<p>In @ Penn SEAS, RPI, Cornell and JHU. All cost about same. Which program is best? How or why? Thankx</p>
<p>Cornell’s computer science program has the best academic reputation, without a doubt. Moreover, it is a larger, more established program with lots of undergraduate interest, meaning that you will have more resources and support at your disposal. If you are serious about the discipline, you would have to provide me with a lot of good reasons as to why you would pass over Cornell.</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Computer Science](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area29.html]NRC”>NRC Rankings in Computer Science)</p>
<p>Because this decision is very similar to the one I had to make a couple years ago, I feel obligated to make a comment about your situation. I had to decide between CMU, Upenn, and Cornell for computer science. First of all, congratulations – you have great choices!</p>
<p>Let me start by saying Penn’s engineering, with the exception of the biomedical engineering department, is horrendous. Their non-biomedical engineering lab facilities are pathetic, and David Rittenhouse Laboratory, one of their main buildings for engineering students, reminded me of my high school’s facilities (you’ll see it when you visit). Most top technical/engineering firms do not even come to Penn to recruit. If you’re interested in business, maybe you can justify going to Penn for engineering but even then, I think Cornell is a better choice, as many business firms routinely employ Cornell Engineers. About half of the on-campus interviews done at Cornell are for Cornell engineers (source: Cornell Career Services Website) – they are very heavily recruited. At Penn, you could probably say the same for Wharton, but since you will not be attending Wharton, that will not matter. In fact, I would say it’s a disadvantage to not be in Wharton there.</p>
<p>Half of all Cornell Engineers do research as undergrads, and many participate on project teams that allow them to gain hands-on experience. Previous projects on these teams have included building real, functioning satellites (CUSAT), building a 100 MPG fuel efficient car (AXP), and building a land-mine detector (CU Minesweeper). I can say with a good amount of confidence that you can’t find experiences like this elsewhere. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about JHU, and the three previously mentioned schools are all in a different tier than RPI. I wouldn’t really consider RPI unless you got a significant scholarship from them.</p>
<p>In short, come to Cornell!</p>
<p>What about the CS program at Columbia? Right now I’m trying to decide between Cornell Engineering and Columbia SEAS. Will Columbia offer better opportunities because its in the city and do they interview on-site as much as Cornell? What about Columbia’s research?</p>
<p>i’m kind of having the same dilemma between cornell and carnegie mellon for computer engineering. CMU is ranked higher, but I basically like everything else about cornell better…</p>
<p>CMU is ranked higher by a few spots. At that level, they are basically interchangeable…there isn’t really an appreciable difference. Perhaps CMU is slightly “better,” but if you like everything else about Cornell better, I think the choice is a no-brainer. Go to Cornell. A minute difference in ranking shouldn’t take precedence over fit.</p>
<p>Columbia being in the city really offers no difference in terms of internship opportunities or recruiting opportunities.</p>
<p>All the city provides to Columbia is the “city social life”. Most of which students are underage and cannot experience. Most of which is costly and far. </p>
<p>Besides, Columbia is just now starting to pay more attention to SEAS. They are growing the program to try to compete, but it is still experiencing growing pains, and they still haven’t gotten to a competitive level in Engineering in anything other than possibly ORIE or Financial Engineering.</p>
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<p>CMU is not better than Cornell for CS, they’re about interchangeable. Cornell CS students have incredible job prospects. Check out this report on CS Majors from Cornell:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.engr.cornell.edu/student-services/engineering-coop-career-services/statistics/upload/PGS-Inserts-CS-2007-2.pdf[/url]”>http://www.engr.cornell.edu/student-services/engineering-coop-career-services/statistics/upload/PGS-Inserts-CS-2007-2.pdf</a></p>
<p>In 2007, the median starting salary of CS undergrads from Cornell was $75,000 (this is among the highest paid students at Cornell). 14 CS students were employed by Microsoft, and 10 were employed by Google. There’s plenty of other top companies that employed CS majors that year as well. I’m sure as hell that CMU cannot beat job placement like that. If you think Cornell is the better fit for you, then come to Cornell. </p>
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<p>I don’t know much about Columbia’s CS program, or research since I wasn’t really considering the school… I don’t think many engineering or software firms recruit at Columbia either – the impression I got from my friend who goes there is that many Columbia engineers go to Wall Street. I assure you though, that it’s just as possible to go to Wall Street from Cornell’s Engineering program. If you’re serious about CS though, Cornell is the better choice. Take a look at the career report above from Cornell Engineering’s website.</p>
<p>^Could you do a comparison between Berkeley and Cornell for the same major? You seem quite informed.</p>
<p>I don’t really know much about Berkeley’s CS program either, but It’s a very good program on par with Cornell’s I would say. Berkeley might have a slight edge in location due to its proximity to Silicon Valley but big-time tech companies from Silicon Valley come to recruit to Cornell as you can see from the report I posted above in my previous post. If you are in-state for UCB, you might be getting a huge tuition discount at Berkeley which may be something else to consider. My advice to you is to create a thread about “Cornell CS VS. Berkeley CS” on both the Cornell, Berkeley and “Engineering” forums. Chances are that there must be someone on these forums who had to make the same decision that you had to make. I can only pretty much tell you about Cornell’s program, since I don’t know too much about Berkeley.</p>
<p>well i was talking about computer engineering, and by CS i’m guessing you mean computer science…</p>
<p>but i’m assuming its basically the same deal for computer engineering too?</p>
<p>Oops, sorry about that. They’re both about equally good schools for computer engineering as well too. Both CMU and Cornell has a program known as “Electrical and Computer Engineering.” It’s a very demanding program at Cornell (and I’m sure it’s really demanding at CMU as well) and the prospects are very good for ECE at Cornell:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.engr.cornell.edu/student-services/engineering-coop-career-services/statistics/upload/PGS-Inserts-ECE-2007.pdf[/url]”>http://www.engr.cornell.edu/student-services/engineering-coop-career-services/statistics/upload/PGS-Inserts-ECE-2007.pdf</a></p>
<p>ECE is one of the most respected majors at Cornell, known for its difficulty. Coming from Cornell ECE, you can probably get any job you want if you have decent grades. One thing to notice from the report above is that not only do many top-notch technical companies come to Cornell to bag ECE’s, but many reputed business companies such as Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bloomberg, and Mckinsey also come for ECE’s. Your opportunities coming out of Cornell as a Cornell ECE are extremely broad. I’m not sure the same is true for CMU. If you really feel as though you like everything about Cornell better, than it is the right choice for you. You won’t be at a disadvantage if you choose Cornell ECE over CMU ECE. In fact, I would argue that you would be at an advantage since Cornell ECEs have such broad career opportunities.</p>
<p>haha thanks for the info</p>
<p>my cmu interviewer kind of told me the same stuff about their hiring opportunities too. so i’m guessing the two are pretty much equal</p>
<p>i guess then it all depends on fit and money now…wheres that financial aid package cornell…</p>
<p>As a CS major at Cornell, I have to disagree with some of the comments about CMU. CMU’s CS department is HUGE and is generally considered as good as MIT’s (maybe just below) at the grad level. While these differences won’t make a difference in what you’ll learn as an undergrad (besides the programming languages they teach you-- Cornell is mainly java and teaches ocaml, CMU emphasizes C languages more and I think uses scheme) you can really notice the difference in the direction of the programs. Most of the research coming out of CMU is practical, real world stuff (AI, robotics), things what will become something useful in the near future. While Cornell does have these programs, they are not nearly as strong; it seems to me that Cornell focuses much more on theoretical CS (in fact, our two Turing awards are from fields in CS theory). You’ll see some of this reflected in professors’ teaching styles and research opportunities (which, while plentiful, are still not as vast as those at a larger CS school like CMU). </p>
<p>Nevertheless, job prospects are probably about equal–for example, last year I interned at a large Silicon Valley tech company and there were at least 15-20 other Cornellians there with me; I’ll be working at another large Silicon Valley tech company and I know of quite a few classmates working there as well.</p>
<p>If you know specifically what fields in CS you want to go into then there ARE actually differences in the top 5 schools; however, if you are just looking for a solid CS education then you’ll get pretty much the same thing at any of these schools.</p>
<p>Its been stated above, but Cornell has a fantastic Electrical and Computer Engineering program (and a great CS program, but you know I’m pretty biased as you can tell from my username). </p>
<p>Cornell is definitely the better choice compared to schools with engineering primarily centered around biomedical engineering (upenn, johns hopkins, …). Cornell is definitely the strongest Ivy as far as engineering is concerned. </p>
<p>The thing about you soon-to-be-college freshmen is that you’ve been FOCUSED, FOCUSED, FOCUSED on rankings. The difference between 4th in the country and 7th is trivial. Congratulations, you’ve been accepted to fabulous schools and a degree from any of these universities will get you places in life. </p>
<p>This is the point where you need to do some soul-searching and figure out where you will be happy, what school has what you’re looking for: research, clubs, dorms, food, etc. etc. </p>
<p>If you’re not happy with where you are, you will not do well, and if you dont’ do well then it doesn’t matter that you chose 4th over 7th. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m rambling, I just get tired of looking at rankings, because I’ve been at Cornell three years and I know I made the right choice because I’m happy, I love my major, and I love what i’m doing. </p>
<p>That being said…come to Cornell Days, visit your other schools and figure it out that way…Put down the US News rankings…please</p>
<p>thanks to all for such great input. I get that Cornell engineering has the edge technically. But I think Penn offers something the others don’t have - the best business school in the country. Can’t help thinking this would be useful, to me anyway, as I’m not sure how “invested” I want to be in engineering longterm. Interested in usiness management, too.</p>
<p>“Interested in usiness management, too.”
Sorry, been a long week - make that “business” management.</p>
<p>@ towerpumpkin - You seem to be rather informed about the subtle differences in approach to CS at CMU and Cornell, but do you by any chance know anything about Berkeley’s approach as well? I’m currently stuck between CMU’s SCS, Cornell’s computer science in COE, and Berkeley’s EECS major.</p>
<p>I don’t see how being at a school that also has a good business program will help you in any way.</p>
<p>If MIT had a fashion department, I don’t think going to MIT for fashion would be a good idea even though “they have great engineering departments”</p>
<p>Business management is NOT something you need to go to undergrad to specialize in. Management is predominantly leadership oriented, it is something you are born with, not something you learn. People have good time management, have good management skills, have good prioritization. No amount of “How to write a proper memo” will change that. You can learn everything else you need to know on the job.</p>
<p>I would like to add, engineering students are allowed to pursue a minor in business. So, if you’re interested in business at Cornell as an Eng. Student, you can take a bunch of business courses at the fourth best program in the country. Plus, you won’t be overshadowed by Wharton like you will be at Penn – I mean, Penn doesn’t even let non-wharton students reserve rooms in Huntsman Hall, one of their nicest buildings. I listened to them say this to me during the admitted students weekend and it almost made me feel like a second class citizen if I were to go to Penn for engineering. Plus, most companies come to Penn to recruit Wharotn students, not engineering ones.</p>