<p>“What do people at Cornell and Cornell’s employers think of statutory colleges in terms of prestige?”</p>
<p>If people seem touchy, it’s because they feel it is in reality effectively a non-issue there, yet people continue to raise it, which makes it seems like a bigger deal than it in fact is, so they have to answer yet again . My opinion, FWIW:</p>
<p>Regarding people at Cornell, I think the perspective I most agree with is more reflected in this prior post:</p>
<p>“95% of Cornell students don’t care what college you attend. But, no one can guarantee that all 13,000 Cornell undergrads don’t care. A few may care (as this thread can attest) and you may even run into one or two of them. Should that deter you from applying to CALS or HumEc? No.”</p>
<p>Except I think it is higher than 95%. But not quite 100%.</p>
<p>Most people are aware that there are some differences in admissions criteria and numbers among the colleges. But they also know that these differences are relatively minor, in the big scheme of things. Moreover, one quickly realizes, once there, that there are outstanding individuals in all the colleges, and that excellence, aptitude, and ability comes in many forms. It would be difficult to envision college affiliation affecting social situations in any way.</p>
<p>Each of Cornell’s specialty colleges is the best nationally, or nearly so, in their particular areas, everyone there knows this. And the contract colleges are the most selective price-subsidized options that exist for NY state residents. everyone there knows this too.</p>
<p>There is some minor ribbing between students of various colleges, but it is more related to stereotypes of how hard each group allegedly works, etc. It is all good-natured, and actually none of these that I can think of involve the contract colleges.</p>
<p>Regarding employers:</p>
<p>I would imagine employers in fields directly related to the majors studied in the contract colleges think they are the best at what they do. For example, from everything I’ve read, ILR does great for HR recruiting.</p>
<p>As for employers in areas outside those fields, I imagine there are some differences of opinion, and a lot of variation about how well informed they are about it.</p>