<p>I'm a sophomore in high school and its time to start looking into colleges and hiring a college counselor and stuff. I know i want to go to a prestigious school (and yes, i'm qualified for these) and i want to go to a large school in a large city. I love the city and hate the rural environment i live in now. I want to get a business or economics major with a minor in political science cause i love politics. (My ultimate goal is to be an entrepreneur and have my own investment firm on wall street...haha i dream BIG)... Anyway that's enough about me... Onto my questions</p>
<p>I love NYC and travel there a lot. I know the 2 best colleges there are NYU and Columbia. I LOVE them both but don't what to do.</p>
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<li><p>NYU has the BPE Program that spends 3 semesters abroad and covers my 3 interest areas in 1 major allowing me take some electives like entrepreneurship classes and financial classes. (See my question pertaining specifically to the BPE Program i posted in the New York University section)</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia is Ivy League which makes a pretty powerful resume. But it doesn't have a business school and i don't know if there is a way to take like a business concentration or something with the economics degree. That also means that i'll have to use my elective credits to get the minor in political science instead of using them to take extra finance classes and other things that interest me like business law and entrepreneurship.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>SO...Tell me what you think about these two colleges. Tell me what you think i should do. Compare and contrasts these colleges so i can get multiple opinions about these school. Even add other schools that compare to these that i should be interested. And anything else you wanna add. You can just say hi for all I care. I just wanna here from you guys.</p>
<p>(P.S. My backups for these 2 colleges are wharton, georgetown, and stanford so add anything about these school or just add more school.)</p>
<p>haha. i guess that was a little misunderstanding. When i said backups i guess i should have said like…My other colleges of interest besides Columbia and NYU are… And i doubt I’m Einstein Jr., There are probably a ton of grammatical mistakes and such in both of my posts.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you are just now starting your sophomore year, there is not way that you can know that you are “qualified” to attend a “prestigious” school yet.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia does have a business school.</p></li>
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<p>OK. Let me explain. #1 when i say i’m qualified it means that I’m an A student…2nd in my class…I’m also an officer in FBLA, Student Council, and i’m a member of 3 other clubs. I Lettered in 3 sports last year as a freshmen and with no injuries (knock on wood) i should have no problems with letters. 3x4=12 Varsity letters. Umm. I have a job which i have held since age 14. I have community service hours and member of key club and i ref ayso soccer. I speak Spanish pretty fluently and i have talked to my school counselor and mapped out my classes for the next three years that includes 6 AP classes. That’s my rap sheet, and although i might be a sophomore i think that this qualifies me assuming i can keep my GPA up through the years.</p>
<p>And a correction… Columbia DOES have a business program. Columbia DOES NOT have an undergraduate business program. It has a Graduate School of Business much like Harvard, Dartmouth, ect.</p>
<p>You didn’t even take the SAT Reasoning or Subject Tests yet. Your curriculum and grades may both be inflated.</p>
<p>Look at the Boston College Carroll School of Management. BC is located in a beautiful, wealthy suburb, and Boston is 20 minutes away by bus.</p>
<p>Look at the Macaulay Honors Program at the City University of New York: Baruch College. Very well-known business program, fairly selective, tuition-free.</p>
<p>NYU and Columbia are both wonderful schools, though I prefer Columbia if only because of the tiny, aesthetically pleasing campus, the good financial aid, the prestige, and the generally strong humanities offerings.</p>
<p>NYU Stern is a superior choice if you have your heart absolutely set on working in finance or consulting.</p>
<p>They’re both obviously excellent schools. Here’s what I have to say about each. I’ll try to be as unbiased as possible.</p>
<p>Columbia: Obviously, the Ivy League name and tradition of academic excellence dating back almost a century before NYU existed. Great traditional undergraduate education. all around, the departments are very strong. Core-heavy. Highly selective. Intellectual and talented student body, but diversity leaves some to be desired. Smaller student population. Gives better FA. Nice campus in a so so neighborhood. Top graduate business and law programs.</p>
<p>NYU (which I attend and know more about): The largest private university in the nation. Ambitiously developing into one of the world’s premier research universities. Shooting up in the rankings. Cosmopolitan. In the heart of downtown Manhattan with immediate access to so many great opportunities. Receives the most applications of any private school. Stern and Tisch are among the best schools in their respective fields. Very good humanities/social science programs overall, several are excellent (econ, poli sci, art history, etc). Poor Financial Aid. Highly selective, but not as much as Columbia. Very diverse (both intellectually and ethnically) and LARGE student population. No campus. No one’s going to be holding your hand. Each dorm room has its own bathroom. Like Columbia, top business and law programs.</p>
<p>Call me biased but I’d say NYU is your best bet for a top notch business or economics education. Columbia’s really core heavy which might prevent you from taking business/economics classes until later on, but don’t quote me on this. Also, NYU is a 15 minute subway ride away from Wall Street, while Columbia’s probably an hour or so.</p>
<p>NYU was founded specifically to fight that century of class, racial, and religious discrimination.</p>
<p>In Columbia’s defense, it gives significantly better financial aid, and it is the most diverse elite university in the country because it has the highest population of African-American students (a “critical mass,” I’ve heard it called), and that’s the typical standard under which a school is judged.</p>
<p>NYU’s FA is nothing to sneeze at, though. I got 25,000 dollars in “merit-based” grants, and an additional 5,000 in grants after appealing. Add that to 1,500 in state grants and 4,000 in federal work study, and I could have gone to town–or, the Village.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call you qualified for Columbia (or NYU) yet, even if you will take 6 Ap’s, that’s not rare or particularly exceptional. Perhaps in your high school it is, but there are tens of thousands of other applicants with those stats and even better extra curriculars. Take your SAT’s and SAT II’s and then see how you stack up. Without those numbers you really dont know where you can get admitted to. Sorry to be frank…</p>
<p>I think a few people have said this before I have but still; you haven’t experienced high school until you get through junior year.
Your EC’s are good (they arent original but they are good). There will be people with better ones though. And such a large part of admisions is your SAT and GPA, including your junior year, that its so hard for you to say your already qualified. Not to mention you have SAT II’s and your AP scores. I agree with the person above, 6 isnt that great.
Not saying you dont have a shot but an incoming sophmore talking about wharton and stanford is a little funny.</p>
<p>yes, your grades are good, but the rest of your resume is nothing impressive.
I got into columbia.
I took 14 AP’s by the time high school was over.
I had straight A’s and one or two blips (B+'s or A-'s) in my transcript.
Founded Three Clubs, President/Editor in two others, and did tons of outside work involving the inner city etc along with piano, art, violin, and two sports.
Got very high SAT’s and SAT II scores.
Top 2-3% of my class (very competitive school).
and a few other things.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you need my resume to get in or whatever, but it’s a pretty personal example of an applicant I know who got in I know people with resumes even better than mine that got denied (because of crappy essays)…so yeah.
and fyi, I’m not attending Columbia, but a different prestigious University that I find equally amazing in Baltimore :)</p>
<p>keep in mind, too, that these schools have totally different vibes.
Columbia is a lot more learning-for-the-sake-of-it, while NYU is a lot more: get me to where I want to be while I have a little time to explore the city…</p>
<p>Personally, I think you fit into the NYU mold moreso than Columbia.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replys everyone. I realize that i don’t have the best resume ever and i’m only a sophomore. And when i say that i think i’m qualified, it just means that after research of people that got in, compared to my plans for highschool, i think i would be qualified to have a chance to get in. I know that these schools are highly selective and i know that only like 10% of qualified people get in. I don’t want to sound like i’m saying that i know i’m so good, i have to get in…cause that’s just not true. I am kind of hoping that now we can just concentrate on the question instead of my resume. Thank you to everyone</p>
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[QUOTE=bdl108]
Nice campus in a so so neighborhood.
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<p>Columbia’s neighborhood, Morningside Heights, is actually quite nice. I’ve been there quite a bit. Even late at night, I’ve never had problems there.</p>
<p>It’s just that it’s not in the “city”. But most New Yorkers don’t get to live in the “city”. It’s normal in New York to live in upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens or even New Jersey and have to ride the subway into the city.</p>
<p>If you go north of Columbia’s campus, you’re in Harlem. Even Harlem isn’t that dangerous nowadays. And you don’t have to go there unless you want to. You may want to. It’s an interesting place.</p>
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[QUOTE=bdl108]
Also, NYU is a 15 minute subway ride away from Wall Street, while Columbia’s probably an hour or so.
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<p>I commuted to the Wall Street area from even farther up Manhattan than Morningside Heights. Even that didn’t take an hour. Taking the subway from Morningside Heights to Wall Street would probably take only 40 minutes.</p>
<p>"haha. i guess that was a little misunderstanding. When i said backups i guess i should have said like…My other colleges of interest besides Columbia and NYU are… "</p>
<p>Just thought i’d let you know i tried to clear that up. poor choice of words on my part.</p>
<p>Take3: Yeah I’m sure Morningside Heights isn’t that bad. I can’t say I’ve ever been there though lol. 'Tis close to Harlem though. And yeah, I don’t really know how long it takes to get to Wall Street from Columbia. I’m just saying that it’s easier from NYU. I commuted there as well; I’d hop on the 4 train my dorm and would be there in 10 minutes.</p>
<p>^Because the OP might be able to afford an expensive undergrad education and perhaps he is interested in a high quality education that offers a lot more than a sheet of paper with his name on it?</p>
I know people with resumes even better than mine that got denied (because of crappy essays)…so yeah.