Thinking of applying to Columbia...

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>I've been getting tons of mail from Columbia the past few weeks, and it has really gotten me interested in the University [which I never really considered applying to because I want to major in business and it doesn't have an undergrad business school].</p>

<p>What are my chances at getting in to Columbia RD?
And also...if I were to go to Columbia but wanted to go into finance, what is a prospective major that I could sign up for?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>Junior
Female
Asian
California resident</p>

<p>SAT-I
2250
[690 CR, 790 Writing (11 on the essay), 770 Math]</p>

<p>SAT-II
Math IIC – 800
American History – 710
Chemistry – 690 [retaking in October]
I don’t know if I should take a fourth one?</p>

<p>GPA: 3.93 Unweighted</p>

<p>Class Ranking: 3/317</p>

<p>Classes this year:
APUSH
AP Chemistry
AP Statistics
English 3 Honors
Trig/Pre-Calc
Accounting</p>

<p>*I was supposed to take French 3 this year, but because my school only offered French 3 7th period, and AP Chemistry was only offered 7th period, I was forced to choose between the two. I'm also taking AP Chemistry at a school in my district about 15 minutes away because my high school does not offer it. So I have to spend my lunchtime driving there.</p>

<p>Classes my senior year:
AP English
AP Physics
AP Calculus AB
AP Government
French 3
3-D Design 1</p>

<p>** I had to take a Fine Art to graduate. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
ASB Class Secretary Freshman and Sophomore Years
Key Club Publicity Chair my Sophomore Year
Key Club Treasurer my Junior Year
Key Club Secretary my Senior Year
CSF/Honor Society Vice President Sophomore and Junior Years
Business Club President and Founder my Junior and Senior years
[probably Senior Year as well since I am the founder]
Varsity Tennis player since Freshman Year <em>co-captain my Junior Year, will be captain again my Senior year</em>
Certificate of Merit (Level 10) for piano
Read to Exceed [Gold and Silver Scholar. Platinum Scholar next year]
Leader during Freshman Orientation Welcome my Junior and Senior years
Prom Princess [HAHA I don’t know if this counts for anything]
In the summer of 2007, I led a car wash with some fellow Key Club board members and raised $800 for charity/medical research
Volunteer at Children’s Discovery Museum</p>

<p>Thank you to anyone that reads through this and leaves a response!</p>

2

<p>decent courseload, how competitive is your high school?
nothing particularly staggering about your profile, but you’re well qualified and qualified enough for columbia.</p>

<p>you stand a decent chance, i don’t see any reason for them to flat out reject you.</p>

3

<p>The courseload I have is among the most competitive at my high school.
It is not very good and doesn’t offer many AP classes.
Also, it’s known by its students to have programming problems, so a lot of the times we cannot take the classes we want to because of conflicts [AP Calc and AP Physics only available for 1 period, so we have to choose between the two, etc].</p>

<p>How is the economics department at Columbia?
I’m thinking of going into Economics-Statistics…</p>

4

<p>The econ department at Columbia is one of the best, if not the best in the country. It’s the place to go to for Econ. That, and being in NYC gives you huge opportunities to end up in finance/consulting later.</p>

<p>My advice? Econ-stat is a great way to enter the job market. Or any other liberal arts major. I think business is best learnt on the job, I don’t think it’s worth spending 4 years majoring in finance when you can learn all that and more at a bulge bracket firm in one year. Branch out :slight_smile:
I’m not saying this to dis your preferences or to undermine the finance majors out there, I recognise that there are people who are genuinely interested in the subject and truly enjoy it, but i think your undergrad should be spent doing somehting that’ll be relevant in the future and not something you’ll get to study later on. Finance/business is not one of those things.</p>

5

<p>If you want Econ, check out UChicago. Similar to Columbia in terms of pure intellectualism, and also located in an awesome city.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the info guys!</p>

<p>So do you think it would be worth it for me to apply this year?
I mean, Columbia’s admit rate is among the lowest…
When you apply, do you declare your major?
Would wanting to go into Economics-Statistics help me get in or make it harder for me to get in?</p>

7

<p>you give them your intended major…you check 3 out of like 50, though you’re not held to it when you get there. I don’t know many econ-stat majors, so you may be at an advantage.</p>

8

<p>Ohhh okay.
Thanks for your input!</p>

<p>bUMPbumpbump
Any more feedback on my chances at RD? :/</p>

9

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<p>That’s interesting. This Gourman report lists the top 10 undergrad econ schools. Columbia isn’t there. Gourman must be bogus then.</p>

10

<p>Columbia’s econ department is right up there with Harvard and Chicago in terms of prestige and quality of instruction. Plus you get the benefit of a lot of great internationally known figures who drop by the campus because they’re intellectuals and they happen to be in New York doing something. Go ask our various econ Nobel prizewinners what they think - or Jeffrey Sachs, if you can actually find him on campus.</p>

<p>

It means one thing - if you get in and attend, you’ll probably be surrounded by people much less attractive than you are :)</p>