My two dream schools are UPenn and Columbia. I am struggling with my ED decision. Should I put UPenn or Columbia? For the record, getting into either school would delight me very much. The only thing is I want to know which one would be easiest (higher chance) to get into. Lots of people are applying to Penn from my school. Historically, in the past ten years, twenty five students got into Penn, while only ten got into Columbia. But again, many people from my school seem to be applying to Penn. In terms of Columbia, I haven’t been able to yet get a gist of who will be applying.
ALL ADVICE IS NEEDED! Thank you so much for taking your time to help a conflicted student out!!
This is a choice you really have to make yourself. Look at the differences between the schools (ex. do you like the core curriculum at Columbia? which city do you prefer? etc.) and pick one.
@tooksattoday1 There are rather different schools. if you research them more in depth I bet you will like one more than the other.
I can tell you why I ultimately chose Penn over Columbia. i preferred Penn’s more flexible curriculum and the greater ease to double major and take classes outside your major or school. Also I didn’t like the idea of the academic core that Columbia has. Finally I didn’t want to be in NYC for college because I felt it took away from the campus cohesion and culture at Columbia and i like the whole “social” vibe at Penn better.
However, there are many other people who love the core, love Columbia’s campus and really want to experience NYC while in college. For them Columbia is the obvious choice.
Penn has a higher acceptance rate, and admits more undergrads. I would say Penn is slightly easier to get into, but there are a lot of cross admits between the two schools.
They both have excellent programs, but Penn has a more flexible curriculum. Columbia’s core makes a four year schedule quite rigid.
Penn student social life centers around Penn, while Columbia student social life centers around NYC.
In this scenario, your best bet is your college counselor…at your high school. He/she should have a much better idea on where you may have a better shot, especially taking into account the number of applicants to each school and your overall profile.