Cooper Union vs Columbia Engineering vs Cornell Engineering

alphacat
Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:36:37 +0000

Cooper Union grad here. While I can’t necessarily speak about the other 2 colleges because I haven’t been there, I can tell you that having Cooper on your resume gets the whole “oh wow you went to Cooper, you must be really smart…” response from employers (however untrue it may be, especially in my case!). People are generally familiar with Cooper, especially in the NY and the surrounding area, but I don’t think it has the immediate name recognition that Cornell/Columbia/Haavaad have. It’s not necessarily a huge issue though–the most important thing is what you do at your chosen college. I don’t think the guy who graduated at the bottom of his class at Cornell is going to have an easier time finding a job than the guy who did lots of internships and projects at a small university.

Also, keep in mind that you can do undergrad at Cooper and go for a masters/PhD at an ivy league. You’ll have a much harder time doing it the other way around (I think Cooper only takes a handful of non-cooper students for its masters program, and it has no PhD program at all).

In summary, Cooper wouldn’t have the name recognition of an ivy league school, nor does it have the shear number of labs, facilities and connections that Cornell and Columbia have. But it’s a great, small school with a tight network and Cooper alum tend to want to help each other out.

Please ask if you have any questions for me. I don’t usually check these forums, but if you PM I get an email telling me to reply.