Cornell or Duke
So I got off Cornell's A&S waitlist recently, and I'm currently committed to Duke and I can't make a decision. I want to go into finance, likely Econ and CS double major to go into high finance/quant finance.
Duke Pros:
-Warm weather
-fun sports (although i don't see myself becoming a duke fan since I already have a team)
-Top 10
-students seem happy
-grade inflation
-research triangle
Duke cons:
-No real winter? and humid/hot af
-Not as good for CS, especially nyc quant/tech
-durham not a great city?
-very small
-feels very preppy
Cornell pros:
-Enjoy winter, so lake effect snow is amazing
-incredible campus
-I feel like I won't have many opportunities to live in such a rural area
-Better placement than Duke into NYC HFT, and equal to Duke in NYC IB
-prefer bigger school
-obligatory ivy acknowledgement
-great food
-I know some people there, so won't be completely new to me
-Great research university (might do financial engineering research and have already talked to some professors there)
Cornell cons:
-has a stereotype of depression? is this true?
-no sunlight can suck
-lack of grade inflation like duke
-classes can be bigger
-i like the rural area but can be annoying to travel places
Taking Cornell over Duke would be a horrible decision
Stupid comment, they’re peer schools and you probably didn’t read anything he wrote.
Duke is probably the more popular of the two given the strong sports and social scene in general but if you actually read his post, he’d fit in much better at Cornell. Look at the length of his Cornell pros list vs his Duke one.
Both are amazing schools. If you want to break into quantitative finance, Cornell's A&S math+cs track gives you the highest chance, assuming you can get a competitive GPA. If you want to break into high finance, you can easily transfer to Dyson from CAS, which has insane placement into NYC Finance, 42% to NYC IBD. Personally, I would say Dyson offers you more resources in high finance than Duke. These are some insights I can give it to you as a student from Cornell. I highly recommend you to take a look at both schools' career reports and browse each school's alumni base through linkedin.
The major cons of Cornell usually have to do with three things:
1. Weather - it seems like you don’t mind this but for anyone else considering Cornell, the weather is very similar New England’s or even NYC’s. Equal levels of gloominess and lack of sun but you get snow instead of rain (shit’s nasty). Weather is one of the more overstated cons. If you’re from California, Hawaii, or the south, I get it. But if you’re from the tri-state area or plan to be there post graduation? Weather is not something you should be complaining about. Happy to expand on ways to curb seasonal depression if people are interested.
2. Grade deflation - this con is the realest one and is largely dependent on who you are. If you went to a top high school, scored above the 50th percentile on test scores, and/or got into other T20 schools or even T10 schools, you should cruise through college with a 3.5 minimum with a high chance of getting a 3.8+ with some effort. You can still also go out two to three nights a week every week (with some trips to NYC every now and then). If you’re someone who barely sneaked in? You’re going to need to put in significantly more hours and go out a lot less to be able to hit a 3.8+. STEM majors will have a harder time but same applies. I know a handful of people who got over 4.0s in CS or ECE (Cornell has A+s). People who cry about grade deflation online are an outspoken minority who just aren’t as smart as they thought they were. It’s rigorous but not unbearable. Just make sure you keep to a reasonable number of credits (15-18) without taking too many difficult classes at once.
3. Rural campus - this is another overstated con. Ithaca is 4-6 hrs from NYC depending on if you can get a ride vs bus and also traffic, which I imagine is better now with widespread WFH. You get a true college experience with easy access to the greatest city in the world. With the pain of flying, it arguably takes more time to get to NYC from Boston, Chicago or DC, let alone Durham.
Flying in for networking is one of the easiest things to do. I’d much rather fly in from Boston, DC, Chicago, or Durham than take a bus, train, or drive from Ithaca.
As someone who went to Duke flying in was incredibly easy whenever I wanted to be in NYC. When I was there I could wake up on Saturday morning and decide I wanted to go to a concert, sporting event, etc. and be in midtown door to door in 2.5 hours. It’s so easy I decided a handful of times in the late afternoon that I wanted to go to a rave in NYC that night and was back for 8 AM class the next morning.
I agree with all of your other points but Ithaca does not offer easy access to NYC especially in the winter compared to any of the places you mentioned. You're traveling through a bunch of rural sh*t hole towns in upstate NY and PA most of which are highly unlikely to maintain their roads when the weather is bad.
Breakdown:
Uber to RDU 15-20 mins -> Flight around 90 mins -> 30-40 mins into midtown
RDU is also never busy so getting through security is always a sub 5-10 minute endeavor.
You can fly from Ithaca to NYC for 1 hour
Your math only works in a perfect world. You’re completely ignoring flight delays and cancellations, which happen ALL the time. I’m at the level where I’m flying to all of these cities for work and it’s a real debate whether people should go train or bus vs flight when there’s something important and time sensitive.
Not to mention you’re on crack if you think a four hr car ride down with some buddies is somehow worse than taking an Uber to the airport, getting through security, boarding, jerking off on the runway, flying, landing, airline personnel making you sit there for 30 mins for no reason, running through the airport, and then taking an Uber to midtown. One is basically a single step process while the other is a 20 step process.
Not to mention the cost differential.
I picked Cornell, thank you for your help!
This is generally correct
2 quick elaborations:
Weather: Don’t think I’d compare it to NYC winter is noticeably harsher in Ithaca
Grade Deflation: Very accurate, but limited to certain majors / schools. You can transfer to Dyson/Hotel School / ILR which are much easier
Drinking is the best cure to season depression I’ve found. Generally a good strategy in a lot of situations, at least for me. 😂
as someone who went to georgetown and has a sister who went to wharton, i would have chosen duke - more beautiful campus, way better sports (go blue devils!), and more mobility to switch between majors (duke only has 2 undergraduate schools, while cornell has 8).
both of them are great options and will get you where you want as long as you work hard, with overpowered placement into NYC ibd/pe/vc/hf, but personally, i like duke better.
can also confirm that duke students are indeed VERY happy and alumni are loyal to that place in a way that only HYPS alumni could be.
congrats on 2 amazing schools!
Cornell A&S basically has the same majors as Duke A&S. There isn’t any difference
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