<p>muerte…I’m actually interested in both those things and Cornell looked very good in both…not to say it would be better than any of those other schools but…</p>
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<p>So the best measure of a school’s departments, faculty, and connections would be looking at the graduate department rankings in your intended fields of study.</p>
<p>[The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2006 - 2008 :: Overall Rankings](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp)
[US</a> NEWS RANKING 2007-Biological Sciences](<a href=“http://biomedbox.5d6d.com/thread-60-1-1.html]US”>http://biomedbox.5d6d.com/thread-60-1-1.html)</p>
<p>For philosophy, Cornell is below Columbia, tied with Yale, and ahead of Penn. </p>
<p>For biology, Cornell is tied with Yale, and well ahead of Columbia and Penn.</p>
<p>Admittedly, Cornell doesn’t place into the top 10 for nueroscience, but this is undergraduate education we are talking about. </p>
<p>[Neuroscience/Neurobiology</a> - Biological Sciences - Best Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/bio/neurosciences]Neuroscience/Neurobiology”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/bio/neurosciences)</p>
<p>What’s more important than an individual school’s ranking at this level is whether or not you take advantage of the resources at your disposal. And you can do wonderful things at any one of these schools. Attending Cornell does not put you at a disadvantage at all. I have friends who studied biology at Cornell who have gone on for PhD programs at Harvard, Princeton, Penn, Cornell, JHU, and Stanford. And you know what? They consider themselves better prepared than a lot of their peers who attended other schools for undergrad.</p>
<p>Also, the idea that one location is better than another for undergraduate study is absurd as well. Maybe if you absolutely need to be in a city like Elgguj, then okay, but I still say the opportunity to spend four years in a locale as unique as Ithaca is not to be passed up. </p>
<p>Absent serious health, family, financial issues, if you are seriously unhappy with your social life or the quality of the academic instruction you are receiving at Cornell, then transfer out. But otherwise you are just wasting valuable time that could be spent working for a professor’s research lab or editing the undergraduate philosophy journal at Cornell. I also realize that college – and particularly a place as vast and as diverse as Cornell – can be somewhat intimidating your freshmen year, but by the time senior year rolls around, most students don’t want to leave.</p>
<p>And you are kidding yourself if you think that the students at the other schools you name are going to be smarter or more serious than the students at Cornell. There are going to be dumb oafs everywhere you go. But hell, there are more kids with over a 2250 SAT at Cornell than the total number students at a school like Princeton or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>JHU, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon (with $$$$) and NYU (with $$$$$). Didn’t go on Columbia waitlist (not exactly turned them down, but I would if I were accepted).</p>
<p>CayugaRed2005, much of what you say is true. Please note, however, that Cornell DOES NOT HAVE a neuroscience major. One must major in Bio, and then concentrate in Neuro - which is a total of 3 additional classes.</p>
<p>Penn and Yale have majors totally devoted to brain science, while Columbia has a neuroscience major that is far more substantial.</p>
<p>And location is very important to me, for reasons that I don’t care to discuss on a public forum - but that I would be happy to PM you about if you actually care.</p>
<p>^If thats the case, I don’t see why you care if someone chooses Cornell over these other schools</p>
<p>Made in China, I don’t care that they did so, I merely wanted to know WHY.</p>
<p>Also, the cross-admit rate to Cornell from schools like Yale and Harvard are very low for a reason.</p>
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<p>This is getting a bit ridiculous, but I’m going to continue to press on just because any pre-frosh on the board need to learn that the problem isn’t Cornell, it’s you.</p>
<p>Cornell has a concentration totally devoted to brain science as well – it’s called cognitive science. If that, or the nuerobio and behavior concentration of the biology major isn’t your cup of tea, you can develop an independent major or apply to become a College Scholar and develop your own course of study. There are plenty of courses in these fields across Arts, Ag, HumEc, Engr, and the Vet School that can fill your time at Cornell well beyond four years of study. In fact, here’s an incomplete listing of them:</p>
<p>[Neuroscience-related</a> courses](<a href=“http://neuroscience.cornell.edu/courses.html]Neuroscience-related”>http://neuroscience.cornell.edu/courses.html)</p>
<p>Here is a listing of the required courses for the Columbia major:</p>
<p>[General</a> Studies Neuroscience & Behavior Major Requirements](<a href=“Undergraduates | Biology”>Undergraduates | Biology)</p>
<p>I don’t see much of a difference, but that’s just me. Maybe you can point out the courses that Columbia offers that make its nueroscience offerings “far more substantial”.</p>
<p>Remember this: The Cornell faculty may have a very good reason for not having a pure nuerobio major, even if they offer all of the courses that would comprise one. Perhaps they feel that students should have a very good grounding in more general biology before they specialize.</p>
<p>In terms of resources and student involvement, Cornell’s loaded with different types of student groups and activities. Here’s an incomplete listing:</p>
<p>[Cornell</a> Undergraduate Society for Neuroscience - Home](<a href=“http://www.cusn.org/joomla/]Cornell”>http://www.cusn.org/joomla/)
[Seminars[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/NEJC/index.html]Neuroethology”>http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/NEJC/index.html]Neuroethology</a> Journal Club](<a href=“http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/Seminars2.html]Seminars[/url”>http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/Seminars2.html)
[Cellular</a> and Molecular Neurobiology](<a href=“http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/CMNJC/]Cellular”>http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/CMNJC/)</p>
<p>Not liking Ithaca’s location may be a perfectly good reason to transfer out of Cornell. You would have been better off never attending Cornell in the first place. All one has to do is look at a map to see that Ithaca isn’t exactly Times Square. But coming to this board and suggesting that the quality of Cornell’s educational offerings and resources is not on par with very similar schools is completely irresponsible. This is not to even get into any of your other transgressions on this board.</p>
<p>Good riddance.</p>
<p>I advise anyone not to pay too close of attention to muerte as to what he says of Cornell in general. He’s the poster who said this:</p>
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<p>It is obvious that muerte is aiming to transfer out bc of his belief that Cornell is inferior. However odd that may sound, there are occasional posters around here who have some kind of unreasonable bias towards Cornell. It is jaw-dropping that he believes 3/4 of kids at Cornell are quite ‘stupid’ and don’t deserve to be at an ivy. Either muerte has a unrealistic expectation for his college’s intellectual atmosphere or he is a bitter HYP reject that is blinded by the prestige factor.</p>
<p>I’m going to address CayugaRed2005:
You are relying on sheer demagoguery right now.
THERE IS NO MAJOR AT CORNELL THAT IS DEVOTED TO NEUROSCIENCE OR NEUROBIOLOGY.
I dare anyone to prove me wrong.
You listed courses that are related to brain science.
COURSES =/= MAJOR</p>
<p>OK, now that we’ve settled that; Patlees88:
I don’t think that it’s fair, or true, but many people think Cornell is inferior.</p>
<p>There was a great post a month or two ago wherein the author postulated that if Cornell removed itself from the Ivy League, it would improve its image, because it would no longer be held up to schools that are considered superior.
And many people agreed with him.</p>
<p>Is that a reason to transfer? No, not alone. But compounded with my other reasons, it certainly moves me in that direction.</p>
<p>Finally, I’d like to point out that I didn’t bring up this subject; other posters did that for me. I simply wanted to know why someone chose Cornell over Yale.</p>
<p>Thank you for wasting everyone’s time.</p>
<p>Also:
“This is not to even get into any of your other transgressions on this board.”</p>
<p>What? Transgressions? Is there some sort of code of honor at online message boards that I was unaware of?
I’m sorry, but people come here because they want to read other’s opinions.</p>
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<p>Besides your incredibly rude shouting, I already proved you wrong.</p>
<p>[College</a> of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University – Independent Major](<a href=“http://www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/indepmaj.php]College”>http://www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/indepmaj.php)
[College</a> of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University-- College Scholar](<a href=“http://www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/collschl.php]College”>http://www.arts.cornell.edu/programs/collschl.php)</p>
<p>Oh, you’re right; the student-crafted college scholar/independent major is totally on par with the faculty-overseen and structured neuroscience majors at other universities.</p>
<p>Please, try harder.</p>
<p>Wait, I really don’t like my tone right now.
I want to make it clear that I am upset in terms of the argument only. I have nothing against CayugaRed2005 or Patlees88 personally (although they don’t like me too much).
The fact is, they are great sources of information, and this argument is far too opinionated to be of any use any more.</p>
<p>You aren’t going to change my mind.
Love,</p>
<p>Muerteapablo</p>
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<p>Actually, judging from the experience of my friends, the College Scholar and Independent Major options at Cornell are probably the most structured and faculty-overseen majors you can get. You would have the opportunity to work one-on-one with many different faculty in your field, and they would probably steer you in many rewarding directions.</p>
<p>I don’t dislike you. It’s just that your attitude and misguided opinions – as exemplified in the post Patlees provided above – are a disservice to this community. I think that they are also a disservice to yourself. I would like nothing more than each and every Cornell student to find educational satisfaction and personal growth of the type I found just a short time ago. Best of luck to you wherever you end up.</p>
<p>OK. Again, you say misguided - but we’re arguing about different things.
You think that reasoning is flawed (that I should want to transfer), while I take issue with your very premise (neurobiology at Cornell).</p>
<p>So can we please agree to disagree?</p>
<p>Patlees88, how do you feel about this?</p>
<p>I don’t necessarily begrudge you for wanting to transfer out, as I don’t know your personal situation. </p>
<p>No. I just know you are misguided in saying that you can’t get the same type of undergraduate education in nueroscience/neuerobehavior/brain studies at Cornell as you can get at the other three schools you mention. It’s just not true, and to suggest otherwise indicates that you haven’t really explored the myriad resources that Cornell has to offer to students like you.</p>
<p>I have provided numerous examples to you providing supplemental evidence to make my point – that you can get an excellent education in nuerobio/nueroscience/brain science at Cornell. All you have done is shrugged it off and “take issue with my premise”, without providing any sort of rational or reason.</p>
<p>And as I mentioned before, I will not even get into your other, earlier, statements, which were downright rude, arrogant, and ignorant. </p>
<p>Good luck on finals.</p>
<p>Fair enough. I was kind of an ass.</p>
<p>Muert, you think Cornell should remove itself from the Ivy League?</p>
<p>Since you go mostly on rankings…I must ask you…why not Brown? It’s ranked lower than Cornell.</p>
<p>First, I don’t go by rankings only.
Second, I don’t think that Cornell should leave the Ivy League; the idea is preposterous. It was the concept that I was using to illustrate a point.</p>
<p>muerteapablo, i even turned down the waitlist at harvard and princeton simply because i love Cornell and its environment. I am not one of those people that put too much pressure on colleges. I didn’t decided that I would choose Cornell over Yale or Duke or the suny stony brook med program when I was a freshman. I visited it once in november of senior year and knew that it was the place for me…
Also, I chose the Human Development major in the College of Human Ecology which really suits my interests.</p>