I was accepted into Vanderbilt University for Environmental Engineering, including the crescere aude scholarship. The cost is currently 15.5k, excluding indirect cost. I was also accepted into Cornell University for Environmental Engineering in the CALS school, including the Cornell Tradition & work study. The cost is roughly 17.5k, excluding indirect. Price is essentially a non factor in the decision.
My career goal is to become a water resources consultant/engineer and eventually own my own consultancy firm. I’d like to live either in Raleigh or maybe somewhere close to the Appalachians.
I’ve been juggling between these schools and just can’t seem to arrive at an answer. Cornell’s environmental engineering program seems much more equipped to prepare me for my future career in comparison to Vanderbilt’s program. AguaClara, coffee chats, and the plethora of relevant courses are something that is simply not offered at Vanderbilt. Both schools offer the chance to explore how I’d end up operating my own firm through Cornell’s business for engineering minor and Vandy’s NYC engineering management minor opportunity. I prefer Nashville to Ithaca, but it isn’t like I disliked Ithaca and the surrounding area on my visit. I think I prefer Vandy’s social opportunities more than Cornell’s, given Vandy’s sports are a big deal and Nashville has a lot of stuff to do. I’m slightly worried about Cornell’s extreme rigor, but I’m not scared to rise up to it. Engineering will be difficult at either school. I like the idea of Vanderbilt providing opportunities for balance as a work hard play hard school, and I applied ED, was deferred, and accepted RD there as I had always wanted to go. I wasn’t expecting to get in to Cornell, nor Vandy to be honest. I also can tolerate Cornell’s dreary winters, but I hope it won’t be a toll on mental health.
If there is anything that I should be including in my consideration of each college, please let me know.
Presumably, you matriculated to Vanderbilt as you agreed to when you applied and were admitted ED.
You were also supposed to have withdrawn other applications when you matriculated to Vanderbilt under ED, although it is possible that some schools did not recognize the withdrawal and gave you a decision anyway. Even if Cornell were such a school, you are still committed to Vanderbilt under ED, so what else is there to consider?
To me, this matters most. I assume you did not get into Vandy ED - or we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
There’s unlikely a wrong answer. Cornell is leaps and bounds above Vandy in engineering. I live in Nashville. UTK is considered stronger. That said, you want to do your own thing. So…you can choose whomever and be fine.
Cornell is ABET accredited in environmental. Vandy just started its program two years ago.
But if you rather be in Nashville - that matters too. And if Vandy was your top choice and you got in …
Cornell shows 53% did more schooling 47% working. They don’t show average salary but here’s who hired grads. Below that is Vandy Civil. They don’t have Environmental in the search bar. Honestly - on paper at least - Cornell and it’s not close. But you have to be somewhere four years, day after day so - in the end it’s up to you.
If you liked Vandy enough to apply early, then you should trust your gut and go there. IMHO, Vandy and the city are both on the way up, while Cornell and Ithaca have remained pretty much the same over the past decade. Vandy comes with a diverse, vibrant and fun-loving student body, strong heritage and resources, and a certified arboretum campus. It also has a highly ranked hospital on campus, should you ever need one.
To boil it down, it sounds to me like the basic issue is Cornell is considered “better” for engineering, but you suspect you may be happier at Vanderbilt.
I think if you were really excited about going to a big powerhouse engineering program like Cornell’s, this wouldn’t be so much of a conundrum. Cornell’s undergraduate engineering program overall is like 2.5 times the size of Vandy’s. It is one of the best-resourced undergrad engineering programs in the US, or anywhere for that matter. Kids who are really passionate about engineering, who are looking forward to spending a lot of time studying engineering, being in engineering clubs, and so on, might think they would just be happier at Cornell anyway. Problem solved.
But, you seem more focused on just a specific outcome, as opposed to being generally really passionate about engineering. I do think that might change, lots of people change their minds about career paths in college. But that includes possibly changing out of engineering entirely.
So for now, I would suggest to you the question is not so much whether Cornell is better for your current academic goals, but whether Vanderbilt is good enough. If Vanderbilt is good enough, then I think you can, and indeed likely should, choose it if you are also more excited about the overall four-year experience there.
IMO, it sounds like your heart is with Vandy. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second if that is true.
FWIW, Cornell’s graduation requirements are very lengthy. Since you are in CALS, you need to meet all their 4 year graduation requirements which include lots of out of college/major requirements: Degree Requirements | Environmental Engineering Major
That appeals to some students, and is a turn off to others. I always recommend that students do a side by side comparison of their degree program and all the graduation requirements of their final contenders. IME, that can be helpful as most students have a preference for one model over the other.
