Columbia vs. Cornell

Denzera · May 13, 2008, 12:11am

don’t look to academic rankings to get your comparisons. unless you are hyper-specialized already as an incoming college freshman (which would be very rare indeed), or are passionately interested in economics or political science (in which case Columbia has an edge), the academic differences are negligible.

What is STRIKINGLY different is the campus culture, and of course the surrounding environment. Some people love Durham, some hate it. Same with NYC (though I would venture a higher % love new york, but it’s not for everyone…).

My advice to you is:

Search for all the “duke” threads on this board, some of which are:

You may also find this interesting:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/97624-transfer-columbia-another-ivy.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/97624-transfer-columbia-another-ivy.html</a>
2. Read the various threads linked in the Helpful Columbia Threads thread which is pinned on this board. It’ll tell you a lot about Columbia. You can also read Columbia-vs-Princeton threads, which are more common, to get a sense of how the two environments compare - Princeton is perhaps the school most like Duke, with the possible exceptions of Emory or Dartmouth.

The big decision you have to make is whether you are more an urban or suburban school kind of person - whether you’d prefer to have a car or to not need one, whether you’d prefer to have more open space or more things close at hand, whether you’d prefer to be more connected to the real world or more isolated from it. There are appeals on both sides and it really depends on your personality more than the quality of the school.

But if you want any more than that, please start your own Duke thread. This thread was supposed to be about Cornell.

Columbia vs. Cornell

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