between Berkeley,Stanford,Columbia&Brown,how wld u rank based on their undergrad arts prog and econs prog?

Question

i'm an international student from singapore. how different are the cities where these universities are located? to what extent will the difference affect my university experience there?

Answer 1

Out of the schools you listed above. I applied to Columbia. Columbia is tough getting in; I got wait-listed.

Here are parts of my application:
I got 800 for reading, 800 for math, and 710 for writing on the SAT.
3.98 GPA
3rd place at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
One of the 15 Minnesota Scholars of Distinction in Science
Raised $6600 for my local United Way
Captain for some soccer games at my school
50+ volunteer hours/year

These schools differ greatly in their environment. Stanford and Berkeley are close to each other in the greater San Francisco Area. The weather at these two places is fantastic (mild winters and cool summers). Columbia is near downtown NYC in the Morningside Heights district. It has access to the myriad opportunities offered by NYC. Brown is on a hill atop Providence, RI. It has a more relaxed atmosphere of a mid-size city.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 2

These four schools are among the most highly respected in the world. Each of them has outstanding faculty and resources, but the question is really not a meaningful one, since the chances that an international student can be accepted as a freshman undergraduate in any of these elite schools is very small.

Columbia, in particular, is extremely selective. You literally have to be one of the very best students in the USA to be admitted there. But Brown, Stanford and UCB are also very selective. I personally know an American student with a 2280 SAT, 4+ GPA, and many extracurriculars including a silver medal at a US national science competition who was turned down by Brown and Columbia. And I know one Asian student who was accepted at Columbia. He had 2400 SAT and won a very important US national science competition for a research project he published as a Jr in high school. These are not schools where ordinary kids get in.

If you are not capable of opening an atlas, or using the internet to check the size, climate, and cultural attributes of these schools and their communities, then there is literally no chance you will ever be a student there.

Try first deciding what area of the USA you would be interested in visiting. Then use the college search program at princetonreview.com to select some schools that are in that area and which match with your financial strength and academic credentials.

There are over 4000 colleges in the USA. You can definitely find one that will match your credentials, if you can afford to attend. Over 500,000 international students study in the USA each year. You can be one of them, but almost certainly, you cannot attend these schools you mentioned.