shermie331

Hi, I am thinking of applying early so your answers would really help me out.

huskem55

location location location- gorgeous, green, campus bubble inside the best city in the world.

PrivateJoker06

I think Columbia is the BEST urban university in the world. I love the campus, the quality of the faculty, the fact that the class sizes are small and that the core curriculum emphasizes humanities scholarship, and the location of the campus with respect to Manhattan. I decided to make a list instead of posting a full thesis.

1) I like the how the faculty has produced Nobel Prize winners in disparate fields such as chemistry as well as economics.
2) I like how the Columbia faculty represents some of the finest researchers in the world, but they still also care about undergraduate education and are still accessible to all Columbia undergraduates.
3) I like how the seminars facilitate student and faculty interaction while also allowing students to learn from other students in the course.
4) I like how Columbia has the most beautiful campus in New York City.
5) I like how Columbia is able to draw the finest students and scholars from all over the globe.
6) I like how Columbia contributes to the cultural and intellectual landscape of the most diverse and vibrant city in the world.
7) I like how the administration of Columbia feels the need to serve the outlying community through outreach programs for kids and continuing education programs for adults.
8) I like how the Columbia campus remains firmly integrated in the Harlem community while also providing an insultating "bubble" for Columbia students.
9) Yes, I even like the Columbia colors as well as the Columbia shield.
10) I like how Columbia students (generally speaking of course) love the school and couldn't imagine going anywhere else.

lucifersam

I don't think I could have put that better myself, although, when it comes right down to it, I believe that "Columbia is the BEST urban university in the world" would still hold true if the word "urban" was excised.

There's just something about it, to me. Although publicly this is probably not the case, to me Harvard, MIT, Yale, and all those others that seem to be held in such higher regard pale in comparison to Columbia (although I still sort of have thing for Yale and a few other really nice places, Columbia just does it all for me). I've done PLENTY of research on it and I've NEVER found a single thing I didn't like about Columbia, whatsoever. There's the core curriculum, which would, when paired with my interest in medicine and science, make for an extremely wonderful courseload. Every person I know who is attending Columbia (or has attended) is very interesting and is sure to somehow go far in life (or already has). Due to its location and its simple notoriety and endowments, along with its amazing faculty members and facilities, opportunities abound at Columbia. There's so much more. Out of the Ivies, Columbia seems to me the only one that really offers the glamour, wonder, and intellectual greatness that many seem to really associate with being a student at an Ivy.

As far as huskem55 said, Columbia definitely wouldn't be the same wonderful Columbia without being in New York City, but using that as a big reason to go is sort of antiquated, from what I hear, unless you do well in incorporating it with everything else the university can offer you.

If only I were actually there at the moment! (haha) Here's hoping for transfer . . .

tega

I like the professors, everyone of them is very intelligent and know what they are talking about.

I just don't like the large classes in economics, although, that will change with the addition of more professors this fall.

yoshi503

Yes...I agree that Columbia offers the best possible college experience on earth. There is simply no other school that gives its students the kind of pioneering and global education that Columbia gives.

Columbia2002

Come on people, Columbia isn't perfect. Since everyone else is working on all the good things, here are some things that I would change about Columbia:

- No sports / school spirit / rah rah mentality. The football and basketball teams are horrible. Wein Stadium is not the Big House or the Rose Bowl on Saturday afternoons.

- Alumni network is weak (relative to other Ivies / top schools). I think this is partially because there's no rah rah spirit that unifies Columbia students. Columbia's alumni relations office doesn't seem to get it (<20% of alums donate), and I don't know why. They're trying to work on it, though.

- No intramurals. Since there's no major athletic facility on campus, there's no baseball, flag football, etc. league as there would be at other cooleges.

- Administration is bureacratic and full of red tape. It could be worse (it isn't close to what you'd experience at a huge state school), but they manage to annoy most people. The advising at Columbia isn't anything to write home about.

- Some math/science/engineering professors are horrible teachers (some have pitiful English). This is a problem with *all* research universities -- not just Columbia -- since hiring/tenure decisions are based on research quality.

Every college has strengths and weaknesses. I've named pretty much all of my gripes with Columbia. The positives overwhelm the few negatives, of course.

nic767

That really caught my attention as something I looked forward to in college, so I checked the website and they have extensive info on club/intramural sports. Are they just not widespread?

jedipsohn

I'd like to know about the intramurals, too

Columbia2002

I'm not sure what the website says, but there just isn't a whole lot going on.

celebrian25

Not applying- though I was seriously considering it for a very, very long time

Like-The people. Indepenant thinkers. You don't go to columbia if you can't make it on your own, and that makes a difference in the classroom too! I like the core for what I'm telling you. I think it makes for a well-roundedness you're not going to find at say Brown or Amherst. Everyone goes knowing this important stuff, from engineers to poli sci majors.

Dislike: a bit disjointed socially. I mean, if NYC is your backyard, on-campus activities seem not as exciting. Dislike the core for this reason: it can be the point of just being bulky and some of the classes arequite watered down.

slipper1234

In my opinion Positives:

- Access to NYC, a hop-skip-and-a jump.
- The Professors, espeically in the Core, are great and certain departments especially in the arts are absolutely top notch due to location (film, music, etc)
- The campus is unique in that its an urban oasis. The Upper West Side is beautiful in the spring/ early fall and the area around Columbia is on a bigtime rebound.
- The student body is veryaccepting of all walks and types of life, its cool to be open minded
- Because of the large urban community, for minorities there are large "cliques" which can be comforting
- If you are a male, the male/ female ratio is strongly in your favor

Negatives:
- The student body is large, its a big university with many grad departments, so undergrads don't necessarily control the feel of the university
- Housing can be iffy, some are pretty bad, others are nice.
- There isn't much social unity. The bar scene is OK but its nothing like the laid back "house party" experience you get on other campuses. It isnt rare for the campus to be pretty silent on a Friday night.
- No cafeteria. There is Lerner but Columbia doesnt have the large cafeteria common hours that other schools have (except freshmen)
- Expensive. The UWS isn't cheap.
- The library is silent. Whereas other schools have big 24 hr open social spaces in the library, for some reason Columbia's library isn't the social gathering place that libraries are at other schools. Interestingly, before renovations a few years back the library was much more social.

I think Celebrian's picture is pretty accurate. Columbia isn't going to offer the mardi-gras feel of Franklin Street at UNC ot the laid back friendliness other places offer. But conversely it is tremendously open to all types of students and is a wonderful school that has really built itself up in the last ten years in terms of facilities and surrounding area. And NYC provides some amazing resources.

JohnnyK

'laid-back' is something the Stanford-cultists can have (or 'pretend to have' I suppose would be more accurate). Give me the go-go nonstop pace of the northeast... and then cube that pace in New York!

I didn't like Columbia for undergrad (I chose Penn for various reasons), but I cannot imagine a place I would rather go to for grad school than Columbia.

laloopie

hey im a first year student at columbia this year. I came in with uuuuuuuuuber high expectations. All my classes are boring, and the social
life is very lacking. Well not really lacking, but I came in expecting better. Its my first month here, and i hope everything turns for the better. because if not this year is not going to be a fun one.

and yes, u gotta love nyc
but COLUmBIA fcking lacks COMMUNITY... its wack

bunch of nerds who sit in their rooms all day.....
and in the night they all go to frat parties
get drunk
and throw up in elevators..

sac

Sorry to hear that. I'm sure it will get better once the first years get beyond the "thrill" of drinking till they puke. Have you looked into some clubs? For example, I know there's a swing dancing club -- students every week go in a big mob to a club where there's swing music and dance. Have you thought about joining the staff or a publication or a performing group of some sort? It may be a place made up of communities more than community. There was a post on another forum by someone at an Ivy with a similar complaint, that the first year social life was built around binge drinking. One idea I had for him was to get involved in something like CAVA.