When I actually got around to visiting Yale, I found it to be just about the most pretentious place on Earth. Every professor, teaching assistant, tour guide, etc that I came across was so full himself that I just knew it would be 4 years of hell.
My sister was already going to Cornell so I was familiar with the campus and the general atmosphere. I find it to be the perfect mix of great academics with a genuine college experience. Cornell, to me, is for intellectuals who want to attend college and not a country club full of trust fund babies where you happen to take classes.
Might I add that grade inflation is running rampant through Yale, Princeton and Harvard, while at Cornell it is still challenging to pull a 3.0. Despite delusions of grandeur, those other schools are actually quite a bit easier to graduate.