<p>I’m going as a grad but turned down LSE and Cambridge</p>
<p>people think its worst because it has the highest acceptance rate…</p>
<p>Applying to college is like finding a significant other, if they are in “high demand” and can choose to reject alot of people, then its not…well…desired anymore. But we also know the most desired is not always the “best.”</p>
<p>Cornell just has alot of space. We all know at least 1 qualified person that did nt get in… I mean dude, its ivy league. Who in the right mind can say “I can guarantee that I can get in all the ivy” Usually people get in a few. I know ppl who got in columbia, brown, dartmouth, penn, and yale (legacy) that didn’t get into cornell. Bottom line, does not matter. Cornell is prestigious–esp internationally. So who do people care so much about acceptance rate?</p>
<p>"It’s frustrating when I talk to people and they try to denigrate it because it’s not something it never tried to be. What an incredible model of providing superior education to everyone from farmers to physicists. As I’ve said before on here, Cornell should be applauded for such an accomplishment, not slandered for not being selective enough or being too applied in its focus.</p>
<p>applejack, as a Cornell alum who graduated years ago, I applaud you. I scan the Cornell forum from time to time, and often see this issue bandied-about amongst the students. You have very succinctly described the essence of Cornell in a very down-to-earth way."</p>
<p>I agree with these two posts. I agree with them more and more as each day passes since I’ve graduated. </p>
<p>Cornell has ALWAYS taken crap from other people. Always. First they decided to admit people regardless of their religion. The WASPS didn’t like that. And they admitted regardless of color. Still, the rich white people didn’t like that. Furthermore, women were studying at Cornell a mere 2 years after its founding - something baulked at by the likes of HYP, etc. </p>
<p>Still, this is what made (and still makes) Cornell a special place among the Ivy league. I particularly like a quote from this month’s alumni magazine:</p>
<p>“From Ohio, a man wrote on behalf of a ‘bright colored lad.’ Could he attend the University? ‘Send him,’ write Ezra Cornell. There was no racial bar at Cornell, and the application and registration forms never asked about race. The only qualification was always academic preparation.”</p>
<p>soccer guy: nothing against Texas A & M, but I would take any ranking system that puts them 1 in the country with a grain of salt :)</p>
<p>If Cornell were not one of the Ivies, it wouldn’t take as much crap, which seems to be thrown by people in other Ivies. </p>
<p>I was at a dinner with a group of people last night and this girl told us how everyone at a party asked her what school she went during her DC visit. Almost no one asked this question here in LA. </p>
<p>NE crowd/Ivies seem to be way too competitive. :)</p>
<p>It’s a different kind of ranking, goblue, lol.</p>
<p>It’s based on things like social mobility, research, and service to the community.</p>
<p>My point in posting that was to prove that schools like Harvard and Princeton don’t dominate EVERY ranking - just one’s that include selectivity, endowment - things other schools can’t compete in.</p>
<p>I was proving that there are other categories that Cornell beats all the Ivies on - but these qualities were just deemed “unimportant” by the people who rank schools.</p>
<p>I am going to cornell but i turned down BU, Providence, American, RIT, NYU, UNLV, and U of Denver</p>
<p>I don’t know what it would take, but somehow Cornell needs to do some image work. Maybe they just need to bite the bullet and shrink class size. That alone, back in 1999, skyrocketed it to 6 in the USNWR ranking. It’s easy to say that ranking doesn’t matter, but it does - flawed as it is.</p>
<p>If you pay attention to these threads, Cornell is more or less patted on the head and told “good dog” by the top ranked Ivies while being gnawed at and visciously dragged down by the Duke, Vanderbilt, etc… crowd. </p>
<p>Really, the only group that I have not seen do any attacking whatsoever are from Northwestern - which I would consider a pretty close peer school. Well, Brown and Dartmouth don’t either, but they’re in the same boat and are always on the defensive as well.</p>
<p>I think when people look beyond stupid admit rates to the actual programs, they get rather quiet quickly. I think Cornell’s biggest problem is that people don’t realize how good it is across so many disciplines. </p>
<p>I’m not trying to sound like a booster here - I have simply known enough people from higher ranked schools who didn’t work as hard and got far higher grades than Cornell students. I just genuinely believe that Cornell honestly deserves a better reputation than it has.</p>
<p>Plus, it’s the hottest Ivy, dammit :)</p>
<p>Cornell does deserve a better reputation!
As a high school junior a long time ago, the only thing I knew about Cornell was that it was the “worst Ivy” and had the “highest suicide rate”.
And neither is true! </p>
<p>Obviously as a high school senior that will be going to Cornell in the fall, I have done some research and found out how special the University really is. </p>
<p>I think that Cornell’s relatively high acceptance rate is a matter of having so many niche programs for which the applicant pool is self-selecting. I do not recall anyone ridiculing UChicago’s acceptance rate of 27% because it is generally understood that Chicago’s applicant pool is very self selecting.</p>
<p>I remember a thread on CC that said the acceptance rate for CAS (the most “mainstream” college) in 2008 was 12.5%. Perhaps that would be a better figure for anyone who actually thinks that acceptance rates are a good measure of a university’s quality. </p>
<p>The US News Rankings, although probably complete garbage, does have a large effect on the perception of the university as a whole to the extent that many schools coughpenncough have had extensive efforts geared towards raising their rankings in that publication. Perhaps Cornell should bite the bullet and do the same. </p>
<p>Even though it is much better to let the University speak for itself, the pervasive effect of the rankings in the perception of a university amongst high school students mean that the rankings must be considered.</p>
<p>In the meanwhile, Cornell really has to do something about the suicide rate myth because I am tired of having people tell me not to kill myself in Ithaca when I tell them that I am going to Cornell.</p>
<p>BTW I turned down UC Berkeley, NYU Stern, and UC San Diego</p>
<p>^^
Very good points. I never considered the “self-selecting” argument. It is funny that U Chicago is always lauded on these boards but never questioned for its admission rate. </p>
<p>I think some people actually take a sick pride in the suicides - like it’s so intense that people can’t take it or something. It’s not that there are more, but when they have security on the bridges during finals or some kid throws himself off a bridge because he got a 4.2 rather than a 4.3, it definitely leaves a mark on more than just the rocks below.</p>
<p>Cornell has the resources it needs to shoot itself into the top 5 if it wants too - so those other schools that complain need to watch out. If Cornell decides to give them what they want - they just might lose their spot on the ranking list.</p>
<p>regarding these pointless accusations against cornell on this board, I don’t think we should care too much. I mean, in real life, cornell is very well respected. it is one of the few u.s. schools that claim international prestige and respect. </p>
<p>back to the original question, I turned down Duke, Northwestern, Dartmouth, UC Berkeley, and University of Illinois last yr for Cornell.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>US News is in the business of selling magazines. Its one of the reasons they often change their methodology of ranking schools, because otherwise the universities would basically remain static in the same place every year. In the year that Cornell was ranked 6th, it was a result of a precipitous change in methodology which was dramatically changed again the following year hence the reason why Cornell went from 14th (1997) to 6th (1998) and then dropping to 11th (1999).</p>
<p>they do change their methodology for shifts in the rankings in order to well…sell magazines
but somehow they always make sure that Harvard, Yale and Princeton are in the top three. That seems to never change. I mean, these are obviously great universities, but no matter how much the rankings elsewhere shifts, the top three hardly ever does. That has always seemed interesting to me. </p>
<p>One thing that should be obvious to anyone with common sense is that it is foolish to trust college rankings from a publication whose primary purpose is to sell more copies of their magazine. </p>
<p>I am sure in the real world, ie the job market and academia, and not high school, Cornell gets the respect that it deserves.</p>
<p>Very wise observation! With the current methodology, HYP will most certainly remain the top three. Interesting to note that in that same 1999 year, CalTech catapulted from #9 to #1! You might be interested in reading this outdated, but interesting article about research done on this very topic. [Cornell</a> News: New study on college rankings](<a href=“Home | Cornell Chronicle”>Home | Cornell Chronicle)</p>
<p>kh892: The founder of that ranking actually said something like, without looking at the ranking, I already know HYP will be on top 3.</p>
<p>I think ranking systems always put HYP in the top 5 to legitamize their rankings with the general public.</p>
<p>I turned down Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, Duke, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins BME program, Vanderbilt. Waitlisted Princeton.</p>
<p>Look, for people who care a lot about rankings:</p>
<p><a href=“http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm[/url]”>http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm</a> (bets penn, brown and dartmouth)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/top_100_universities/]QS”>http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/top_100_universities/]QS</a> Top Universities: Top 100 universities in the THE - QS World University Rankings 2007<a href=“beats%20penn%20and%20dartmouth”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.ulinks.com/topuniversities.htm]Top”>Top 100 Universities in the World: Best Colleges]Top</a> 100 Universities: Top Universities Best Colleges Top 100 Colleges and Universities<a href=“beats%20penn,%20brown%20and%20dartmouth”>/url</a></p>
<p>So what’s the big deal? Cornell is awesome, not only for rankings but for everything it represents!</p>
<p>MIT >> Cornell??? Always true? What are your opinions, guys?</p>