Hi, I just completed my sophomore year at a suburban community college and have been accepted to transfer to Columbia, Amherst, and Wesleyan. My main contenders are the first two: I am torn between Columbia and Amherst because I want the brand name and prestige (and the city location, close to my home) of the former, but I also want the small, more personalized atmosphere and the undergraduate focus of the latter. As a transfer student, I also have some reservations about the Core Curriculum at Columbia–will I have to repeat a year to fulfill all the requirements? I’m coming in with an Associate in “Liberal Arts: Humanities and Social Sciences,” and I have taken one year of language, science, and writing already. I’m looking to study English and queer theory, and Amherst’s Open Curriculum might allow me to dive straight in? Any thoughts on these schools? Thoughts on Wes welcome too. Immensely torn and confused.
Columbia. It doesn’t feel large and your major will be informed in the NYC environment and larger student body. Imho.
Figure out (working with admissions) exactly what courses will fullfil the core at Columbia. Get confirmation that you can graduate in 2 years. Same with Amherst.
Wait, you only have 2 years in which to graduae and you’re seriously considering repeating a whole year in order to gain a Columbia degree? At some point you have to ask whether the prestige is actually worth the severe crimp it would put in your actual education? Amherst’s open curriculum is the way to go.
Have you had a chance to visit both (or all three) schools? If not, can you speak with some current students or professors in your program? The good news is that they are all excellent options! I agree with you about Amherst’s open curriculum. It would be wise to confirm whether or not you will have to repeat coursework at Columbia. Information is power in this situation, and it feels from your post as if there is still a lot to learn about your choices.
“The good news is that they are all excellent options!”
Yes, these are excellent schools that you are choosing between.
I would not be concerned about brand name and reputation at all. Admissions at the top graduate programs in the US know how strong Amherst College and Wesleyan are. Many employers do also.
“I also want the small, more personalized atmosphere and the undergraduate focus…”
I currently have a daughter studying at a small school (not the ones you listed, she is studying slightly abroad in Canada). I have become a big fan of small schools for undergrad.
I will assume that all are affordable and that you will not need to put in an extra year at any of them. With these assumptions (which hopefully you have checked out), I think that between these excellent options you should go where you are most comfortable.
None of us know what will and won’t transfer, so you need to take that question directly to the people at each of these institutions ASAP. Here are some questions to start with:
- Will my AA transfer as fulfilling all of your institution’s Gen Ed requirements?
- What will each of my courses transfer as? Which graduation requirements do I still need to meet for my major and for your institution’s distribution or core requirements?
Often the final decision about this can’t be made until after enrollment, so hang on to every single textbook, course syllabus, and piece of graded work that you have for each of the classes that you have taken. You will need all of that if you have to petition for credit or placement.
Thank you all for responding! this is very helpful.
More details: According to the initial Entrance Credit Reports I have received from Amherst and Columbia, both seem to be taking my Science and Language gen eds from my community college. I guess I just don’t know if a place like Columbia will still make me take more science, so I have to ask them that.
To delve more specifically into why I’m so torn, and why I don’t know for sure which school is “the best fit” for me: there is a professor in the gender studies program at Columbia who I really admire, and would love to study with. He’s well known, though, so I don’t know if he’s accessible to undergraduates.
The English dept at Amherst, on the other hand, seems to be well respected and more malleable than Columbia. Amherst also appears to offer quite a few scholarships and research grants, which might be harder to come by at a crowded place like Columbia.
So both have their perks. Both are similarly priced for me. Wesleyan actually gave me the most aid, then Columbia, and Amherst gave me the least aid (surprising given their $3 billion endowment and their record for being generous). But that’s the way it worked. Still, all are fairly comparable on that front. Mostly I’m just torn between going to Amherst / Wesleyan where it seems I’ll get more attention and resources–or get them more easily-- and going to Columbia because I feel unable to turn down an Ivy (regrettably smitten by a name)…
Idk if this extra info helps. You all have been helpful already, thanks!
^This isn’t just a matter of getting credit for courses taken at another school. The situation with Columbia is exacerbated by the fact that they have a humanities based Core Curriculum which takes most students more than two years - sometimes three - in order to complete. This presents the very real prospect that the remainder of the OP’s college career will be spent fulfilling prerequisites of one type or another (i.e., no room to explore electives), especially, if they plan to major in a STEM subject. TBH, I question whether Columbia should even take transfers with more than one year of college credit.
Columbia undergrad offers a lot of small classes (82% under 20 students). Amherst College has 71% of classes with fewer than 20 students, while Wes has 74%.
If you are leaning toward Amherst, it wouldn’t hurt to nicely ask them to re-review your financial aid situation…
Sounds like you’d jump right into your major at Amherst and still have space to explore other interests. And yes there are a lot of paid research opportunities (abroad, during the school year and in summer/Jan break), though the SURF program is I think only for first and second year students. You might check if that’s important.
The Core seems like a transfer killer to me, even if you don’t have to take all those classes, everyone else will have and only transfers won’t have? It’s such a key part of the CU experience.
You need to consider that if you must spend more than two years at Columbia, the cost would be more to attend there. As @bluebayou suggested, it wouldn’t hurt to ask Amherst about the $.
Agree with other posters. Ask Amherst about financial aid and confirm with Columbia on whether or not the Core will hinder your ability to graduate.
Check with Columbia about the aid. Will it continue if you ned an extra semester or year?
And sit down and run all the numbers. Be honest with yourself about them. Are any of these places truly affordable for your family?
Go further and look up the degree requirements for each school to see what subject requirements you need to graduate, and whether you can fit all of them in to graduate within the number of semesters that you need to graduate in (for affordability).
For example, Columbia’s core curriculum is described at https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/core . How many courses will you have to take that are not covered by your transfer credit? Can you fit them in, plus your upper level major courses, within the number of semesters you want to graduate in?