<p>I like how people will come in trying to paint columbia students as having no sense of community because they're always running around new york doing their own thing - and then others saying that columbia students stay on campus, and therefore don't make use of their city.</p>
<p>some people will criticize anything, no matter how irrational.</p>
<p>In interests of staying on topic, the odds of a random columbia student going south of 96th st less often than a tufts student in Somerville takes the red line into Boston, is something like 5%. Seriously. I grew up pretty close to Tufts. I worked in cambridge for years before attending columbia. There is no freaking comparison in terms of atmosphere. Columbia is an urban school. Tufts is a suburban school - though somewhat close to the urbs.</p>
<p>I'd exercise by biking down the west side bikepath, from 116th to battery park and back. You go through the full gamut of neighborhoods, views, and of course have the river on your side at all times (and even a few trees at the beginning and end). That's taking advantage of the city. You try and do that at Tufts, you'll get run over by the traffic heading to I-93. The nearest open bikepath that doesn't involve you getting mauled by crazed cambridge drivers (and I used to be one of them) is Memorial Drive. Which is to say, miles of narrow one-way streets away.</p>
<p>Schools in boston that are more closely integrated with boston itself than columbia is with NYC:</p>
<p>None of the rest are any closer to, say, the North End or Lansdowne St than Columbia is to Greenwich Village. You can argue MIT since it's just across the bridge, but it'd be a tough sell.</p>
<p>"You try and do that at Tufts, you'll get run over by the traffic heading to I-93."</p>
<p>LOL, i think this comment is the first comment that actually made me literally laugh out loud. </p>
<p>I agree Denzera. Sometimes people just say things on this board because they think by writing it that it will somehow take life and become true.</p>
<p>"I'd exercise by biking down the west side bikepath, from 116th to battery park and back"</p>
<p>NO FCKING WAY!, dude that's exactly what I do, and exactly the route i take. It's rejuvenating. I still go once or twice a week, when I want to clear my head. We should go sometime :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Tufts over Columbia, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Vassar. I chose over Columbia because I wanted to leave NYC for college and wanted a more undergrad focused school with better camaraderie.</p>
<p>The other three weren't even an option bc they offered much less financial aid than Tufts or Columbia, so I didn't think it was worth it to pay more to go to them.
[/quote]
can't blame 'em if they want to get out of NYC.</p>
<p>I know this post is super late but I just could not help myself. Columbia is usually ranked in the top ten globally. The campus is absolutely gorgeous and it is placed in the greatest, most dynamic city in the world which is also the art capital of the world. Boston is one dimensional and tufts doesn't even fall on the top 100 ranked by usnews. I attend Columbia and the undergrad experience is just amazing! There is absolutely no competition. Columbia and Tufts are in two different realms. </p>
<p>also keep in mind</p>
<p>Columbia is known as the sophisticated, intellectual ivy and what I mean by that is it is not a "go team go, frat party time school spirit" kind of school. Definitely a serious school that holds a certain student body. That is one thing to consider.</p>