<p>Frankly, I don’t know much about the California school you are considering. Perhaps it has a vaunted reputation in California. But if you plan on having a degree from an internationally recognized, elite Ivy League university, you might want to consider the consequences of having a worldwide network of alumni contacts.
Second, Cornell has 7 colleges and over 4,000 course offerings. Consider the possibility that you may want to change majors or combine majors as you develop intellectually.
Third, although Cornell has 14,000 undergraduates, each college is quite small. For example, the College of Arts and Sciences is the second smallest in the Ivy League. </p>