<p>columbia is unique among urban universities in that it does a very good job in mimicking a lot of the small liberal arts feel.</p>
<p>1) the neighborhood is very much removed from the hustle of the city, it is kind of like a college town. the campus itself is beautiful, majestic, it feels like a special place, an oasis of sorts. though columbia doesn’t have the manicured lawns of amherst, it is suprising how close an imitation it offers in the heart of a city.</p>
<p>2) small classes, the core really fosters the lib arts values of learning, and a strong pedagogical dimension that i’ve talked a lot on this board. it is very much about ugrads, and you get that sense early on that columbia buys into this idea of learning in small discussion oriented situations.</p>
<p>3) almost all students live on campus, and you’ll always be like within 10 minutes of anything, which emphasizes how intimate the school is.</p>
<p>4) and then you have all the resources of being part of one of the world’s best universities - top flight med, law, biz, foreign affairs schools, great art, architecture, journalism schools with their own faculty (so it is not as if it dilutes the small feel of being in the college or engineering). scholars and leaders flock to columbia to speak, to engage with students.</p>
<p>5) and you’re in nyc…which just explodes your opportunities. i agree, amherst has a lot of cache, but you can’t intern at the place you want to work at while you’re a student in western massachusetts, you can at columbia. it is just hard to imagine how much you have at your disposal - there is so much that you wont even be able to scratch the surface of all the city has to offer when you’re a student (heck people live in nyc for their whole lives and don’t do everything). it is never boring, dull, or predictable, you can do something new every weekend and not finish it all. and that is something that makes columbia in my opinion far more exciting, exhilarating than any other option out there.</p>