wombatsoup

I just went two days ago. It was amazing. The campus is very beautiful, like a lot of people I loved the classical aspect with those two libraries. The guide talked about the core curriculum a lot, and it sounded pretty great. For those who aren't familiar with that, its a series of required seminar discussion based classes that makes up about a third of the curriculum at the college and a quarter at fu. Before this I was looking at St. John's college because they also offer that type of program, but Columbia's programs also offered more specialization and opportunities. That made it may first choice. As for the commute, to answer luzbrillante, there's a 7th avenue subway station literally right outside the gates, so commuting to Midtown is easy. The best part of my visit was seeing Jeffrey Sachs. He's on the list of Time's most influential people and he's the director of their Earth institute. There he was, without school even being in session, right outside Low Library, talking to a junior. They said that their faculty was involved with their students up to the highest level, and they weren't kidding. I was originally interested in Columbia only because it was an Ivy in NYC, but the visit really made me aware of what sets it apart from everyone else. Definitely made it my first choice.

Fastfood15

I'll be there this Friday, and I will write a comprehensive report. I am considering ED, so I will be critical.

pgh36

The Columbia campus is top notch but the core sucks

madguitarmikey

The Core is fantastic and the reason why Columbia isn't just another Ivy League yuppie breeding ground--you have to READ!
I wish more schools had cores like that.
It's all what you want I guess; some people prefer loose structure, some of us want rigid structure to take a leap off of.
So don't hate.
I really want the Columbia education, then it just so happens that everything else about the school is amazing.

aechavarria

Last time I visited Columbia was about 4 months ago. Although i saw very little of its installations, my cousins, and my father, who attended Columbia say its wonderful. However I do have to compliment its location, New York City is an extremely vibrant, exiting and exhilarating city. Its constant movement and activity make it very difficult for you to get board, and it prevents you from staying locked up in your dorm. However as a foreign student from a reclusive boarding school in Europe, New York’s vibrant synergy is both exiting and shocking. My question is: does New York’s exiting environment, make it difficult for you to concentrate in your studies?

pgh36

I really loved the Columbia campus but I couldnt help by feel a little insecure no matter how good they claimed the security was. After leaving the campus, I walked about a block and i landed right in the middle of Harlem were a heated argument was blocking traffic

3togo

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.

stacyx09

I absolutly loved Columbia on my campus visit! It was a gorgeous spring day that highlighted the campus' beauty and vitality. I probably would've loved it even more if i hadn't had a raging migraine during the tour

treemaven

We visited Columbia just last weekend (the day after a Brown visit) and found it to be a lovely little campus. A nice oasis of green and calmness once you go through the gates. It was a very easy subway commute from the Theatre District.

The buildings were impressive, grand, and interesting. Our guided tour group was way too large. And our student guide seemed a bit 'boxed'---just like the classical core curriculum. Although we understand and can appreciate the beauty and intellectuality of that particular core curriculum, it really didn't appeal to our daughter. The idea of being locked into a rigid system of pre-determined classes for so much of her college years, just didn't cut it with her. To me, the idea that 'every Columbia alum since 1908 has read the same books as you!' didn't exactly give me the idea that the core keeps up with progress, if you get my drift. It brought back memories of reading "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" with my daughter in fifth grade from her middle school's reading list---a book that had absolutely no relevance to her, schools of this day and age, and provided no real background from which she could glean anything other than if one hangs around long enough even a rather unlikeable, disagreeable man may become figure given respect. What I got from the exercise was that Reading Lists DO need to change with the times, not all classics remain classics. LOL

And as my daughter has read the Iliad and the Odyssey twice since fifth grade, she really wasn't too excited to hear that she would be doing it yet again.

On another note, we absolutely LOVE the diving coach!!! He is a jewel!

Akis Psilos

There are certain human core values that are not found among those lately post-modern trash novels fed to the teenage consumer aged 5th grade and above.
The infamous "nouveau riche litterati".

To be frank and earnest, the Classics, the Iliad, the Odyssey and Mr. Chips have another taste in a young person's mind when they are studied for their eternal human core values, instead of gored because they were not written with dumped down, easy to digest, dialogue.

hellosail

Just wanted to chip in here. I'm still a high school student (senior, applying RD), but I spend a lot of time on the Columbia campus.

I went on a campus tour about a year ago exactly which was a bit of a pointless exercise for me since I basically spend all my Saturday mornings at Columbia anyways and they didn't really show me anything I couldn't have seen myself/already saw (but there was free food...). There are certain things about the Columbia campus that I'm familiar with that they might not have mentioned on the tour (I actually haven't been on one of the cookie-cutter tours that they give out regularly; I went on one that was specifically tailored to SHP students, so there was a certain math/science bent to their pitch, also, hence the free food).

For an urban campus, I think Columbia is amazing. And by this I mean that it actually exists (unlike NYU). It is gorgeous and historical and there is a certain charm to all the green copper roofs. However, there are certain limitations to the urban campus that my friend likes to bring up when he talks about why Columbia doesn't do it for him: the indoor gym/distant athletic facilities, the lack of open trails, and the policies surrounding the fields on campus. There is an indoor gym on campus (below campus but still above street level - if you didn't know campus is about 5 stories above street level), but most of the athletic facilities (fields, etc.) are located at 225th street (the Morningside campus is around 116th street) and is around a 30 to 45 minute subway ride to the north. In regards to the trails, my friend's a x-country runner and he doesn't like the idea of running on concrete. As for the fields, he really hates that the administration decides when you can go on them and denotes this with a little red flag (no going on the fields) or a green flag (yes, you can be on the fields). If you want frisbee all the time, anytime on campus, this may not be the college for you.

But these are really specific almost nitpicky problems. I actually really love the campus and still do after about a 3 year acquaintance with it. My favorite feature is the pedestrian bridge over Amsterdam Avenue. It's a) really pretty and b) really fun to just stand and watch the cars rushing beneath you. However, yeah there is a lot of construction on campus. Also the drainage is really horrible. Apparently, they did this huge overhaul recently of the drainage system. The only difference I have seen is that they replaced some of the bricks on the walk ways so there are less (deep) empty brick puddles when it rains. Drainage is still horrible.

As for getting to the rest of New York, Columbia is actually really accessible. The only train that stops on campus is the 1 train, and I actually hate the 1 train because it is slow and sometimes rather random. However, if you take the 1 train and transfer at the 96th street station to a 2 or 3 train you can be in midtown within about 15 minutes and even further downtown Manhattan (Chelsea, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street) within probably 30 or 40 minutes. And the great thing about Manhattan is that it is very walkable.

However, the campus may be great and everything, but it is really the neighborhood that I love about Columbia. If anyone is uncertain about New York because they're uncomfortable about an impersonal urban landscape, they shouldn't be. The great thing about New York is that every area is its own neighborhood with its own character and Morningside is no different. There are a bunch of really nice restaurants/snack places within walking distance (The Hungarian Pastry Shop, a noodle place, Indian, (fairly authentic, not take-out, though there are take-out) Chinese, Thai, a gelatoria, an Asian Convenience store (!), etc. etc.).

And yes, New York is amazing. I love it. I love living near it.

As for the core, you're either going to love or hate it. It really appeals to me because I think everyone should have a basis in the western canon. It is where most of the knowledge we have learned in school comes from. It is a very good foundation from which to build a broad knowledge base. Yes, it does focus a lot on old, dead white men, but that is the western canon for you. But it's not just old stodgy texts like the Iliad, but a history component, a scientific perspective, a world perspective, an art component and a music component (if I'm not wrong). In conversations with my friend who actually goes to Columbia, it was very apparent that the core was her favorite part of her experience there. They were basically her favorite classes.

And a final note, just on the dorms (which they don't show you, I don't think). They are okay given that you are basically paying for dirt cheap rooming in Manhattan. They are actually not that small, and the rooms comparable in size to a lot of other dorms I've seen at other (less urban) colleges.

So that is basically my essay on Columbia.

Akis Psilos

The Columbia and Barnard campus is built on top of a hill, The Morningside Heights, which is called the "Acadamic Acropolis" or the "Acropolis of New York" and sits on top of one of the highest geographical points of Manhattan island.
There are two very nice parks on each side.
The Riverside Park to the West with views of the Hudson River and the Morningside Park to the East where some of the students walk or exercise...
You can clearly see the cliffs of the Heights and the two parks when looking from either the Hudson river and New Jersey or from the East.

A newcomer will be surprised to find out that Columbia University owns most of the housing in Morningside Heights. There are thousands of students and faculty that live around the campus, one of the most high in demand areas to live in Manhattan.
The fortunate ones...

A prospective student should attempt if he or she is in good shape to walk south from Columbia and through the Upper West Side all the way down to Penn Station, about 80 city blocks to get a real sense to how different and unique is life in New York than any other cosmopolitan city.
The ones that can't do it should take the Broadway Avenue bus for part of the trip.
Walking, busing or taking the subway in the City, people watching and shopping, the museum, theaters and clubs, there are so many things to do.
It's almost impossible to feel bored when you live in the Big Apple. It's huge in its offerings, some expensive, but a lot more very inexpensive.

Now you can live most of your student life in a lab or the library and still find yourself after graduation a pretty sophisticated guy or gal with not just loving NYC' s flavor but also the international flavors tasted by being in contact with people from every corner of the world.

Can you get tired of life in the City as a student?
Of course you can't and you don't have to be arrogant about being a New Yorker.
It's just a fact of life.

Note for the curious:
I don't live in NYC anymore but I still visit and enjoy it frequently.

From the very new to the very old there is an almost invisible line to guide us, like Ariadne's thread of love in the Labyrinth of our daily existence.
Literature reveals universal truths.
Classical literature is not just a collection of gimmicky dialogues or display of material wealth but an immersion to the richness of the human spirit, with all those characteristics that make us a biped capable of complex thinking and emotions, some very "reasonable" and a few too "unreasonable".

"As when, among
The deep dells of an arid mountain-side,
A great fire burns its way, and the thick wood
Before it is consumed, and shifting winds
Hither and thither sweep the flames-so ranged
Achilles in his fury through the field
From side to side, and everywhere o'ertook
His victims, and the earth dark with blood."

If one can't recognize the scenery and the action in today's world then in which planet has this person lived for the last few years?

poligirl

This is poligirl's mom btw. Yesterday, we took D for a tour of Columbia's beautiful campus. Although there certainly wasn't as much greenery as other campus visits, for an urban school, this place was awesome. The buildings were huge but not imposing and the feel of the campus was something like, "This is a place I could really learn and really think!"

I think it's wonderful that freshmen dorms are right there on campus. Since the inside of the dorms weren't part of the tour, can anyone comment on them, size and space bathrooms, cleanliness, common areas, bugs?

Also, I noticed that there is a hospital behind the school. Is is noisy to a distraction when sleeping or studying or is it something one just gets used to?

juillet

I am a graduate student at Columbia, but I'm not much older than the average college student (I'm 22).

"What did you think of the commute from the heart of campus to the heart of NYC?"

You get used to it. I'm a graduate student in a joint program at the medical center on 168th and the graduate school at the main campus, so I commute from my apartment on 172nd and Haven to the main campus at 116th and Broadway at least 3 times a week, and whenever we go out (we being students) we always go downtown. It's not a big deal, and you learn to negotiate the subway, hang out in groups, decide whether to trek to the subway or splurge on a cab, etc. And the rich rewards that hanging out in the city gives you is well worth the subway ride!

Beyond that, Columbia IS in the heart of NYC. If by "heart of NYC" you mean Midtown, it's only like 4-5 subway stops. Greenwich Village, Tribeca, Chelsea, Chinatown, the LES, those are obviously farther. The Financial District and Wall Street are obviously much further down, but each area of NYC has it's attractions. Morningside Heights is a beautiful area.

"Were the campus and buildings more modern or classic, Goth, etc.? I haven't yet visited but from the pictures & brochures it looks beautiful."

The brochures are supposed to look beautiful, lol. I used to dream about going to Columbia when I was in undergrad and when I came up to visit for graduate school, it (or at least the main campus lol...don't come to the medical school, it might scare you away!) fulfilled most of my fantasies about what a university was "supposed" to look like. I don't know anything about architectural periods but our buildings are old on the outside and very modern on the inside (sort of). The student center has all these cool breezeway/hallway criss-crossing things, Butler Library awed me (it's so big and so unlike my undergraduate library -- it's actually a good place to study!). Columbia students sometimes complain about their facilities but they have no idea what bad actually is -- I went to a tiny undergraduate college that I loved but had nowhere near the resources Columbia has.

I've never been in the undergrad dorms...the dorms at the medical center suck, but then everything at the medical center compared to the Morningside campus sucks. But most elite universities are like that -- their medical centers are IN the city for real for real.

"I really loved the Columbia campus but I couldnt help by feel a little insecure no matter how good they claimed the security was. After leaving the campus, I walked about a block and i landed right in the middle of Harlem were a heated argument was blocking traffic"

You get used to that, too. NYC is actually one of the safest big cities in the country, and there's little harm posed to Columbia students. I live in the city (and not on campus) and I carry out all my daily activities off-campus -- laundry, shopping, entertainment, etc. Never had a problem. People block traffic all over the city, too; that's not particular to Harlem. I saw it in Washington Heights (where I live), I've seen it in midtown, etc.

And that noodle place hellosail mentioned is really good! I eat there often. There's also a good pizza place across the street and there's a ton of markets up and down Broadway. Most of my friends don't live on campus because we're all grad students, so I've learned more about the city outside.

About the core: I obviously didn't go here for undergrad, but let me tell you, knowing the Western canon is extremely helpful in graduate school. I learned it at my undergrad, too, and that grounding was essential for my introductory theoretical foundations course in my field. We read a lot of the western philosophers/sociologists that you will be introduced to in the Core at Columbia, and they form the theoretical basis on which we conduct our research. So they're not useless!

nastynate0315

I visited in August. It was amazing. As I drove over the George Washington bridge I didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by the charm of Columbia. Imagine an Ivy league university nestled in the heart of Harlem (It made me laugh considering the pristine and expansive campuses of Harvard or Yale and how Columbia blatantly disowns them and their pomp.) As I passed through the gates chills went down my spine, I realized I was walking the same path that Ginsburg, Hughes and Kerouac strode everyday as they made their way to their morning classes, and that I too could possibly follow in their footsteps. The sun was shining like a white hot marble and I imagined that most days in the city during summer would be similar. The School itself was beautiful, and the students themselves seemed comfortable walking to and fro in their flip flops and shorts. I was fascinated by a student in particular who was laying in the grass on his back, while pigeons skirted across his body eating bread crumbs he had spread about him. I seemed tempted myself to join him, and forget the man and all his rules, just lay in the hot, hot sun and feed the pigeons. Columbia.