<p>
Studying is always manageable as long as you are motivated to do so. Carman has a certain party stigma attached, but it really doesn’t prevent you from studying. Furthermore, there are parties in John Jay as well. I would say that the main factor that you should consider when you choose between Carman and John Jay (or any of the other dorms) is whether or not you want a roommate. </p>
<p>I wanted a roommate (and a bathroom split between 4 people), so I chose Carman.</p>
<p>-How is the undergrad creative writing program (specifically fiction)? Are the professors helpful/notable? What does the major/minor in creative writing entail? (Sorry for cramming so many questions in there!)</p>
<p>-Have you found the social life to be dispersed into the city? (I love that the resources of the city are nearby–internships, culture–but I’m specifically trying to avoid the NYU/UPenn feel of a school integrated into a city.)</p>
<p>What is/are your favorite course(s) up to now?</p>
<p>Do you know any frosh doing work/study? If so, what jobs are they doing?</p>
<p>Yeah. I know people that work the security desk in buildings, people who work at the circulation desk at Butler. One guy works at the ID center. There are people who have better jobs though, like being a research assistant (I don’t know anybody who has a research asst. positions for scientists, but I know someone who works for Miller Theater, I think, doing research stuff).</p>
<p>What were the first few weeks like in JJ? Everyone meeting everyone else, hanging out, making friends?</p>
<p>It was moderately awkward, but it wasn’t at all boring. Lots of getting groups together to go to JJ/Hewitt. Lots of watching movies in the lounge. Lots of negotiations about who was going to what party, complaints about the frat parties, etc. Some of us that were from far away (I’m from Tx) got in a group to go explore the city a few times, so I would go to the Metropolitan museum one week and then randomly go to SoHo the next. That was nice. So yeah, it was definitely fun.</p>
<p>Do you mostly go to Hewitt instead of JJ for dinner?</p>
<p>I mostly get takeout from JJ out of convenience. Hewitt food is better though, especially dinner. Like CrookedI said, JJ brunch is a lot better than JJ dinner. Also, Ferris is FAR FAR better than either, and will be on the meal plan soon.</p>
<p>What, if anything, have you heard about the Philolexian Society? </p>
<p>I know their posters are really funny. Seriously, I stopped by their table at the activities fair, and they seemed like really quirky, cool people that I would like to hang out with, but I was never free when they would have their debates. So, never having been to a meeting, I have to say that Philo is pretty cool (one time for the bad poetry contest, they had people walk around dorms and knock on doors and read the bad poems to people).</p>
<p>Have you seen any bugs/rodents in your room or in JJ in general? </p>
<p>Nope. That doesn’t mean they’re not there, but I haven’t seen 'em. One time I think there was a fly in the hallway.</p>
<p>-How is the undergrad creative writing program (specifically fiction)? Are the professors helpful/notable? What does the major/minor in creative writing entail? (Sorry for cramming so many questions in there!)</p>
<p>I was really happy with the class I took last semester (intermediate poetry workshop), and I also went to one class of a seminar which was really good too (but sadly full). I’d say the biggest problem (like many places) is the lack of course offerings relative to the demand, but I don’t know how true that is for fiction. The professor I had was extremely helpful, but even more helpful were the other students in the class, all of whom had valuable and interesting perspectives on my work. It was a really great workshop all in all. The only thing to be careful of is that they at least claim to grade fairly seriously (no As for everybody workshops at Columbia). I haven’t heard yet of a C in a creative writing workshop, but I know they give out Bs and B+s. </p>
<p>I haven’t taken any fiction courses (nor am I really up on the world of contemporary fiction), but I know that the poetry professors are definitely notable, and I would expect the fiction professors to be equally knowledgeable. Last semester my workshop leader was a poet who’d been in the Best American Poetry anthology a few years back and knew several poets I’m a fan of personally and shared some great anecdotes. Next semester I’m hoping to take class with a guy who’s the poetry editor of the Boston Review, and whose poetry I really, really like.</p>
<p>There’s no concentration (that’s the columbia word for “minor,” basically) offered (yet), but the major goes like this: five workshops (at least one in a genre other than your primary focus), four seminars, three related courses (which is anything that “helps your art” determined in consultation with the adviser in your area of study (presumably fiction, for you). I haven’t gone in for my consultation, so I don’t know how seriously they take that selection, but I plan to use largely whatever I want to take for that elective, because I feel that most new knowledge helps me write, but again, I’m not sure how strict they are on that yet. Also, you apparently do a one-on-one master class with some writer in your focus, which sounds really cool, but I don’t know anything about it right now.</p>
<p>-Have you found the social life to be dispersed into the city? (I love that the resources of the city are nearby–internships, culture–but I’m specifically trying to avoid the NYU/UPenn feel of a school integrated into a city.) </p>
<p>Well, I’m not much of a party guy, but in general, there is more going on on-campus here than I believe there is at NYU. People (freshmen at least) do go to frat parties, and there are usually some good parties in East Campus if you know people who are throwing them. While there is a good amount of social life that goes on in the city (people’s random apartments in the city, people trying to get into NYC clubs, etc.), there’s also stuff that goes on at Columbia. Like I said, I’m not much of a party-er so I can’t say with certainty, but I would guess that Columbia is about halfway between something like NYU, where all the social life happens off-campus, and, say, Cornell, where all the social life happens on-campus, but leaning towards the NYU side.</p>
<p>What is/are your favorite course(s) up to now? </p>
<p>Every course I took last semester except for Frontiers of Science. That’s an overstatement, but I got everything that I expected to out of all of my humanities classes. If I had to say one was the best, I would say Lithum (literature humanities) was my favorite, but the trouble with LitHum is that the quality of the class is largely dependent upon the professor that you get (although if you’re really insistent on getting the best possible class, there is some degree of finagling that can be done the first semester, and you can definitely switch second semester). Anyway, Lithum was wonderful because it was just discussing very important books with very smart students and a genius professor. It was totally a blue-book class.</p>