<p>Someone, pray tell me why anyone gives a flying F about meeting the president of Ghana. If I met him in a bar, I don't know what I'd say to him and I can't think of anything I'd want to ask him. Maybe I'd just ask him whether he likes baseball.</p>
<p>He had just gotten done talking in detail about the progress his country was making with economic investment, in infrastructure, agriculture, and the like. He spoke with such command of the details that I wanted to pick his brain on a few things. It was a cool, random moment, one instance in a class of situations that seem to happen rather frequently at Columbia - something totally rare, and valuable only to those who have a relentlessly curious disposition, comes upon you all the time while you're a student there.</p>
<p>As a group, the professors aren't that much better or worse than they are at (say) Rice University - but the kinds of unique opportunities you can find, which the school connects you to, are hard to express with just one example.</p>
<p>I'm really torn between the two and will make my decision after spending time at their open houses. Thanks for all the feedback!</p>
<p>Quick question: are Columbia students pretentious? I'm being completely serious and not trying to be hostile.Obviously they are very intelligent and competitive, but from this thread I get the impression that many are quite pretentious. Pretention is a turn off to me because its a defense mechanism, an attempt to cover up for a lack of insight or maturity. I'd prefer a school where students are more effortlessly themselves, is Columbia like this?</p>
<p>obviously i'm biased, but I decided to apply ED to columbia precisely because I got the very strong sense that the students took themselves less seriously and were more "chill" than those at some other peer schools I could name.</p>
<p>You'll draw your own conclusion after meeting more of us though.</p>
<p>If you're "artsy" you should visit Vassar since you didn't like Wesleyan. Don't worry about the 91% who didn't like the school (they probably didn't research or visit it in advance as I suspect is your case) but rather talk to those who ARE there.</p>
<p>Based on the OP's last three posts, Wellesley, Vassar & Wesleyan should remain in the running. Another consideration might be the transfer acceptance rates at these five schools. Try Columbia for a year and transfer if you don't like it as it is much easier to transfer into the other schools than it would be to transfer into Columbia. The OP's dilemma illustates why it may be good to get a few rejections.</p>
<p>I would go to Columbia without a second thought.</p>
<p>I'd always thought that if you took a couple of Columbia dorms and put them in the middle of a blue-collar, central Connecticut town, the results would look a lot like Wesleyan. You should definitely go to Wesfest and hang with the crowds on Foss Hill. You'll see lots of different kinds of folk. :)</p>
<p>I visited Wesleyan in the fall and I really liked it. Tufts just seems like a better for me because of the size and Boston. Also honestly, what I don't like about Wesleyan and Vassar is that it seems to be dominated by one type of student and also has the reputation of being dominated by one type of student. </p>
<p>I felt that at Tufts and Columbia, that there really wasn't one type of person. I'm definitely going to WesFest thought to check it out!</p>
<p>In my experience, there are so many different types of people here at Wes. These differences spark awesome conversations and really open up dialogue about different points of view. I eat lunch with conservatives from Texas and hipsters from California Monday and Wednesday(I'm from the Hudson Valley in NY, went to HS about a quarter mile down the road from Vassar). Just Wed we had a great debate about the pros and cons of our food service provider supporting local farmers. Its all about who you mix with. You can go to any school and find one clique but at Wes there are so many different people with a relatively small population, it would be hard to do that. I can't speak for Vassar or Tufts as a student but through the brief window of a campus visit, I felt they were more homogeneous in their respective "stereotypical" students than Wes. But when I visit my best friend at Columbia, I'm always blown away by the people I meet and the events I have to drag her to from her den in the library. That's actually a big difference between Wes and some schools. Everyone works incredibly hard during the week but Friday and Saturday nights are for relaxing. You can go see a movie at our incredible film series or take in a student production or performance. There is always something at the frats or senior housing. You don't have to drink or get stoned to enjoy it. Then Sunday, library is packed and people are stressing again. Its nice to have a break for a day and a half though. Frankly Columbia, wow. I love Wes but Columbia is an incredible place with an awesome location.</p>
<p>With all due respect, this really isn't a choice. Columbia hands down. There is not one area of study that Tufts can claim superiority in. Ex-Presidents hail from Columbia. Other than HYP or Stanford, I could not justify choosing any other institutions over Columbia. Outside of those four hmmm MIT, Cal Tech, Penn, and maybe Chicago, but thats it. It would be foolish to pass on Columbia.</p>
<p>Go to tufts. columbia's environment is sooooo depressing. not suitable for undergrads</p>
<p>Wow...Why are you even considering Tufts? It is a *****hole compared to Columbia. Tufts is filled with Columbia rejects. Is there a specific reason that makes sense why you would pick Tufts over Columbia?</p>
<p>^^she doesn't want to go to school a subway ride away from home. If she goes to Columbia her penurious parents may be tempted to make her commute to save money. I'm just guessing.</p>
<p>If true, I see that. I'd rather go to Tufts than be forced to commute from home, no matter which school I was going to. But I imagine a sufficiently impassioned argument could take care of that, like "I'd rather get that extra 20 mins of sleep that i'd spend commuting each day", or "I need to be right near my classmates to collaborate on stuff, or the library so I can borrow books, on a moment's notice".</p>
<p>Great word, "penurious".</p>
<p>If you get enough grants, argue that the room and board is free. If you stay at home, they'll just reduce your grants by the amount you would have saved otherwise.</p>
<p>Furthermore, you're technically required to stay on campus unless you get approval to commute from home. I tried getting this approval when I was an admit and no one knew who was in charge of that (thankfully for me, since I ended up living on campus!)</p>
<p>Also, I'm curious if the person saying Columbia is unsuitable for undergrads actually attends Columbia.</p>
<p>it's worth mentioning that Tufts students get out into Boston much more than Columbia students get out into NYC. </p>
<p>Boston is also arguably the better college town.</p>
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it's worth mentioning that Tufts students get out into Boston much more than Columbia students get out into NYC.
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</p>
<p>While I get what you're saying (and I'm not sure what you're basing it on), I will point out that your sentence as written makes no sense. Columbia students are already in NYC...</p>
<p>As for getting out regularly (how far do you have to go to officially be "out" at Columbia? 5 blocks? 10 blocks? 15 blocks?), that's a personal choice.</p>
<p>i meant columbia students (in my experience) tend to stay on campus whereas those at tufts take more advantage of the city. this is the case for a variety of reasons, but others who go to either school can chime in and elaborate</p>
<p>davida1, you are disgusting.</p>