Hello, I am an international student and I am trying to decide whether I should go for the 3/2 program
I know financial aid in Columbia to 3/2 international students is really rare, and I will probably receive none, but my parents might be able to afford the program if they get a loan. I’d say the chance of them paying for the two years at Columbia is 80%.
I am considering Adelphi Uni and CUNY Queens College for the first three years. Neither are accredited in my country (but I will do my master’s in the US as well) and for Queens I will have to pay 17k+12k tuition and board, and Adelphi with its 35k tuition is not an option unless I get a decent scholarship.
I don’t know if I should take the risk. Columbia is my dream school and I will try to transfer regardless of which university I attend. I might either go for the 3/2 program, which is a huge gamble, or attend an unranked uni with full ride and transfer out to a better university (where I will pay around 25k/year tuition). Doubt I will be able to make it to Columbia as a transfer from that unranked uni though.
Any suggestions? Please help me out, thanks a lot!
If your goal is engineering, a 3/2 program is not the approach I would recommend. There are many ABET accredited engineering programs at 4 year schools that will get you there for a more reasonable COA. If your goal is Columbia, that is an entirely different question.
My goal is Columbia, to be honest. I am much more interested in computer science than engineering, but since Columbia doesn’t offer it in the 3/2 I will go for CS in Queens or Adelphi and Computer Engineering in Columbia.
For Ivies and other “elite” universities, transfer admission can be even more selective than first year admission. Columbia does not publish a CDS. However, according to Yale’s 2016-17 CDS, only 28 transfers were accepted out of 1160 applicants (~2.4%). I suspect that many successful applicants come from “peer” institutions and have very good reasons for transferring (not just a desire to attend a more prestigious college).
CS is a very marketable major. In the USA, at least, you don’t have to graduate from a very prestigious school to get decent job offers. If you’re more interested in CS than engineering, I recommend choosing an affordable school on that basis with the intention of staying there for 4 years.
Sadly, staying at a university for 4 years is kind of out of question, because of financial reasons. If I don’t do the 3/2 program, I will probably go for the university that is giving me a full ride and try intercampus transfer to the accredited campus… It seems relatively easy and will save me about 50k.
Uni of Illinois Springfield is providing the full ride -I will try to transfer to the Uni of Illinois Chicago afterwards (can’t afford Urbana-Champaign even if I can transfer so that’s not an option) My parents can afford up to 60k-80k for four years but Columbia’s full tuition for two years would really strain them (would be like 100k in total, not including living expenses at that)
I don’t have a work permit in USA, and can’t disclose where I have one because of privacy reasons (I am probably the only student from my country to apply to these schools, lol)
UIC is ranked 145 nationally but UIS is unranked and I guess regional. UIC is accredited in my country, UIS isn’t. I don’t know if a degree from UIS will help me find a job in the US so transfer seems like the safest option.
I don’t really know if I can get into a master’s program in a university I would really like to attend if I do my undergrad in UIS… Also there is the rather superficial location issue. I don’t know if I can survive in a city like Springfield for 4 years…
You can get in to a good Masters program if you do well at UIS.
I really doubt the difference in quality between UIC and UIS is as big as you think it is. As for “surviving in a place like Springfield”, it’s not exactly a war zone (or all that different from Chambana). And you could always take a bus to StL/Chicago for trips.
I still have doubts, to be honest. I looked up some alumni of UIS and almost none of them did their master’s/phd in a top 20 school. Not even top 50. No notable alumni or faculty either. UIC seems to have plenty of both…
If you are looking to transfer your way into Columbia have you considered the following option:
Start off at Community College 2 years > Transfer to General Studies or SEAS
You’ll have the benefit of paying cheap tuition for the first two years. Then transferring as a community college student will probably be a lot easier than transferring from U of I.
Thanks for the suggestion. I could try the community college path for SEAS, but the website says aid for international students is limited, even if I am accepted miraculously, I might be unable to attend if aid doesn’t cover at least half of the tuition -I am kind of confused about it though. “Foreign students applying for aid must understand that such aid is awarded on an extremely limited basis. Columbia meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for admitted transfer students.” So the aid is limited, but once you are admitted, demonstrated aid is covered? Can anyone clarify?
This should have been on the website but Columbia is need aware for international students so if you need aid, you have to tell them beforehand and it may make acceptance a bit harder for you. If you are accepted, they will meet full demonstrated need. If you apply for 3-2, they won’t be need aware but they will also probably give you a pretty terrible financial aid package.
I know it is only for two years but I wouldn’t recommend applying for GS unless you are absolutely set on Columbia and you are rejected from CC or SEAS because GS students get little financial aid and sometimes get housed in the Bronx, about 45 minutes away from campus by subway.
Columbia has a Combined Plan Program with about 40 liberal arts colleges programs which is usually a 3/2 sequence where you will receive a BA from your college in a liberal arts field in 3 years and then attend Columbia for 2 years to receive an engineering BS. You should look that up. When we were looking at Clark University for our child, we were told that if a student had a 3.3 or so GPA (not sure of the exact number), admission to Columbia Engg was automatic, but financial assistance would not be provided. Here is the link to the Columbia site: https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/learn/academiclife/engineering/combined-plan-program