<p>
</p>
<p>geesh, this is terrible</p>
<p>and this is the Columbia Fu Engineering that was being compared to the highly ranked Prienceton engineering in another thread?</p>
<p>no wonder Columbia makes it almost impossible for Fu Engineering majors to transfer over Columbia College undergraduate school.</p>
<p>from a current Columbia student:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12417169-post34.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12417169-post34.html</a></p>
<p>beard tax
Junior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 157 </p>
<p>I think your decision should be made by asking older students, not freshman. Days on Campus at all schools are ridiculous. My friends and I mentioned that it was the literally the first time this entire year that the fields had been opened, and they’re closed again today and probably will be for the entire week until the prospies come on campus again. I can’t recall how many people I heard wondering why the fields were open at all and then concluding “It’s for the prospies.”</p>
<p>Columbia is for a certain type of person. You need to be quite independent and sure of your ability to socialize. I didn’t believe much of what sophomores and juniors said to me as a freshman, that you stop hanging out with people and you spend a huge portion of time in your dorm doing work or screwing around by yourself. I wondered how this could be the case, I mean we’re literally 2-3 blocks away from everyone. The lack of space on campus and the lack of any student center really kills the social scene, there’s no central hangout spot, no central place to eat lunch, and the bustle of the city and the graduate students and local residents really kills the undergraduate experience. Definitely not a traditional college experience or a community oriented one at that.</p>
<p>My friends had HS friends who went to Penn. For some reason, the school is able to instill loyalty; most of the people I know at Columbia either put up with it or hate it. It’s the fact that Penn has a campus life and the administration does fun things like a spring week. Columbia puts on 2-3 campus events all year and standing in line takes up half the time. Make the decision on where you’ll be happy, because the career prospects and educational quality are good at all schools (engineering is terrible at Columbia but you’re a JJ scholar so you’re in CC).</p>
<p>
Terrible for whom? I actually just met someone who did the combined program from SUNY Geneseo, and he is doing very well in financial services. He told me that he found the level of discussion and capabilities of the students like night and day–and this particular SUNY supposed to be the jewel of the system. </p>
<p>At the time, I was unaware of it, and yes, I concede that it seems like a backdoor way of getting a Columbia education. haha I am rather shocked that the minimum gpa is a 3.0 – although I suspect the people enrolled in the program have much higher gpas…</p>
<p>Japanoko,
In any event, you have your work cut out for you. I am certain you don’t have the time to compile the stats of all schools partnering with Fu and then breaking down the percentage of Columbia College students having to take classes with such folks, right?</p>
<p>A suggestion for applicants that are going to be visiting Columbia this month:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>nil, this is a great idea. check out the campus, ask the students questions, get to know what it is all about</p>
<p>but do yourself a favor</p>
<p>at about a reasonable time at night, not too late - say 9:00pm, walk on campus over to the Mudd Building, it faces 120th street and is at Amsterdam on the north east part of campus. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/schermerhorn.html[/url]”>http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/schermerhorn.html</a></p>
<p>From there walk only a couple of blocks north on Amsterdam, to about 125th street and make a left. Walk only a couple of blocks. Talk a look around. Take your time - observe observe observe. Take in what you see. Then, walk back through the same route.</p>
<p>and tell us, did you enjoy the walk?</p>
<p>is this the neighborhood that you want to go to college in?</p>
<p>if you would be kind enough to post your reactions of this brief, but lovely, 30 minute walk, we would all appreciate it.</p>
<p>thanks
.
.
.
.</p>
<p>^^^^^^geesh, forgot to mention. Since the Columbia supporters continue to claim that the area that Columbia is located at is among the safest in New York, then you can make this trip by yourself. HOWEVER, if you do not feel comfortable while standing at the corner of Amsterdam and 120th on the Columbia campus at the beginning of your 30 minute walk, then please please please go back and get about 1/2 dozen of your Columbia buddies to make the trip with you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>SmartGuy, terrible for the brilliant engineer type that applied to Columbia and Princeton Engineering and got into both, then decided to go to Columbia, thinking that he would be taking classes with equally brilliant undergraduates to learn at a high level, but realized that many of his classmates were not at the level to even get admitted to Columbia Engineering under the normal admissions process. </p>
<p>So instead of the Columbia engineering professors teaching at a level for him to learn the most possible (and be thoroughly challenged), the professor has to lower the quality of work to those that are not as “brilliant”…and we aren’t even talking about the 25% of the undergraduates that enter under the General Studies program…that is another sad story for the “brilliant” engineer and the challenging environment that he was hoping for…</p>
<p>this is just terrible I tell ya!</p>
<p>Moderators:</p>
<p>Is it possible to moderate Japanoko? I look to CC to get some balanced info on colleges. I have no connection with Columbia, although it is one of 5 colleges that my daughter is considering. But, the personal vendetta that Japanoko has with Columbia makes it impossible to garner any useful information from this thread. </p>
<p>Please moderate Japanoko. Thank you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>camathmom, here is a thought, just don’t read what japanoko has to say about Columbia. In fact, go over to the Columbia board and listen to the people posting there that say only positive things about Columbia and based on these positive things about Columbia, please send your daughter there.</p>
<p>After all, why would you like to read any factual posted messages that say anything negative about a college that you are going to send your daugther to eh?</p>
<p>here is an example:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1123961-will-you-pick-college-shows-you-most-love.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1123961-will-you-pick-college-shows-you-most-love.html</a></p>
<p>you asked what would be considered not an unreasonable question, but over 2 dozen reponses all told you that your way of thinking about the college was wrong, very wrong. </p>
<p>Should you get all those that spent the time to correct your thinking on this matter banned from collegeboard because you did not like their negative attitude towards this college?</p>
<p>of course not!</p>
<p>the sad part is that you just stopped posting on that thread that embarrassed you and never even thanked the posters for the good advice that they gave you.</p>
<p>Hey everyone, </p>
<p>Thanks for all the in-depth responses! I just came back from visiting Columbia for the day, and my experience really impressed me despite the rainy weather. First thing I did was sit in on a physics class, and the teaching was not drastically as poor as some have mentioned before. The students in the class were mostly enjoying it by asking/answering questions or laughing at the professor’s jokes. I know this class could have been an anomaly though, but the engineering student who I ate lunch with said she was satisfied with all her classes. The relatively small size of the campus also has its plus. I like how everything is within reach and doesn’t require too much walking, and how nobody is ever idle. Students were also saying hi to each other while walking around, and it seems like the campus size makes the community more close-knit. </p>
<p>What really got me was the Egleston Scholar designation (Rabi Scholar equivalent for engineering). Only about ten students or 1% of the class receive it. It was started last year so that’s why it is pretty unknown. I don’t know how prestigious this designation will become in the future, but from what I’ve heard, the opportunities it offers are amazing: eating lunch with the Dean, chatting with the CEO of Boeing, guaranteed research with $10000 for use, among others. I ended my day talking to a current Egleston Scholar who is a freshman but already with a job in NYC. Unlike what some people have said about the effect of NYC on social life, he rarely goes out into the city and is very involved on campus. He was also very persuasive on the availability of jobs right in NYC, with a lot of friends already working. However, he was a financial engineering major and I don’t know how good Columbia’s name is for MechE or Compsci. I’ll be visiting Princeton tomorrow and I’ll be sure to post my thoughts afterwards. I really love the Princeton name (everybody who I ask thinks it’s a no-brainer to choose Princeton) but we’ll see. My main concerns about Princeton are grade deflation and whether it can top the Egleston Scholar advantages. For now, I’m still undecided. </p>
<p>Thanks guys!</p>
<p>^oops meant to post that in the engineering thread</p>
<p>viva, congratulations on your wonderful visit to Columbia</p>
<p>Hopefully Princeton’s visit will be just as nice.</p>
<p>A little curious, however - from what you wrote about the Eagleston Scholar program, all of those advantages are already part of the Princeton University experience. Am I missing something here?</p>
<p>Also, please come back and tell us how your Princeton visit went, good or bad.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Absurd. Morningside Heights is the second safest neighborhood in Manhatten. Do a google search. </p>
<p>Moreover, the neighborhood “action” at Columbia is south (below 116th), not north.</p>
<p>If you enjoy pristine wealthy suburbs, japanoko, great. Go for it. You own your personal preference, but those who want the option of living in a vibrant urban neighborhood are not delusional or misguided.</p>
<p>Sorry about my confusing post above. It appears the japanoko post to which I was responding was deleted by the moderators.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>pbr, I am sorry so are you saying that 125th street, only a few blocks from the Columbia campus is in Morningside Heights and is a safe area?</p>
<p>after all, this is only 5 short blocks from the Columbia campus…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>pbr, are you talking about this post?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12417639-post64.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12417639-post64.html</a></p>
<p>Actually japanoko I think you’re a bit off base about the neighborhood thing, my D2 lived there for three semesters and didn’t suffer from any huge safety concerns. Obviously it is near some not so safe areas and there are places to avoid. But it seems pretty easily navigable. For the most that is, there are the occasional incidents. But it is the city, after all, that’s to be expected to an extent, it’s part of the deal.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>so are you agreeing with pbr that says that the neighborhoods surrounding Columbia are among the safest in NY?</p>
<p>would you kindly copy/paste any of my posted messages that are off base in terms of the dangers of the neighborhoolds surrounding Columbia?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>That claim sounds familiar regarding Morningside Heights proper, not neighboring Harlem obviously. So they just avoid the dangerous areas, to the extent possible.</p>
<p>It was the same when I lived in the city, there were housing projects just a few blocks from us. So we didn’t walk around there. The students in Morningside Heights are much better off than we were, safetywise, because where they live is more heavily policed, so their unwelcome neighbors are more successfully discouraged. Probably.</p>
<p>There was an incident at my nephew’s frat, I now recall, regarding some unfriendly neighbors…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At this level of schools, I would choose base on fit rather than any slight perceived notion of prestige. Also, for engineering neither one is exactly MIT or Caltech. Just because Harvard is more prestigious than P or C shouldn’t sway a student go there. You should base the decision on fit. Japanoko will tell you that Columbia is more prestigious anyway.</p>
<p>I actually enjoy reading Japanoko’s 600 posts. He’s making Tigers proud everywhere.</p>
<p>@vivawasabi</p>
<p>Congrats on the admissions and good to hear that you enjoyed Columbia. Just wanted to tell that you visiting campus in a structured setting is not a good way to experience what the college is actually like. It’s akin to asking Bill Gates what he thinks of Microsoft; there are a ton of problems but they’re going to be glossed over. Definitely speak to real students you see in the library or friends that you know who actually attend school.</p>
<p>It just reminds me of the information sessions for banks that come on campus. “Why Morgan Stanley/Goldman Sachs?” Answer: Because it’s a great work environment with people you can learn from. People never say anything about the cutthroat nature of financial services, the ridiculous hours, or the brain-numbing work, instead focusing on the learning experience and “the ability to work with the most sophisticated companies on complex and exciting deals that help the client solve their most pressing problems.”</p>
<p>The answer from a friend who has no incentive to sell you on their product would be much more truthful. They’d tell you about the great learning experience, the pay, and the exit ops but wouldn’t BS you on the hours, facetime, stress, and pressure.</p>
<p>The Columbia campus itself is very safe. This encompasses down to 109th street all the way up 117th street on the Broadway side. The Amsterdam side is extremely sketchy, we’re talking about stores with dim neon lights, little to no street lamps, and generally poorer people walking around (my stereotypes, sorry, broadway is just much whiter and nicer than Amsterdam avenue).</p>
<p>I think that the area is considered safe because students are smart about where they go. Girls don’t walk on Amsterdam Avenue by themselves at night, it’s unsafe and scary. Guys don’t walk around in Morningside Park unless they’re in a group smoking certain substances. In general, people stay in the safest areas of Columbia and don’t head out of the Columbia bubble at night. If they do head out, it’s to take the subway to a much safe part of the city, essentially below 80th in UWS or further downtown.</p>
<p>No one gets shot or murdered because there’s safety provided by police and local residents, students aren’t going to rob or murder each other, and students don’t travel off campus that much. It’s just not right to assume that Columbia is in a safer part of town, rather the Columbia security bubble provides ample security as long as you’re not too adventurous or stupid. However, there are definitely times I’ve felt sketched out walking to 109th and Amsterdam to pick up beer or Domino’s. Even though Columbia is safe, I had 2 friends who were mugged in relatively safe areas and there are a constant string of bike robberies or theft each month. It’s a big city and a densely packed area so statistically, it’s nothing to worry about.</p>