Hi!
I was recently blessed with acceptances to two phenomenal schools, Carnegie Mellon University and Columbia University. But I am completely stuck on which one to choose.
At Carnegie, I would pursue chemical engineering from the first year. At Columbia, I will be attending Columbia College, so I can choose virtually any major I want (except those related to engineering since that’s in a different school) because I won’t be able to declare a major until sophomore year. Financially, both come out to pretty similar costs so that isn’t really a factor.
Can you guys please help me weigh some pros and cons just by what you know/have heard about the two schools?
Seems to me the big question is do you want to study engineering?
If your goal is to be an engineer, go to CMU.
If you’re not totally sure what you want to major in, go to Columbia.
I realize a lot of people go to schools where they’re admitted to a particular major and it all works out fine. But I think that if you have the flexibility to avoid that, it can be a good thing.
Because you are thinking about Columbia rather than dismissing it out of hand, I’m assuming, perhaps incorrectly, that you’re not absolutely, positively set on chemical engineering.
My husband entered Columbia absolutely certain he was going to be a chemistry major. That lasted literally about two weeks when a lab made him realize that doing chemistry was just not his thing. He ended up a CS major. A friend’s husband entered Haverford firmly intending to major in bio Chem. He graduated with an economics major. The daughter of some friends started college admitted to a business major. Two years later she was transferring to a school where she could study public health. College is going to take more than four years because of the change in major. I’m not saying that everyone changes their mind. Many people don’t. But enough people do that if you have the opportunity to get exposed to a lot of different things and try out different departments before you have to declare a major, I think that’s a good thing.
Of course, there are plenty of other factors to think about. How do you feel about Columbia’s core curriculum? Do you prefer NYC or Pittsburgh? Have you visited both schools and how did you like the people and the atmosphere at each one? How much are you dying to major in engineering? How easy is it to change majors at CMU if you change your mind?