<p>My daughter got in Columbia and Dartmouth, as a father I would like to know what you prefer one over the other? Both a good schools, my daughter loves science and will probably go medical later.</p>
<p>Columbia! NYC is pretty amazing. Dartmouth is my least favorite Ivy, personally, so this may be tagged with a bit of bias.</p>
<p>Probably Columbia has better science programs.</p>
<p>Columbia! Hanover is nice, but New Hampshire is effing boring. I would know, I’ve lived here for many, many years. Of course on this forum you’re gonna get pretty biased responses. But, Columbia. NYC!</p>
<p>congratulations! i hope that your daughter visits both schools if possible. i think columbia as far as an EXPERIENCE is truly unmatched. your daughter will learn how to be an incredibly engaged with smart social skills as a result of the city/curriculum combination. there are many threads on here that talk about what is so wonderful about it. she will have more hospitals in a square mile than about any place on earth where she can have real research and clinical experience. in the end though it ought to be what she desires most. have her visit. </p>
<p>if she feels the pulse, energy and vibrancy of new york, the intellectualism and rigor of the education, the awareness and versatility of the students - well, she will have an incredible 4 year experience unlike any other. best of luck, and here is another one rooting that she goes to Columbia.</p>
<p>columbia <3</p>
<p>obviously columbia babyyyyy</p>
<p>I doubt any college could match the undergrad experience of Dartmouth.</p>
<p>plenty of time for the big city.</p>
<p>grad school…med school…etc</p>
<p>tough choices there eh?></p>
<p>congrats wherever she decides to go</p>
<p>To be completely honest, I live in New York City… and I personally would go to school at Dartmouth. Especially for the sciences, Dartmouth is better. She can do research and will get lots of individual attention at Dartmouth. I am a high school 18 year old who lives in NYC, and its overrated. Personally the Social Life at Dartmouth seems awesome. I was waitlisted at both schools so I am impartial, and I will probably not go to either one as I was accepted elsewhere.</p>
<p>jdjaguar and Excepted - please elaborate. i am interested in how you believe that Dartmouth is an environment that pushes students to new limits, that puts them through unique and interesting situations and experiences that makes them mature faster. and Excepted, are you really saying Dartmouth is better than Columbia for the sciences? I mean you could at least say they are on par (a more ecumenical answer), but when the Chair of the Biological Sciences just won a Nobel Prize, and guess what, he takes on 2-3 students every year in his lab to work with over the summer. I really think that there might be something to Columbia in the sciences. And even if the ‘social life’ of New York is not quite collegiate, you do forget that there is Rockefeller University, Sloan Kettering, Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian, etc., etc., as hospitals you can work at. I am not here to speak to or discuss Dartmouth’s strengths, please do so, but at least acknowledge in your answer Columbia’s. </p>
<p>as a parent, aproud, i hope you encourage your daughter to look at school for what it will giver her for her future more than what it will give her in the present. college is more than having a good time (which you can do at either school), but it is about developing the skills to negotiate life. in this respect columbia+new york+the student body is truly an incredible combination. please let me know if you have specific questions i would be more than happy to answer.</p>
<p>not to be rude, but excepted doesn’t attend either school and has a very limited understanding of both. i really would like to know how people say things like “especially for the sciences, dartmouth is better” with ANY degree of certainty. so many things people say about schools is utter bs</p>
<p>^^admissionsgeek</p>
<p>“… that puts them through unique and interesting situations and experiences that makes them mature faster…”</p>
<p>what’s the rush?</p>
<p>like I said before…</p>
<p>plenty enough time for the big city…Sloan Kettering, Mount Sinai et al…</p>
<p>as far as Colombia undergrad goes…is the Chair really going to take on “your” child…2-3 out of how many?</p>
<p>does the “chair” even teach undergrads at Colombia?</p>
<p>just asking…no offense.</p>
<p>jdjaguar, i appreciate your skepticism because i did skim some details. yes it is only 2-3 out of a couple dozen, but the mentorship is through a pretty cool program columbia has for biomedical research. beyond Chalfie, the prof i mentioned, various other high fliers in biology and chemistry mentor in the SURF program. [Mentors</a> 2009](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/ug/surf/Mentors09.html]Mentors”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/ug/surf/Mentors09.html). so even if it is not the prof i mentioned, 2-3 students get to work with people on that list. Chalife taught a genetics course off and on for a few years, a friend of mine took one with him a few years back. beyond him, there are some pretty cutting edge physicists, chemists, etc., who actively teach undergrads. he is a good name to float because there is the perception - here is this world leader in a field, he will never talk to students, and that quite isn’t the story.</p>
<p>during my time at columbia i never knew of someone who didn’t want to do research that was not able to. and that is an exciting prospect for someone who does want to do medicine because whether it is rushing it or not, medical schools seek people with advanced preparation.</p>
<p>what’s the rush? well here is my assessment, and you are allowed to disagree. there is a problem of maturity going on out there in high schools, and it is something that i and others are constantly disappointed by, and now working and dealing with people who take things at fast value (consider any stereotype of a liberal or republican who just reiterates what is told to them). and a lot of this has to do because education relies too much on the banking theory of education as friere would say, people are told, they regurgitate, they do well in tests, but do not look or seek the questions behind the questions. even of those who early enough in their high school career start to do something they are not at 18 self-actualized students. the purpose of college has been and still ought to be to bring out an intense and rigorous period of self-reflection. i think what columbia does what ought to be standard fare, but in the funny thing it is ‘rushing it’ by modern standards. it pushes students to ask big fundamental questions, to feel uncomfortable and therefore be familiar with different ideas, with conflicting thoughts, with dissonant information. i don’t think columbia itself does it, of course, i think it has a lot to do with being a student in new york city, where poverty and inequality are not abstract ideas, but realities, where solutions are not as simple as a passing a law because different stakeholders bring with them their own agendas. i think it is a lot to do with the student who wants to be in this atmosphere, someone who is adventurous - academically and personally - and is willing to make the extra effort to realize something new. i am not speaking for other schools here, but there is something majestic about it that i can’t quite put into words, an emotion that the vibrancy of columbia brings out in me that makes me emphatically say it will make you better, not just be a stop on the highway of your life, or a respite, but it will make you better prepared to tackle the remainging questions before you. and being a young professional in the city along with corroboration of friends and older alumni - there is no amount of time after college that you can spend your life in new york that can compare to going to college here. when money, family, time and friends all compete for your attention. as an 18 year old you are free of those chains and instead have the city as culture, as classroom, as your sociological playground. there is no greater space to have a psychological and philosophical transformation. </p>
<p>and a final clarification, i am not here to say that you or anyone should or will want this experience. it is for a very peculiar person. by being admitted to columbia, i think the admissions officers are saying that his daughter might have that knack in her. i think a question anyone applying to college and admitted thinking about where to go should really sit down and think about - why am i going. not just the programs or professors, the number of study abroad programs, the facts, but what brought that person to the application in the first place. i hope it is not just a mere sense that this is what is next after high school, but a further affirmation - a belief that college is the physical and metaphysical space in which one can begin to examine who he/she is and where he/she fits in the world. to this degree, i think columbia is one of the finest options out there. </p>
<p>agree, disagree, but the one thing you can’t deny is that i found a place that struck a chord with me, and i gladly and enthusiastically like to tell the story.</p>
<p>User “slipper1234” went to Columbia and transferred to Dartmouth after (i think) 2 years, where he was much happier. he has good things to say about both places. he’s not entirely unbiased, but he’s worth a talk as he can talk meaningfully about the comparison.</p>
<p>for example, he’ll tell you that the social life at Columbia stinks, whereas the other dozen CU students on here will vociferously disagree with that.</p>
<p>adgeek hits all the points very well. I will add to this by saying that Columbia is going places in terms of international recognition, job opportunities, (endowment growth), competitiveness of student body. It is a great school but also an improving school. The exposure you get is unrivalled. </p>
<p>We’ve hosted The Economist debates here, for anyone who reads this publication, and knows who they pull in, you’ll know that this is intellectual platinum, Kofi Annan delivered the opening speech last year. Most colleges will boast one or two big figures in international politics visiting a year. We get ~10 heads of state visit every year like clockwork, if you as a student are disciplined you can get into and go to all of these events. Even students on campus personally pull in big speakers. Student groups have pulled in senators, heads of organizations like Blackwater and Human Rights Watch - imagine that, you could be responsible for harnessing such resources. In late april there’s going to be a day-long student organized and run chinese business conference, with partners in international corporations / joint ventures, heads of international sustainable development organizations etc. </p>
<p>This is an example of the push and the drive that adgeek discusses. You realize that if you grow up, grip the handlebars of life, and then pedal like your life depended on it, Columbia and NYC will allow you rise and will place no ceiling above you. There are constantly debates on politics, science, engineering, climate change. Med Schools these days care about getting smart, rounded, worldly individuals, not just an impressive transcript.</p>
<p>Two very different, and excellent schools: Dartmouth and Columbia. Have her visit both, and then decide. Avoid chasing the rankings. There are city kids (Columbia) and then there are country kids (Dartmouth). There you have it. Let me also say that there are merits to smaller schools that one comes to appreciate when you are applying to med school. And yes, Columbia and Dartmouth are both relatively small undergraduate schools.</p>
<p>Congratulations to you and your D. What a wonderful choice to have.</p>
<p>^^I second that. </p>
<p>I think in terms of the sciences (you mentioned that your daughter would like to do medicine) D and C are marginally different, if at all. I went to Columbia, majored in neuroscience, and have terrific things to say about the biology department. I don’t know anything about Dartmouth’s, but I’d imagine it’s just as good. So really–at the undergrad level, don’t worry about the quality of science academia–because you’re choosing between columbia and dartmouth not columbia and state school. </p>
<p>Focus instead on the environment your daughter would like. they’re pretty different. Rural vs. urban. large vs. small. Even the social scene differs–dartmouth is a big frat school, at columbia, the frat scene is more of a sub culture, and there’s a ton of other things to do–there’s the group that goes to clubs downtown, or hangs around at bars around campus, and of course, there’s NYC’s decadent cultural life.</p>
<p>Columbia and Dartmouth are to polar opposite experiences!! Your D has to be passionate about being in NYC. It is not your traditional undergrad experience, which is fine if that is a huge appeal to her.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has a program called WISP, which specifically supports women in sciences and excellent research opportunities with mentorship. </p>
<p>It really depends on the experience she wants.</p>
<p>The postings for Columbia by the senior members of this board just causes me to love it even more.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I saw the note by Denzera. I transferred from Columbia (CC) to Dartmouth and also attended Columbia for one of its top graduate schools. I’ll write more later but the truth is that these are VERY different schools of equal caliber. My friends from both schools have gone on to top 5 med, law, business and phd schools at an astonishing percentage.</p>
<p>I personally enjoyed the community, the study abroad, the LAC feel, the campus life, the undergraduate focus (a very REAL difference), and the more ‘happy go lucky’ student body of Dartmouth much much more, but I can see how some would enjoy Columbia more. My advice is to visit both for admit weekends to see what seems like a better choice for your daughter. In my experience its all about fit between these two amazing schools. I’ll write more later!</p>