<p>Acceptance rate is lower for undergrad than for grad. However, it’s hard to say that Columbia undergrad programs are more pretigeous. Almost everybody who graduates from high school with good GPA and test scores (that make them a hopeful candidate) would apply to schools like Columbia. Everyone of them applies for not fewer than 10 schools. They just give it a shot since it’s their first experience and an undergrad degree is almost a must in today’s job market. Thus, the number of applicants is much higher. Given the number of available seats, undergrad acceptance rates are always lower. For grad school, there are many more “unseen” steps you have to go through before applying, making the number of applicants much lower. For example, first you have to maintain good grades in undergrad, which is more difficult to do than in high school. So not all good students in high school will do well in college. Then you have to face this question “should I go to grad school or work?” More than half will drop at this stage. Then some grad schools require professional and personal experience, so more than half drop at this stage, leaving very few people feeling they’re qualified for consideration. Also most grad school applicants apply for fewer than 5 schools. Again, this doesn’t mean grad school is more prestigeous either, because some very intellectually capable people never apply for grad schools. But that doesn’t mean people who attended ok undergrad schools but good grad schools is less intelligent than those who attended good undergrad schools. There are many reasons why people choose to go to less prestigeous undergrad schools. For example, some people choose to go to a community college instead of Columbia because they don’t have money. But it’s difference for grad schools, since there’s more financial aid available to grad students and these students tend to be more financially stable or qualified for loans, so they could go to expensive schools. That’s why I said it’s hard to tell wether undergrad or grad is more prestigeous.</p>