<p>I'd say Columbia has a slightly more intellectual feel among the students than Penn does. However, I wouldn't say that Penn is driven by Wharton. It's driven by the med school and the hospital. Without that element Penn wouldn't be where it is today.</p>
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really? guidance counselors over 25yrs removed from their college days know about the vibes of individual campuses of many schools they haven't attended? My foot. Most are just intermediaries between the propaganda that schools put out and the students and know actually very little about the reality of most programs.
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Considering he is highly respected and its his job, yes. Its their job to know about these things, talking to students, faculty and presidents. That is such an ignorant statement to assume that a college counselor by nature of his age does not know what his job entails. Its like saying a former CEO of a fortune 500, who has been out of the business for 15 years and now offers financial advice knows nothing since he has been out of it for 15 years? Its there jobs to know stuff...He also did say that they are peer schools in every sense, so chillax</p>
<p>You actually said "chillax". Godwin's law 2.0</p>
<p>well I'm glad people are now referring to me as a troll. goes to show what feeling of insecurity about your school will do.</p>
<p>I'd say intellectualism varies greatly based on social group.
First, you should note that Penn's average SAT score is the same as Columbia's. Not only that, but those aren't simply inflated by Wharton; the College's average is only 10 points different (source: Nicole Ridgway's "The Running of the Bulls: Inside the Cutthroat Race from Wharton to Wall Street").
Furthermore, Penn is far more selective by student GPAs. 96% of Penn's incoming class is from the top 10% of their HS classes, compared to 93% of Columbia's... this is also more than all the other "lower" ivies.
You cannot attribute this solely to Wharton; they make up only 1/5 of the class.
So, to conclude: Columbia is certainly not any better or more selective that Penn. If anything, Penn is more selective than Columbia. Is Columbia more "intellectual"? Perhaps the students are less concerned with career opportunities; at Penn, Wharton makes these tensions run high. But I have certainly had a number of compelling conversations on topics that exceed the complexity of Britney Spears's love life or the myriad advantages of i-banking vs. consulting. I don't know if they were "intellectual," per se, but we can definitely engage in repartee as well as any Columbia student, and we do it as often. Which brings me back to my original point: "intellectualism" is a "set and setting" dynamic. You can be a part of it, or go drink your mind out at the closest frat. This goes for Columbia as well.</p>
<p>And that's all I have to say about that.</p>
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Btw, ilovebagels, what exactly are you doing in Bangalore? You could be a brownie but you seem a bit cooler than them.
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<p>Thanks, racist :P</p>
<p>I'm a whitey, but one who loves throwing himself around the world. I did summer jobs/internships in Korea, Singapore, and Beijing, and now I took a job with a big Indian company I found through Penn's OCR.</p>
<p>It's a sweet opportunity and India is...wow. Like no other place I've ever been (for better and for worse)</p>
<p>That's pretty amazing man. </p>
<p>Was kinda j/king about the racist part - I'm Indian too.</p>