<p>I only have one week and am completely torn! Help!!!!</p>
<p>it seems like the people who i've met who were in your situation would always choose the place opposite from they lived (like if you live in cali, you would go to columbia and vice versa). i'm actually choosing between berkeley and columbia, so i'm somewhat in a similar situation</p>
<p>Don't let people on this board, or the Stanford board, truly influence your decision, just let us give you information. I chose to apply early to Columbia because I knew that it was the place for me - I visited for an overnight in the Fall and fell in love. Both schools are excellent so it lies on what type of atmosphere you want. Columbia is an urban school, many activites on campus, even more activties and oportunities off campus. Stanford is the largest school landwise in the country, your sorounded by rolling hills, theres a lot to do on campus but not much to do in the sorounding area other than hike. Columbia fulfills my appeptite for constant stimulus while Stanford does not, but I am pretty hyperactive. Congratulations on you accpetance to these two great schools and the best advice I can give you is visit and read about both schools as much as possible.</p>
<p>My son made this tough decision last year. Here are some of the thoughts that made him choose Columbia:
1. He had spent a fair amount of time at Stanford and he was very comfortable there. It reminded him a lot of his high school, which he loved. On the other hand, he finally decided he wanted to leave that comfort zone and pick some place that represented a little more of an adventure.
2. He's really into music and you can't beat NYC for being able to hear great live music. He also liked the music performance program better at Columbia, since it pretty much guaranteed he'd get a chance to play.
3. Many people told him he could have his NYC experience in grad school or later. But, he couldn't have had the core curriculum then. He really liked the idea of the core curriculum and the classes he sat in on when visiting Columbia. He liked the reading list, and the idea everyone would be doing it. He's really enjoyed LitHum.
4. Though he may be heading into science, and Stanford departments outrank Columbia's in many of those fields, we told him that such rankings matter at graduate school rather than undergrad. Columbia's up there in most areas.
5. Palo Alto is suburban and, while the campus is beautiful, he thought he'd like more choices of things to do than on-campus parties. He wanted the choice of going to museums, plays, clubs, restaurants, etc on a regular basis.
6. In terms of the difference in student bodies -- both obviously full of students who are smart as whips. But the core curriculum seems to draw the type of students who like to read and discuss and argue. More humanities types, as you would expect. Stanford has great humanities departments, but a larger part of the student body is more oriented towards engineering and science. These are broad generalizations, of course, but there is a very different campus culture. To draw it to an extreme: Some Stanford professors have told me that they have a difficult time in class discussion, getting students to be critical of the reading or of the professors. Columbia students criticize everything! It may be their best sport!
6. Sports... what can I say. You certainly won't find much to cheer about at Columbia in that department. He went to the admissions events at Stanford and found them more rah-rah than he felt. It's not that he doesn't like sports... he does wish the field at Columbia were closer because the long subway ride made him decide not to play on the ultimate frisbee team.
7. Basically, he came back from Columbia's Days on Campus leaning that way, but not sure. He enjoyed them and the students he met there, not to mention the papardelle with quail at some restaurant they were taken to. Still, we had a check made out to Stanford the day before the decision was due, and had to tear it up.</p>
<p>Good Luck! Great choices, and whichever you don't pick now you can head to for Grad School!</p>
<p>I personally chose to apply ED to Columbia over SCEA to Stanford this year because of the wide variety of music options Columbia has both on/off campus, the best Core curriculum in the nation and the ability to gain real world experience in a big city. Palo Alto is a nice suburb (I spent a summer at both Columbia and Stanford), but it does not teach one how to adapt to real life situtations very well because it is so sheltered.</p>
<p>Again, it would be nice to know some of your stats and what you are looking for in a college. Best of luck! Either school is incredible!</p>
<p>i'd say stanford.</p>
<p>that doesn't help princetonwannabe, since you give no reasons</p>
<p>Columbia is surprisingly beautiful and also exciting with lots of things to do and see. Stanford has a lot less going on. I was curious and went to their website of arts activities going on, and I saw hardly any concerts there. There were fewer concerts in a month than in a day or two at Columbia/NYC. But concerts matter so much to me, and maybe they don't to quantifyme. Remember the core. Everyone reads the same things and gets acquainted with his fellow classmates and enjoys a few small classes in his first two years, too. But maybe quantifyme isn't interested in that type of thing. I personally think Columbia has a more intellectial atmosphere (there are inevitably some not intellectual kids who get in to the fancy schools, C and S and all the others, every year for reasons that are beyond me) while I think Stanford has a more "it's california and I'm 19 years old" attitude. That's what I hear.</p>
<p>I'll repost what I said on the stanford board, so the Columbians can comment on it.</p>
<p>I was split between Columbia and Stanford for a while, but ultimately decided on Stanford. Besides having better departments as a whole, the Stanford administration is much more friendly and outgoing than Columbia's. Anyone who was at the SEAS days on campus knows the disaster the administration organized. After the evening activities fell apart, I ended up hanging out with my friend's brother and all of his dormmates. Each and every one of the 20 people that were hanging out agreed that the administration does not care in the slightest about undergrads, and the bureaucracy creates all sorts of problems that a university with the size and resources of Columbia should not have. As compared to other universities, you have to fight much more to get research opportunities at Columbia. Even in my own experience, the only instances in which Columbia has been open and outgoing has been at the admission receptions, whereas I'm usually brushed off otherwise.</p>
<p>That being said, everyone in the dorm agreed that a lot of awesome things happen at Columbia. You can walk around the university, and randomly come upon some fun event or activity, and that doesn't even include all the great things that happen in NYC. I went to Columbia every saturday for 3 years for SHP, and every single saturday when the weather was alright, there was a tent or stage up for some festival/event. I can't see anyone being bored.</p>
<p>What happened at Days on Campus?</p>
<p>I guess SEAS days on campus was different altogether?</p>
<p>Tokonyo -- Stanford does have wonderful resources available to its students. That is one of the most appealing things about it. Add to that the fact that you've already spent so much time at Columbia, and it sounds as if Stanford really makes sense for you as a place where you will grow. Engineering at Stanford is great, of course, and I think you will really enjoy it here in California. Good luck!</p>