Columbia vs. Princeton

swingtime
Sun, 17 Jun 2012 13:31:43 +0000

You say you are a disillusioned Columbia College admit? Reading TRULY ridiculous threads like this no doubt contributed to your disillusionment. FYI: for the past two years Columbia has received a significantly higher number of applications to its freshman class than has Princeton. For the past two years Columbia’s admissions percentage has been lower than Princeton’s, meaning that on some scale it has become more popular to high school applicants and more selective than Princeton. That says SOMETHING!!!

I went to undergrad at UChicago. It was fantastic. HOWEVER!!! In the years since I graduated Chicago has “watered down” – made more “user friendly” – its Core Curriculum. It is less rigorous; it is no longer as prescriptive. One result of Chicago’s tinkering with its image and its curriculum is that its popularity has skyrocketed and its admissions rates have dropped. Big discussions at the UChicago forum. We Chicagoans are wondering, though, about the actual intellectual and academic COSTS of Chicago’s bid for popularity.

By contrast, Columbia’s commitment to its Core has remained steadfast for over eighty years. The Columbia Core remains one of the true jewels in undergraduate education. As the above poster told you, it is an intellectually stimulating, incredibly bonding experience. I just came back from the Summer Advising Session in Chicago, where as a family we attended with our little one who is an EXTREMELY proud and excited Columbia admit. We are thrilled by the opportunities our relative has, and this was little one’s first choice Ivy. Little one applied to 11 schools and was only rejected from one. Because of its core, its Mind and Behavior program, its EXTRAORDINARY faculty, its resources, its opportunities, and, yes, New York, this was always little one’s top choice school and favorite Ivy. I actually received my graduate degree from another Ivy – Harvard, in fact – we researched it assiduously, and yet little one could never get as on board Harvard as Columbia. For my little one, Columbia clicked, despite my trying to push both of my alma maters during the admissions cycle.

One thing that particularly strikes me about Columbia, as compared with the other top Ivies, is the relative lack of pretense and snobbery as compared with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. There is still a vibe – not as present at Harvard, as with those I have met from the other two – as some kind of rich kid’s entitlement, with which attitude I am uncomfortable. Maybe it is being in the great melting pot of New York that gives Columbia a grittier, seeemingly more tolerant air. I don’t know. And, again, I am stating a personal opinion based upon my own experience.

Speaking as someone with degrees from two top schools, I can say from my own experience that Columbians are some of the smartest, least pretentious folk I have met. The curriculum and teaching are awesome. Everything is there for you to sieze and use.

So, what really is your problem? Go in late August and feast from the smorgasboard. Everything you need is there for you!

FYI: there is a kid on the Princeton forum who got into Princeton and was waitlisted by Columbia. His first choice was Columbia and he vented on the Princeton Forum. He complained about the difference in vibe between the two, both of which he visited. His perception was that Princeton was “snobby.” Now, that is HIS perception, for which he was roundly abused on the Princeton Forum, in a way that kind of validated his sense of Princeton, unfortunately. The point is, despite the ridiculous fetishization of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale by the kids on CC (which is not the way the real academic and professional world thinks, by the way, AT ALL), NOT EVERYONE automatically thinks they are the only great schools. For this kid, Columbia was his first choice, and he specifically cited as reasons the Core and the vibe, and he is not happy being “stuck” at Princeton. For some people, Columbia IS a first choice and there are good reasons why that is so.