Columbia vs. Cornell for Mathematics and/or Physics

monydad
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 13:00:03 +0000

The environments are very different. You would have a much more prototypical campus-based college experience at Cornell. Versus the urban experience of NYC. Living in Ithaca is much cheaper. But not $12,000 cheaper.
At Cornell my senior math and physics courses all had grad students in them. You’ll probably want to take the "honors "sections of the intro physics sequence. Also, at Cornell you have the resources of the departments of engineering and engineering physics, as well. This may be important, as your interests change. For example, I roomed with a grad students who switched form physics to Materials Science in the engineering college.
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Columbia’s department is smaller and some have cited this as an advantage.
My experience at Cornell was, the people who were good enough got the experience and opportunities that they needed and deserved, and went on to great future destinations.

Cornell is a large school with a diverse student body. In your dorm there will be people like you, and the gamut of other Arts & Science majors. But also fledgling architects, hotel administration majors, animal science majors, nutrition majors, engineers., etc. You may like the diversity, coming in contact with a wide variety of different types of people,.
Or you may prefer a more homogeneous environment consisting solely of arts & sciences majors.

As for: “However, I haven’t been able to find as much information regarding a typical sequence for a math/physics major at Cornell>”
You must mean specifically for a dual major? Because the major requirements seem to be pretty clear:
http://physics.cornell.edu/prospective-students
http://physics.cornell.edu/sites/physics/files/2015-Courses-at-a-Glance.pdf
I imagine the math sequences are also spelled out, you just have to patch them together.

also : “…neither is particularly well-known for its programs in these areas,”

?? what areas?? Surely you don’t mean physics…