<p>Okay so I was accepted RD to SEAS and I am really happy but also conflicted. I applied to SEAS thinking that I wanted to do biomedical engineering, since it sounded interesting and a good prep for med school if that's where I end up deciding to go. However, after trucking through almost a year of physics, I don't think that engineering is for me; I realize I'm more of a biology/pure sciences person.
I know I shouldn't take my acceptance to Columbia for granted...it's been my dream school for the longest time and this concern may be trivial. I really wish Columbia was a bit more flexible in internal transfers, but I know that it will be like any other transfer application. Does anyone have any insight on internal transfers - is it common? Are Columbia students likely to succeed in transferring between SEAS and CC? And for anyone who is doing biomedical engineering - is it more focused on physics/math or more bio? And is it good for premed?
Sorry for so many questions, but if anybody out there has any wisdom to share, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks soo much</p>
<p>i’m wondering the same thing…anyone have any experience on internal transfers?</p>
<p>-Internal transfers: there’s a lot of misinformation thrown around on these boards and other places. Truth of the matter is if you do well your freshman year and pick your classes correctly, transferring is not a big problem.</p>
<p>-Biomed.Eng: To the OP - I’m a chem.eng. and I absolutely HATE high school/freshman physics. 95% of it is worthless to you (optics, E/M, etc). You’ll have to learn how to apply certain physics concepts (force balances come to mind) but the actual application of them in something like fluid dynamics is nothing like what you’ve been exposed to.<br>
As far as med school goes: it’s a popular major to go pre-med with but again from what I understand, med school is a numbers game: GPA and MCATS…</p>
<p>My bottom line advice: don’t go into school already turned off to your intended major. There are a few events during the year that are intended for freshmen to get acquainted with the different majors. Go to them. Take the biomed pre-professional course (it’s supposed to be the best one out of the 9 or whatever) and then make a decision about transferring or not.</p>
<p>Internal transfer for engineers is quite difficult after speaking to my adviser from the Center for Student Advising.</p>
<p>I’m currently a sophomore with an above 4.0 GPA, and my adviser told me that it was not a sure bet I would get into the college (this was in the fall). She told me that she sat on the admissions committee, and that the application is all in the essay. The process is extremely competitive and you will be treated like any other transfer student, so she told me to diversify my applications and make sure to apply to many schools.</p>
<p>Engineering is very tough, and it’s very rare for a student to enjoy it latter in their college career. If you have a comparable choice to Columbia and are not sure about engineering, you should not enroll in SEAS. Academic freedom is an important thing and being miserable for 4 years because you hate engineering (got poor grades as a result) precludes you from being able to transfer and study something else. This is just my warning. </p>
<p>FYI, I am an engineering student and am not ■■■■■■■■ on this board. Feel free to PM with any questions.</p>
<p>who is your CSA advisor?</p>
<p>and it isn’t quite true, they say a lot about you’re treated just like any transfer student mostly as a means to discourage students trying to transfer and to impress upon them the seriousness of purpose. but you don’t go through the exact same process (in fact i believe the application somewhere notes are you an internal transfer). a lot about it has to do with ratios and maintaining ratios among schools (because they have other significance, money to dep’ts, student life fees). </p>
<p>i’ve known many students that have transferred between schools, but almost never is it the case that they transfer into hard sciences or the harder social sciences. this being practical for columbia to preference those that really want/desire and can articulate a massive shift from engineering.</p>
<p>this is not necessarily unique to columbia - a lot of schools deal with the fact that eng and hard sciences are the most likely areas for people to drop out of. and most eng schools throughout the country are isolated schools that you need to apply to transfer (sure some have better or worse processes, more open or less open), but this is standard. </p>
<p>if let’s say columbia opened the doors fully - they would then have to adjust how many to admit, and how to maintain retention in eng high. it would probably mean they’d have to admit a lot more engineering (or engineering like) students at the expense then of other students. in the meantime they can better protect and expand the SEAS brand that is developing by keeping the present arrangement. consider that very few schools have as big an eng program and are as open in terms of allowing students to swoop in and out. stanford is the only one that really comes to mind, maybe princeton too. i’d be interested how they conceive of retention of engineering. but especially with stanford, part of their brand is this kind of engineering nature overall, columbia is almost always seen as a humanities haven, which puts the necessity on maintaining engineering more cohesive even stronger.</p>
<p>and my thoughts are coming mostly from some fascinating data on biology where it is something like a first choice for 200 students in the entering class, but there are only 50 or so majors in the end. so whereas i get the complaints and concerns, from purely an institutional perspective, it is in columbia’s best interest to keep the status quo for now most likely - in fact one of the things that admissions always tells students is to know which school they are applying to and be certain they want to attend that school.</p>
<p>in the end beard, the calculation may be that losing a few kids that transfer is far less of a hassle to the way the uni operates than potentially having a significant decrease (and high fluctuations) among engineering students. and let’s just emphasize the ‘few’ aspect. columbia still has the second highest freshman retention rate among top 50 schools only second to yale. maybe things will change as columbia invests more in sciences and engineering. perhaps as its status changes, it will make sense to open the gates between the schools. though in the end - i hope students realize a) your major doesn’t really define you, b) columbia is a lot more than just what you major in, its a pretty complete academic experience, c) you don’t have to choose columbia. </p>
<p>there are dozens of reasons to choose columbia. but frankly if one of your top fears is this question, then don’t feel like you have to accept a situation you don’t like. in my opinion, i don’t think it is as bad a situation as people make it out to be (with skryalor on this one). but everyone makes his/her own decisions with his/her own priorities.</p>
<p>I agree with admissionsgeek. It’s probably difficult to transfer in because of the way the university views engineering and the high transfer rate if they didn’t make the process more formalized and difficult.</p>
<p>However, it’s still true that transferring is difficult and is not a sure-bet. However, other schools have easier processes and are also comparable to Columbia (Duke, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, MIT). Just don’t discount academic freedom when you’re choosing a school, because you might not end up enjoying engineering.</p>
<p>harvard is a more boutique eng program, i’d hardly consider it comparable. and MIT really isn’t comparable because of its nature. but yeah princeton and stanford i mentioned above, i don’t know about duke pratt and transferring out, would be curious there.</p>
<p>This is the only complaint I have about Columbia. I am also someone who is interested in both pure sciences and engineering and Columbia does not make it easy to consider both options. Luckily, I decided I would rather be involved in pure sciences rather than engineering before applying, but it seems like Columbia is making it impossible for students like us to attend. Unfortunately, it looks like there is not a whole lot you can do about it now, but if you’re not sure about engineering and you’re pre-med, I would not choose engineering. You may end up with a low GPA in classes you don’t like and lower your chances of getting into medical school. If that is your ultimate goal, there is really no need for you to do engineering and it is probably not worth the risk of attempting an internal transfer. Columbia may be an amazing school, but if they are unwilling to accommodate your academic needs, I guess you have no choice but to choose another school.</p>