<p>So Im going to Mcgill university next year in Montreal because i was rejected from columbia but thats ok cuz i didnt want to do the core curriculum anyway. but after my soph year i wanted to apply to columbia as a transfer...can i do that or can i only do that after freshman year</p>
<p>also, whats the transfer admit rate?</p>
<p>they admit about 9-10%. so about same as the undergrad admit rate.</p>
<p>if you don’t want to do the core curriculum, then why on earth are you re-applying as a transfer? you’re going to have to do the core if you go to columbia. you can’t get away with not taking those courses.</p>
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<p>Agreed. Op is displaying the inability of logical reasoning characteristic of Canadian students.</p>
<p>yeah - you’ll have to do he whole core still, sorry brown14.</p>
<p>“Agreed. Op is displaying the inability of logical reasoning characteristic of Canadian students.”</p>
<p>Epaminondas is portraying the arrogant elitism that makes many of us Americans cringe. </p>
<p>Oh and by the way a**hole, I got into Princeton and Brown, just couldnt afford them. McGill full tuition scholarship was best way for me to go. How Columbia rejected me is still a mystery but that was my #1 school; i just wasn’t a fan of the core and wanted to reap all the other advantages of columbia besides the core.</p>
<p>mcgill is a great place.</p>
<p>but re: your actual question: columbia prefers transfers after first-year because of the expectation that they should complete the core, major requirements and get the full columbia experience. also columbia transfer students (from the mouth of the adcoms) should address a positive interest in doing and completing the core (not just trading up). it doesn’t mean that students do not transfer in after their sophomore year, but it is rarer.</p>
<p>if you are serious about transferring to columbia - consider doing so after your first year.</p>
<p>brown14 - how are you going to afford Columbia if you can’t afford Princeton? They cost about the same (Columbia might even be more expensive) and Princeton’s financial aid is supposed to be the best in the country.</p>
<p>^thank you, shrugging, for bringing another peace of reason to this lunatic thread, though your claim that “Princeton’s financial aid is supposed to be the best in the country” is dubious at best.</p>
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<p>Another sign of poor reasoning; this time short term vs long term. Why settle for a choice that’ll satisfy you for the next four years (oh, I forgot, many canadians take longer) but no more than that? I’d think that a loan is worth it.</p>
<p>Also, how are you brown14 if you rejected it?</p>
<p>i made my username 2+ years ago when that was my dream school. but thats before I visited columbia and fell in love with it. </p>
<p>i could afford schools for 2 years but not the for the full four years. princeton doesnt do transsfers and now i think brown is way too liberal for me so columbia is best option</p>
<p>so i would still have to do core or i wouldnt get columbia degree if i transferred after sophomore year?</p>
<p>I have heard it said that if you cant stand doing the core…you might not like it at columbia.</p>
<p>Page 25 and onwards of this document has some good info about the core and transfers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/orientation/documents/academicplanningguide.pdf[/url]”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/orientation/documents/academicplanningguide.pdf</a></p>
<p>yeah - you would not be able to graduate from columbia without completing the core. but as lizzy shows there is some flexibility in some core classes, but presume you will have to take both lithum and cc, art and music hum (and then either global core, lang, math/sci if needed depending on if you took similar courses while you were at mcgill).</p>
<p>so the suggestion would be - pick a major pretty early on, and get good grades in it, when you apply even if it is platitudes, mention the fact you look forward to the core and for it complimenting your interest in your major.</p>
<p>but in the end - make sure it is who you are, don’t force yourself because you want an ivy.</p>
<p>@admissionsgeek - So would someone who has taken little “core” or liberal arts-related courses in their previous school and more courses focused on their major be at a slight advantage? (taken and excelled in of course)
(I’m only asking because I’m applying this year and was convinced this was a disadvantage.)</p>
<p>If you do not want to do the core, you absolutely should not go to Columbia. The core exemplifies what Columbia is all about and if you don’t like it, Columbia just isn’t a good fit. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, you’re just not a good fit. Another school, like Brown or Princeton for example, would be a better choice. </p>
<p>@admissionsgeek/cynthiahxp- I was also wondering about that. I’m waitlisted this year and if I don’t get in I might try to transfer. I was thinking it would be better to take almost all of my classes in or related to my major, plus maybe one completely outside my major, since any liberal arts/core style courses wouldn’t transfer for core classes anyway. Taking classes in my major would save room in my schedule for core classes when I transfer. But would this look good or would they like to see a more balanced curriculum?</p>
<p>there is no firm rule, and i say this in part because it all depends on your case.</p>
<p>but two factors will matter - 1) a clear academic interest, or potential interest, that will calm the fears that you will be able to major in something (and considering columbia doesn’t have a biz program or something like that, make sure you know how to sell your coursework to columbia’s majors), 2) an interest in a focused liberal arts program exemplified by the core.</p>
<p>now in general, if you concentrate on 2 at your homeschool, as trf notes, you might not get credits to transfer. if you concentrate on 1, you’ll get the credits to transfer and calm fears that you wont be a gamble of a student who might not know what they want to do. so concentrating on a major makes the most logical sense.</p>
<p>my guess would be that it is easier to evince through the written parts an interest in the core curriculum than it is to show a mish-mash of courses that the adcom may or may not know are part of a school’s core.</p>
<p>but in the end, it is your choice. just make sure your profile when transferring shows both 1 and 2 in some capacity - but in the end transferring is certainly just as competitive and therefore just as unpredictable as first-year admission.</p>
<p>Go to Princeton. Jesus.</p>