<p>Cornell is huge. You’re bound to find people you can identify with, there. You’re also bound to find freezing cold winters and pretty tough classes. CMU seems more practically oriented to me (e.g., mech. e’s design and cast their own wrenches etc., rather than doing just problems on paper). CMU is also in a city, whereas Cornell is… not. Granted, Cornell has a “university town” surrounding it, so it’s not in the middle of nowhere… but CMU is more likely to have activities that are not so specifically tied into the university. I’d go with Cornell. Keep in mind also that Cornell is very much older (founded in the 17th century?), and that might have some effect on the kind of education you get.</p>