How to pick between Columbia, Cornell or Princeton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a Penn grad, I hate to say it, but Princeton is the easy choice here.

I don’t think so. It is the most select of the three, but they are all very different. The girl should ask where she thinks she would thrive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS recently graduated from Princeton. One of his main gripes was that he wanted to get to know other college students besides those at his school and he wished that he would've went to Penn instead. So keep in mind that Cornell and Princeton are kind of in their own island so to speak. He did visit NYC often as it's a train ride away, but it's not the same as knowing kids in a closer area. He liked Cornell also, but it's a bit more rural than he was looking for

I'm not sure why your son thinks he would have met kids from other colleges if he'd gone to Penn instead. Most kids at most colleges stick to themselves and Penn is no different. It's also a bigger school. They're not hanging out with Drexel or Temple students.

Colleges isolated in rural/suburban areas can get extremely monotonous and being stuck around the same crowd and culture for 4 years sucks.

Boston has 8+ colleges in the city and right next door. I can certainly understand the want to be around other colleges and city life.

The Ivies really have a tremendous amount going on at their own campuses and most of the kids are busy enough working that they aren’t regretting not meeting kids from other schools. Even the smallest - Dartmouth - has almost 4500 undergraduates.

Sure, but being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. There might be a lot going on on campus but it will be among the same crowd and culture. Starts to feel like boarding school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who go to Princeton seem to love Princeton more than the other two.

I don't know. We Columbians are pretty proud.

That said, Princeton does a great job with its undergrads. Seriously great job.

I think it all comes down to the specific feel of each for your kid. No one else can answer this.

I can say this about Columbia - there are a ton of opportunities provided by being in a big city. There is also more potential for isolation (because you don't run into kids off campus there like you will at the other two).

This has to be a joke. The reunions are barely attended. I’ve never bothered to go but it’s become an annual joke for my friend to send me the headcount.

That said, I made some good friends there. But none of us has particularly fond memories of Columbia, per se. Nor would I expect us to have formed a deep attachment, since most kids who go to Columbia do so not for the college experience but for the New York experience. It’s the city they form an attachment to, primarily.

OP, if your kid wants the NYC experience, go to Columbia. If he wants an intensely collegiate experience in an idyllic setting, Princeton. And if he wants a rigorous comp sci education, Cornell. But tbh, Princeton is going to open the most doors for him by far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS recently graduated from Princeton. One of his main gripes was that he wanted to get to know other college students besides those at his school and he wished that he would've went to Penn instead. So keep in mind that Cornell and Princeton are kind of in their own island so to speak. He did visit NYC often as it's a train ride away, but it's not the same as knowing kids in a closer area. He liked Cornell also, but it's a bit more rural than he was looking for

I'm not sure why your son thinks he would have met kids from other colleges if he'd gone to Penn instead. Most kids at most colleges stick to themselves and Penn is no different. It's also a bigger school. They're not hanging out with Drexel or Temple students.

Colleges isolated in rural/suburban areas can get extremely monotonous and being stuck around the same crowd and culture for 4 years sucks.

Boston has 8+ colleges in the city and right next door. I can certainly understand the want to be around other colleges and city life.

The Ivies really have a tremendous amount going on at their own campuses and most of the kids are busy enough working that they aren’t regretting not meeting kids from other schools. Even the smallest - Dartmouth - has almost 4500 undergraduates.

Sure, but being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. There might be a lot going on on campus but it will be among the same crowd and culture. Starts to feel like boarding school.

My experience at Harvard was that for the first two years most people were satisfied by campus life but by junior or senior year most people started branching out and doing stuff off campus, hanging out with non-Harvard friends, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who go to Princeton seem to love Princeton more than the other two.

I don't know. We Columbians are pretty proud.

That said, Princeton does a great job with its undergrads. Seriously great job.

I think it all comes down to the specific feel of each for your kid. No one else can answer this.

I can say this about Columbia - there are a ton of opportunities provided by being in a big city. There is also more potential for isolation (because you don't run into kids off campus there like you will at the other two).

This has to be a joke. The reunions are barely attended. I’ve never bothered to go but it’s become an annual joke for my friend to send me the headcount.

That said, I made some good friends there. But none of us has particularly fond memories of Columbia, per se. Nor would I expect us to have formed a deep attachment, since most kids who go to Columbia do so not for the college experience but for the New York experience. It’s the city they form an attachment to, primarily.

OP, if your kid wants the NYC experience, go to Columbia. If he wants an intensely collegiate experience in an idyllic setting, Princeton. And if he wants a rigorous comp sci education, Cornell. But tbh, Princeton is going to open the most doors for him by far.

Sorry, OP, just realized you were talking about your daughter, not son.

Times may have changed but I dropped an intro to comp sci class when at Columbia because I was the only girl in it, and I got sick of lame remarks from my classmates about it. Granted this was more than a decade ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS recently graduated from Princeton. One of his main gripes was that he wanted to get to know other college students besides those at his school and he wished that he would've went to Penn instead. So keep in mind that Cornell and Princeton are kind of in their own island so to speak. He did visit NYC often as it's a train ride away, but it's not the same as knowing kids in a closer area. He liked Cornell also, but it's a bit more rural than he was looking for

I'm not sure why your son thinks he would have met kids from other colleges if he'd gone to Penn instead. Most kids at most colleges stick to themselves and Penn is no different. It's also a bigger school. They're not hanging out with Drexel or Temple students.

Colleges isolated in rural/suburban areas can get extremely monotonous and being stuck around the same crowd and culture for 4 years sucks.

Boston has 8+ colleges in the city and right next door. I can certainly understand the want to be around other colleges and city life.

The Ivies really have a tremendous amount going on at their own campuses and most of the kids are busy enough working that they aren’t regretting not meeting kids from other schools. Even the smallest - Dartmouth - has almost 4500 undergraduates.

Sure, but being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. There might be a lot going on on campus but it will be among the same crowd and culture. Starts to feel like boarding school.

What an odd perspective. No one at a school with 4500-8000 undergraduates needs to hang out with the “same crowd” for four years. These aren’t New England boarding schools with a few hundred kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want to boil down the existential questions at the three schools:

PRINCETON - Oh my god, I don't know if I really belong here.

COLUMBIA - Oh my god, I don't think anyone knows I exist here.

CORNELL - Oh my god, how in the world did I end up way out here?

Love this. Hilarious and right on point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who go to Princeton seem to love Princeton more than the other two.

I don't know. We Columbians are pretty proud.

That said, Princeton does a great job with its undergrads. Seriously great job.

I think it all comes down to the specific feel of each for your kid. No one else can answer this.

I can say this about Columbia - there are a ton of opportunities provided by being in a big city. There is also more potential for isolation (because you don't run into kids off campus there like you will at the other two).

This has to be a joke. The reunions are barely attended. I’ve never bothered to go but it’s become an annual joke for my friend to send me the headcount.

That said, I made some good friends there. But none of us has particularly fond memories of Columbia, per se. Nor would I expect us to have formed a deep attachment, since most kids who go to Columbia do so not for the college experience but for the New York experience. It’s the city they form an attachment to, primarily.

OP, if your kid wants the NYC experience, go to Columbia. If he wants an intensely collegiate experience in an idyllic setting, Princeton. And if he wants a rigorous comp sci education, Cornell. But tbh, Princeton is going to open the most doors for him by far.

Which companies are recruiting at Princeton and not at the other two?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would favor Princeton, in part because Cornell is so large. It was like a city to me, in a bad way. Impersonal, with tons of hassles. The campus is hilly and freezing most of the school year (beautiful part of the country, at other times, I'll admit).

Princeton is rarified, let's face it. Beautiful campus, brilliant people. I once new a math major from there. She was a genius.

As far as Columbia goes, I would be frightened to send my kid there TBH. Because of the part of Manhattan it is in . And I am from NY.

Very strange comment. Nothing wrong with the neighborhood Columbia is in. It used to be not so great. Perhaps that is what you are remembering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have degrees from both Princeton and Columbia and the undergrad experience at Princeton is better, unless you want to be in (and can afford) a big city and are prepared to be more independent.

Same here. The Princeton undergrads really receive a wealth of resources from the university and are pampered in so many ways. Columbia is good too, but definitely for someone who likes the city life and independence. I wouldn’t pick Cornell. It’s not in the same tier of schools.

You are right. For CS (which is what OPs kid will study) Cornell is the clearly the best of the three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who go to Princeton seem to love Princeton more than the other two.

I don't know. We Columbians are pretty proud.

That said, Princeton does a great job with its undergrads. Seriously great job.

I think it all comes down to the specific feel of each for your kid. No one else can answer this.

I can say this about Columbia - there are a ton of opportunities provided by being in a big city. There is also more potential for isolation (because you don't run into kids off campus there like you will at the other two).

This has to be a joke. The reunions are barely attended. I’ve never bothered to go but it’s become an annual joke for my friend to send me the headcount.

That said, I made some good friends there. But none of us has particularly fond memories of Columbia, per se. Nor would I expect us to have formed a deep attachment, since most kids who go to Columbia do so not for the college experience but for the New York experience. It’s the city they form an attachment to, primarily.

OP, if your kid wants the NYC experience, go to Columbia. If he wants an intensely collegiate experience in an idyllic setting, Princeton. And if he wants a rigorous comp sci education, Cornell. But tbh, Princeton is going to open the most doors for him by far.

Which companies are recruiting at Princeton and not at the other two?

+1 No big recruitment difference in the three schools. If I see 3 resumes, 1 from a Princeton grad, 1 from Columbia, 1 from Cornell, I will probably just interview all three. Any of them may be the best candidate, I’m not going to assume Princeton grad is any better.

[Anonymous]

" No big recruitment difference in the three schools. If I see 3 resumes, 1 from a Princeton grad, 1 from Columbia, 1 from Cornell, I will probably just interview all three. Any of them may be the best candidate, I’m not going to assume Princeton grad is any better."

Same here. So I would choose based on location and fit, also considered whether one is particularly strong in departments or activities of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who go to Princeton seem to love Princeton more than the other two.

I don't know. We Columbians are pretty proud.

That said, Princeton does a great job with its undergrads. Seriously great job.

I think it all comes down to the specific feel of each for your kid. No one else can answer this.

I can say this about Columbia - there are a ton of opportunities provided by being in a big city. There is also more potential for isolation (because you don't run into kids off campus there like you will at the other two).

This has to be a joke. The reunions are barely attended. I’ve never bothered to go but it’s become an annual joke for my friend to send me the headcount.

That said, I made some good friends there. But none of us has particularly fond memories of Columbia, per se. Nor would I expect us to have formed a deep attachment, since most kids who go to Columbia do so not for the college experience but for the New York experience. It’s the city they form an attachment to, primarily.

OP, if your kid wants the NYC experience, go to Columbia. If he wants an intensely collegiate experience in an idyllic setting, Princeton. And if he wants a rigorous comp sci education, Cornell. But tbh, Princeton is going to open the most doors for him by far.

Are you suggesting they decide based on how big the reunions are? Who cares about the reunions? I personally find it weird when people can’t move on from their college experience. Reunions are all about fundraising for the college. They’re not about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have degrees from both Princeton and Columbia and the undergrad experience at Princeton is better, unless you want to be in (and can afford) a big city and are prepared to be more independent.

Same here. The Princeton undergrads really receive a wealth of resources from the university and are pampered in so many ways. Columbia is good too, but definitely for someone who likes the city life and independence. I wouldn’t pick Cornell. It’s not in the same tier of schools.

You are right. For CS (which is what OPs kid will study) Cornell is the clearly the best of the three.

Not according to objective metrics. If you look at us news and world reports rankings, Princeton is #15 for undergraduate computer science (worldwide), Columbia is #50 and Cornell is tied for #89.

[Anonymous]

I think there is way too much emphasis on location in this discussion. The purpose of going to a college is going to that college ... not how many times you left campus. Of course if you hate big cities, or the country, or the suburbs that might influence student choice but most people adapt to