How to pick between Columbia, Cornell or Princeton?

[Anonymous]

PRINCETON! My brother and SIL met there. They have such a robust group of friends and they all really seemed to love college more than any group of friends I know.

Bonus if you're in the DC area that Princeton is such an easy road or train trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any one of them would be a fine choice but they have very different campuses. I would let your DC choose based one what kind of campus experience they would prefer, really can't go wrong.

+1

All are great for CS - depends more on the campus vibe/school atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

Also, there’s also the possibility that your child changes interests/majors after a year. With those choices, I’d choose based on vibe rather than major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt there is any CS recruiting difference out of college between Columbia, Cornell or Princeton.
However, Princeton will have recruiting from finance/private equity/consulting companies that is better than Columbia, and the same for Columbia versus Cornell.

CS at Princeton is top notch but very theoretical. Their math department is among the best. The class sizes are probably the best.

Cornell is very large by comparison and engineering-focused, which definitely has its advantages in a major like CS.
Columbia is in the city.

You mean the CS major is engineering focused?

Because the school overall isn't engineering focused. Engineering is the 3rd largest college - after A&S and Ag. About 20% of the undergraduate students are in engineering.

[Anonymous]

This article may make your DC think twice about picking Columbia:

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2019/10/01/to-the-comp-sci-department-create-separate-classes-for-masters-students/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former ‘softie.

There is some inherent arrogance in Tech so pedigree matters.

On the East Coast for private school CS:

MIT
CMU
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell

There is definitely arrogance in the tech industry but it is based around intelligence rather than pedigree.
MIT and CMU are very respected due to their very rigorous undergraduate coursework.

But when it comes to Ivies, and other top 'prestigious' privates, its the skill of the engineer moreso than the college. An Ivy grad who is mediocre will be looked down upon as dumb person who got in based on upbringing.

For start-ups and what not though, being from an Ivy definitely helps in courting investment, slightly less so than MIT/CMU/Stanford.

And for financial trading and quant firms based around NYC and Chicago, being from an Ivy is definitely a big advantage obviously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This article may make your DC think twice about picking Columbia:

https://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2019/10/01/to-the-comp-sci-department-create-separate-classes-for-masters-students/

Junior/senior students taking the same courses as 1st-year graduate students is common in most universities.

But yeah, having 200-student lectures as a senior sounds terrible.

[Anonymous]

OP, any difference in price/aid for these?

[Anonymous]

I have degrees from Cornell and Princeton and kids at both schools. They are both great places for undergrad.

Cornell is not as inaccessible from DC as it had been although not as easy as Princeton via Amtrak. Until Covid-19, there were 3-4 direct flights from Dulles to Ithaca per day and OurBus runs multiple buses to/from Union Station and other DMV points for all breaks and holidays.

For CS they are roughly equivalent programs in terms of reputation. If you visit each school your kid will probably gravitate to one or the other.

Outdoorsy? like to ski and hike and sail? Then Cornell.
Want a smaller environment and to able to get to NYC in an hour? Then Princeton.

[Anonymous]

Who would turn down Princeton?
Trust Michelle Obama to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who would turn down Princeton?
Trust Michelle Obama to complain.

Most students admitted to Stanford, Harvard or Yale?

As for the latter comment, Princeton was not an easy environment for most of its black students in the early 80s. I don't think any Ivy was. Michelle's book was about overcoming various self-doubts to become the amazing woman she is today. Some of those doubts occurred when she was an undergraduate.

[Anonymous]

I would choose Princeton in a heartbeat, but that is me.

With regard to CS, I consider Princeton and Cornell to be better than Columbia, but consider that the majority of college students actually change majors and at least half of your classes will be outside of the major area. CS grads can be in demand from schools (e.g. Brown) that aren't necessarily the highest ranked, so I wouldn't get too hung up on that.

If you are interested in prestige (or more precisely my view of prestige), I consider Princeton to be in the top rung with Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, and Caltech. I think of Columbia as great but next rung down with Duke, Penn, Chicago, etc. I think of Cornell as the rung below that.

[Anonymous]

For what it is worth, I went to Princeton as a black female in the 00s/10s and loved it! I’d pick Princeton again and again! Great university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who would turn down Princeton?
Trust Michelle Obama to complain.

First, no politics in the college thread, ditto head.

Second, many Princeton grads I know say “It’s a great place to have gone but not a great place to go”. In fact all of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, any difference in price/aid for these?

I'd like to know this too.