Penn vs Cornell: Same Price, Different Scale
Ask ten applicants why both are on the list and you get the same answer: they are Ivies with strong pre-professional programmes, and they are not Harvard, Yale or Princeton. Fair enough. But Penn and Cornell run at very different scales, and that shows up in everything from faculty contact to how much a test score is worth in your file.
The average net price at Penn is $28,699 and at Cornell $28,690 — a gap of $9 a year, which is as close to identical as two schools get. Everything else differs: Cornell is 6,125 students larger, Penn is the harder admit at 5.4% against 8.4%, and they disagree sharply on how much a test score is worth.
At a glance
| University of Pennsylvania | Cornell University | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Philadelphia, PA | Ithaca, NY |
| Undergraduates | 10,013 | 16,138 |
| Acceptance rate | 5.4% | 8.4% |
| Applicants / admits | 65,236 / 3,523 | 72,523 / 6,077 |
| Middle 50% SAT | 1510–1570 | 1500–1570 |
| Middle 50% ACT | 34–36 | 33–35 |
| Student–faculty ratio | 8:1 | 12.1:1 |
| Average net price after aid | $28,699 | $28,690 |
| Median earnings, 10 yrs out | $111,371 | $104,043 |
The decision matrix
Two Ivies with the same price tag after aid and nearly the same test profile. The choice comes down to scale, how much faculty attention you want, and whether your application is carried by a test score.
Choose University of Pennsylvania if you want…
- Far more teaching money per student. $67,953 of instructional spending per student against Cornell’s $33,431, and an 8:1 ratio against 12.1:1.
- A strong test score to count fully. Penn rates standardised tests very important; Cornell only considers them.
- The higher median earnings. $111,371 ten years out against $104,043 — the top 0.9% of US colleges.
- Smaller classes. 58.8% of classes under 20 students against 52.9% at Cornell.
- More aid at the low end. $316 for families earning $30,000–$48,000, against Cornell’s $4,070.
Choose Cornell University if you want…
- Much more aid in the middle-income bands. $14,311 for families earning $75,000–$110,000, against Penn’s $25,476.
- Better odds of admission. 8.4% against Penn’s 5.4%, from an even larger applicant pool.
- Less riding on your test score. Cornell only considers standardised tests where Penn rates them very important — a modest score does less damage there.
- Less debt at graduation. A median $14,000 against $15,715 at Penn.
- The breadth of the largest Ivy. 16,138 undergraduates against 10,013, across colleges ranging from engineering to agriculture.
Scale and teaching
Cornell enrols 16,138 undergraduates to Penn’s 10,013 — 6,125 more, making it the largest undergraduate body in the Ivy League. That shows up directly in the classroom: Penn runs an 8:1 student–faculty ratio against Cornell’s 12.1:1, and 58.8% of Penn classes have under 20 students against 52.9% at Cornell.
The spending gap behind that is the widest number on this page. Penn spends $67,953 per student on instruction to Cornell’s $33,431 — more than double — funded by an endowment of $20,962,941,000 against $9,553,279,351. If contact with faculty is what you are buying, the two schools are not offering the same product at the same price.
Admissions: the test-score split
Both run binding Early Decision and both draw enormous pools — 65,236 applications to Penn and 72,523 to Cornell. Penn admits 5.4% of them against Cornell’s 8.4%.
| Application factor | University of Pennsylvania | Cornell University |
|---|---|---|
| Academic GPA | Very important | Important |
| Standardized test scores | Very important | Considered |
| Interview | Important | Considered |
| State residency | Not considered | Considered |
Each school’s own rating of how heavily it weighs each factor, from its Common Data Set filing. Only the 4 factors they rate differently are shown — they agree on the other 14.
One row should change how you apply. Penn rates standardised test scores very important; Cornell merely considers them — a two-step gap, and the largest disagreement between these schools on any factor. A strong score does far more work at Penn, and a middling one does less damage at Cornell. Note what this is and is not: it is each school’s declared weighting, not its submission policy — testing requirements change year to year, so check each school’s current rules directly. Penn also rates academic GPA a step higher and weighs interviews more.
Cornell considers state residency where Penn does not, a legacy of its four New York State contract colleges, which charge different tuition to in-state students than the university’s private colleges do.
Test ranges themselves are almost the same: 740–770 and 770–800 at Penn, 730–770 and 770–800 at Cornell. Again, the difference is the weight, not the number.
Cost: identical averages, different middles
The headline averages are $28,699 at Penn and $28,690 at Cornell. Treat that as the same number. What differs is the shape underneath it.
Cornell is markedly cheaper in the middle. A family earning $75,000 to $110,000 pays $14,311 at Cornell against $25,476 at Penn — Penn costs nearly $11,165 more in exactly the band where families feel it most, too well off for maximum aid and not well off enough to absorb the difference. In the $48,000–$75,000 band it is $6,796 against $10,439, again favouring Cornell.
Penn takes the low end, charging $316 to families earning $30,000 to $48,000 against Cornell’s $4,070, and Cornell takes the top, at $49,992 above $110,000 against Penn’s $55,972. Both meet 100% of demonstrated need, and Penn awards the larger average first-year grant at $68,578 against $63,023.
Outcomes
Median earnings ten years after enrolling are $111,371 at Penn and $104,043 at Cornell, putting Penn in the top 0.9% of American colleges and Cornell in the top 1.4%. Penn’s Wharton programme accounts for much of a gap that is, in the end, $7,328.
Median earnings, 10 years after entry · US median $53,038 across 1,804 colleges
Earnings of students from the lowest-income third · US median $42,600 across 1,488 colleges
Average net price after aid · US median $20,150 across 1,710 colleges
Median debt at graduation · US median $23,000 across 1,716 colleges
Bar length is the share of US colleges each school beats on that measure; the tick marks the national median. Price and debt are inverted, so a longer bar is always the better outcome. Coverage varies by measure — each line states how many colleges report it. Source: College Scorecard.
Mobility is a dead heat, and slightly favours Cornell: students from the lowest-income third are earning a mean $114,500 at Cornell and $113,100 at Penn ten years after entry. Cornell graduates also carry less debt, at a median $14,000 against $15,715.
The same two schools, eight ways
This is the scatter view from FitFinder loaded with just these two. “Where the Tuition Goes” is the one to switch to for this pair: it puts Penn’s instructional spending next to Cornell’s and shows how little of that difference reaches the earnings axis.
Go deeper on each school
Frequently asked questions
Is Penn or Cornell harder to get into?
Penn. It admits 5.4% of applicants against Cornell’s 8.4%. Cornell receives more applications — 72,523 against 65,236 — but admits a larger share of them.
Which is cheaper, Penn or Cornell?
On average they are the same: $28,699 at Penn and $28,690 at Cornell after aid. For families earning $75,000–$110,000 Cornell is far cheaper, at $14,311 against $25,476.
How much do test scores matter at Penn vs Cornell?
Far more at Penn, which rates them very important in its Common Data Set filing; Cornell only considers them. That is declared weight, not submission policy — testing requirements change year to year, so confirm each school’s current rules before deciding what to send.
Is Cornell easier to get into because it is bigger?
Partly. Cornell enrols 16,138 undergraduates to Penn’s 10,013, so a larger class means a higher admit rate at similar demand. Its academic standards are comparable — test ranges at the two schools nearly overlap.
Do Penn or Cornell graduates earn more?
Penn, by $7,328. Median earnings ten years after enrolling are $111,371 at Penn and $104,043 at Cornell. Both rank in the top 2% of US colleges, and Cornell leads slightly on mobility for low-income students.
See how they compare against your profile
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