<p>Hello, I am currently a freshman in the honors college of my large state school interested in transferring to Columbia University. I am majoring in Statistics, and I think I would really like to go into public policy research. I have been interested in transferring, and I learned about Columbia's program in Statistics and Political Science, and it seemed right up my alley. I just finished my first semester, and I am a little worried about my chances of getting in and whether the program is really worth it. I came in to my college with 60+ credits from APs. Will coming in with this many credits seriously hurt my chances? As for my GPA, it is a 3.76 (A in Calc II, B+ in CS, A in French). I had a 4.0 high school GPA and 2220 SAT. For my second semester I plan on taking an advanced stats class, biology, French, religion, and calc III. I have good ECs (volunteering, service, research) and I think I will have good recs as well. I just wanted to get some feedback and see whether I have a decent shot at being accepted. I would love to attend Columbia, but I'm not entirely sure if it would be worth it (in terms of the experience and financially). Thanks, and I appreciate any input.</p>
<p>I have no direct experience but have read that Columbia has a very structured general education requirement. Are you ok with that?</p>
<p>Also, very selective schools have become very stingy about granting AP credits. Are you ok with that?</p>
<p>And yes, Columbia is horribly expensive, as is living in NYC in general. Are you ok with that?</p>
<p>You’re in an honors college in a large state school that presumably has extensive offerings in both stat and poli sci. Is there any way for you to create your own major there? Is there a faculty member who could be an advisor/mentor for you? If you stay there, you’d keep your honors colleges privileges and would save lots of money, which is important if you’re considering grad school (maybe at Columbia). You can take summer classes anywhere else, too.</p>