<p>I'm thinking of applying ED to either Penn, Duke or Columbia and I wanted to know what advantages you think Penn has over the other schools. I am probably going to major in biology and be premed, but I might also consider going to law school. Which school best fits my academic interests? I have lived in big cities all my life but I'm not averse to living in a smaller one for a few years. I consider myself to be an intellectual, but not in a pretentious sort of way. I don't plan on consuming alcohol in college and I'm not a big fan of parties and raves (which is why I'm slightly nervous about committing to Penn or Duke). Access to world class professors is very important to me and I want to attend a school where the faculty is as committed to teaching as it is to research (this is one of the reasons why I have my doubts about committing to Columbia). On the political spectrum, I lean conservative and would like to attend a college where my opinions are respected. I would really appreciate some insight into the campus culture at all 3 schools.</p>
<p>I’d say Columbia is the best fit for you. As either pre-med or pre-law (for which GPA is a critical factor) and as a person who doesn’t like to party, Columbia probably offers the best mix of what you’re looking for. Penn and Duke really are party heavy, and if you’re averse to that culture you might not be a fan. In addition for pre-med, the grading curve at Penn is quite bad in the science classes so it unnecessarily kills the GPA. Columbia students generally have fun by exploring the city together, etc. and their pre-med grading curves are much nicer. Duke is like Penn with the party culture although it is much better for pre-meds. All in all, stick with Columbia. Good luck!</p>
<p>Incompletely disagree with Braker476.
Any Ivy League or equivalent caliber school is exceedingly competitive. And guess which school was ranked the number one most competitive an rigorous school b/c it has the most undergrad requirements? Columbia! (Granted UPenn was #2)
For UPenn, they have two unique majors for both premed and prelate that few other schools have.
BBB (biological basis of behavior)
PPE- philosophy politics economics
These are really cool majors that combined area if study designated for careers in medicine/law w/o focusing on one specific major (eg- bbb includes animal behavior, psychology, neurobiology, sleep, bio, anatomy, physiology, etc.)
I am not trying to persuade you to choose any one school over the other, I am just showing u things about Prnn u may not have known (bro goes there)
Any of your three choices are rather competitive and would all be a challenge to get a good GPA and get into graduate school</p>
<p>Sorry for typos, wrote from phone
**i completely disagree</p>
<p>Chance please?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=16156734#post16156734[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=16156734#post16156734</a></p>
<p>I’m a student at Penn who has taken several pre-med classes, so I can say firsthand that plenty of pre-meds get weeded out quickly at Penn with less than favorable science grading curves. I’ve done some research on the grade distribution at Columbia, and it is definitely more favorable. Recommending one school over the other does not mean to discount the competitiveness of all the schools. Rather, the primary reason I recommended Columbia is the student culture that the OP might prefer.</p>