Transfer.. from another ivy

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I feel really outdated posting here again after all the college admission craze I went through last year as a hs senior.</p>

<p>Anyways, so i am about to finish my freshman year at cornell. i am in the college of engineering and kind of in electrical engineering/computer science track, but through taking some biology related courses here, i have come to realize that engineering isn't what i really want to do: biology turns out to be my true love.</p>

<p>i have a couple of good reasons why i want to transfer out of cornell. my question is then, a)does cu have a good biology program?(i am not a premed) and b)does cu have lots of researchs going on? (cornell is a huge school=>lots of research opportunities)</p>

<p>about me/specs:</p>

<p>my GPA from the fall semester is 3.5. but considering the grade deflation at cornell AND the difficulty of the courses i took/am taking, I think 3.5 is just slightly less than ideal. (if you wonder, for the first sem, i took orgo(for sophomores), an intense cs programming course(for sophomores), and 1st year engineering math(with an A). and others are just required freshman stuff)</p>

<p>this semester i'm taking: microbiology for sophomores, biochemistry for juniors/seniors, 2nd sem engineering math and 1st sem engineering physics and some other required courses. i am expecting and hoping for something higher than 3.5 for this semester. </p>

<p>i also work in this genetics/biochem lab as a lab technician, but i will be doing intense research over this summer (which i believe is rare for a freshman)</p>

<p>i have a couple of other good extracurricula but since i already cut the ivy line in the past, i don't think this much hs school isn't necessary here.</p>

<p>RECAP:
a)does cu have a good biology program?(i am not a premed)
b)does cu have lots of research going on?
and c)do i have any shot in tranfer?</p>

<p>thanks in advance.</p>

<p>PS. you guys have a pretty campus/buildings!</p>

2

<p>a) yes, comparable to cornells
b) yes, ton's of stuff, lots of freshman spend their summers doing research on campus
c) yes, but 3.5 even with difficult courses is a stretch, the transfer acceptance rate is like what - 5-7% so it'll be difficult to get in, but you're not an automatic rejection, you def have a shot.</p>

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<p>as a comparison, it is not rare at all for freshmen to be doing research over the summer here - a lot of my friends are doing it, either here or at home.</p>

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<p>the main reason i'm considering tranfer is because the depth of undergrad biology education at cornell is rather shallow. i am looking for schools with excellent faculty/course offerings and research opportunities.</p>

<p>any thoughts on biochem/genetics departments at columbia?</p>

<p>PS. my research experience may be slightly different from other's. it wasn't like research program targetted for undergrads; i am butting in one of grad student's ongoing research (but i do have a significant amount of work to do for it still). i guess it wouldn't make much difference except my research would be likely to have some more depth to it.</p>

<p>anyways, thanks to you all=)</p>

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<p>The idea that Cornell's undergraduate education in biology is shallow is laughable, particularly when you consider the chemistry and chemical biology major.</p>

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<p>i think you're looking for an answer to the question "is columbia's bio education much better than cornell's?", whereas the people in here can only really answer "does columbia have a really good bio education?". we don't have any basis for judgment, we can really only go on facts in this situation.</p>

<p>your best bet may be to visit, try to meet with a few professors, and/or talk to students in the bio / chem buildings and see what they think. just stop them as they walk around and ask if they can help you for a minute. sounds like a lot of effort but it's the only way you're going to get good data.</p>