Sorry if this has been asked before, but is it easier to get into Yale or Columbia? I believe Columbia has a lower acceptance rate, but I heard its applicant pool was weaker than Yale’s.
Yale is generally quite a bit more selective in my experience.
One is very very hard to get into. The other is very hard to get into.
Distinguishing between the difficulty of getting into a school with a 6% acceptance rate and a school with a 6.3% acceptance rate is a futile endeavor.
In my unreliable experience, I was waitlisted by Yale and accepted by Columbia.
Class of 2019 Admit Rates
Sources: Official websites of both schools
Columbia - 6.1%
Yale - 6.7%
The pools are actually extraordinarily similar. VERY similar. So is the selectivity. They are so close, it is pointless in comparing them.
The pool isn’t even marginally weaker at one than the other. As everybody else is pointing out, applying to one b/c you think that it will be ‘easier’ to get into one than the other is a mug’s game.
More importantly, the differences between the two schools are serious enough that almost certainly one will be a better fit for you than the other- and that’s the one you should use your early card on (b/c that is the root of the question, yes?). Applicants never want to believe it, but the adcomms are better than they get credit for at recognizing good fits. Assuming that you (like the clear majority of applicants) have all the external stuff (grades, scores, ecs, LORs) to make you a credible candidate, it is the pieces of you and how you fit that are most likely to tip the balance. It may be a slim straw, but it’s the best you’ve got- and a lot better than the difference in admit rates.
They are equally hard to get into but Columbia targets specific types of people who are more likely to be admitted by STEM type schools like MIT and Stanford.
@texaspg, are you saying that b/c Columbia joined CIRTL and has some STEM outreadch programs? Columbia has strong sciences, to be sure, but it’s hardly a STEM school like MIT or even Stanford. The Core is a huge part of the Columbia experience, and yes I know MIT has strong humanities but in no way are they fundamental to the MIT experience.
Of course, I could be mis-reading your statement- you could mean that Columbia, MIT and Stanford are all specifically targeting very high achieving students who are passionate about what they do, in which case STEM is not really the key point.
Or: you may something I don’t. So, can you elaborate on your assertion that Columbia specifically targets students who would otherwise head for STEM schools?
Not my impression at all that Columbia seeks out stem students per se. They are seeking a variety of students. Classical liberal arts education–core.
Columbia’s engineering school competes with MIT and Stanford and possibly Cornell. They seem to admit overlapping candidates in the engineering admits.
They have a lot more openings in engineering school compared to Yale.
All right, I’ll probably do some research about both schools and see what I like more, then.
While that’s one strategy, the odds are that if you apply to both, they will make the decision for you. Good luck.
Are you limited to applying to one? I don’t get where your research is going to take you. If you find aspects of both you envision yourself enjoying, apply to both if you’re a realistic candidate for either.
What does admit rate have to do with it? YOu realize you’re discussing two of the most selective schools, extant, right?
As long as you’re applying to a broad enough range of target schools, tossing in a few “dream” schools is OK.
They are, without a doubt, equally selective. I was admitted to both and the students I met at admitted students day were all equally intelligent, impressive, passionate and driven. There were lots of kids at Yale who were rejected by Columbia (both ED and RD) and lots of kids at Columbia who were rejected by Yale (both EA and RD). There were lots of kids who were attending both Yale and Columbia admitted students days with me. With the ivies it doesn’t make sense to try to ‘game the system’ by finding which one is least selective because the dirty little secret is that the vast majority of the students at one Ivy could easily have been admitted to another had the wind been blowing in the right direction on the day the adcom read their applications. But, as has been mentioned before, the types of students who eventually attend each school and what they value in an undergraduate education might differ markedly between C & Y-- it’s worth investigating the differences in campus culture but not so much the differences in admissions.
@penncas2014 - I have noticed that there are a few who get into both schools like you did but for some reason there is not as much overlap among the admits. Many seem to get into one or the other but not both. Did you notice any specific types who get admitted only at Yale or Columbia?
Checking Naviance at my kid’s school suggests that Columbia is slightly easier to get into than Yale. But the difference is not huge.
That’s an extremely small sample size, but it fits with my expectations.
Every year I know 10-12 kids who get into Columbia and 2-4 kids who get into Yale (14-year sample size). Of the hundred or so Ivy candidates I know each year, there are significantly more students who apply to Columbia but not Yale than there are students who apply to Yale but not Columbia.
Of course we’re splitting very, very elusive hairs here: Both schools are spectacularly selective.
Yale’s average test scores are higher, but since both schools are above 2200, I’m not sure it’s any big deal.
Both are pretty hard to get into…
@T26E4 I can’t apply to too many schools for time + financial reasons. I was thinking I may just choose one or the other.