My only advice:
Make your decision without factoring perceived “prestige”. There are good reasons to choose a great university that gives you a full ride, but not if you will be unhappy there. There are good reasons to choose the university with the best department in your major, but not if you are unhappy and the other choices have perfectly good departments and you are an undergrad.
Visit as many of the schools as you can. Cornell is an excellent school and a full ride is amazing, but please don’t choose it because of perceived prestige - choose it because you want to be there and the full ride makes it hard to turn down.
Bingo. The differences in academic ranking is marginal at best. Both are world-class Unis. Neither will hinder your future career in any way.
woops poli sci in # 19 was wrong, should be:
Cornell 25-37; 12-27
JHU 66-82; 47-78
USC 26-40; 12-27
Re#18, I agree, from everything you’ve written here I would suggest that you go to USC. IMO.
@monydad
SAIS’s isn’t what Johns Hopkins is really famous for, its better known for all things medicine among masses. Most people wouldn’t even know what SAIS stands for. I’m not claiming SAIS is not awed and respected among powerful elites and global players but its a very specialised small program not on any commoner’s radar. On other hand, everyone knows about JHU’s medical research.
@Riversider:
SAIS was brought up in #11 as a factor OP should take into account, I was responding to that.
I agree that med is what JHU is by far most known for, however (far) below that JHU’s other known (perhaps not to so many) areas of excellence include SAIS and its creative writing program.
But I only mentioned SAIS here because it came up previously.
can I ask you what your stats are? I am surprised USC did not offer the same scholarship.
Since you still don’t know where Emory will come in $$-wise, I’ll limit my comments to the choices at hand – USC, Cornell, and JHU. I
You seem to know USC culture well enough to get the sense that you don’t love it there. I’m not sure that being sooo close to home such a good thing; it might do you well to explore another part of the country. While I’m sure that you would ultimately find your tribe at USC (there are plenty of students that are not into the rah-rah sports / party scene), I don’t see what USC brings to the table that your lower-cost and, FWIW, higher-ranked options can offer.
While JHU is well known and highly respected in the sciences, it is also very, very strong in both the humanities and in the social sciences; it offers unique and highly respected programs like SAIS as well as a number of interdisciplinary programs and great options for study abroad (e.g., SAIS-Bologna and Sciences Po). Travel to and from Baltimore is easy – there are plenty of inexpensive non-stops from LAX to BWI (including on Southwest which allows two checked bags and offers a lot of flexibility in terms of changing dates/times without penalty.) The weather is worse than So Cal but nowhere near as bad as it is in update New York. The fact that you have family there will make you feel less isolated.
Forget “lower-ivy” elitist nonsense – Cornell is a great school. It is also much bigger than Hopkins and is in a much more rural area in upstate New York; Ithaca a small airport with no direct flights from the west coast. It’s a beautiful area, but it’s cold and dreary and winters are loooong. Travel costs will be higher and the trips back and forth to the west coast significantly longer and much more of a hassle. I don’t see the advantage to Cornell over Hopkins, but you need to see what feels right to you.
Emory could turn out to be a nice option, but I certainly wouldn’t pay a premium for it.
Relative strengths in humanities and social sciences areas deemed relevant by OP can be assessed in part from #19 & 22 above.
As previously discussed SAIS, which is a graduate-only program located in Washington DC, will likely play no part in OPs experience as an undergrad at JHU in Baltimore, AFAIK .
Taking on debt for undergrad, with only a vague idea of what the plan is (except one expensive potential plan, law school) to go to a school that has not felt comfortable to the OP, in preference to at least 2 (possibly) 3 schools where no debt is required and are at least as sound academically is baffling logic to me- UNLESS the other 2/3 schools feel even less comfortable.
IMO, OP: go visit Cornell & JHU, & Emory if they come through with a no-debt offer. Until you have been there it’s all theoretical -and that’s not how real life works.
My vote is for Johns Hopkins, it’s a smaller school in a bigger city with strong academics and with another Bloomberg Billion $$$$, it’s only getting better.
USC is too big and not easy for everyone to to stay focused there. Cornell is big and both their winter and secluded location sucks. It’s not a great place to fly in and out.
All are good schools but with a free ride to JHU, it makes most sense for OP. Unless he doesn’t want to stray too far from home, which certainly has some advantages.
@CupCakeMuffins Thanks for the reply! 
@monydad - Re: SAIS: I did look it up. There is a combined BA/MA SAIS program in International studies which entails 3 years on the Baltimore (Homewood) campus and two years at SAIS in D.C. Given that it’s a program that students apply to as in their sophomore year, SAIS can very much be a part of the undergraduate experience.
There is also SAIS - Bologna, which is a junior year / semester abroad program. For East Asian Studies, there is a similar SAIS study abroad program in China
From the website re: SAIS-Bologna:
"Motivated international studies and political science majors…may apply to spend their junior year or a semester at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Bologna Center in Italy.
…students apply in the second semester of their sophomore year for the year abroad program."
Credits earned in the SAIS - Bologna program can get advanced credit if they end up doing the MA program.
If you have such significant need that both CU and JHU have offeredfull rides (tuition, fees, housing, meals) then my guess is that your family can’t truly afford USC. Remember, you an only borrow the standard federal loans on your own. Any debt beyond that would need a cosigner.
CU has several divisions that are state affiliated, and attract a fair number of in-state students whose families are in financial situations similar to yours. So don’t worry about being the only one in your dorm who is counting their pennies to make sure they can pay for their share of a pizza. You are smart to be concerned about the weather. Winters are long, dark, and snowy. They also will be cold by your standards. Summers are gorgeous, but most undergrads aren’t around then. I like the wide variety of programs (and consequently students) at CU. Yes you could switch into CALS or ILR or HUMEC if you suddenly decided to. But again, the winter and travel costs need to be taken into consideration.
JHU is easier to get to as others have pointed out. Historically, it has had an excellent reputation in the humanities, and has had a good track record for getting students into graduate or professional school. You nedn’t worry about that. The winter is definitely milder than at CU, but still might be cold by your standards. I’m not familiar with the JHU campus, but Happykid graduated from Towson U in the Baltimore suburbs, and really enjoyed the time she spent in the city.
Fingers crossed that when you visit you will know which can be a good home for you for the next four years!
Full ride to Cornell and JHU are like winning the educational lottery. If you’re a nerd and hard working as your username states. I can’t think of two better schools for your personality, major and cost in the world.
Stop worrying about what other uninformed and immature people/peers say about anything. If you think of any of these people in a few years it would be remarkable, if you actually care what they say at that time it would be unimaginable.
OP @nervousnerd look into the program @LoveTheBard mentioned in post #31. It looks like an amazing custom tailored opportunity for you.
Cornell and JHU are exceptional universities. Attending those universities at a highly discounted price is an opportunity that nobody should pass up. Where it matters most, they are as prestigious as they come. No educated adult, especially one in a position to admit you into a graduate program or hire you into a company, would associate Cornell or JHU with the word “joke”. In fact, those two universities are pressure cookers, known for their uncompromising academic standards. I would explore there respective offerings and campus cultures and pick the one that fits you best.
IMO most of the “pressure cooker” reputation (at both schools, probably) comes from the sciences & engineering. Humanities are no joke either, far from it, but the Humanities students don’t do the same level of moaning and groaning. Maybe they just have better manners…
FWIW my D2 was a humanities major at Cornell, and worked very hard there. However, while she was doing that, she also had part-time jobs, extra-curricular involvements and an active social life. She did well academically too. Actually her extracurricular involvements, and some classes taken at the university’s more specialized, applied colleges, helped pave the way for her subsequent work life,
@nervousnerd JHU alumna here. I got my PhD in History, and I can assure you that the department was and continues to be excellent and highly ranked. Also strong are Political Science, English, Philosophy, and Creative Writing. Internationally renowned scholars circulate through on a regular basis. There are also weekly seminars where leading researchers circulated works in progress in advance for discussion and debate.
While the average person on the street will think “Hopkins - medicine,” law schools and grad schools know the worth of a JHU humanities/social sciences diploma.
As you are interested in community service, I also can assure you that ample opportunities await you in Baltimore.
As mentioned previously, getting in and out of Baltimore will be easier from the west coast than Ithaca, which will involve more regional airports and weather-related delays and cancelations at some point over the course of four years. Is that enough to discount Cornell? Of course not. But it’s a point worth considering, given that you have some concerns about being far from home.
Basically, you have four strong options before you. I do not know USC’s history program well but both Cornell and Emory also have large, diverse History programs with distinguished faculty and frequent guest lecturers. My recommendation to you is to do a deeper dive on the faculty pages and also the course catalogs to see what leaps out at you intellectually.
Congrats on your many acceptances.
“I’m thinking of majoring in History as I am considering going to law school after undergrad, with a potential double major/minor in Government/Political Science, or some other subject like Literature or Philosophy. Alternatively I’m also thinking of studying Economics along with Statistics/Data Science if I decide I’d rather not go to law school.”
Based on potential majors, especially the data science part (maybe as minor or second major), I’d strongly lean to Cornell, then USC. Good luck!
Thank you for the advice everyone! At this point the debate seems to be between Cornell and JHU; hopefully visiting the campuses will make the decision easier for me.