lol at saying that Dyson is anywhere near wharton. wharton is amazing. but the cool thing about Penn is that you dont need to transfer to wharton to access better employment /recruiting opportunities. Penn econ majors do just as well as do engineers and other college majors(look at the latest statistics on Penn’s website). there is a reason the overwhelming majority of cross-admits choose penn over cornell and also a significant majority chooses it over columbia too…
in overall quality, renown penn is firmly in the middle of the ivies along with columbia, below hyp but above cornell, dartmouth, brown. everyone knows that.
I have a hard time believing that someone who would be happy in the heart of either NYC or Philly would also be happy in Ithaca. People who know they want to be in a big city are ecstatic about it, and those who know they want to be in a park-like campus and college town are ecstatic about it. If you don’t know what you prefer, start looking at how you spend your free time.
What activities will you want to be involved in outside of classes and school clubs, and will each of these places offer that? For example, my daughter enjoys climbing, and found that she was more likely to encounter a large climbing gym in a big city than in a college town. She was on a team in the past at the nation’s largest gym with 60-foot walls, so the typical campus climbing wall alone would be disappointing to her. Go through all your wish-list activities and experiences, and see which place offers the most.
Also, from your basic questions above about the curriculum at these universities, it seems to me that you haven’t even bothered to research them well, even just going through their websites. Do your homework. Really check out these universities. Have you looked at the clubs available? The housing? The student body demographics? The percent Greek?
I agree you can’t go wrong. These are all amazing opportunities! Pick the one that will fit you the most, and where you most dream of going, rather than what you think will impress others the most or where you think you will be graded the easiest. Think about your excitement level upon each acceptance. Aren’t you really more excited about one than the others, deep down?
@Penn95 You gotta chill out. You don’t have to tell me how great Penn is - it’s where I ED’ed. You completely glossed over the fact that I lauded the school for their business and med programs. What you didn’t understand is that I was trying to say that there isn’t a huge dropoff in the other schools outside of those two departments. If you’re CAS in Penn, it’s not going to vault you above someone in terms of career trajectory from someone in CAS in Cornell. You need to get your head out of your you know what. And I have friends in CAS at Penn who say the same thing as what I just said.
Thanks guys!!
If you hate literature and humanities, cross Columbia off your list immediately. There’s no flexibility; you have to take specific courses.
That leaves Cornell and Penn. Do you want to be in an urban area or a rural area? Also, look at the required courses. At Cornell, you have to fulfill distribution requirements. They are not as prescribed as the Columbia requirements, so you can probably find courses you like in each area.
http://as.cornell.edu/academics/degree-req.cfm
I don’t know much about Penn’s requirements, but you can research it.
Because they make incredible ice cream there.
If you’ve read my other posts you would know I’m a big supporter of Cornell, my son is a freshman there and I got an MBA at Johnson. If you were just majoring in Econ with focus on business I would actually encourage you to go to Penn all things equal, it’s more highly rated than Dyson and has better Wall St connections. The Physics angle makes it hard though, think Cornell compares favorably to any other Ivy or school for hard sciences, particularly Penn. you also have to consider environment, Cornell is definitely rural with small town Ithaca twist and Penn in heart of Philly. Hope this helps.