<p>
[quote]
Columbia2002, I must ask, what IS Columbia looking for? From what I've seen, it's mediocre students with legacy and psychopathic forum-frequenters. Oh, and crappy engineers.
[/quote]
So you admit that's what Penn is looking for as well, since you believe that they are the same in terms of selectivity?</p>
<p>I know that C2002 can be rude, but your obsession with putting Columbia down isn't more mature. I could say similarly ridiculous negative things about your school, but you wouldn't like it so how about you just drop the subject?</p>
<p>For the record, few students have legacy status, and the engineers here are quite intelligent - don't generalize them all as "crappy" just because they don't go to MIT. There are many reasons to attend Columbia, and none of them involve being mediocre.</p>
<p>I would hate to have any of the ridiculous comments from this argument color the OP's view of Columbia in any way, when she should have the opportunity to decide for herself.</p>
<p>So does anyone have anything to add on the subject of SAT IIs? For example, am I right, wrong, do you remember why the Math one is recommended?</p>
<p>"weird, it seems like columbia2002 acts like an insecure child all the time.
he made some bizarre condescending posts in my thread and i was confused; why would somebody who graduated from columbia in 2002 join a forum simply to abuse people?"</p>
<p>C02 has his times of being immature and idiotic, but one thing for sure is that he isn't only here to be a burden, he does give advice and opinion, even if in a roundabout fashion.</p>
<p>"It's not a crapshoot. You need to have what Columbia is looking for. It's easy to call it a crapshoot because it may seem like one."</p>
<p>agreed.</p>
<p>"You probably didn't have what Columbia was looking for. I don't know what Penn is looking for, but it's probably something else."</p>
<p>this is probably quite true, columbia looks for slightly different things than does upenn. for example: columbia probably looks deeper for a love of learning different subjects if you want to do the core. penn might be more likely to take someone who's energized by good sports teams. Penn might favor someone who's interested in interdisciplinary studies.</p>
<p>"From what I've seen, it's mediocre students with legacy and psychopathic forum-frequenters. Oh, and crappy engineers."</p>
<p>LoL, if you're at all serious, and I don't think you are, you're eyes are still closed.</p>
<p>Yeah, I just enjoy getting Columbia2002's goat.</p>
<p>I do want to point out that Penn and Columbia have the same selectivity ranking, so while their admissions rubrics might be slightly different in terms of weltanschauungen, they definitely maintain the same high academic standards. Indeed, they share the same selectivity ranking in UsNews and rank side-by-side in PR's list of top-10 toughest schools to get into.</p>
<p>There are many points on which to criticize C02. This is not one of them. His comments here are accurate and, by his standards, restrained.</p>
<p>muerteapablo, you may note that nobody from this board, to my knowledge, goes and trolls on the boards for our peer / rival schools. Hopefully the OP will weigh points by actual Columbia students more highly than your rants.</p>
<p>To address the OP's question from post #15,
[quote]
I thought that the Math SAT II was only reccomended for the engineering school. Is it better to take it even if I'm not applying there?
[/quote]
Jennifer339 (is that your area code? go boston), Your background is extremely lit- and writing-heavy. This is good - it shows depth and passionate commitment, which is the crucial factor for your admission. However, to show that you're balanced (that your analytical abilities won't be a liability at a school that prides itself on turning out well-rounded graduates who have been exposed to everything), taking the Math SAT2 and doing well on it (and it's freaking easy, trust me) would be a strong statement that you have no such weakness. So it's not required, but in your case it would be a good idea.</p>
<p>I could have gotten an 800 on the Math 1C in 6th grade.
I could have gotten an 800 on the Math 2C in 9th grade.</p>
<p>By 11th or 12th grade, even if you're not a math nerd like me, someone with an ACT of 32 should be able to crack 700-750 on that in their sleep (unless they totally blew chunks in their Geometry and Precalc classes). It's that easy.</p>
<p>I actually thought Math 2C was easier. By the time you're taking the Subject test, the material you're being tested on in the Math 2C exam is probably fresher than the trigonometry you learned in 10th grade for the Math IC exam.</p>
<p>Also, the curve on the Math 2C exam is much more forgiving. </p>
<p>Math IC, I missed 4 questions, got a 700.
Math IIC, I missed 5 questions, got a 740.</p>