Could someone rank these schools?

Corbett
Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:56:17 +0000

Surprisingly, I actually read an article recently that stated that more Dartmouth students get into Columbia Law than Columbia students (Columbia is bigger, but may have less people apply).

Actually, it may not be surprising, depending on how you define “Columbia”.

The principal undergraduate college of Columbia University is Columbia College. The enrollment of Columbia College is only about 4,100 – no larger than Dartmouth (if anything a bit smaller). So if “Columbia” means “Columbia College” specifically, then it’s not too surprising.

Now it’s true that there are also many other undergraduates associated with Columbia University, including some 2,400 at Barnard College, and another 1,900 at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

But Barnard has its own identity, so Barnard students at Columbia Law were probably counted separately – they probably weren’t included in the total for the “Columbia” students.

And any SEAS students at Columbia Law may also have been counted separately from the “Columbia” students. Even if SEAS students were included, they may not have added greatly to the “Columbia” total, because SEAS students are probably less likely to go to law school than Columbia College or Barnard College students.