<p>I am a transfer student from BC and I have been accepted into both Cornell (A&S) and Harvard. I am a poli-sci/econ double major and minor in enviro studies. I was looking for an opinion on why I should choose Cornell over Harvard. I am a really big outdoorsman and I know Cornell has an excellent program for that. I love the campus and Ithaca, and I feel like the social life would be better at Cornell. However, at Harvard, I feel like the academics would be more challenging and the long term benifits to a career in politics (networking, internships, etc) would be greater.</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate the academics at Cornell. You raise the problem of whether to go to the undergraduate school with the best fit for you (Cornell) or highest prestige (Harvard). If you plan to go to graduate school, then where you go for graduate school will be most important to your first employers.</p>
<p>wow—first of all, congratulations, i haven’t heard of more than 1 person (martini) to be accepted by AS as a transfer.</p>
<p>I think you should go where your heart tells you. Where do you think you would like to spend the next three (or so) years of your life? For undergraduate admissions I too had to choose between Cornell and Harvard. I chose Cornell, and love it. It was undoubtedly the correct decision.</p>
<p>Harvard has a lot going for it as an institution, but from the way you describe yourself, Cornell seems like a great fit for you (as it is for me).</p>
<p>If you are into the environmental thing in terms of your studies, Cornell is very good. If you care more about just getting straight into law school or having a shot at politics, than harvard would definitely be the easy way out.</p>
<p>If i were you I’d go to harvard. </p>
<p>If you dont mind me asking, what were your H.S./College stats?</p>
<p>ajkates…this is different, he got INTO harvard…a lot of ppl choose between harvard…that is if you are saying, that they apply to other places or enroll at other places b/c they didnt apply to harvard or didnt get in</p>
<p>Both cornell and harvard have strong polisci/government and econ departments. they’re both great schools. harvard has an academic edge, but not one that will make a significant impact on your life. you can go just as far from cornell, and cornell itself has quite a reputation, academically, as well.</p>
<p>I’m not saying pick cornell over harvard. I’m saying that in comparing the two academically, they aren’t drastically different in the quality of education you’ll get. In other words, I don’t think you should worry that you’ll get an inferior education at cornell.</p>
<p>The big difference is the environent. Harvard is in a city and has a city campus, cornell is in the finger lakes and has waterfalls and gorges flowing through it’s campus (yes, through). Students at harvard venture into the city often, students at cornell stay on campus because there is a ton to do on campus, and because there isn’t a big city to draw them away.</p>
<p>You need to decide if marginally higher prestige/reputation, and also the numerous attractions of a city like boston, outweigh your desire for a campus with more outdoorsy opportunities and a scenic campus.</p>
<p>If you fall into the first school of thought, pick harvard.
if you fall into the second, pick cornell.</p>
<p>Cornell will not be a choice you will regret academically; there are multitudes of very serious students at this peer, ivy league, institution, and multitudes more, many overlapping with that first bunch, who love to have a great time too. The people I know at harvard are similar.</p>
<p>This is the website for cornell’s organized outdoor education thing: <a href=“COE | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>COE | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University; Try looking for something comperable at harvard, in case they offer something similar.</p>
<p>this is a song by a cornell a cappella group about harvard…it’s just amusing, you might enjoy it: <a href=“http://www.cayugaswaiters.com/new/downloads/mp3/harvard.mp3[/url]”>http://www.cayugaswaiters.com/new/downloads/mp3/harvard.mp3</a></p>
<p>Two things: </p>
<p>In reply to those who asked about my college stats: </p>
<p>BC Honors Program
GPA: 4.0
Global Proficiency Program
BC Novice Crew Team
BC Eco-pledge
Learning To Serve
Photography Technician</p>
<p>Second: </p>
<p>I know it may be pretentious to base a desicion on this, but if I plan to apply for a Rhodes when I graduate, which school would give me a better shot? Or would it matter?</p>
<p>Go where you feel most comfortable. It’ll help your happiness, productivity, and grades in the long run. As for a Rhodes, I don’t think the school name has anything to do with it. I know of a Rhodes scholar who graduated from Cornell in recent years.</p>
<p>Transfer apps/admits/matriculants:</p>
<p>Cornell: 2,307, 766, 535</p>
<p>Harvard: 955, 55, 55</p>
<p>bball, if you are not going to cornell next year why do you hang around this bored.get the hell outta here…we all know you hate cornell and all you do is make our school look bad…get a life and go screw around on another board…</p>
<p>First, I applaud you for considering your options and not yielding to the “Harvard effect” as seen by Byerly’s previous post.</p>
<p>The difference in academic prestige is negligable compared to the importance of choosing a school that’s a fit for you. You seem more comfortable outside of a large city, which is one of the reasons I personally chose cornell. We also have an awesome outing club, one of my best friends went white water kayaking with them and had a blast (not that you should base your decision on the outing club, lol).</p>
<p>The huge range of majors at Cornell is an advantage, and you’d have both a strong poli sci and environmental studies department. As far as career opportunities and networking, there is a huge network, especially since Cornell is the biggest in the ivy league.</p>
<p>As far as becoming a Rhodes Scholar. I don’t think the school has anything to do with it. The thing I really liked about Cornell is the professors are really, really approachable, whether it be just talking about their research or if your looking to assist in research. </p>
<p>My perception of Harvard is probably unfair, it’s funny how little things influance how you think about a school. In high school, I was working on a three year research project. There were several teams working on similar projects, at universities and research centers in the US and the UK. Every single professor or researcher got back to me eventually…except the Harvard team. I didn’t even get a polite one liner (I emailed three of them). The Cornell professor got back to me within 24 hours with a lengthy email answering all my questions, along with the emails of a research team in at Walter Reed Army Institute of Resarch Silver Spring, MD who was working on a similar project. The researcher he helped me contact allowed me to tour the labs, access to hard to find scientific journals, and offered me a summer internship (I couldn’t accept then, but she said the offer is open to me in the future). I know this probably is not representative of the entire faculty, especially since I was emailing them as a high school student…but it did influance my perception on how approachable the faculty is.</p>
<p>Harvard is a fantastic school. But as you can probably tell by my post, I didn’t think it was a fit for me. When I was applying to college a lot of people put a lot of pressure on me to apply to there, but I didn’t. I was afraid that if I did, and got in, I would end up basing my decision off prestige and not where I would be happiest. I’m very happy with the way things worked out. </p>
<p>It’s really hard to pass Harvard up, but I know a couple people here who did. Harvard is a wonderful school. It might be a wonderful fit for you, then again, it might not be. Same thing goes for Cornell…some people absolutley love it, others, may not.</p>
<p>You seem like a very driven person. Go where you think you will thrive. You’ll be sucessful no matter where you go.</p>
<p>sports----ur the loser, u pull stuff our of ur A*<em>, stf</em>…</p>
<p>i haven’t bashed cornell once…u have an inferiority complex u nut…and u fabricate everything, and ur a lier…peace</p>
<p>sports: Lay off bball. He’s a transfer, but he’s by no means bitter, and at times his opinion can bring a different demension to the conversation. PS: I think you mean “board”.</p>
<h2>AJKates: I didn’t know you were one of the brave few that resisted the “Harvard Effect”. Awesome. I was going to say, thanks for not going to the dark side. But, on second thought, I prefer to think Cornell is the dark side, because we’re cool like that.</h2>
<p>Wow, looking back on my last post…I didn’t mean to write a book. </p>
<p>Consider this my epilogue.</p>
<p>The transfer statistics posted by Byerly suggest that it might be easier to make new friends as a transfer at Cornell because they take so many tranfers and have housing designed just for transfer students. This might be something to consider.</p>
<p>i am not transferring to Cornell…i was a cornell student, who is transfering out…</p>
<p>Yes good point…there is an actual transfer dorm (I think they are opening a new one soon too!). They have an entire transfer program set up to make everyone feel comfortable and get used to Cornell. In my opinion I’d say you should come here for now and then go to law school at Harvard. Since people usually don’t do undergrad and grad at the same place, I think that doing undergrad at a university with SO many opportunities for research and learning and then going to grad school at the top school for law would be PERFECT. By the way you are an AMAZING student and congrats on all of your success. You are truly exceptional!!!</p>
<p>My suggestion: visit both Harvard and Cornell, stay overnight, and see which one you like better. There’s one thing that I’ve observed, however. The academics at all the top schools should be pretty much the same; in fact, you could probably learn the same stuff at your local State U as at Cornell or Harvard (though maybe not as well). What sets these schools apart is the student body–you’ll be more motivated to do well with higher quality peers and learn more outside of the classroom–and the vast opportunities that lay, again, outside the classroom.</p>
<p>that is the truth</p>