<p>I want to major in environmental engineering. I’m having a hard time choosing between these three. Cornell has a great engineering department, which I visited and was interested in. I visited Columbia and was not a huge fan of the vibe I got from the university. I have yet to visit Princeton, and I likely will not have time to visit before I have to make decision. What college would you choose if you were in my position?</p>
<p>I know many will say Princeton and Columbia over Cornell because they are higher ranked in USNews rankings of undergrad schools. But the fact of the matter is Cornell has great, top ranked, engineering programs. Their Environmental Engineering is very ell respected.</p>
<p>Go with the school you love or have a good feeling for.</p>
<p>I would go with Princeton. No question about it. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Environmental engineering is part of civil engineering at Princeton, but is a separately ABET accredited major at Cornell and Columbia. You may want to check the courses and curricula to determine which is a better match for your interests.</p>
<p>For engineering, Cornell. Their offerings in environmental engineering are broader since you can get a degree from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering OR
the the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering.
Did you look *closely *at the offerings of all three schools in your major? Did you look at their areas of research?
Since these schools are so close in terms of many criteria, I think you ought to focus on specific strengths in your major and overall fit. Do you want to be in the city, the suburbs or the country?
It’s not like there is a bad choice to make!</p>
<p>Since there are definitely students who decide against engineering after their first year, I would also look at the overall academic offerings of the school, as well as how integrated engineering students are into the entire university.</p>
<p>While Cornell is an excellent school, with top-notch engineering, I would say that Princeton offers an extraordinary undergraduate experience, with a strong focus on undergraduate teaching and unparalleled resources made available to students at the school.</p>
<p>While attrition out of engineering is fairly high overall (e.g. 40% leave after the frosh year overall across all schools), it is much lower at the more selective schools (e.g. 80% of frosh engineering majors at a major relatively selective state flagship graduate with engineering degrees, although some may change to different engineering majors), presumably because the students at such schools are less likely to think that the frosh courses for engineering are “too hard”.</p>
<p>The OP may want to consider how committed s/he is to engineering, in order to determine the relative weight s/he should put on fit of major offerings versus fit of other offerings and ease of changing major.</p>
<p>But also, is there a significant price difference?</p>
<p>Cornell has significantly stronger and broader offerings in the Environmental Sciences. If you are truly committed to EnviroEng, and Cornell is affordable for your family, this is a no-brainer. Read the offerings in the College of Ag and Life Sciences and you will understand why Columbia and Princeton don’t measure up for this field of study.</p>
<p>
Happymom, your posts are usually very well-informed, and you are more familiar with Cornell’s offerings than I, but I don’t think you’re giving full justice to Princeton and Columbia’s offerings. </p>
<p>Cornell has considerably more breadth in the life sciences than either, true. Princeton has a very reputable ecology program, however, and its geology program is also quite good. Columbia has a fairly small but strong program in environmental biology, which occasionally offers courses taught by scholars from places like the AMNH and New York Botanical Garden. Moreover, Columbia is at least as good as Cornell for the earth sciences, and Lamont-Doherty is an absolute juggernaut for environmental and climate research. All three are likely to give an undergrad plenty of opportunities. </p>
<p>That said, the OP seems to prefer Cornell to Columbia, so Columbia should be out. Between Cornell and Princeton, I too would personally pick Cornell (I agree that it has the stronger program, and I personally prefer it anyway), but I think it really comes down to personal factors – the two are very different.</p>
<p>Go with Cornell</p>
<p>Cornell for sure.</p>
<p>Besides the program, it is fun at Cornell with student organized activities like this on a big field… (need to listen to the voices)
<a href=“Snowpocalypse 2010: Battle for the Arts Quad on Vimeo”>http://vimeo.com/10818723</a></p>