<p>Which is harder to earn admission to?</p>
<p>Columbia has a lower acceptance rate than Penn overall, but the actual statistics of admitted students are the same.</p>
<p>Two different schools of thought.</p>
<p>Columbia is smaller and attracts more fair-weather applicants by being an Ivy in NYC. that contributes most to the lower acceptance rate compared to Penn.</p>
<p>They are equally hard to get into. Many people are accepted by C and rejected by Penn.</p>
<p>from what I’ve seen, they accept very different types of people. Both hard to get into.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a good number of cross admits between these two schools. They attract similar enough students (Ivy bound wanting big city) but I’d say the type of person to choose one over the other is pretty different.</p>
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<p>Fair-weather applicants. Excellent way of putting it.</p>
<p>Would any of you mind expanding upon what you mean by the different types of students that attend each school? Those are my two top choices, and I’m very heavily leaning toward Columbia, but I’ve heard some not-so-great things about the social life and would love some input on the stereotypes that you are describing. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>from my school, Columbia tends to accept only the liberal arts kids (English/History) whereas Penn takes pre-professional kids.</p>
<p>^ Penn has PLENTY of “liberal arts” kids, also. The College of Arts and Sciences has 6500 undergrads, and is the largest school at Penn. While many of those undergrads are technically “preprofessional” (headed for medical, law, or business school at some point), they are ALL liberal arts majors (English, History, Bio, etc.). Furthermore, there is a similar percentage of undergrads in Columbia College who are also “preprofessional” and bound someday for medical, law, or business school. Penn DOES have Wharton undergrad, whereas Columbia does not have an undergraduate business school, but there actually are more “liberal arts” undergrads at Penn than there are at Columbia. Columbia College does have “the core,” which Penn’s College does not (it has broader distributional requirements, and not specific core course requirements like Columbia), but “the core” does not make Columbia College any more of a “liberal arts” school than Penn’s College.</p>
<p>Hmm well, thanks for the input. I want to go to CAS at either school, even though I may end up in engineering for grad. I love science and math, but have too much interest in English/French/Music to give up CAS for engineering undergrad. I would say I’m a mix of liberal arts and non-liberal arts. I love NY over Philly, but I’ve just heard that Penn’s campus life is more fun. That said, I definitely liked Columbia’s campus more and felt more at home there than when I visited Penn. I have legacy at Columbia (sister and dad), which may or may not help my chances… Hm, I don’t know. I’m more just looking for an idea of the social life I would experience attending those schools and the significant differences, because I feel that (and feel free to disagree) the academic level and resources, prestige, etc is basically even between the two, at least for a CAS degree in science.</p>
<p>At penn you can take whatever classes you want from any of the 4 undergrad schools, so you could mix your love of math and science with your other interests.</p>
<p>The academics are equal enough that it shouldn’t affect your decision. If you do engineering at either school you’ll have enough room to take a bunch of Liberal Arts classes. Penn will give you more freedom in the liberal arts classes you take because of Columbia’s core, but if those classes interest you anyway, that doesn’t really make much of a difference.</p>
<p>From people I’ve talked to who go to Columbia, I would say Penn’s campus is more alive. If you want to go downtown and to clubs and stuff NYC > than Philly (and costs more too). If you want a city school thats closer to a “traditional” college experience Penn is better.</p>
<p>What are some of the requierments to get into either school?</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone! I guess it’ll probably come down to seeing where I get in and going from there. But it was very helpful :)</p>
<p>And to Universal 923, the requirements to get into Columbia or Penn are pretty much the requirements to get into all the Ivy’s… nearly perfect grades and test scores, a lot of extra curriculars/interests, good essays, etc.</p>
<p>thnks leah123</p>
<p>i think there are other posts like this but oh well: basically i think cas kids like not having the core. enough said.</p>
<p>i also prefer penn’s motto, but that’s just me = P</p>
<p>I mean, I’m entering Penn and I’m liberal artsy. I got in. So I mean maybe it was a mistake, but I think there is a major overlap. You’re going to get similar types of kids at both schools, though Columbia certainly does have a reputation of being more bookish.</p>