<p>Most of the negative comments that I’ve read about Columbia University talk about the administration. What does it mean when people say that the administration doesn’t care about their students? Can anyone give me any specific information about this?</p>
<p>The [War</a> on Fun](<a href=“http://www.wikicu.com/War_on_Fun]War”>War on Fun - WikiCU, the Columbia University wiki encyclopedia) is pretty well documented. There is also what happened with bacchanal with last year and why there was no fall concert this year, [ESC:</a> More Bacchanal Funding Woes and Faster Package Pickup Bwog](<a href=“http://bwog.com/2011/10/18/esc-more-bacchanal-funding-woes-and-faster-package-pickup/]ESC:”>ESC: More Bacchanal Funding Woes and Faster Package Pickup - Bwog)</p>
<p>The Bacchanal logistics cluster**** was a travesty (though the administration eventually paid Bacchanal the $20,000 they cost them), but I don’t think it really gets to the heart of concern with the administration. Generally, the concern with Columbia’s administration centers around a perceived impersonal approach to students. Columbia is a fairly bureaucratic place; if you have a problem with registering for classes or an issue with making tuition payments, you have to go down to the basement of Kent, stand in line, and then talk to a random administration staffer about the issue. It’s a lot like going to the DMV. </p>
<p>If you want advice about classes, you need to make an appointment with your academic advisor and then go see them in Lerner. They can give you some advice, but usually not specific information about majors or classes. For that, you’d have to email specific professors or the director of undergraduate studies for the major. If you get sick, you have to make an appointment online and then go to Health Services (basically a private doctors’ office) in John Jay. If you’re really sick, you can walk in without making an appointment, but you’ll probably have to wait a while and they’ll just send you to the hospital across the street if you need immediate attention.</p>
<p>You don’t check up with your academic advisor, financial aid advisor, or physician regularly unless you make appointments. You don’t see professors unless you go to their office hours or email them with specific questions. You’ll probably never see the president of the university or the dean of the college except for special occasions like Convocation and Commencement. </p>
<p>And Columbia has a lot more to think about than you; they own half of Harlem and have to deal with the people and businesses that live in those buildings, they license billions of dollars in scientific research to coroporations, they’re building a new campus in Manhattanville, their senior administrators travel around the world talking about the future of education and soliciting donations from rich alums, they operate an elementary school on 110th street, and so on.</p>
<p>It’s kind of cool to go to such an important institution, but it means that your average Columbian is going to get a less personal level of care than your average Amherst student. It’s similar to the way that a typical resident of a small town in the middle of nowhere might be good friends with their mayor, whereas a typical New Yorker will never meet Mayor Bloomberg. And Columbia has improved a lot when it comes to student life, enhancing student advising and financial aid and launching an effort to increase student wellness. But it’s definitely not a school that will “hold your hand.”</p>
<p>pwoods is spot on with his analysis. I just wanted to add on that it can also be a nightmare to get things done. </p>
<p>I tried to register for a business school class and spoke to a CSA adviser, my Department Adviser, the professors teaching 2 classes, a business school administrator, and finally another CSA adviser. It took approximately 10 hours, 8 e-mails, and 2 miles, but it was only until I had spoken to a random business school administrator that I was able to figure out that there was a pre-registration period.</p>
<p>Hosting events is also a nightmare. Having been Secretary and Treasurer, I’ve done more legwork to get a room and food than organizing the actual event, setting up, and attending. University Event Management staff are fairly arrogant, so you need to beg and bribe them (with pizza) to have them do their jobs.</p>
<p>God forbid you need to accomplish anything outside the regulations and have mercy on the student who has the unfortunate circumstance of being screwed by incompetence or malfeasance.</p>
<p>@pwoods</p>
<p>not sure whether that last post was a cut and paste job but that’s a perfect explaination of how a huge institution the size and importance of Columbia operates. “Pro-active,” is definitely the mindset a Columbia student should have when taking care of the business end of their education.</p>
<p>@BeardTax</p>
<p>You are also right when you say if you are unlucky enough to fall through the cracks of Columbia’s bureacracy that It’ll be a nightmare to climb out. Helps to have a support group of some sort to share in the nonsense.</p>
<p>I will say that the university has a tremendous number of resources at its disposal, whether it’s research opportunities in top departments, speeches from world leaders, or access to career and study abroad programs. One word I would describe successful Columbia students is “scrappy”, the ability to make something of yourself if you were transported to the middle of Kansas. Students learn to be proactive in order to get anything done, though it can become wearisome after the 20th E-Form you send in and the 10th meeting you have with UEM about getting a space in Lerner.</p>
<p>Between running events last year, finding jobs, and school (of all things), I was burned out, unhappy, and highly dissatisfied with my station in life. I think that Columbia would be a much more bearable place if the administration worked to help students instead of being an impediment to accomplishing almost anything. I’m not just speaking of the administration in terms of hosting events. I hope that the administration can start putting the priority of the students first: opening up space in Lerner exclusively for student events, increasing the number of social events for undergraduates, not limiting students to 3 visits to Columbia Psychological Services, and, in general, creating a warmer atmosphere where students know that the problems they face are not insurmountable. </p>
<p>It’s NYC, so there will always be an element of anonymity and distance that exists among the student body. I don’t know if there is truly a way of creating an atmosphere similar to that of my Center for Talented Youth experience. However, I just couldn’t have pictured college being such a cold, lonely, and miserable experience 4 years ago.</p>