~Questions about SEAS~

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hey everyone! I'm really interested in attending Columbia and I'm just starting to look over applications, but I have a few questions about applying to the different schools within the university. I have stats that meet/exceed the average accepted applicant and my ecs are pretty average. Although I have no engineering background, I love math and science and I'm considering applying to SEAS. If any of you have info on the following questions, your responses are greatly appreciated!!</p>

<p>1) Is it true that SEAS is easier to get into than CC?
2) Does being female give me an advantage when it comes to being accepted into SEAS?
3) Would it be practical to apply to SEAS if I'm interested in med school later on?</p>

<p>Thanks so much :)</p>

2

<p>1) no, whoever told you that is misinformed, it’s likely harder to get into seas
2) not really, it might help a little, but nothing significant, being Black or Hispanic gives you a much bigger boost
3)it would be practical, there are several seas pre-meds, apply to whatever school has the major you want to study.</p>

3

<p>1) SEAS has a higher acceptance rate than CC. So yes it’s slightly easier. Not sure why confidentialcoll is trying to cover up.</p>

4

<p>i’m sure this argument has been hashed out billions of times before. even in the IMPORTANT COLUMBIA THREADS thread that is frequently referenced in this forum… but just because the acceptance rate is higher doesn’t mean it’s easier to get into the College than SEAS. SEAS has a higher average SAT interquartile range than the College and is more self-selecting, since it does promote a more well-rounded education as opposed to other top tier engineering schools. confidentialcoll, denzera, + crew please correct me if i’m wrong.</p>

5

<p>Well, slowpoke, I wouldn’t get so riled up about it in this case.</p>

<p>It’s hard for me to comment with precision on this. when I was applying, in late 2001 for entry fall 02, the admit rate for CC was around 11% (24% ED) and for SEAS was like 22% (with 60% ED). That 60% really jumped out at me. Now, I get that it’s a more self-selecting group and all, but there was no way, in my mind, that self-selection would account for that stark a difference.</p>

<p>Despite being a proud SEAS alum, at this point I’m still somewhat persuaded that CC is slightly harder to get into, all else being equal. And “all else being equal” means that you have a very strong math/science background and present as a compelling student in the sciences whether you’re doing a BA or a BS. If you’re a superstar journalist or actress or budding politician or something, an application to SEAS may not make as much sense to the admissions staff as an application to CC. If you see yourself as a future scientist or businessman or computer programmer, an application to either one may make sense, depending on how you present yourself. If you see yourself engineering buildings, making new medical technology, or coordinating the supply chain for a drug company, an application to SEAS would probably be received well whereas an application to CC would have them scratching their heads. As with everything else in the application process, it depends a lot on who you are and what you want.</p>

<p>I can state with more certainty that (2) Being female will not really help you all that much and (3) Plenty of students are pre-med in both CC and SEAS.</p>

<p>The important thing is what sort of curriculum you want for yourself. I happened to be someone who was very good at math and science, but didn’t love them. So, I wanted a curriculum that would use (and develop) my skills in math and science, while giving me a chance to be exposed to various other disciplines taught by experts, as part of a world-class liberal arts school. In other words, I could keep my GPA up on the easy analytical stuff, which made up most of my transcript, and then take risks on the more subjective classes.</p>

<p>There are many other reasons one might have for going to SEAS (and many reasons why not to go to SEAS, of course). But the only truly significant difference between SEAS and CC is the academic curriculum - student life, university administration, stuff like that will all be the same. So think about the academics when picking which school you want to apply to.</p>

6

<p>thx for the info guys! i think i might end up applying to seas, since my strengths lie with math and science. its a relief to know that there is not too much of a stark difference between the two schools</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>yes, and columbia has a lower acceptance rate than princeton, that does not mean we are harder to get into. if the quality of the applicant pool is lower then it really isn’t harder just because more people apply. Columbia college for some reason does get worse applicants than seas does, it might be to do with the fact that seas is an engineering school which self selects, engineering schools across the country have higher acceptance rates because stupid people opt not to apply (for good reason). </p>

<p>When the seas acceptance rate was 23% and the cc rate was 11%, seas still had a higher % of incoming high schoolers in the top 10% of their high school class and higher SAT scores scores, now the acceptance rate is 9% : 14%. The competition for SEAS was originally stiffer than that for CC and has increased faster than it has for CC. So develop some analytical skills before you post that I’m wrong. </p>

<p>Now I realize the application process is multi-faceted and what not, but it as much for seas as it is for CC, seas is known to take engineers who aren’t your typical MIT/Caltech nerds. At Columbia, seas classes are significantly more difficult and the competition is definitely stiffer. I normally say that SEAS and CC are equally difficult to get into, even though seas has the edge, because the difference is marginal and the schools do look at different things (focus on math/sci vs. focus on writing and all rounded-ness).</p>

8

<p>Hmm that’s a good point. What if I’ve never taken a computer class before? Will that count too much against me?</p>

9

<p>^nope. (10 char)</p>

10

<p>I thought that SEAS has mandatory computer programming courses so wouldn’t an applicant without a background in programming have a big disadvantage?</p>

<p>Sorry if I am recalling incorrectly.</p>

11

<p>^you are recalling incorrectly, the mandatory comp sci course is an introduction which only assume that you know how to turn on a computer and type. No programming experience is required at all, it is certainly not a disadvantage to have never studied comp sci before, I’d say half the seas incoming class hasn’t programmed or taken a class in comp sci before. Indeed a ton of highschools simply don’t offer computer science.</p>