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<p>You had a 2210 and a 94% average I think, and you were denied at Stanford (with all due respect). I don’t think getting a 2300 would have got you accepted at Stanford, and the same applies to the Ivy League.</p>
<p>ivies < stanford …
and,
I saw the youtube channels of Stanford and MIT.
MIT OCW < Stanford (amazing prof here) (CS)</p>
<p>^ For you maybe. For someone who wants to study history or the classics, totally not. For someone who wants a small school, again no. For someone who wants to be surrounded by nature, again no. For someone who likes the liberal arts approach, again maybe not.</p>
<p>It’s all relative. </p>
<p>I hate it when people make sweeping generalizations about colleges. Is HYP the holy trinity? Yes. Does that mean students/profs/undergrad experience at HYP>say Duke? Nope.</p>
<p>Same holds true for all aspects of all colleges. You never can/will be able to say X>Y.</p>
<p>Dude, dude … chill …
I ain’t cursing the ivies …</p>
<p>Haha. I was rambling. Didn’t mean to come off as agitated.</p>
<p>^ heading back to windy city???</p>
<p>So prateek, you’re at Northwestern or columbia? Which year?</p>
<p>Prateek = Northwestern==> Columbia ==> Northwestern</p>
<p>Class of 2013</p>
<p>Yea i had a 2210 with with a rather badly assembled application… My common app long answer was previously about an event so insignificant it still shocks me that i even considered writing about… so i would have kind of come off as a fool in the eyes of admission officers at Stanford… I sent the same application to Ann arbor which accepted me so i assumed scores do make 1 hell of a difference…</p>
<p>^The implication in your statement is that Ann Arbor is as selective as Stanford, which is not true. If your essay was inadequate, then your rejection makes sense, especially since it’s Stanford, which has enough students with 2200+ and 90%+, forcing it to look at your essays as one of the deciding factors.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor, on the other hand, would have been satisfied with a 94% GPA and a 2210 (which are impressive, no doubt), so even an average essay was not likely to have kept you out. </p>
<p>So basically, no - your rejection at Stanford was definitely not because you had 2210 instead of 2300. It more likely was the “foolish” essay you say you submitted.</p>
<p>
any explanation?</p>
<p>Yea my crappy essays would have definitely put me out of the running but i am still under the impression that my new scores would have still afforded me an average essay…</p>
<p>Yes haha. In short, Northwestern engineering >> Columbia engineering, imo. </p>
<p>Columbia’s engineering curriculum is very theoretical, more so than I expected. The real world application of the concepts is somewhat of an afterthought. Add to the fact that the program is skewed towards Wall St. (Investment Banking in particular.) I liked, and missed, Northwestern’s practical, hands on approach to engineering. Also Northwestern’s placement into consulting/engineering jobs [2 fields I’m interested in] was as good, if not better, than Columbia.</p>
<p>A simple example was my design class. At Columbia we were shown videos teaching us the methodology of IDEO (wiki and youtube it) and had guest lectures. At Northwestern, my two freshman year design classes were with professors who worked at IDEO.</p>
<p>On top of that, Columbia made me feel older. Living in an apartment in NYC, traveling on the subway, grocery shopping etc - I felt like an adult and less like a college kid. I missed going to football games, BBQ’s on the beach, the bajillion plays and musicals and random stuff happening on campus and just the more laid back vibe of NU. </p>
<p>Also, Northwestern just felt much smaller even though both have roughly 8k undergrads. More cosier. The community was tighter, the professors were more passionate [for engineering,] the administration did more for the students - concerts, events etc and I mean I had dinner with the dean twice. It felt like home. Columbia, as a transfer student especially, didn’t.</p>
<p>Maybe if I was solely majoring in creative writing or something, I would have stayed. 'Cause despite the things I missed, I absolutely loved the core, being in NY, having classes at the Met/MoMA and the imposing architecture.</p>
<p>I can see myself at Columbia for grad school for sure. For my undergraduate? I don’t want to be an adult so quickly; I want to be a college kid. :)</p>
<p>And for a design/car freak Donald Norman, the guy who designed the Ford Mustang, was a good enough reason. He retired as a full time prof this year but he influenced the entire engineering framework/courses at Northwestern. He still is there occasionally - his lecture last year was mind-****ing-blowing. Hearing a guy who’s paid in millions just for designing a car seat is orgasmic.</p>
<p>prateek, thank you for taking the time to explain your move back to Northwestern. </p>
<p>What did you have to do to get back? </p>
<p>This clearly shows fit is more important than anything else. Again, thanks for sharing your experience. Happy Holidays!</p>
<p>Just fill out a form and fax it back 
</p>
<p>I made sure that I didn’t have to apply again had I wanted to come back. I wouldn’t have left otherwise.</p>
<p>Thank you for that prateek92, it’s nice to see people who don’t stay at an Ivy for the sake of the name (Although Northwestern’s a brilliant university in itself). I really liked how you were frank enough to admit NYC-life is not for you, at least not at present. A lot of people stress academics; few ever mention preferring a Uni for the atmosphere and lifestyle. Like Tippu said, this just reaffirms fit over prestige.</p>
<p>Woaah. Prateek had told me pretty much the same thing over bbm</p>
<p>As said before, fit matters more than anything else! :)</p>
<p>Prateek, thank you for sharing your story here! I’m glad you finally became sure of which place you really belonged to. :)</p>
<p>Hey does anyone know what this research paper at Caltech must be like? including format and all?</p>
<p>^ You can use any format. I sent PDF file of something I wrote using LaTeX. Mine was a physics topic, related to something I did for IB extended “essay”.</p>