I love both the schools (from what I’ve seen). I visited Columbia last November, and plan to visit UPenn during spring break. I plan to early decision to one of the schools later this fall. To give some background, I plan on studying computer science. One thing that is kind of detracting me from committing myself to Columbia is the core curriculum, but is it just as extensive in the college of engineering? Please, offer your input on this age old question.
If you search “core curriculum columbia engineering” on google, you’ll find a page that talks gives general information on how the core differs for engineers: https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/ask/faq/question/2362
I didn’t personally look at these two schools, one thing that kept me away from Penn was the large Greek life. In comparison, Columbia’s is much smaller and something I could deal with.
You would be able to get an excellent education at either, the question is fit and actually getting accepted.
You can get an excellent education and have a great experience at either school. Only you can determine which school you prefer to ED at. If you have no preference, I’d try to re-visit the two schools in the fall and see if one strikes you as a better fit.
Columbia’s engineering students take a modified version of the core. It’s not as extensive as the college core. My son actually enjoyed taking some of the music and history classes when he was a student.Here is a link to the modified engineering core. https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/learn/academiclife/engineering/curriculum
They are both great schools. Some points to consider:
- Penn gives a very large advantage to its ED students, although Columbia gives a fairly large one as well.
- Penn has more of a pre-professional focus, while Columbia has a larger focus on learning. Both schools, however, will open many opportunities to work at either top tech companies or on Wall Street.
- I might be biased here, but Columbia has a much better location. IMO, better than any other college.
- Like you mentioned, Columbia has the core. I think the decision comes to this- if you view the core as a waste of your time, don't go to Columbia with the mindset of trying to bypass it as much as possible. Go to Penn instead- while Penn requires a liberal arts curriculum, you can tailor it a lot more to CS. If you view the core curriculum as a valuable education that will serve you for life, Columbia is the better option.
@MrDoctor I view myself as a pretty qualified applicant to both schools, 34 ACT, 3.97 unweighted GPA with 8 AP Classes in my sophomore and junior years, bioengineering and cs research internships (but am in no way asserting that I have guaranteed acceptance). Regarding fit, however, during my visit I really did think of Columbia as a pretty good fit for me, as I stayed with one of my friends who is a first year and met some of his friends.
@puzzled123 You bring up some very good points; I’ll have to visit Penn before I decide for sure, but I think my priorities are leaning away from Columbia. Are you a current Columbia student or do you live in New York? I’m wondering where your bias in saying that Columbia is in a better location stems from.
@blackwiz55
No, I am currently a senior and visited/applied to both. Wharton at Penn is my top choice school, although campus/location-wise I found Columbia to be unparalleled.