If you’re interested in journalism, Cornell is clearly superior because of the Cornell Daily Sun. It’s a daily, student-run paper (M-F), completely independent of the school. It is consistently named among the top five student newspapers in the country every year. William and Mary’s student paper is the Flat Hat, and it’s produced once/week. I give this advice to aspiring journalists all the time: You have to go to college that has a DAILY newspaper to get relevant experience.
The Sun is a pipeline to many major media outlets, notably The New York Times (The Michigan Daily is a major pipeline to the Wall Street Journal). That’s not to say you can’t become a journalist if you attend W&M, but the path would be easier from Cornell.