How much does Early Decision help?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
21

@sillyface A related issue that we had was that the scheduling at Columbia seemed very complex. At the Penn admitted student days, the administrators gave DD a sample four-year schedule in her major (computer science), a generic example for a typical student who had no AP credits. Then you could see how many electives you would have and adjust it for your AP credit situation etc. At Columbia’s admitted student days, DD asked for a similar example schedule so she could compare them. Oddly, they did not have this prepared. We ended up in a counselor’s office for 1 1/2 hours and the scheduling was so complex that she was unable to create one in that time and finally gave up and said she could not do it.

Don’t get me wrong, Columbia is a great school, and had she picked Columbia, I am sure it would have been a good experience, but I still can’t understand why producing a example of a 4-year schedule for a computer science major was so difficult.

22

@sillyface, Columbia’s admission webpage specifically notes:

http://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/ask/faq/question/2374

Definitely harder than at Penn. There do seem to be a number of who have done it in 4 years, though, based on previous CC threads.

23

My experience is that HS kids vastly underestimate how much work college really is. Many go in thinking that they’ll double major but never end up doing it once they understand what it entails. I will say, however, that it is definitely easier at Penn than Columbia. Schools such as Swarthmore seem to even encourage it.