<p>Cal Tech is the hardest school by far. And not just the math, science and engineering courses. Their English and Social Science courses are extremely rigorous, and account for 20% of the course load.</p>
<p>[It’s</a> Not Rocket Science - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/13/local/me-caltech13]It’s”>It's Not Rocket Science)</p>
<p>All engineering colleges are tough. There is a spectrum of top schools (MIT, Mudd, CalTech, Hopkins, Olin, RPI, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell etc) that are even tougher… but there’s not much reason to split hairs. Students should pick the college that seems the best fit for their style and their intended major.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4- where does it say that any of those schools are public? (sorry, I just read it again, it was from stardom) Those They are land grant schools, just like MIT. There is actually no preference given to NY state residents, like in quota. There are certain “contributions” Cornell needs to make to NY State, hence those specific schools, but NY state government does not hire or fire professors or how the school is run (I could be wrong). There are over 200 schools which are land grant schools, most of them are public schools, but there are some private schools, like Purdue and MIT.</p>
<p>NY state government does not hire or fire professors or how the school is run
Cornell has lobbyists to advocate for the school at the state( & federal) govt level just as public schools in other states do.</p>
<p>Each of Cornells separate colleges has separate admission requirements etc.
Cornell has 4 statutory colleges.</p>
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<p>[Cornell</a> Daily Sun, Issue 120, 4 April 1979, Page 1 | The Cornell Daily Sun Digitization Project](<a href=“http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/newscornell?a=d&srpos=2&cl=search&d=CDS19790404.2.1.2&e=--------20--1----accessory+instruction+fee-all]Cornell”>http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/newscornell?a=d&srpos=2&cl=search&d=CDS19790404.2.1.2&e=--------20--1----accessory+instruction+fee-all)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/appeals_opinions/opinions/2005/formal/2005_f2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/appeals_opinions/opinions/2005/formal/2005_f2.pdf</a>
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<p>My H and I both work for a SUNY (State University of New York) and my D graduated from Cornell recently. She was an ILR major with a computer science minor (actually IT).</p>
<p>So I think I can probably talk about Cornell public/private subject better than most people on here.</p>
<p>Cornell is a private college. It is not a SUNY. SUNY profs ( me, my H is a dean)are in a union. Our union offers a scholarship for our children attending a SUNY. My D attending Cornell did not qualify because she was not attending a SUNY. </p>
<p>Because my D attended one of the land grant schools and we are NY residents, her tuition was lower than if she majored in one of the non- land grant schools. But it was still 3X or 4X more than a SUNY tuition.</p>
<p>The majority of my D’s friends from ILR were/are not NY residents. These students paid full price tuition and attended the school because they were interested in the major. It had nothing to do with reduced tuition or preferential admission.</p>
<p>My D’s diploma looks exactly like every other Cornell graduates diploma, land grant or not. There is no distinction.</p>
<p>People who keep claiming that Cornell is part public or part SUNY should get the facts. Cornell is not in any way a SUNY. It does, however , receive funds from NY state and must provide some services to the state as a result. Much of it is agricultural or farm related. This history and relationship goes back many years and is based on the rich strong agricultural base of up-state NY.</p>
<p>Back to th OP. My D said Cornell is very challenging. She worked hard. She did well (3.99) and is now employed in a challenging job. She has to be at work by 6:30 am and, as the most recently hired, has to work most holidays. She didn’t come home for Thanksgiving because she had to work the full day the day before and had to be in by 6:30 the day after. Add in a 5 hour bus trip there and back, she would have been home for only 15 hours.</p>
<p>Is Cornell the hardest? Who the heck knows? Is it hard? Yes. I think most top schools are and darn well should be. </p>
<p>Is engineering the hardest? Well, that depends on the student. My S was a physics major, math minor at a top LAC. He would not do well in English classes. My D’s bf is getting a PhD in engineering from Cornell. He just likes engineering. Don’t really how he would do in an art history class. I suśpect, not so well.</p>
<p>So Cornell hard-yes. Hardest- who the heck knows. Public-no!</p>
<p>Hard to get into or hard academically?</p>
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<p>Given the focus on Cornell here, I think the question is which is hardest academically.</p>
<p>Cornell is not a contestant in the “hardest to get into” sweepstakes.</p>
<p>I am not sure Cornell wins the “hardest academically” either, though its cerrtainly challenging</p>
<p>I graduated from Cornell and so did my daughter, and both of us don’t think it wins for “hardest academically.”</p>
<p>However, when our bosses or colleagues say things that imply that Cornell is exceptionally hard academically, we don’t make a particular effort to correct that impression. ;)</p>
<p>My friend’s son flunked a history class in his senior year of high school after already being admitted to Caltech. Naturally, his parents were frantic. When they reported it, Caltech told them they didn’t care a wit that he failed that class, in fact, they told them they cared nothing about any of his grades other than in math or science. </p>
<p>I second Julliard. They accept 160ish kids a year. </p>
<p>The Ag school at Cornell is brutal from what I hear as it’s where anyone wanting to go to med school is so the competition is fierce. Communications is also in the Ag school so anyone wanting to major in that has incredibly difficult core requirements.</p>
<p>Isn’t that sad that a Caltech has such a skewed view of what makes a rounded student as if learning about the mistakes made in history couldn’t help an engineer problem solve.</p>
<p>I can’t comment about emilybee’s story, but CalTech requires all students to take 12 humanities/social science classes to graduate; I think they very well understand the importance of history to engineers.</p>
<p>Warbrain, I’m sure what you say is true, however, they didn’t care at all that he had flunked history in the senior yr. of high school. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do the work, either, he just stopped going to that class.</p>
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<p>Sounds odd. The UCs (certainly less selective than Caltech) appear prone to rescinding admission offers to students who get any grade below a C in senior year of high school. I would not be surprised if similar policies were common elsewhere.</p>
<p>Or perhaps it may be that Caltech was underenrolled that year, and did not want to “lose” a student, and that the answer may have been different if they had an unexpectedly high yield that year.</p>
<p>ucba…, doubtful. He’s a math genius and Cal simply didn’t care what his grades were in anything else. They were very open about it with his parents even telling them they didn’t care if he didn’t graduate!</p>
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<p>The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is indeed the home to many of Cornell’s premedical and preveterinary students, although there are premedical students in several of the other colleges as well. </p>
<p>The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is also home to several majors that are not science-oriented, including the business major and communications. The students in these majors * do not * have to take the same intensive science and math courses that the premeds and prevets have to take. They can (and unless they’re out of their minds, do) take other courses that do not fulfill the premedical or preveterinary requirements but do fulfill the college’s graduation requirements in science and math. These other courses (1) are less intense, and (2) are not dominated by premed and prevet students who tend to have a devastating effect on the grading curve.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in majoring in communication (or business), don’t rule out Cornell. The idea that you have to take the same courses the premeds take is a myth.</p>
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Purdue is public.</p>
<p>Marian, was that always the case? My friend, who was a Comm. major in the 70’s complained all the time about her core requirements being the same as the pre-med students.</p>
<p>The topic was hardest, not hardest to get into. Cornell has public components despite being private (look at their website)- this may make it unique in the country. A good school but not, like every other school, the best in everything. Engineering may be difficult but it is not the “hardest” unless it is in the eyes of those who attend it. I’m sure there are students with more difficult curriculums at some other Engineering schools in this country, or even at schools less highly ranked overall.</p>
<p>Not to bash Cornell, but to put it in its place as a top school, not THE top. Likewise Harvard is very good in many things but some majors are best done elsewhere- such as computer science. No one school is hardest, best, et al. A school may be the best in a field or for a student, or both.</p>