<p>I've been lurking on this site for a while now, but this is one of my first posts (I'm also posting it in the other school's forums). I'm a senior in Washington State, looking to go into business/finance in the future and probably major in economics. A little about me: 4.0 uw, strong extracurriculars for the field, and recently received a 36 on the act, which was a major bump up from my SAT score. I hadn't really even considered the ivies since I didn't think that I would be competitive, but now that I stand a better chance (I know, test scores aren't everything and aren't really even relevant after a certain point, but still).</p>
<p>So basically, I want to know what is the case for Columbia over the other tops schools. Or vice-versa. I'm also interested in how the social/party scene compares, as well as the vibe as the campus (don't have the money to fly out to the east coast to visit schools). I'm just having a hard time discerning what distinguishes Columbia over the other ives, because obviously the academics are going to be top-notch at all of them. If anyone also has some insights from the economics department that would be great.</p>
<p>By the way, I am also considering Penn and have done quite a but of research on it, but am interested in learning more about the other ivies that don't have an undergraduate business school. </p>
<p>I live 15 mins away from the campus; I go there every Wednesday for my volunteering. One thing that sticks out is that it feels new every single time I visit there. I love that the campus is ENCLOSED. I would never apply to colleges with just tall, monotonous buildings…</p>
<p>Do some research online for the specifics, regarding the core curriculum, social life etc. Also for the “party scene”, Penn is ranked #1 of the Ivies. Good luck </p>
<p>I think you need to research the schools you’re interested in and know what you really want out of a college education. Columbia offers many things that other schools don’t, such as the Core Curriculum, location in one of the major cities of the world, and an extremely busy environment bustling with people and activity. This is a huge positive for many people, but for those who may be interested in a more rural atmosphere, a more lenient curriculum, or a more quiet and personal experience it may not fit the bill. I would imagine that there’s not as much school ‘spirit’ in terms of sports as there may be at some other schools; the same goes for Greek atmosphere. The academics are obviously top, but there are many other schools that have just as good opportunities and intellectual challenge with a different atmosphere.
A lot of people on this site express interest in wanting to go to “the Ivies”, which really shouldn’t be the focus of your search. The Ivy League is simply an old ‘group’ that’s actually composed of many different types of schools. Someone who desperately wants to go to any Ivy is losing sight of the college experience. Someone who is interested in Columbia, for example, probably wouldn’t also love the idea of going to Dartmouth, which offers a much different environment off-campus, or Brown, which has a totally open curriculum. Of course it’s possible (and I’m guilty of this!)–there is a sort of ‘lure’ and a lot of exciting stigmas attached to attending an Ivy League school, but after a year there you’re really not going to be focusing on the name of the institution you’re at–you’ll be focusing on the experience. If the idea of being in a large city with an intense core curriculum excites you, you’d probably be equally excited to go to the University of Chicago, NYU, maybe even Boston College, and probably UPenn as well. It all boils down to what you think would be best for your wants and needs. And sometimes you don’t know what exactly you want, and that’s OK too! Just don’t limit yourself to a label because you think it sounds ‘prestigious’. Really, for probably most people simply going to an Ivy League school doesn’t guarantee you a more successful or happy career or life than someone who didn’t.</p>
<p>The cases are considered only after admissions, not during application process. Very few are lucky enough to get in and so it is not material that someone should be providing you with a positive view encouraging you to apply. </p>
<p>You are going to be one of the 35000 applicants if you choose to apply.</p>
@texaspg Sorry, but could you explain what you mean by this?</p>
<p>Also, I always wonder when posts like this come up during the application season whether the OP’s are trying to get ammo for their "why XX? essays.</p>
<p>It is self explanatory. No one needs to convince a person to apply to a school that already gets 35000 apps and accepts only 2200. No one is important enough to be encouraged to apply to a school with a 93% rejection rate…</p>
<p>@texaspg
Forgive me if I misunderstood your point, but wouldn’t those who have been accepted and even those who came close but were rejected be “important” enough to be encouraged to apply to Columbia? I agree that even the most stellar students have pretty low chances of getting accepted, but shouldn’t they be encouraged to apply since their chances are as good (and/or bad) as anyone else’s?</p>
<p>Why should anyone be encouraged to apply to a reach? The whole point is that it is a reach and people pick some of them that appeals most to them, not to a bunch of people who can convince them to apply there.</p>
<p>Individuals should be encouraged to apply to a reach that they think is a perfect fit for them because while their chances of getting in are low, they are still legitimate due to the fact that there is always a chance that the reach will say “yes.” It is also motivation for the student to be the best they can be so that their dream/reach college will perhaps admit them.
My opinion is that those students who are on the fence about applying to any reach college, Ivy League or no, can be scared to apply to prestigious programs despite the fact that they might be strong candidates for admission, and that these students, who think that the reach is the perfect match for them, should be encouraged to apply by those they know and the college itself.</p>
<p>How would you know what someone’s perfect fit is that you have never met? I don’t even know my own kid’s perfect fit and they don’t know either. My kid visited several schools after getting into them to decide which one seemed best before enrolling and I still don’t know what it is for my younger kid. </p>
<p>Unless you can guarantee that someone will get into the school you are recommending for them, you should not be encouraging to apply to a specific school over another one. They should make those choices themselves. If they are curious about a school, they should ask questions about it but the question is not make a case for me. I suggest an individual should make their own darn case when they want to apply to a specific school rather than asking others.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be if you know so much about Penn apply there and stop talking about another school and if you know so much about Columbia, apply there and stop asking someone to make that case for you No one is stopping OP from applying to BOTH schools or 5 others.</p>
<p>I did not mean perfect fit as in the one who is convincing the student to apply somehow knows it’s a perfect fit, but that the potential applicants themselves feel that the reach college might in fact be a perfect, great, favorable, etc. fit for them.</p>
<p>I agree that one should not be encouraged to apply to one college over the other like this, and that he or she should ultimately make the decision themselves. But I think that comparisons of schools side by side can be productive if one has to or wants to decide between multiple colleges. Also, opinions of peers are valuable in some cases, especially here on CC, because advice and information given comparing one college to another can reveal important parts about colleges and their culture that one either has not considered or cannot find through research on official websites alone. I think that encouragement to apply to a school without any mention of “this one is better because…”, or “you should apply here instead of there because…”, is also completely harmless. </p>
<p>And so, I agree; OP should perhaps just apply to both or more Ivies since choosing between them is tough. But to ask other CC members “Why here over another place?” is completely okay, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Hope you don’t mean an applicant’s high school peers, who haven’t yet attended. Or been accepted.</p>
<p>And OP really should know what he likes about a college, what makes it his choice and how he and the school match, beyond stats. He can check programs, courses, faculty professional interests, special opportunities, activities, internship support, etc. </p>
<p>Just peers in general is what I meant- mainly those who know what they’re talking about. </p>
<p>And of course, one should know things about the college that are easily learned through going through an official website of a college or university, but then there are intangibles that a college website just can’t describe, or won’t describe. For example, negative aspects of attending a college are things that most likely wouldn’t be covered on that college’s website, so OP would have to ask CC members with experience about this. Another intangible would be the party scene (which was asked about by OP) because it’s not something a student can look up on a school’s official website. And sure, there may be rankings by other websites, but wouldn’t one want to hear from actual students and parents with experience in addition to the info they get from a ranking? </p>
<p>I haven’t had the opportunity to travel to the east coast to look at schools for financial reasons, so I was partially asking this to get the vibes of the schools. I also recently got some improved test scores back that would make me more competitive applicant so I began to serious consider schools that, while still certainly a reach, were now potentially attainable. So then all of a sudden I had to do a lot of research in a short amount of time about many schools that I had largely ignored during the majority of my search.
After looking more into Columbia, I realized that I am not a huge fan of the common core curriculum, and will not be applying. But thanks for those of you that provided input.</p>
<p>You mention in another comment interest in the Operations Research/Financial Engineering major. I should mention that Columbia’s ORFE department is extremely well-regarded, top 3 in the world. And applying as an engineer means you do only half of the Core Curriculum, and pretty much you get to choose the more fun half. The core may seem unappealing but at least as an engineer I have thoroughly enjoyed my first class (my writing seminar). Next semester I take a class on Japanese Civilization to fulfill a requirement as well as perhaps embark on an East Asian Studies minor (an option not available at a place like Yale). Applying is your choice, but there’s stuff that’s hard to see just from reading the website.</p>
<p>Columbia is amazing. You have the incredible Core curriculum, New York City (so your never bored), an enclosed yet urban campus, diversity, good financial aid, etc. I want to go to Columbia because I know they have great foreign language departments, and there’s so much culture in the city. </p>
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