Transferring (in electrical engineering): Cornell vs. Upenn vs. Swarthmore

welphereigo
Fri, 13 May 2016 06:10:04 +0000

I’ve been admitted to penn and swarthmore as a transfer (I haven’t been admitted to cornell, but I’m working on the assumption that I will be admitted in this post). My reply deadline is rapidly approaching and I’m struggling to make up my mind. I’m going to study electrical engineering, and I plan to enter industry, ideally in hardware, when I graduate. I am looking for a school with a lot of project experience, both in and out of classes, an entrepreneurial atmosphere, a collaborative spirit, and an active social scene. Ideally, I’d like to minimize the humanities courses I have to take (although I wouldn’t mind taking languages), but I can struggle through them if it means getting other things. I have visited penn and cornell and I will be visiting swarthmore soon. I have identified the following pros and cons (please correct me if I’m mistaken):

Cornell: pros - highly ranked ECE program, solid social scene, tons of clubs and activities, lots of project teams
cons - very cold, ECE building isn’t that nice, very large classes. also, I don’t know WHY the ECE program is highly ranked. I never really got a sense of why it’s so great

Penn: pros - lots of entrepreneurialism, great social scene, good amount of project teams, probably the smallest humanities requirement of the three, solid ESE program, best OVERALL reputation of the three
cons - very competitive atmosphere, seems business focused (instead of engineering focused), not the prettiest campus

Swarthmore: pros - gorgeous campus, every engineering class has a lab, friendly atmosphere, very small classes
cons - questionable social scene, not many electrical related project teams, engineering reputation is lacking, significant liberal arts requirements

Any help would be greatly appreciated; I have to decide soon!