Columbia and Uchicago

sac
Sat, 26 May 2007 17:35:51 +0000

Sorry for the reaction on the Columbia forum – a lot of the same questions get asked repeatedly, so some of the regular posters get tired of answering them. I’m the parent of a S at Columbia who also really liked U of C, and liked them both more than Harvard. Based on his process a few years back, and his experience at Columbia, I’d first like to correct a few things that have been said. Pre-med courses at Columbia are most definitely not curved to an A-, just look at the thread from the student who complained he got a C in chemistry, though his score on the final was the class average. That said, Columbia gpas are probably higher than U of Cs. Also, the Columbia core, like Chicago’s (which modeled theirs on Columbia), most definitely aims to teach critical thinking and writing, not just plot summaries. The methodology is somewhat different at Columbia: everyone takes the same core classes and basically does the same reading. The classes are taught in small groups by professors and advanced grad students from a whole range of departments, so the idea is not that an expert on the classics teaches you the Illiad. It’s that groups of smart students, led by smart teachers, are all exploring the same texts at the same time and relating them to questions that are still pertinent. (Things like what is justice, what does it mean to be a citizen, etc., in the case of Contemporary Civilization, which the sophomore class takes for a whole year.) The added dimension is that everyone has a common grounding in the same books, musical works, artworks, that form the core curriculum, and is going through most of it at the same time. A shared experience sort of like boot camp, but probably more fun.

I’d also dispute that Columbia students think of themselves as more pre-professional. It’s not Wharton. My impression is that Columbia students think of themselves as intellectual, even though many will go on to med school, law school, or into finance. They may think they are cooler than Chicago students, and be less likely to think of themselves as quirky. Maybe they’re more arrogant. They become New Yorkers pretty quickly, intense, a little combative – intellectually or otherwise. Wow, I’m making broad generalizations.

To me the most significant distinction between the two for undergrads is that Chicago will give undergrads the kind of attention that graduate students get elsewhere. This is great if you are ready to focus and work that hard. Depending on the department at Columbia, you can get that attention, but you have to reach out for it. Advising is not great. I also get the feeling that Columbia students spend more time getting around and about NYC than U of C students do in Chicago. It’s very easy to get places on the subway from Columbia and it’s really part of its surrounding neighborhood in a way I didn’t sense at Chicago.

I think they are both wonderful institutions in great cities and have a lot in common. Your friend should visit both.