<p>first off, what's the weather like? just came back from a summer visit and it was pretty hot and humid... i know it gets extreme but would you say weather was alright during your time there?</p>
<p>second, are living costs bearable? a lot of places we visited were pretty expensive, but i'm assuming its because we only went to the tourist-attraction places</p>
<p>thanks! ill post more questions if i get any =]</p>
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<p>Obviously you experienced NYC summer weather. You’ll only experience it at the beginning and the end of the school year, i.e. early September and perhaps May. It’ll be f’ing cold in NYC for most of the school year.</p>
<p>It seems like NYC is nice and perfect for like 3-4 weeks in the fall and spring, and otherwise it’s either nasty hot or brutally cold. </p>
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<p>You got it. People who live in NYC don’t do expensive tourist things, but they do plenty of expensive things. As a Columbia student, you don’t have to partake in activities that rich (and trying to act rich) NYers do.</p>
<p>yep, weather is extreme in the summer-- it’s usually not this bad. In the 1st year check in guide that they give you (i think its online too) they have a list of season-appropriate clothes. </p>
<p>Just learn to appreciate the sunny days in the fall where you can go out onto the steps. I definitely didn’t use those often as I could have freshman year. You’ll notice the upperclassmen are the first to flood the steps and lawns on nice days. We’ve learned how precious those days are.</p>
<p>If you’re a dude, buy a pair of thermal skiing bottoms. you’ll thank me in the winter when you want to wear jeans out. </p>
<p>Also, you can always live new york on the cheap. There are a few good cheap places to eat out around campus (taqueria, m2m isnt too bad, neither is subsconcious). In terms of going out on the weekends, if you plan well ahead and waterbottle for the train if you’re going downtown you can get by with spending under $100 a month on alcohol–this is assuming you’re a guy. some of my female friends rarely spend more than 10 bucks a weekend on their own drinks. As much as you’ll hear people whine about the MTA, taking the train is also relatively cheap. If you load $8 or more onto a metrocard, it works out to $2 a ride… and remember you have a free bus transfer within an hour.</p>
<p>In addition to the thermals, I’d suggest a good pair of boots. Rain or snow, the way the campus is designed means that there’s no real watershed. Puddles are everywhere and seem to last for ages.</p>
<p>everyone always seems to complain about new york winters. just how cold is it? do I really need to pack huge winter jackets that make me look like i’m on an expedition to the north pole?</p>
<p>in terms of the ivy league, we have the easiest winter. It’ll be cold and it will snow, but it’s not like you’re going to be below zero for a week straight. </p>
<p>I found my snowboarding jackets to be pretty useful and a good reference point for how warm your warmest jacket should be. If it helps at all, this is a brief summary of the winter coats I have at school</p>
<p>2x snowboarding jacket with removable cotton inners so I can use them as shells if I want to
1x heavy duty rain shell (waterproof zippers, fleece pockets, etc–it’s actually an offshore sailing jacket)
1x down jacket
1x wool peacoat
1x wool 3/4 coat
3 or 4 windbreakers, some are hooded
3 fleeces (patagonia/cloudveil make good ones) if you like sweaters better, they could replace the fleeces. I just like that i can throw on a black fleece and it’ll match anything. </p>
<p>3 jackets for heavy rain/snow conditions is probably overkill. I just happened to already have the snowboarding jackets. You could probably get away with 1 wool coat too. Have at least 1 fleece and a good rotation of sweaters or 2 fleeces. </p>
<p>hope this helps</p>
<p>Does everyone in this thread come from a tropical climate? You guys are really exaggerating I think. I come from like 10 mins away from the city and I’m usually fine in the winter with jeans and a really warm sweater like a northface (not the giant puffy ones). Who knows. Maybe it’s just me.</p>
<p>hey kelloggs aren’t you from canada? From what i’ve heard canadian winters are worse…but i dont know im from the tropics but i’ve experienced a taste of the new york winter…not muc though.</p>
<p>I had one heavy jacket. The coldest it got this past winter was in the low teens I think–could be wrong. It’s not the arctic though.</p>
<p>yeah, i’m from canada. Its gets to around -30C here in the winter. i was just debating whether or not to drag my stash of huge winter jackets to new york…prob not haha</p>
<p>Well I live in Westchester which is only about 1/2 hour from Columbia and the city has basically the same prices and weather as us here, so for me personally it wouldn’t be that much of a change. But it gets pretty cold and then it gets pretty hot. But it’s worth it :)</p>
<p>For the winter, a peacoat should be fine. It doesn’t really get that cold in New York, never below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (though frequently below 0 degrees Celsius in the pit of winter). You shouldn’t need expedition-grade gear.</p>
<p>This may sound silly but</p>
<p>1) does columbia have a good and accessible gym? basketball court? etc.</p>
<p>2) what foods are there to eat with the meal plan? im a big fruit guy; are there lots of fruits?</p>
<p>@NWdivisionCHAMPS:</p>
<p>1) The gym is horrendous, the part available to nonathetes is like 11 treadmills, a few
ellipticals and bikes, some weight lifting equipment…that’s about it. I’ve been in hotels that have better fitness centers. There are plenty of bball courts,
etc.</p>
<p>2) Ha. Ha. Ha. No…the food is horrendous. At John jay, there is usually 1 meat
entree a night and a lot of vegan stuff like quinoa, millet. I hope you like wheat berries. Does that count as a fruit? No? Well, they do have rotten bananas, apples of varying quality, and good oranges. So are there lots of fruits? No. Sorry man, luckily NYC has great food, check out the super cheap and delicious fruit available in Chinatown.</p>
<p>Thinkforyourself</p>
<p>Did you raise up in NYC or were you able to get help from classmates? Im from the west so im completely clueless in getting around nyc and my budget isnt too high besides the meal plan… :(</p>
<p>also, is intramural basketball and softball popular? those are two sports i hope to participate in and are club sports popular as well?</p>
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<p>it’s not that bad. It’s a normal gym, gets a little crowded at 6pm, but in the early and late evenings it’s perfectly fine. I almost always got to use exercise and weight machines when I wanted. Sometimes I’d have to do elliptical for 20 and then do treadmill. The only deficiency I found was the punching bags were in yoga / martial arts class rooms and so were inaccessible, otherwise fine gym. intramural bball is available as are pick-up games every night. I had friends who played bball at the gym everyday.</p>
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<p>again I never found the food to be unbearable at john jay. it was repetitive at times and definitely over-priced, but if you mix up what you eat, there is enough variety to last through the semester. definitely enough fruit as well, you can always buy cheap fruit at supermarkets around campus. John Jay food is similar to food at most other dining halls at other universities (comparable to Harvard and Brown, better than UPenn, worse than Cornell). If you’re used to your parent’s great cooking or used to eating at nice restaurants and using expensive ingredients then it obviously does not compare, but what were you expecting.</p>
<p>NW: pm karot for tips on having a great time while spending very little money. This kid (a good friend of mine in person), was simply phenomenal at getting good deals, eating for cheap, finding discounts, finding great entertainment for cheap etc. Karot would spend as little as students on a full meal plan while not being on one at all.</p>
<p>Are there any fitness classes offered?</p>
<p>The “farmers’ market” vendors who frequently set up on Broadway right off campus sell tons of great, cheap fruit. You’ll be happy with it.</p>
<p>@NWdivisionChamps: grew up in the midwest. if you like to walk, chinatown is walkable from campus, though it’d be quite a ways. or you could just take the 1 line. or the bus. also, tons of classmates will be willing to assist you, as will your ra (probably) and older students you meet. using mta (subway, bus) and navigating the city with a map is extremely simple. don’t worry about your budget, if you don’t take cabs transportation costs remain relatively low (although mta has been hiking the rates up).</p>
<p>from my experience, intramurals are not particularly popular. i know 0 people who play intramural basketball or softball. i do, however, know a lot of people who play pickup basketball in the gym.</p>
<p>@confidentialcoll: it’s not nearly the gym you’d expect from a div 1 school, or from any school serving an undergraduate body of its size. i’ve been in a spectrum of times from 7 am to 12 am, and it is uniformly crowded–only 1-2 treadmills open for 30 minute periods of time, if you’re lucky. i’m not saying it’s completely inadequate per se–we have a gym in manhattan, which i’m thankful for. but to serve the population, it’s not sufficient. </p>
<p>and john jay is an embarrassment to columbia. they cycle the menu pretty much every 2 weeks, and the only particularly tasty entrees are fried chicken and, well, that’s the only tasty entree that they serve. i enjoyed the chili, because it was rib sticking, and the fresh baked cookies. frankly, after about a month i grew tired of "quinoa/millet/barley/rice and carrots/green beans and pinto/navy beans and generic chinese entree/chicken. every night. in some combination. +an apple/orange/banana. agreed re: supermarkets. i was expecting the food to be worth approximately $15 a meal (the dining plan i was on), not $4. </p>
<p>@pbr: great advice, I love the apples–northern spy ftw.</p>
<p>@wildflowerwaltz: i believe so. in addition, pe classes are pretty much “fitness” classes.</p>