<p>My Son had the same delema as you, USC vs. Cornell, but his major isn’t engineering, it’s Broadcast Journalism. </p>
<p>He visited the Cornell campus last weekend and also thought it was absolutely beautiful. </p>
<p>Like you, it would have cost us a lot more to go to Cornell than USC because my son received the Presidential Scholarship at USC but no merit aid from Cornell. Since cost was not a make or break for us, we tried to evaluate Cornell without considering the difference in cost.</p>
<p>If you listen to other people outside the recruiting process, the presumption seems to be that you just can’t pass up an Ivy League education. The public perception seems to be that a degree from an Ivy League college is the be all end all. So this was really the main reason we gave Cornell an extra hard look.</p>
<p>In my son’s case however, he ultimately chose USC over Cornell for a number of the reasons you listed as Pros above, including weather, the LA location, the Trojan Family and the flexibility in choosing a minor or even a double major. </p>
<p>I think it may have been a slightly easier decision for us because USC actually has a much better program for my son’s field of study, although we measured this directly against the perceived higher prestige of Cornell.</p>
<p>The thing is that USC is on the rise academically and with the generous merit aid they provide we’ve discovered that many others like us are choosing to pass up the Ivy League prestige because USC has so much to offer.</p>
<p>In the end, you will get an awesome education from either school, so it really should just boil down to which school is the best fit for you. Trust your gut feeling and don’t put too much emphasis on the fact that Cornell is in the Ivy League.</p>
<p>Fight On!</p>