<p>Ok so I’ve been admitted to University of Pennsylvania CAS and I’m wait-listed at Columbia University (CC). I want to be a music major, while also studying psychology and philosophy. I am not sure whether I should just throw myself into Penn or write a dedicated letter to Columbia and pursue their wait-list. Here are my questions, please be honest with your answers!:</p>
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<li><p>I’m a singer/musician and I am interested in pursuing a music career both in and outside college - meaning: how good are both school’s music departments? As a native new york, I want to know if Philly is also a great place to pursue music? More importantly* does the school (either Penn or Columbia) completely busy the student with so much work that they don’t have much time/energy to pursue outside activities/interests?</p></li>
<li><p>In conflict with statistics I’ve received from “theU.com” videos about both colleges, I’ve heard rumors that Columbia’s class sizes are smaller than Penn’s. I am still very much interested in learning and I really enjoy smaller (20 or less) classes where I can actively participate in discussion and learn from the ideas of my classmates, as well as my teacher. Do any current students of Columbia or Penn know more about this?</p></li>
<li><p>One big factor in my decision is also the fact that Penn’s music department told my college guidance counselor that they were really excited about working with me. As a musician and student, this is extremely enticing. In continuance with this, I have also heard that Columbia, with its fantastic (and over-powering?) grad schools and the ambiguous Barnard relationship, is rather “un-focused” on its undergrad community. Born and raised in NYC, I don’t need hand-holding (and to be honest, I’m not huge on school spirit), but I definitely want to work with teachers that want to work with me. I don’t want to feel invisible!</p></li>
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<p>I know my college experience is very much how I make it but these two schools are so close in many ways and I really would like to attempt to distinguish them in hopes of gaining some clarity! Thank you!</p>
<p>Penn is awesome, so on the one hand dig deep into penn and love it. Never hurts to stay on the waitlist though if your heart is kind of geared toward columbia as well.</p>
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<li><p>don’t know much about penn’s music or doing music in philly, but columbia has a great in house music dep’t, probably one of the best in the country, it is small, but with some pretty incredible faculty and adjunct faculty. also the ‘culture’ around columbia is get the most you can out of your time on campus, so if you wanna sing on campus groups, or maybe pursue any number of new york city institutions, it is yours for the taking, and there is probably an upperclassman that can help steer you in the right direction (especially with music).</p></li>
<li><p>class sizes vary based on major, music will always be small and intimate (10-15 kids max) - entry level science classes and econ classes can push 200-250, some history classes with eric foner can be just as big, but otherwise most every other class you’ll have will be south of 20 students. then of course there is the core courses that are capped at about 20 so a majority of your main courses will be discussion-based intimate, you can form a relationship with the professor if you want a recommendation down the road.</p></li>
<li><p>to this question - i say visit. columbia is not at all what you think it is because as a ugrad student the grad school presence rarely impacts your daily life. the barnard relationship just makes the college experience richer (to be honest) because you have an entirely different set of courses you can take. and the thing you care about the most - working closely with profs - is exactly what columbia is like. profs at columbia i feel put ugrads first in a way that i didn’t feel at other institutions when i visited and sat on classes, you can tell they love what they do. they are very available to you, and i felt like i was treated better than the phd grad students :). and even though perhaps this is an accurate portrayal of lets say columbia in the 1960s, it has not been the case since the 1990s when the college regained its central role in the university.</p></li>
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