<p>I love Columbia, and I was wondering if I have better chances of admission applying to the Fu School of Engineering or to the College. I love math and science, but I'm also interested in the humanities, so I wouldn't be giving up my interests if I was accepted to either division. It's just a matter of which one would be more likely to offer me admission.</p>
<p>Stats:
White female, attending competitive public school
SAT: 800M, 800CR, 780W
SAT IIs: 790 Lit, 720 Math II (retook in December), 680 Physics (retook in December)
GPA: 3.9 UW (a B+in French) and 4.41 W. All APs. Top 10% in class
APs: US Hist 5, English 5
ECs:
-All-American and All-State athlete.
-Editor for the paper
-National Merit Scholar
-National Honor Society
-attended the Governor's School on Engineering and Technology for a month this summer (a selective scholarship-based program at Rutgers for top NJ students), wrote a paper on my scientific research
-Environmental Club
-Harvard Model Congress delegate
-various science and math clubs
-Published in teen writing magazine
-Outward Bound Youth Leadership member (scholarship program)</p>
<p>Given these stats, should I go for Fu or the College if my objective is Columbia? Does anyone have experience with the difference between the two schools?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>no this is misinformation, SEAS has higher SAT scores than Columbia College and when they published stats separately had higher class ranks as well, indicating Columbia College was easier to get into despite the acceptance rate differential. Today they’re about equally as difficult to get into, so focus on where you’d like to study, I would apply to Columbia College if you’re on the fence.</p>
<p>SEAS seems to be on the lookout for strong female candidates. Last year they asked the college office of one of our local high schools if they knew of any qualified women who could be encouraged to apply. However, you should only apply there if you are sure that you want an engineering education, since it is not easy to switch between schools. You seem like a strong candidate either way, but think about what you want to study. It’s not just about humanities vs. science. For pure science, CC might be a better route than SEAS with its focus on applied science.</p>
<p>@confidentailcoll</p>
<p>Out of the context of this topic, you may very well be right, but as a high-scoring white female with good ECs, SEAS will probably be easier to be accepted into. (In fact, Asians slightly outnumber Caucasians at SEAS and SEAS undergrad is 34.7% female.)</p>
<p>Source: [Columbia</a> University Statistical Abstract | Student Data](<a href=“Columbia OPIR”>Columbia OPIR)</p>
<p>
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<p>high scoring means less if other applicants are also high scoring. 34.7% female is slightly higher than / pretty much in line with most other engineering schools, there’s no reason to assume it’s easier for women to get in. have you seen the applicant pool numbers by gender? For example are Asians getting in at a higher rate than whites because of or despite their race?</p>
<p>Columbia never claims to consider gender as a factor in admissions, so you need ample evidence before you can claim as much.</p>
<p>i think you should apply to cc. you dont seem 100% sure that engineering is for you. i hear that’s a death wish in seas.</p>
<p>for admission purposes only, Fu is by far easier than the college. Admission to Fu in ED, for example, is like 24 - 33 percent (over the past few years), whereas the college was like 12-15 percent. But if you like engineering ALOT, columbia’s engineering is no match for places like MIT and Stanford. I think Columbia’s engineering is ranked behind top 20 in the nation, but it is rising. (Columbia’s humanities are beast though 
)</p>
<p>confidentialtoll, I’m pretty sure youre wrong. First of all, link all of us to the page where you found SEAS students had higher scores. It doesn’t. Maybe in math. </p>
<p>Also, students who choose to exclusively do engineering tend to be a select few students. Many of the URM’s, athletes, development, etc. (people with slightly lower academics) go to the college. Spots reserved for the “normal” applicants is thus even less for the college.</p>
<p>College***. You are completely misled. Why don’t you apply to SEAS just to get a taste of how “easy” it is to get in. For an applicant like you (probably humanities oriented), you’ll surely be rejected. My point is, if you don’t have the statistics and the quantitative stronghold, don’t even consider applying to SEAS. It might be wise for you to stick to the college. Your case alone would prove that such generalization of yours is completely misled/and leads many people to the wrong conclusion. And to think of it, you don’t have the humanities background either. From what you’ve said, you don’t have much critical thinking skills. </p>
<p>ANd for the statistics:</p>
<p><a href=“http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/4625/screen/19?school_name=Columbia+University[/url]”>http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/4625/screen/19?school_name=Columbia+University</a></p>
<p>Compare this to Columbia’s overall sat statistics last year. </p>
<p>And if you want to see athletes, go to Columbia’s sports page. And work out the percentage. out of 300 people at SEAS you are bound to find at least 30-40 athletes, which is a very sizable chunk. </p>
<p>And to your last point, you don’t want to compete against “normal applicants” in SEAS. Whereas there is a greater diversity of students in the College (people interested in music who might not necessarily have high sat scores), almost all the students in SEAS are strong academically. High GPA and SAT scores.</p>
<p>Jacobian,
all right bro chill out. I’ll give you the stats, SEAS is pretty legit. I was just going off of ED admission rates, which prob wasn’t good representation, my bad bro.</p>
<p>and I personally thought CC was a harder admit than SEAS, but of course I could definitely be wrong. Jacobian seems to know everything, so listen to him ya’ll.</p>
<p>Collegeftw, don’t get offended by what I said. I have nothing against you. I just don’t like unwarranted generalizations overall. I guess this is something I’ll have to get used to because in the end this is a forum, not an encyclopedia. </p>
<p>But I do hope that whoever wants to make a point, make sure you know what you are talking about before making big conclusions. It shows some responsibility and credibility.</p>
<p>well 1) her question was “do you think” so its already a matter of personal opinion</p>
<p>2) I based my “generalizations” off of past columbia decision threads…in which most of the URM’s that posted stated they were entering Columbia College, or deciding on a major that basically means they’re going to be in Columbia College</p>
<p>3) admission rates have traditionally been higher for SEAS than CC</p>
<p>4) I agree with you, SEAS is not the least bit average, its still a stellar school</p>
<p>kcool.</p>
<p>and since I did ED, I did a lot of research on ED. In some years, SEAS was as high as 30 percent acceptance rate, whereas CC always waivered around 14 %.
k bro? Sorry I made you freak out, my bad. I also agreed at the end that what I typed may have been too haste, and a bit of research may have added to my credibility. But if I go research just to respond to this thread…well I’m sure trackgirl can research on her own. I was just pulling up what I remembered. Sorry if I don’t remember exact stats like you man.</p>
<p>^jacobian beat me to the asee link, as you can see, Columbia seas is indeed more selective than cc as measured by sat scores, the acceptance rate is higher because sub standard applicants usually dont aspire to be engineering students and don’t apply in the first place. Columbia seas has higher sat scores, a greater percent of students in the top 10% of their class and a slightly higher acceptance rate than MIT(where 90% of students major in math/eng/sci), it’s hard to argue that seas is any less competitive to get into than MIT. engineering rankings are based on grad programs and traditional engineering prestige (Which Columbia does not match MIT). but for the things that most top engineers aspire to do when they graduate - finance, consulting, law, med, phd programs and work for fast growing tech firms like Facebook, Columbia (or duke or princeton) is every bit as competitive as MIT, because the students they take in are just as qualified.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of this useful information everyone - your input will definitely help me make my decision.</p>
<p>If you’re not 100% certain of engineering, don’t do it. It’s quite an unhappy experience to study a discipline you’re not interested in. I realize that you may be talented in mathematics and the sciences but this is no reason to go into engineering. Only go into engineering if you’ve done the research and know that the curriculum is for you. I see that admission deadlines are coming up quickly so I’d recommend applying to the college. Keep your options open because it’s honestly difficult to know what you’ll want to study in the future. There’s much more academic flexibility and you’ll have more time to explore NYC as well as on campus activities in the College.</p>
<p>My feelings about SEAS are that even though it’s highly competitive to get into, the academics and research are quite average. Research is fine and great if you want to do it but I’ll focus my review of academics. In the IEOR department specifically, the professors range from average to sub-par. I question what I’m learning each day and what the value added of a lecture is. I’ve definitely had much better professors in the College in the Economics, Physics, and Chemistry Departments. I think the Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, and Mechanical Engineering professors are much better than IEOR but not as good as the professors in many College departments. You can check [CULPA</a> - Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability](<a href=“http://www.culpa.info%5DCULPA”>http://www.culpa.info) and click on each department to get a view of silver and gold nuggets as well as some reviews.</p>
<p>beard tax is the man. unlike some noobs that commented before</p>