<p>btw, I’m a recent columbia alum, and I loved my time there. In many cases almamater says “columbia doesn’t have” and I think to myself, “I had that at Columbia” or “I did that at Columbia”.</p>
<p>some background: I am class of 2010, was in the engineering school, was in a couple of large organizations on campus, but not part of a frat or athletic team. I disliked columbia quite a bit at first because campus felt a little impersonal, but by the end of my time there, I had an exhilarating experience. I began taking some initiative to make friends late in my freshman year, and each semester got better.</p>
<p>Columbia challenged me, there were times when I was unhappy or angry or frustrated, but overall it built a lot of character, kept me critical yet optimistic. Columbia helped me meet a vast array of kids, I had a lot of exposure growing up but columbia gave me even more. I found people who disagreed with my values, my politics, my beliefs, I went out of my way to play devil’s advocate many times and made some people dislike me. But in the end, I was challenged, I stumbled, I learned, I succeeded and found a strong community, a good amount of school spirit and some amazing friends in the process. I also got as much attention as I wanted from profs, did research on campus and graduated with a job. It was exactly what I had wanted from college and exactly why I chose Columbia.</p>
<p>Columbia is for many stripes of people, but not for everyone. If you want a school that holds your hand more, if you are not a decently independent person, I’d say Columbia is not for you. It suits ambitious, intellectual, outgoing, risk taking, mature and passionate students. You don’t have to have all these qualities, but I’d say you should have some if you want to be happy at Columbia. I found a unique environment that I thrived in, that I don’t think I would have been able to replicate outside of the diversity, vibrancy, opportunity and challenge of Columbia. In the end I tried a lot of things, different majors, classes, different clubs, friends, hang out options and failed several times, but found people and activities I really cared about, got exposure to a wide variety of people (not just undergrads) and classes / activities and learned a lot about myself in the process. I have been very comfortable in new situations and with new people post college, and I think Columbia had a lot to do with my training. </p>
<p>Bottom line: it’s not for everyone, many students don’t love Columbia and don’t capitalize on its advantages, the bureaucracy can be a pain sometimes. The best way to learn about Columbia and other colleges, is to do more research and ultimately go visit. You might still get a skewed perspective depending on whom you meet, but in the uncertain world of finding which college you fit into, there’s no better research tool than observing a campus first hand and chatting to students there.</p>