<p>Anyone who is a current student at Columbia have advice for those admitted to the Class of 2014?</p>
<p>Specifically, which dorm do you recommend? I have been able to find some information online, but not many personal accounts from students who have lived in the dorms. Currently, Hartley/Wallach looks the best to me because of the suite style. Are the rooms in Furnald of significantly higher 'quality'? I lived in Wallach for a summer program and had the misfortune of landing a closet sized room, are their any first-year dorms with larger than average size singles?</p>
<p>Also, anyone pre-med at Columbia? What courses did you select for your first semester? Do we receive any advising before making course selections for the first semester, or are we on our own? </p>
<p>And do you suggest placing out of the foreign language requirement, or did you find the language courses valuable as non-language majors?</p>
<p>Check out the stickied “Helpful Columbia Threads” thread in this forum. But here’s some good (if dated) info on housing I found: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/276867-housing.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/276867-housing.html</a>
Based on my that thread, WikiCU, and '13s I know, this is a quick guide to the different dorms:
Furnald - very independent, kind of antisocial since it’s all singles and lots of sophs, but REALLY nice rooms and bathrooms, “like a hotel”; not bad for very private freshmen and freshmen with a close group of friends in Carman, but great for sophomores, who will kill to get in; the odds of getting this one aren’t as good as getting the others</p>
<p>Carman - the social/party dorm made up of suites (2 doubles, a common room, and a private bathroom); tons of fun but don’t count on getting too much work done in your
room and you better like your roommate (and they better like your bf/gf)</p>
<p>John Jay - all-freshman, all-singles dorm, less social than Carman but much more social than Furnald since the floors are filled with new freshmen just like us who need to make new friends; the building is older so the elevators suck and the bathrooms aren’t that nice; it’s over the dining hall which can be good (get food in PJs without going out in rain/snow) but sometimes bad (bugs/rats aren’t common, but seem to be more common than in other dorms)</p>
<p>Hartley/Wallach LLC - an all classes, mostly singles dorm based around “living and learning” and “community-oriented programs” which most students consider BS; good for freshmen who like structured activities and sophomores who will do anything for a good room</p>
<p>I’d say freshman year most people take 4 or 5 courses. I took 4 this semester, and that was too easy. I’m registered for 6 next semester, and I won’t feel bad about dropping one of them. </p>
<p>John Jay is probably just the best. I know everyone will scoff at me for saying this, but I honestly think it’s where the best people go. The people here are the ones worth making connections with (because they have motivation and amazing talent) and are smart enough that you can trust them to help you with homework. I’m sure there are exceptions every which way, but that is my observation.</p>
<p>You’re supposed to meet with your advising dean before you register for classes, but that’s really just a formality. I have never found my advising dean to be particularly helpful. However, if you’d like to receive credit for some of your AP scores, you should make sure to meet with your advisor in person so that you can turn in your AP scores. </p>
<p>Re: pre-med track. See the website for the Office of Pre-professional Advising. It lists the most common tracks for each year. Most freshmen pre-meds take chemistry (either gen chem or intensive gen chem). If you’re a diehard chemistry fan, you might want to try freshman orgo (intensive gen chem vs. orgo has been debated ad nauseam, so do a search for those threads if you’re curious). You should also be taking some calc classes at this point. The most common combo for sophomore year is bio and physics. Most people don’t take orgo until junior year, but depending on your major, you may find it necessary to take bio and orgo in the same year. </p>
<p>The corresponding labs can be taken at any time, really, as long as you finish most of them before you apply to med school (I think it’s okay to leave one lab for senior year). </p>
<p>I do suggest that you place out of the language requirement, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t start another language (or continue your current foreign language) if you find it interesting. But if you already have credit for languages, you can always drop the foreign language if you find it becoming burdensome. It’s just a nice buffer. </p>
<p>Depending on your eventual major, I also suggest that you try to take one Global Core class your freshman year. If you plan on majoring in something completely unrelated to your pre-med courses, you’ll end up juggling three separate sets of requirements (Core, major, and pre-med classes). That’s the problem I’m having right now, and I really regret not taking a Major Cultures/Global Core class as a freshman.</p>
<p>Sadly, I can’t place out of my language requirement. I took Mandarin Chinese for 3 years and while I loved the language, I struggled immensely with it. So I dropped it for the 4th year. I have no desire to continue it and, even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to place out so I’d have to take 2 years. In light of this, my plan is to just take 2 years of Spanish.</p>
<p>@Fastfood15
And some people don’t like to use elevators. JJ offers the best facilities for that.</p>