“but most(especially Americans) would consider Cornell more prestigious.”
In the US yes I agree. In the rest of the world I am not so sure. I am pretty sure that it depends where you are. I have heard significantly more about McGill outside of North America.
I would be very hard pressed to hear someone say McGill is even close to the prestige of an Ivy. If given an offer to Cornell, most everyone would take that over McGill (all finances aside). Not saying it is a bad school by any means, quite the opposite, it’s just not in the elite bracket that Cornell resides.
I’m not contending that it’s more prestigious, but is it so much more prestigious that I should prioritise uni over the brief amount of courses I do over 1 semester? Also, drinking age is 21 in NY, which kinda makes me want to go to McGill a bit more as well. Or is underage drinking extremely commonplace in somewhere like Ithaca that I shouldn’t consider only being 20 a major factor?
Gee, Ithaca or Montreal for a 20 year old? Hmmm.
No question which one the 20 year olds I know would choose for a semester or two.
I care much more about the prestige than the fun I’m going to have. As long as I’d still be able to drink alcohol without worrying, I’ll be able to make my own fun, lol. Apparently Americans are pretty strict with underage drinking though… 
Of course, if you’re a soccer fan then you might want to go to Manchester. Hard to beat what they have going on.
@dadude27 Whose perception of prestige are you worried about? My guess is that one semester or year abroad at ANY school isn’t going to factor in to the extent that you imagine.
My own. The fact that I’m passing the opportunity to experience an Ivy education - something that I’ve fantasized about quite a bit when younger - just feels wrong.
You’re not going to be able to drink at an American school unless you’re at least 21. You could be expelled.
There’s nothing magical about an Ivy education.
To some elites Cornell University is known as the Community College of the Ivy League or alternatively the UC Merced of the ivy League. 
^^^ seriously? Cornell is a top 10 undergrad business program. @dadude27 I don’t think you can go wrong with any of your choices but since you are interested in undergrad business I would strongly consider the best program on your list.
@my2caligirls That is the joke among the super prestige hounds.
“Americans are pretty strict with underage drinking though”
When we go out to dinner with my 22 year old daughter she will nearly always order wine (which might be because I am paying). She is always carded. In one case the waitress was a good friend of hers who had recently attended my daughter’s 22nd birthday party and had been out drinking with her on many occasions. She was still carded.
I have been carded twice since my 60th birthday.
Yes, Americans are indeed quite strict. For a 20 year old in the US drinking will be restricted to your dorm or apartment, and someone who is 21 will need to bring in the alcohol (illegally, if they are providing it to anyone under 21). However, in the US dorms are also sometimes quite strict. When my daughter was 20 she was given a warning and a significant fine by the dorm because her boyfriend who was 21 had discarded an empty beer can in her trash.
In Montreal the drinking age is 18, and there are several large universities as well as some smaller ones (McGill is large, but is only the third largest university in Montreal). This makes possible an significant number of restaurants which will have good food, good beer, and live music, catering to university students (although I quite like them too and I am way too old for university).
“The fact that I’m passing the opportunity to experience an Ivy education - something that I’ve fantasized about quite a bit when younger - just feels wrong”
The Ivy League is a football league. There were three different games that were claimed to be the first football game ever played (the rules changed a bit from game to game). One of the games was between Harvard and McGill. If you google “Harvard McGill Football” you can read about it.
Between Cornell and McGill I would probably attend one of them rather than almost anywhere else, and would either attend the one where the classes were the closest to what I wanted to study, or the ones where the social life would be more fun.
@TomSrOfBoston I can live with that. I’m an alum of Cornell and have a kid who just applied to McGill so fan of them both. I think Cornell may look good on OP’s resume but McGill is not far behind and agree that a semester in Montreal would likely be more fun. These are nice exchange options to have.
@dadude27 I have 5 Ds. Two went to college in the U.S., one at an Ivy (not Cornell) and the other three went to U of T. I can assure you that the allure of supposed prestige is inconsequential. The education that my three U of T grads received was every bit as good as that of their sister who spent four years in my home state of NJ. Think about the academic aspect and where you’d enjoy spending a semester or year and base your decision on that, not on something you fantasized as a child. You may actually enjoy Ithaca. It’s a beautiful town but it’s in the middle of nowhere and the experience you’ll have there couldn’t be more different than it would be in Montreal. Good luck with your decision.