<p>Which Ivy would be easiest to get in for math?</p>
<p>Definitely no for Princeton, and most likely Harvard, and Yale.</p>
<p>I would like your opinions. I think Columbia might be the easiest because it attracts so many literature and other majors centering around the core curriculum?</p>
<p>Yeah, uh, you’re almost certainly overestimating the importance of “intended major” in the admissions decision.</p>
<p>By the way, I plan on switching to pre-med. I definitely do not think I am overestimating the importance because I know many people who got into these schools because of their majors (the ad. officers told them about it) and if they put something else they would not have gotten in.</p>
<p>Columbia has a strong math department, ranked very highly, with a lot of respected researchers and thinkers, and bolstered by its connections to well-regarded programs in Statistics, Physics, and Applied Math. Plenty of very good analytical thinkers are in the applicant pool and it’s by no means a “back door” to get in.</p>
<p>A few years ago, the ED admit rate for Columbia’s engineering school, SEAS, was 60%. And by “a few years ago” I mean 2001, which was when I filed my ED application. Despite how self-selective that pool is, you might have considered that a “back door” at the time. No such arbitrage opportunity exists now. Columbia, as best I can tell, isn’t hurting for any particular type of major, unless the admissions officers tell me otherwise.</p>
<p>Yeah, we’re ranked 9th in the country for math, in terms of grad school rankings. I still think saying you want to be a math major (along with having the SAT I/II and AP scores to back it up) at Columbia or Yale (7th in the country) or anywhere other than Harvard or Princeton will help you a tad since nobody minds bolstering their math department, although I agree that at Princeton and Harvard intending to be a math major probably won’t do very much for you.</p>