Columbia vs Upenn Ed/EA?? What would you recommend me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>ok so i am applying to columbia and penn as my reaches and i am not sure how i should apply to each. i am also applying to the UCs and i am not THAT worried about the UC admission. </p>

<p>my stats are less than average on CC as a heads up</p>

<p>-2020 SAT, going to retake for possibly 2100+
- 740 math 2
-780 us history
-4.16667 overall GPA, excluding senior year
-varsity tennis, mvp, team captain, won regional school competition
-first generation
-very low income family
-no volunteering what so ever
-worked and also had an internship
-california resident
-i dont know if this will have any influence in the decision making but i am adopted
- asian</p>

<p>i want to move to new york because i want to experience the east coast and new york is just new york. i also want to go to penn cause i decided i want major in business and wharton seems like the perfect choice for people who want to be in business. the acceptance rate at penn is higher at 16 percent and columbia at 10 percent so i am going with the odds and thinking that ED with penn will be better. can anyone offer me some advice?</p>

2

<p>columbia ED = 22% accept rate
upenn ED = 30% accept rate
upenn wharton ED=not sure, but much lower than 30%</p>

<p>i'm pretty sure that wharton is just as hard to get into as columbia. try the what are my chances board.</p>

3

<p>Those stats are not right for Columbia. From what I saw its more like 25% or higher, since they do after all take 43% of their class early. Penn is like 29%.</p>

4

<p>I would say that Wharton is as hard to get into as HYP. Penn doesn't release the stats for the indiv. colleges, but that's what I have heard numerous times.</p>

5

<p>^ uh oh. haha. then what should i do guys? i am more confused than ever now.</p>

6

<p>I say non-Wharton at Penn. Columbia has much lower acceptance rate (10% compared to Penn's 17%) and stronger overall student body (it's average SAT score is over 50 points higher than Penn's). Wharton's overall admission rate is around 13% because it admits a large portion of its class through Early Decision in order to compete with HYP.</p>

7

<p>the stats are correct for columbia. look up the latest figures from last year.</p>

8

<p>ok so i should ED at Penn and EA at columbia and then switch to wharton if i get accepted?</p>

9

<p>Columbia is also ED.....I would learn more about the schools first and definitely visit them.</p>

10

<p>^ yeah i definitely should. i wish i could visit them but i dont have the money unfortunately.</p>

11

<p>Well I visited Penn, in my view and my friends and family who saw it. The campus is urban and decent looking with certain very pretty areas like the Quad and Locust Walk(a walkway down the center of campus), otherwise it was a little underwhelming. I am going to visit columbia next week so can't comment on that, yet I am in a similar situation deciding between Standford SCEA (double legacy), Columbia ED, and Penn ED (legacy)...I have heard that Columbia is a more intellectual feel and there is no question NYC is better than Philly. Yet, Penn is supposed to have a very fun and unified social experience, unlike Columbia. Its a hard choice, hopefully other people can offer their opinions on the two schools :)</p>

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<p>hmmm.. so if you were in my position, had my stats, and needed to decide, what choice would you make?</p>

13

<p>whats your SAT I breakdown, for wharton it will be very hard to get into without a good Math score. Honestly it may be best for you to do ED to Penn CAS with all else being equal since it has the higher % ed acceptance rate. Yet, I will be honest your SATs are kind of low at this point to have a realistic chance at being admitted. So it may make sense to do EA somewhere, retake the SATs and apply to both RD. Its hard for me to give you advice on a choice, when I haven't been able to come up with one for myself, yet admittedly penn is lagging behind.</p>

14

<p>

Your numbers for Penn are a bit off. First, Penn's acceptance rate has been closer to 16% than 17% (at least through the Class of 2011)--still higher than Columbia's overall rate.</p>

<p>Second, Penn's SAT scores are much closer to Columbia's than you indicate. Middle 50% ranges from collegeboard.com:</p>

<p>PENN
CR 650-750
M 680-780
W 660-750</p>

<p>COLUMBIA
CR 660-760
M 670-780
W 650-760</p>

<p>Third, Wharton's overall acceptance rate is around 10% (same as Colubmia's), and not 13%. And the percentage of Penn's (and Wharton's) class admitted through ED (49%) is actually pretty close to the percentage of Columbia's class admitted through ED (45%).</p>

15

<p>ok well i am going to retake in october for 2200 hopefully. so then ED at Wharton and RD at Columbia?</p>

16

<p>Wharton and Columbia are different beasts entirely. You are much better off applying to Penn's College and dabbling in Wharton classes to improve your business acumen.</p>

<p>After all, the kids at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Penn's own College, etc all do a mighty fine job in business despite not having studied business as undergrads.</p>

<p>Plus Columbia isn't very "College-y." You should go to Penn for a better undergraduate experience and Columbia for grad school.</p>

17

<p>^ then can i get a job in the business sector without a wharton degree but just a penn degree?</p>

18

<p>Just wondering - is it common or at all possible for college students to transfer to Wharton?</p>

19

<p>crunchygranola-
You can, but it's much better to attend Wharton if you aspire to make your mark in business.
roflc0pter-
It's possible, but not very common.</p>

20

<p>darnit.... so i guess i am just going to have to ED to wharton.</p>