I’m committed to UCLA, but yesterday I just got off the waitlist to Columbia and I have ten days to decide the fate of my next four years. I’m in SEAS for both, planning on pursuing either computer science or computer engineering.
Facts about me:
- Asian female
- first of intermediate family to college
- from SoCal area, lived at UCLA for several weeks and I know I like it there
- not sure what I want to do with my future, but the most appealing options at the moment are top tech companies like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple
- I turned down Berkeley because of its depressing and gloomy environment, but I don’t know how Columbia’s is
Thoughts about both so far
- their engineering programs are similarly ranked
- I love New York City, but I’ve only been there for a few days so I’m not sure if I can handle four years there
- nothing beats LA weather
- I get no financial aid for either, so it’s 32k/year for UCLA or 72k/year for Columbia at the least. Paying for it isn’t an issue, but is the Columbia experience really worth 160k more than UCLA’s?
- I have a few connections with faculty and a lab at UCLA and none at Columbia, but it’s easier to get to know professors and access to labs at Columbia
- UCLA’s food >>>>>>> Columbia’s food. I heard that Columbia’s food is almost inedible, so students order delivery, which can really add up
- I’m close with my family, so if I go to LA I have a reasonable chance of going home on a whim; this is not the case for Columbia. How often do students go home when they’re out-of-state?
- at UCLA I’m basically learning only about my major, but Columbia has the famed Core Curriculum. I want to be an involved citizen and learn more than just engineering (which Columbia allows me to do more so than UCLA, but is it better, or will it just inhibit me from taking major classes?).
- I’m scared the environment at Columbia will be too competitive/pressuring/depressing
- Columbia is more liberal arts-oriented and sends students into finance/Wall Street, and while UCLA isn’t exactly a tech-heavy school, engineering there is more STEM-heavy
- Columbia has better connections and job/internship prospects in general, but I hope to work in tech so will the distance from California/LA/Silicon Valley be an issue?
Any thoughts that’ll help sway me in my decision? I’m currently 50/50 right now.
Pay no attention to the rankings. UCLA is far stronger than Columbia for undergraduate engineering. The fact that any of the Ivys besides Cornell, and maybe Princeton get high rankings for undergraduate engineering is proof of how flawed the rankings are. Don’t take my work though. Post this question on the engineering forum under majors. My suspicion is that you’d get a majority that would say UCLA was better for the same price and no one who would claim Columbia worth the price differential.
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I would’ve been a near full pay student at Stanford and had I gotten in I still would’ve chosen UCLA for engineering. It’s not worth the debt to go to when UCLA is already so good. I absolutely love it here.
" I’m currently 50/50 right now"
Honestly your post doesn’t read that way to me.
Somebody who wants to go to Columbia really wants to be in NYC, really understands what “The Core” is, by this time, and really wants that program of studies, maybe is psyched about Wall Street opportunities, maybe affirmatively wants some space from their parents, affirmatively wants to sample life on the other coast, etc.
The facets that are its "best "features to those who want it don’t really seem to float your boat, or you are lukewarm to them, or not sufficiently familiar. Or scared of them.
Some of your questions (going home frequency, West Coast recruiting) might best be addressed on the Columbia subforum.
I’m not an expert but my guess is:
- The Core will cut in to ability to take other courses, to an extent. Therefore you have to value the experience of taking The Core more than the other courses you forego.
- There will be some west coast recruiting, particularly by some of the famous most prestigious places (like Google). You might even have a better chance to get in at those particular places. But the west coast recruiting will not be remotely as extensive as at UCLA.
The way I read your post, you are set on UCLA. Engineering at UCLA is at least as good as at Columbia, if not better. My DD was admitted to the school of engineering for CS to the same schools you considering and as you, she is a full pay and Southern CA resident. She also rejected UCB right away, then Columbia. UCLA was one of the two schools she was trying to decide between until the last minute. At the end, she picked another school she is attending now on the east coast. To answer your other question, we are a very close family as well, but between daily texts and phone calls it is not as difficult as we originally thought. She came home for a winter and spring breaks and will be coming back home for the summer. And at your age, bad east coast weather is not that important. If Columbia was your dream school, maybe your could justify paying twice as much for an engineering degree. But it doesn’t sound like it is the case. Go to UCLA. It’s an excellent and affordable choice .
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“I get no financial aid for either, so it’s 32k/year for UCLA or 72k/year for Columbia at the least. Paying for it isn’t an issue, but is the Columbia experience really worth 160k more than UCLA’s?”
It really depends on your personal circumstances. Is $160k really worth it for YOU. Are your parents in a financial position where that $160k won’t be missed?
You seem to place much weight on good weather and food. I am not sure that you should. Those aren’t usually priorities when deciding on a college, but rather, tie-breakers in the event you are choosing between two universities that are equal in every other way. You are not going to Columbia to settle down forever. You are going there to study for 4 years. If the food is really that bad, you can eat off campus. There are many good and equally affordable eating venues nearby. Where you go from Columbia after your four years there, and choose to settle down, is up to you.
That being said, I think you touched on a couple of important points. If your end goal is to work in the tech industry, preferably in Silicon Valley, I do not think Columbia presents any advantage over UCLA, in which case, I would go for UCLA. Given your current academic and professional aspirations, I think UCLA will serve you as well as Columbia. When of the main benefits with going to Columbia would be versatility. If you change your mind about your major…or about your career or future plans, Columbia will likely be more flexible and versatile.
The Columbia engineering alumni I know have never been employed as engineers, even though one of them worked for years at a high profile engineering/electronics company. The other fellow has enjoyed an acting career for awhile after initially working for Microsoft in Seattle.
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If UCLA is significantly cheaper, I think that would be the best option. Columbia is still not worth over $160k than UCLA.