I’m an international applicant who has been admitted to the following schools:-
Columbia GS (School of General Studies)
UC Berkeley (Pre-Haas)
USC Marshall School of Business
In the UK
Cambridge
LSE - London School of Economics
UCL - University College London
I have also been waitlisted by
Harvard
Wharton
Cornell Dyson
U-Michigan
UCLA
and rejected by several schools (Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth, U-Chicago, Duke)
As an aspiring entrepreneur, I’m interested in tech startups and would love to know which schools would foster a strong startup culture and provide access to like-minded peers and VC funding. While I’m still hoping for the waitlists to come through (especially Harvard & Wharton), I realize that the odds are low. So my question is mainly regarding Columbia GS - is it the same as Columbia CC? I served compulsory national service for 2 years after finishing my IB Diploma, so I’m a 20-year-old male and I’m still looking for a fun, traditional college experience. Also regarding USC Marshall, is it a good option for tech entrepreneurship? I’m mainly leaning towards the US since that’s where the VC money is and so trying to figure out the best school between the 3 acceptances I received
Well… your username clearly identifies you as someone wanting to attend one of those two Ivies that you were wait-listed at. Of your admissions, Columbia GS is the closest to those experiences… but it is also not the same as Columbia University. GS is for returning or non-traditional students. Plus… Columbia is far from the traditional U.S. college experience as I would define it. Between UC Berkeley and USC, I would clearly favor USC… and for a number of reasons. But then again… you have posted on the USC thread, so what else would you expect? I sent two daughters to USC in large part because it is a hybrid. It is an elite private university, but in many ways, it also mimics the overall traditional college experience that you would more often get at a large public university… especially in terms of activities, school spirit, greek life / social, the wealth of classes, majors and minors offered, etc. I was also very impressed with the global strength of their alumni network. UC Berkeley is a great university, but it is also a public university with fundamentally different aspects due to that factor alone.
In terms of entrepreneur leaning programs… yes - USC has many. So does UC Berkeley. Regarding Columbia GS - is it the same as Columbia? No… not really. And if you are looking for a fun, traditional college experience… Columbia GS is not such as I understand it. Both UC Berkeley and USC would offer that to a far greater degree. From my perspective… both would also do so to a far greater degree than any of the Ivies would, including Harvard and Penn. I take it that you have not visited these campuses. Columbia is very small and surrounded by NYC. It is very urban. So is Penn, although its campus is larger and you can sort of forget about the urban setting that surrounds it while in the middle of campus. Harvard’s campus and setting is superior to both in my opinion. There is of course also a big difference in attending any college or university in the U.S. northeast vs California.
And finally, you may want to look at the Niche college rankings and survey results. It compiles rankings, etc. based on survey results from students, faculty and alumni and goes into a great deal of detail… focusing on many things that other college rankings skip or gloss over… like quality of student life, dorms, food, safety, social life, etc.
One thing to add is that since you are already admitted to USC Marshall and leaning toward undergraduate business school, you might just go there. As you probably know, UCB does not admit freshman into Haas. Once you are at UCB and on track to complete the prerequisite courses, in your sophomore year, you’ll need to apply to and be admitted to Haas as a junior. It is very competitive and not guaranteed admission. The average GPA from UCB to get into Haas is about 3.7. For community college applicants, the GPA is about 3.9 to get into Haas. Haas generally admits only students from UCB or CC and generally does not take students from other colleges, even from other UC’s. Since it is very competitive and no guarantee to get into Haas, maybe you should strongly consider USC Marshall.
