<p>Every student I've met who was choosing between Penn and Columbia, and chose Penn, has expressed regret that that they didn't go to Columbia.</p>
<p>Who cares about stats? Clearly Columbia is better.</p>
<p>I think it is all preference and where you want to live anyways. IF you want to live in New York then choose Columbia, but if you want to live in the city of brotherly love, then pick Penn. It is whatever suits you and which one you like the most and not which one is better.</p>
<p>LAconfidential, you can't just disregard all facts that don't support your argument. Do you actually know anyone that regretted choosing Penn over Columbia? Why would they regret it? The only possible reason that I can imagine is in order to be in NYC. Literally everything else is as good or better here.</p>
<p>I would have easily preferred Penn over Columbia just as I would have easily preferred Dartmouth over Penn. In this range its much more about personal fit than anything else.</p>
<p>Anecdotal preferences expressed by others (even if one's portrayal of those preferences are honest) are irrelevant in determining which university is "better." Personal choice is the only relevant factor in choosing a university. I sincerely hope that each who thinks Penn is the better four-year lifestyle choice than Dartmouth (or Columbia or Harvard or ____) chooses Penn. I use the term "lifestyle" intentionally because I believe, regardless of your post-graduate choice, your odds of attaining it are the same wherever you go, among these high-falutin' options.</p>
<p>I also sincerely hope that the decision is reached without more than a sideways glance at the "ratings." muerte, you infer (and imply) that since Penn has had a string of success with the "ratings" (is that the USNWR ratings, or something else?), Penn must be experiencing some growth in the cross-admit numbers published without rigor by the NYT in the dark ages. I don't mind that you cling to both the NYT article and the USNWR ratings, but how are they relevant today? You acknowledge that Brown is "hot," but does that fact have anything to do with either ancient cross-admit data or the USNWR ratings? I'm overjoyed that Brown is kicking Penn's (and everyone else's) butt, because it gives me hope that kids still try to pick a four-year stop where they will actually enjoy themselves. My own kid liked Columbia better than Brown (and Penn and Stanford and Harvard and _______), but Brown (or Penn) would have been just fine...</p>
<p>Anecdotal preferences expressed by others (even if one's portrayal of those preferences are honest) are irrelevant in determining which university is "better." Personal choice is the only relevant factor in choosing a university. I sincerely hope that each who thinks Penn is the better four-year lifestyle choice than Dartmouth (or Columbia or Harvard or ____) chooses Penn. I use the term "lifestyle" intentionally because I believe, regardless of your post-graduate choice, your odds of attaining it are the same wherever you go, among these high-falutin' options.</p>
<p>I also sincerely hope that the decision is reached without more than a sideways glance at the "ratings." muerte, you infer (and imply) that since Penn has had a string of success with the "ratings" (is that the USNWR ratings, or something else?), Penn must be experiencing some growth in the cross-admit numbers published without rigor by the NYT in the dark ages. I don't mind that you cling to both the NYT article and the USNWR ratings, but how are they relevant today? You acknowledge that Brown is "hot," but does that fact have anything to do with either ancient cross-admit data or the USNWR ratings? I'm overjoyed that Brown is kicking Penn's (and everyone else's) butt, because it gives me hope that kids still try to pick a four-year stop where they will actually enjoy themselves. My own kid liked Columbia better than Brown (and Penn and Stanford and Harvard and _______), but Brown (or Penn) would have been just fine...</p>
<p>the students i've met at columbia versus those i've met at penn are smarter, and they are all more sophisticated. for example, they dress a lot better, and i've never met a penn student who read something just because they were interested in it.</p>
<p>you can stop trolling now, thanks.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the students i've met at columbia versus those i've met at penn are smarter, and they are all more sophisticated.** for example, they dress a lot better**
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well of course you can infer how smart someone is by how well they dress! Fail</p>
<p>
[quote]
and i've never met a penn student who read something just because they were interested in it.
[/quote]
And all I can say is that you need to meet more Penn students (this isn't even a snide "or fewer Wharton students" remark, as the students in all of Penn's schools that I have met--and having actually attended Penn, I'm going to go out on a limb and say my sample size is larger than yours--have held interests that go far beyond their major or semester's courseload. Verdict: another fail</p>
<p>I hereby dub thee, LAcon*fail*dential and lol at my own fiendish cleverness. Now shoo before I get my troll spray.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It must be different out in LA because I haven't seen this same 'universal acknowledgement'.</p>
<p>Here are the facts on the "Top Eighteen" colleges.
These are the ones with 75th SAT percentiles of 1500+.
Ranking colleges in this respect actually benefits public universities, since there is often a large gap between 25th & 75th percentiles.
(e.g: Berkeley (1220-1470)).. has the same 75th percentile as Emory but Emory likely has the higher average.) It doesn't make UC-Berkeley a worse school.</p>
<p>Harvard (1400-1590)
Yale (1400-1590)
Caltech (1470-1580)
Princeton (1390-1580)
MIT (1380-1560)
Stanford (1340-1550)
Dartmouth (1330-1550)
Columbia (1360-1540)
Duke (1340-1540)
Wash U (1370-1530)
Penn (1330-1530)
Brown (1330-1530)
Chicago (1330-1530)
Rice (1310-1530)
Northwestern (1350-1520)
Notre Dame (1300-1510)
Cornell (1290-1500)
Johns Hopkins (1290-1500)</p>
<p>When comparing five peer schools (Penn, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Duke).. this is how they do in terms of percentiles</p>
<p>75th Percentile
Dartmouth
Columbia, Duke
Penn, Brown</p>
<p>25th Percentile
Columbia
Duke
Penn, Brown, Dartmouth</p>
<p>What this means... I don't know.
However, from what I've observed- I think 25th percentile is more indicative of how strictly a top college adheres to SAT scores and 75th percentile is more indicative of where those top scorers actually choose to attend.</p>
<p>This would mean Penn & Brown are equal in this respect.
Dartmouth and Duke manage the same 'average' by Duke being more test-score focused but with more high scorers picking Dartmouth.
Columbia is the most test-score focused out of the five by far but has similar success to Duke in getting the top scorers and less than Dartmouth.</p>
<p>are we done yet</p>
<p>No!!
Not until all the evidence comes out!!
It is clear that smarter people tend to pick Dartmouth over Penn given its 75th percentile SAT score!!</p>
<p>they are completely different schools on opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways (large vs. small, city vs. rural, etc.). They are both great schools and its dumb to try and argue that one is better than the other. Anyone can get a great education at both, and if someone is lucky enough to choose between them, they should choose based on which school is a better fit for them, not which one has a higher 75th percentile SAT score</p>
<p>BTW my original reason for arguing with Beef Supreme was his "utter shock" that I thought Dartmouth was slightly more selective than Penn. The reality is choose between these schools (and Columbia, Amherst, Brown, etc) for fit. It looks like 95% of the posters here agree with that.</p>
<p>They're both great schools. This arguing is counterproductive. :/</p>
<p>
[quote]
BTW my original reason for arguing with Beef Supreme was his "utter shock" that I thought Dartmouth was slightly more selective than Penn. The reality is choose between these schools (and Columbia, Amherst, Brown, etc) for fit. It looks like 95% of the posters here agree with that.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You really need to learn to pick your battles.</p>
<p>Look who started the thread..</p>
<p>I mean, I just come here to vent my argumentative, vindictive-*****iness. It gets my juices flowing.</p>
<p>get a life</p>