<p>I'm thinking of either Biochem in College or BME or Chemical Eng in Fu SEAS (and the technological entrepreneurship minor). No real preference, some have told me I would be a good engineering candidate and others have told me I don't have enough engineering ECs to get into SEAS. SEAS has almost a 3x the acceptance rate of College (6%), but which one am i suited for better?</p>
<p>SAT 2280 (790 in math); 800 Math II, 800 Chem, 780 Bio M
21/575 top 3.6% of competitive public
AP: 5 on Chem, Bio, US History, English Language
APs taking: Physics C, English Lit, Studio Art 2D design, Calc BC, Japanese</p>
<p>the only science EC i have is semifinalist honors on USNCO (top 100 in nation)</p>
<p>other ecs:
10 11 12 yearbook editor in chief 2yrs studnet life editor 1 yr
10 11 12 red cross president 1yr webmaster 1 yr
12 asian club publicity chairman (club's 1st yr)
9 10 11 12 volunteer at a top medical school
11 created 1+million hit per month web service
<em>might make it onto the JETS/science olympiad team this year since i have proven my self by being the only honored usnco participant. i can claim i was in JETS for 11 and 12 but i wasnt selected for the team in 11 so i didnt go to club meetings</em></p>
<p>other stuff:
nmsc semifinalist
should be ap scholar with honor
11 12 NHS
10 11 12 Japanese NHS
11 12 Science NHS</p>
<p>work:
12 teach math to kids at a kid tutoring place
9 10 11 12 freelance graphic designer</p>
<p>“I would be a good engineering candidate and others have told me I don’t have enough engineering ECs to get into SEAS. SEAS has almost a 3x the acceptance rate of College (6%), but which one am i suited for better?”</p>
<p>you have stupid, or at least uninformed friends. Columbia seas is self selecting, it gets a far better caliber of applicant than does columbia college. if you look at end statistics (like average sat of entering class, % of students in top 10% of hs class) seas does almost uniformly better. Meaning that the average student entering seas is “smarter” and thus in order to get in you have to beat smarter students. Even the classes offered at columbia are tougher for engineers than for college students. College students have classes like frontiers of science and physics for poets, both of which are shamefully basic. engineers take the same literature and philosophy that college kids take. anecdotally, I’ve encountered equally smart kids from each school, you usually can’t tell the difference between an econ/science major in the college and an engineer.</p>
<p>There’s no such thing as engineering ECs for columbia seas, you might need to build robots to get into MIT, but seas takes engineers who show a passion for engineering and fields outside science and engineering. I know of many people with science oriented classes and ECs that have nothing to do with science and engineering. I was one such applicant. Nothing in my ECs suggested that I was into engineering, this does not have the to be standard, my point is that there is no fixed standard.</p>
<p>Your profile fits both schools equally well, decide what you want to study, whether you’ll enjoy the whole core or half of it.</p>
<p>I do think that for SEAS, you must love math and science in order to succeed. SEAS kids get so few electives. Conversely, for the College you must learn to deal with all subjects, particularly if you’re a College student majoring in a science field. </p>
<p>It’s something you have to decide for yourself, otherwise I don’t think you’ll be happy.</p>