FutureIvyLeaguer

I was just wondering this, because from the people I've talked to, it seems like SEAS is filled with MIT, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford rejects, or people that did not get into top state school engineering schools. Can current SEAS students or alumni confirm or refute this? Thanks.

s snack

No, not all. Within Columbia, most seem to consider SEAS the smarter students. Yes, it may have a higher acceptance rate, but, for example, its SAT range is above CC's and bout level with Stanford's and MIT's. Nothing like GS.

Columbia2002

This is correct. The vast majority of CC students have nothing but the utmost respect for SEAS students. CC students see that SEAS students do just as well as they do in the humanities classes and are also able to tackle advanced math/science coursework that they can't handle.

Shraf

SEAS students tend to be more well rounded than CC students as well

FutureIvyLeaguer

But... the engineering school itself isn't ranked high at all. Why would anyone want to go to Columbia SEAS over let's say, MIT or Berkeley?

Shraf

engineering students in SEAS tend to be diff than those at schools like MIT or Berkeley. I feel that for starters the education at SEAS is more theoretical and few of the graduates go on to do industry jobs. Also, the core requirements (cultures, music/art, econ, u. writing) tend to attract more well rounded students who are interrested in becoming cultured and entering fields where a liberal arts education coupled with an engineering education is looked upon favorably.

FutureIvyLeaguer, rankings are tricky in that they only represent one aspect of a school usually ...that aspect differs according to the priorities of the organization that is doing the ranking. Simply looking at rankings as the be all and end all of how you think about colleges and programs will land you somewhere you will probably despise.

Furthermore, being at SEAS does not mean you are cut off from anything that is CC. You have access to all CC classes, professors and activities etc and most of your freshman/soph classes will not be engineering classes.

house

What is SEAS? Sorry, I'm new here.

js23

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
I have been to Columbia and I do not think SEAS is looked down upon in any way. Rankings never seem to reflect the entire picture of a school. I think every school of engineering has its own flavor. MIT is intense-hardcore engineering, Fu is very theoretical from what I've heard (and of course, famous for the 'Core'), and my school, ASU, is very industry-centric and takes a more job-oriented approach. Every place is different-it just matters whether you like what you see or not.
That said, I personally loved SEAS (and just Columbia as a whole). That's why I want to transfer there.

s snack

FutureIvyL:
Sharf's got it. The reason SEAS is rnked so low is that it isn't an engineering-intensive program. It's basically students who want to go to Columbia, but focus more on Math + Science than the regular Core Curriculum. It's ranked so low (although still above all other Ivy Engineering with the exception of Cornell) because very few of its students end up being engineers. Moreso than at MIT or other major engineering institutions, its students go on to medical school, law school, wall street, etc.

WindowShopping

I'm sorry. Looked down according to who? You need to be more specific.

FutureIvyLeaguer

Looked down upon by the general student body and employers.

Skraylor

people have already debunked the first misconception in that sentence so I'll stick to the second:

Where does that information even come from???? It's true that only 30% of any given graduating SEAS class will go into industry but that is by choice, not because they cant get jobs doing it. When they do get jobs, they are with highly respected companies such as (for chemical engineers at least) Dupont, Exon-Mobile, Howard Johnson, Intel, etc.etc. There is a list of where the graduating class of 2004 went, I'm gonna see if i can find it and post it here...

Columbia2002

SEAS is ranked low because US News is measuring graduate engineering departments, not undergraduate engineering curricula. I'm not sure how the average GRE score, for example, of someone in the SEAS graduate program has any bearing on the quality of SEAS for an undergraduate.

dpa38d2u

I wouldn't agree that SEAS kids are more "well rounded" than CC kids. I would actually argue the reverse...

I honestly feel that there is some prejudice against SEAS kids, simply because there is the notion that they are all math/science people. The only thing about SEAS is I feel that they miss out on much of the CORE, and out of Lit Hum/CC, they sometimes take one of them, but often they will take Major Cultures instead. I feel that Lit Hum/CC is THE CORE of Columbia; if you don't take those courses you miss out on a lot.

To answer your question, there is still slightly some elitism with the CC kids. At events and such there are jokes (in good nature) about SEAS kids. Most people though won't care, although there is still a stigma of "oh yea he's majoring in engineeing..."

But honestly, Barnard has the worst of it. I remember there was a joke going around saying how, if Barnard is a school filled with such "strong, independent, women," why don't they move up the river and form a "strong, independent" college?!


Edit: Furthermore i think the problem also occurs is because some of the SEAS students look down on SEAS themselves... SEAS is an amazing school, but some students I know say that they wish they were in CC. I even know a person who transferred into CC after freshmen year, but that was because they wanted to major in something at the college (keep in mind that majors such as Chemistry, Physics, Economics... can only be done at the college)

Skraylor

In response to dpa38d2u, I would say that everyone at columbia either: a) pokes fun at the other schools or b) pokes fun at themselves.

i think it's just sort of the mentality at columbia. Yes there is the stereotypical image of the SEAS kid (usually asian in people's heads) but that's really an engineering thing in general as opposed to only at Columbia.