Visit Report by adman921 (Member since March 23 2008 with 57 posts) Visit Date - January 2008
Visit to Columbia University in January 2008 by adman921 (Student, HS Class of 2009)
Visit Activities:
Campus Tour:
Yes - It was not an official tour - it was by a student, but he did a pretty good job of covering everything.
Columbia University Campus:
Friendliness/Courtesy of Students: 3 - Good Friendliness/Courtesy of Staff: 3 - Good Appearance of Campus: 4 - Very Good Building/Facilities Maintenance/Cleanliness: 5 - Excellent Dormitories: 4 - Very Good Security/Safety: 4 - Very Good Overall Campus Impression: 5 - Excellent
Off-Campus:
Area Immediately Around Campus: 2 - Fair City/Town/Community: 4 - Very Good -
NY! If you go any further up the west side it's kind of dangerous, but you're in New York - just take a ten minute subway right outside of Columbia's gates to anywhere you want to be i
Campus Visit Notes for Columbia University:
Visit Description:
My visit was great. However, people need to realize that Columbia is not a typical college.
Right when you step on campus, you feel a sense of maturity as opposed to visiting NYU or other colleges in the area. There is definitely a very cold, intellectual atmosphere which manifests itself throughout the campus. Whether it's in the students, faculty, or even in the appearance of the buildings (lol i swear) you can tell that this college means business. But it's a good thing that's exactly what I'm looking for - a place where I can expand my intellect and expand my thought process.
It would be unfair though to propose that there is no party life and no fun at Columbia. The people I did speak with were great, highly motivated people who I could definitely see myself being good friends with. I also visited the nearby Hillel (which was very nice and big), and it seemed like it had a very active community. My brother went to Columbia and he said that there was plenty of parties and drinking, etc. - so all you cold intellectuals out there who still want a party life...no worries.
While the campus does get some flack for being either small or not nice, I did not see either of those two aspects. I like the campus a lot - it's very centralized and it spans a great amount of land. Also, the architecture is amazing - buildings are beautiful, librarys awesome, and the layout is just very orderly. It looks like a great college campus - but that might be because i'm not so into that whole Maryland campus deal.
I only ate at the kosher caf at Barnard - the food was not good. But again, you're in new york....there's a million places to eat right outside.
