Interim School of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Don Goldfarb visited the Engineering Student Council for a quick Q-and-A at Monday night's council meeting. Lillian Chen has the highlights:
Early apps: Goldfarb said that early decision application numbers, which were released Tuesday, increased more for SEAS than they did for Columbia College. He added that while the SEAS faculty has grown since 1995---when he was last interim dean---the number of undergraduates has remained largely unchanged.
Competitive streak: Goldfarb said that even though Cornell’s engineering school is ranked higher than Columbia’s, he thinks Columbia is a better place. He said that universities compete more for the best faculty than for the best students, and that the SEAS faculty has increased by four or five professors a year---which is “good for the undergraduates," because "they’re going to have more professors to teach more classes.” However, Goldfarb added that more professors necessitates more graduate students, because research-oriented professors need assistants.
