Penn vs Columbia

PennCAS2014
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 15:52:46 +0000

Hey there-

you should check out some of my older posts by looking through my profile. I compare Penn and Columbia a lot because I ended up choosing primarily between those two schools (and Yale) during the RD round back when I applied.

In a nutshell, i chose Penn over Columbia because I preferred Penn’s interdisciplinary and collaborative environment, its larger, more traditional campus feel, its superior access to the heart of the city in which it is located, and the unparalleled social life (which includes everything from parties at fraternity houses and clubs downtown to dinner in center city and a stroll through the Barnes Collection or a quiet night in with friends watching a movie).

Additionally, I believed at the time that Penn’s more personalized environment would lead to a better educational experience and friends who have gone to Columbia and articles from their student newspaper seem to indicate that I was right.

From Columbia’s paper:
“No academic departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences currently offer a personalized advising system that pairs undergraduate majors with faculty advisers who work with students throughout their junior and senior years.”
http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2016/02/04/lack-faculty-advising-limits-student-faculty-relationships-columbia-college-and

They also have a nearly impossible time encouraging full professors to teach Core Classes at Columbia and consequently you’re often stuck with some random graduate student who has maybe read one of the texts on your syllabus but is otherwise not really qualified to teach the class. In contrast, 95% of the classes in the College of Arts & Sciences at Penn are taught by full professors.
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/images/uploads/docs/collegebrochure1617.pdf

Also as a side note, if you care about healthcare consulting/banking, Penn is probably the best school from which to enter those professions. With Wharton on campus, Penn is one of only 4 or 5 universities that attract all of the most prestigious banks and consulting firms in the world and all Penn students from Penn’s four undergraduate schools (the college, wharton, engineering, and nursing) have access to the same career services support and interviews. Thus, as a Penn student you have unmatched access to the best jobs in your field of interest no matter if you studied econ, history, political science, engineering or whatever else interests you. Additionally, because of the one university policy, students can take classes and do research across Penn’s undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, allowing you to participate in Penn’s topnotch healthcare management and policy program as well as connecting you to the resources of a major research university with the feel of a small/medium liberal arts college.

There are a whole bunch of other reasons I chose Penn that I’d be happy to discuss if you have any other questions.