Dilemma between Caltech and Columbia

sac
Mon, 17 Apr 2006 14:44:40 +0000

cadad – Congrats on your son’s choices! Columbia’s sciences are certainly very good, and CalTech’s are excellent. But these schools are so different in every way, I agree with artiesdad that you just have to go beyond looking at individual departments and med school placements.

Is your son absolutely sure of his future major? Does he have any interest in a humanities based core curriculum? Does he want to be in New York City? Does he want to be among students who are all science-driven, or does he want to meet more different types of people? How important is it to him to have female students around and a dating scene? What does he like to do for fun? How large a student body makes him comfortable or uncomfortable?

If he is someone who lives and breathes biology and intends a future in research, it would be hard to argue against CalTech. But if he changes his mind, or wants to add a humanities major or concentration to his pre-med studies, he could do that much more easily at Columbia.