<p>Thread titles says it all. If you did or know someone who did, was there some aspect of Columbia that was clearly better than those other institutions? And do you regret at all having come here?</p>
<p>I only ask cuz I saw a spectator poll that asked students how excited they were when they found out they got into Columbia - lol... surprisingly 20% said quote "I wish I had gotten into Yale instead". =/</p>
<p>i know some1 who picked columbia over yale. But it was because of fin aid...</p>
<p>I would think that people who did would do so for NYC. I was deciding between Princeton and Columbia ED and decided on Columbia because of access to graduate schools and, of course, the city. I also liked the Core Curriculum and strong humanities.</p>
<p>However, I would have a very hard time telling you what I would have done had I been accepted to both RD.</p>
<p>I chose it over MIT and Yale.</p>
<p>I would pick Columbia over anything.</p>
<p>(I feel like a lovestruck teenager. Which I guess I sort of am.)</p>
<p>Lol WOW =) This is encouraging to hear so many ppl love columbia!</p>
<p>Everyone who applied ED and got in probably had a shot at HYPS, but chose Columbia over all of them. I can see many people picking Columbia over HYPS because of NYC. However, I doubt that many people would turn down MIT for SEAS (except for fin aid). Even if the person wants a strong humanities background, the option to take classes at Harvard should make up for any deficiencies that MIT has in those fields.</p>
<p>Columbia ahead of Yale for me</p>
<p>Speaking regular decison only:</p>
<p>In my high school no one who got into Harvard, Yale, or MIT and Columbia chose Columbia.</p>
<p>Several did take generous Aid packagaes over Harvard and I mean very, very, generous and prestigious.</p>
<p>There is a special program at Columbia to attempt to skim off the Harvard, Yale competition. </p>
<p>These are the John Jay Scholars:
<a href="http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/scholars/program/johnjay.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/scholars/program/johnjay.php</a></p>
<p>The only people who got into this were RD students, that I know.</p>
<p>All the scholars programs can be viewed here:
<a href="http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/scholars/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/scholars/index.php</a></p>
<p>This could not compete with the prestige of Harvard at my high school.</p>
<p>However, Ivy League schools have varied popularity and that has a lot to do with returning students who visit over the Christmas holiday and report on their experience.</p>
<p>We are seriously debriefed by our college counseling officers and we meet with others who are interested in our chosen schools.</p>
<p>Also, several were deferred and rejected by Columbia that did get into Brown, Cornell, Penn, and Yale. None by Harvard, though. I think in my senior class three did turn down Harvard. In some years as many as ten turn down Harvard but it is becoming more popular again.</p>
<p>Exams are draining here, as I'm sure they are most places. You cannot even find a place to study at Butler. I'm done. When we get together at Christmas it seems as though Brown has the easiest time with exams.</p>
<p>This is just my experience and impression of the situation.</p>
<p>No one discusses where they applied and where they were turned down. It just does not come up, at least with my friends. That would be really awkward and gauche.</p>
<p>I got into the Scholars program ED at Columbia. I feel like this was a sign that I made the right decision in choosing Columbia over Princeton early. I felt like I would regret it more if I didn't apply early to Columbia. I figured (best case scenario, of course!) I would have to choose eventually so why not choose for early? I'm sure I would have taken Columbia over Yale/Harvard. Princeton was the only school giving Columbia a run for its money. </p>
<p>I knew five people two years ago who were accepted at Harvard/Yale (two of them) Penn/Stanford/Brown/Dartmouth (the other three) and waitlisted or rejected at Columbia.</p>
<p>I can think of a half-dozen CU classmates who were accepted at MIT and/or Stanford. I can't say that I know any who were accepted to HYP.</p>
<p>I went to Yale and I am now at Columbia. Yale is a great school, but I really love Columbia. It is the perfect fit for me.</p>
<p>A fairly regular parent poster here (not me, I'll let her identify herself if she wants to) has a son who picked Columbia over Stanford and Harvard.</p>
<p>My oldest picked Columbia over Harvard, in part because he wanted to get out of town.</p>
<p>I'm not sure that you could say that my daughter picked Columbia "over" HYP, because HYP never made her an offer. (She lucked into ED this year at Columbia.) However, she PREFERRED Columbia to HYP. She was free to apply to any school, ED or RD, and it would have been the usual crapshoot at any of them. And we can't afford any of them. In other words, it was all the same to her parents; it came down to her choice. (No help from her public-school guidance department, either.)</p>
<p>Even though she has a couple of friends there, DD did not like Yale (pm me if you want details; I have no wish to be flamed). I am not a big Yale fan, either. She did like Harvard (a couple friends there, as well), but preferred Columbia. </p>
<p>Her older brother is now at Princeton, so she had a particularly favorable "campus tour" there (and met his friends, saw his eating club, etc.)... But she still chose to apply ED to Columbia. She likes the Core Curriculum, the vibrancy of the city, and the very friendly (to her) feel of the Columbia campus. (Yale students were mostly walking around as singletons the day we were there; few pairs or groups; few smiles; little student chatter; lots and lots of private cell-phone conversations going on. For whatever reason... But it wasn't mid-terms...?)</p>
<p>Hard to go wrong with any of these choices, however, if one is fortunate enough to be able to make them!</p>
<p>I prefer Columbia to HYPSM....HYP had too much of a pretentious vibe for me=P I'm not interested in MIT cause I'm a humanties student, and I'd look at Stanford, but Columbia's a better fit.</p>
<p>that was one thing that really rubbed off on me the two times i visited before applying ED. Columbia's students just seemed way more chill and took themselves less seriously.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think this question would be much better posed in May, when people who get accepted RD to columbia and one of the other places have had a chance to actually pick.</p>
<p>And the only people i know who rejected an offer from Harvard did so for a 100% free ride at a place like Duke.</p>
<p>considering that this is around the time when several students are in the process of making their decision, i decided to revive this old thread.</p>
<p>im sure that many students may have the wonderful opportunity to make the choice between columbia/hypsm. </p>
<p>feel free to post your questions/apprehensions/choices and I hope that adgeek, concoll, i and several other posters can help you with this decision in any way.</p>
<p>note that the last post was made in 2006. columbia has truly come a long long way since 5 years ago! it is truly an exciting place to be at columbia.</p>
<p>p.s: it was heartening to see truazn’s excitement and school spirit as a prefrosh 4 years ago before he came to columbia.</p>
<p>I think the majority of people who choose Columbia over others really sees what it has to offer. The city truly is the place to be for most. And how many people here were just awestruck by the aura of the campus literally a giant alcove in the heart of a metropolis area with beautiful buildings and scenery</p>
<p>I know someone who turned down Columbia for NYU Stern this year, though that probably doesn’t have too much revelance here lol.</p>