I was rejected from NYU but accepted into Columbia. How?
NYU didn’t want you but Columbia did.
It is a myth propagated by insecure students and their arrogant parents that “top” schools accept only the “top” students, and as you go down the pecking order of prestige the students are less accomplished. That is nonsense. There are far too many top students in the United States to fill the incoming class of even the best 50 Universities and liberal arts colleges in the country. That means that admission in many cases is a lottery, and a lot of very deserving students are going to be disappointed if they really wanted to attend a specific school.
Schools will also look for reasons to accept some students and reject others that have nothing to do with anything that you can do to influence their decision. In your case, both these schools are in New York, but suppose you were a New Yorker rejected by Columbia but accepted by Stanford. The simple reason could have been that Columbia doesn’t want a class full of New Yorkers, and Stanford doesn’t want a class full of Northern Californians. In that case a candidate becomes more attractive to Stanford than Columbia, all else being equal.
You don’t say which programs you were applying to, and that can also play a significant role. Maybe the program at NYU is more competitive than the comparable program at Columbia. Who knows? You don’t give enough data.
The point of course is that you really shouldn’t care. Either school will give you a great education, and both are in New York, so you get the same experience there. As to post graduation, you will have to make it on your own, regardless of the career you choose. A good college can help you get your first job, but having gone there won’t help you keep your job if you don’t perform, or if the economy goes into recession, or if your company gets taken over, or any of the other one million reasons why people lose their jobs in the 21st century United States.
©️ Quora
✍️ Dm: @ton_adres
✔️ @fulltuition
NYU didn’t want you but Columbia did.
It is a myth propagated by insecure students and their arrogant parents that “top” schools accept only the “top” students, and as you go down the pecking order of prestige the students are less accomplished. That is nonsense. There are far too many top students in the United States to fill the incoming class of even the best 50 Universities and liberal arts colleges in the country. That means that admission in many cases is a lottery, and a lot of very deserving students are going to be disappointed if they really wanted to attend a specific school.
Schools will also look for reasons to accept some students and reject others that have nothing to do with anything that you can do to influence their decision. In your case, both these schools are in New York, but suppose you were a New Yorker rejected by Columbia but accepted by Stanford. The simple reason could have been that Columbia doesn’t want a class full of New Yorkers, and Stanford doesn’t want a class full of Northern Californians. In that case a candidate becomes more attractive to Stanford than Columbia, all else being equal.
You don’t say which programs you were applying to, and that can also play a significant role. Maybe the program at NYU is more competitive than the comparable program at Columbia. Who knows? You don’t give enough data.
The point of course is that you really shouldn’t care. Either school will give you a great education, and both are in New York, so you get the same experience there. As to post graduation, you will have to make it on your own, regardless of the career you choose. A good college can help you get your first job, but having gone there won’t help you keep your job if you don’t perform, or if the economy goes into recession, or if your company gets taken over, or any of the other one million reasons why people lose their jobs in the 21st century United States.
©️ Quora
✍️ Dm: @ton_adres
✔️ @fulltuition