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3togo · 10-16-2008, 07:51 AM

My daughter and I visited Columbia this past spring break ... and my daughter loved Columbia and I was much more impressed than I expected (and I had high expectations). First academically there was a lot of focus on the core ... if the core appeals to you then Columbia may well appeal to you ... if you do not like the idea of a core then Columbia may not be a good fit. The students we met were clearly very intelligent ... seemed to be academically focused (as opposed to party and/or job on wall street focused) ... were very diverse and interesting beyond their school work ... a real selling point (which was not true at all the "elite" schools we visited). The campus was the big surprise ... the Columbia campus is a very green, neat, and classic self contained campus in the middle of NYC ... it was much more of a campus than I expected and much nicer also. The campus does spread out some beyond the orginal core campus but is compact and very campus-like for a urban campus. We also were very impressed with the neighborhood ... the neighborhood itself is about 10 blocks north of central park and home to numerous colleges (I believe 7) ... in essence it is college-residental enclave in NYC ... for NYC very livable while having the hustle and bustle of Manhattan ... in fact it was the urban campus that best combined a real campus with urban hustle and bustle. We walked to Harlem (along the main Avenues) and the first 10 blocks or so from the campus seemed fine ... the neighborhood has really improved over the last few years. Don't get me wrong ... Columbia is a urban campus in the middle of Manhattan so students need to be careful about where they head alone and at night ... but if they are careful they should be fine ... and to be frank, having visited most of the "eliite" urban campuses in the Northeast I thought Columbia's was at least as safe as the others. Great school and great location (assuming you want a core and an urban school) ... it would be a great college experience for anyone lucky enough to be admitted.

10-16-2008, 07:51 AM	#22
3togo Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,641	My daughter and I visited Columbia this past spring break ... and my daughter loved Columbia and I was much more impressed than I expected (and I had high expectations). First academically there was a lot of focus on the core ... if the core appeals to you then Columbia may well appeal to you ... if you do not like the idea of a core then Columbia may not be a good fit. The students we met were clearly very intelligent ... seemed to be academically focused (as opposed to party and/or job on wall street focused) ... were very diverse and interesting beyond their school work ... a real selling point (which was not true at all the "elite" schools we visited). The campus was the big surprise ... the Columbia campus is a very green, neat, and classic self contained campus in the middle of NYC ... it was much more of a campus than I expected and much nicer also. The campus does spread out some beyond the orginal core campus but is compact and very campus-like for a urban campus. We also were very impressed with the neighborhood ... the neighborhood itself is about 10 blocks north of central park and home to numerous colleges (I believe 7) ... in essence it is college-residental enclave in NYC ... for NYC very livable while having the hustle and bustle of Manhattan ... in fact it was the urban campus that best combined a real campus with urban hustle and bustle. We walked to Harlem (along the main Avenues) and the first 10 blocks or so from the campus seemed fine ... the neighborhood has really improved over the last few years. Don't get me wrong ... Columbia is a urban campus in the middle of Manhattan so students need to be careful about where they head alone and at night ... but if they are careful they should be fine ... and to be frank, having visited most of the "eliite" urban campuses in the Northeast I thought Columbia's was at least as safe as the others. Great school and great location (assuming you want a core and an urban school) ... it would be a great college experience for anyone lucky enough to be admitted. Last edited by 3togo; 10-16-2008 at 08:02 AM.
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