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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.

Not odd, you simply lack reading comprehension. I specifically stated being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. That does not mean they are hanging out with the exact same people for 4 years, although that does happen - small colleges in rural areas tend to have very immobile social groups and there's not much of making friends outside of that set social group.
Perhaps you need to get an understanding of what 'culture' means. And schools of 4,000-6,000 do tend to have a uniform culture among their undergraduates, and even more so for colleges in rural areas.

I am not following this disagreement. Perhaps time to let it die.

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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.

Not sure about Philly but my kid’s in Boston and he had friends from lots of different schools.

That wasn’t really my experience. I had some high school friends at other schools in Boston and would occasionally get together with them and their friends, but otherwise I mostly hung out with folks from my own school. Once in a blue moon there would be someone from elsewhere at a party, but it wasn’t wildly common.

Everyone has different experiences.

I'm sure they do. But as someone who went to two Ivies (undergrad, and a resident adviser while grad student at another) I probably have a pretty good understanding of how common it is for students to hang out with students from other universities in the same vicinity. And that it is not common at all. It does happen but it is not common.

First of all, how exactly would you meet students from other colleges to develop friendships where you saw each other on a regular basis? You might get a friend of a friend who comes to visit you for a day or a weekend. But rarely are you going to parties or activities at other campuses. Why would you when there's enough stuff going on at your own campus. Most Ivies are residential with most students living on campus or very close by, it's a bubble unto itself. And there's the pedigree factor too, insomuch as one would like to pretend it doesn't exist - Penn students did not consider Drexel or Temple students "equivalents." Between the heavy workload, the gravity towards your own campus factor, your own set of friends on campus, and the pedigree aspect, there's little incentive to look further afield.

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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.

This seems really off. Are you looking at some weird global ranking? Also, Cornell offers CS in the School of Arts and Sciences and also in the Engineering school. Same with Columbia I think. Who knows what you looked at?

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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.

Not sure about Philly but my kid’s in Boston and he had friends from lots of different schools.

That wasn’t really my experience. I had some high school friends at other schools in Boston and would occasionally get together with them and their friends, but otherwise I mostly hung out with folks from my own school. Once in a blue moon there would be someone from elsewhere at a party, but it wasn’t wildly common.

Everyone has different experiences.

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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.

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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.

Not odd, you simply lack reading comprehension. I specifically stated being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. That does not mean they are hanging out with the exact same people for 4 years, although that does happen - small colleges in rural areas tend to have very immobile social groups and there's not much of making friends outside of that set social group.
Perhaps you need to get an understanding of what 'culture' means. And schools of 4,000-6,000 do tend to have a uniform culture among their undergraduates, and even more so for colleges in rural areas.

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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.

Not odd, you simply lack reading comprehension. I specifically stated being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. That does not mean they are hanging out with the exact same people for 4 years, although that does happen - small colleges in rural areas tend to have very immobile social groups and there's not much of making friends outside of that set social group.
Perhaps you need to get an understanding of what 'culture' means. And schools of 4,000-6,000 do tend to have a uniform culture among their undergraduates, and even more so for colleges in rural areas.

You’ve come up with quite the make-weight argument there.

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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.

Not odd, you simply lack reading comprehension. I specifically stated being around the same crowd and culture for four years sucks. That does not mean they are hanging out with the exact same people for 4 years, although that does happen - small colleges in rural areas tend to have very immobile social groups and there's not much of making friends outside of that set social group.
Perhaps you need to get an understanding of what 'culture' means. And schools of 4,000-6,000 do tend to have a uniform culture among their undergraduates, and even more so for colleges in rural areas.

Anonymous wrote: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.

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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.

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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.

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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.