<p>I am attending NYU Tisch for undergrad so please spare me on how Columbia is better. According to some threads one of the only schools comparable to Columbia is Tisch and I am attending and graduating from Tisch. Although Columbia's Film program is not as valued as NYU's, it is slowly gaining momentum. I have applied to both. I plan to continue onward to a doctorate in another field that still helps to incorporate my arts background but that is another story as I'm just focusing on grad school right now.</p>
<p>Although I attended NYU, I never ventured to columbia, except drive by. A friend pointed and I looked (ha ha!). There's just so much stuff to do in the village. Anyways as I am considering Columbia and having applied, I was wondering about safety.</p>
<p>Columbia is close to Harlem area...how close is that to the Morningside campus? Also the area I was showed of Columbia wasn't in the 100's so is there two campuses? Where is the graduate campus located? </p>
<p>As for safety I have an idea where everything is geographically and I've even gone toWashington Heights a time or two, but the areas seem more dangerous than downtown. And don't give me it's because I'm prejudice of minorities b.s because I am a minority. I'm just talking about safety regardless of all that b.s stuff. I have not seen this Morningside area (will venture there) but wanted to get some outside opinions from people who have lived there. So I don't know how only ten block up radius or so from harlem and from washington heights could be so safe. Please advise. I'm not being mean or sarcastic, I just can't wrap my head around it. I really want safety. In NY I had some incidents and I would like to be in a safe (er?) area if possible (as I know NYC still has issues with safety being an urban city, but I want to be the safest place possible).</p>
<p>So about the safety:
As I hear so much about Columbia's safety, I'd like to know more about it</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any insight you can give me. I appreciate it!</p>
<p>Please disregard. I did a search and there are tons of reports on this. Thanks anyways.</p>
<p>Columbia is better, and you are prejudiced against minorities.</p>
<p>You're dumb. If you read, I'm a minority so you shouldn't go around saying others are prejudice. If you are a Columbia student, you obviously didn't learn keen reading skills. The area has a higher incidence of petty crimes period. Second, you are insecure if you need to compare schools. It's just ridiculous really. Fabulous people don't have to convince others, they just know they're wonderful. So go sit on your high horse elsewhere.</p>
<p>woah, calm down. he's only kidding...</p>
<p>Even if you found an answer, here is a pseudo response:</p>
<p>Columbia's precinct area is usually lauded as one of the safest in the city. But let's use numbers just to clarify - precinct 9 (the one that NYU for the most part is in) had 1,479 total incidents last year to Columbia's 26th precinct's 754. 9th had 224 incidents of burglary to the 26ths 77. So i do not know what you mean by "the area has a higher incidence of petty crimes period." Now, a lot of things regarding 'safety' are questions of perception. Derelict buildings make people feel unsafe even if incident of crime does not occur. Hearsay and bad experiences trickle down and people believe that Upper Manhattan may be more dangerous, when the statistics are not there. So here is my anecdote: when I was at Columbia I felt I could walk anywhere because there were usually cops or Columbia security patrolling a broad area. If I was going somewhere new, I would usually first walk with some friends until I figured out the landscape. But four years going to ugrad there, no incidents of note and this includes walking around at all hours of the night, walking to nearby Harlem, Hamilton Heights, you name it.</p>
<p>I am glad you found your answer, but even so, I think your response to entr0py, however malicious he was there, and your post in general shows that you have a lot of biases going on. First of all Columbia is intricately connected to Harlem, it is not as if things magically change and there is a sign that says welcome to Morningside Heights. It is a broad area where business and life is interconnected; if you ever screw up and take the express train and get off at 110 and 7th Ave you will realize this pretty quickly. So yes, when you go to Columbia, you will more than likely unless you really avoid it spend some time in Harlem. Second of all, Washington Heights is nowhere close to campus, but now I am just pulling hairs. And thirdly, do you understand that by saying "I don't know how only ten block up radius or so from harlem and from washington heights could be so safe," that you are playing into biases, hearsay and just bad information? Let's take the 28th Precinct that is nearby only 1,002 total incidents last year, or the 32nd that is just north of us only had 1,190 incidents. Fewer than NYU's precinct, maybe we should be scared going downtown? The point is, New York as a city is pretty safe nowadays and no I am not afraid of going to the East Village and you should not be afraid to come uptown; just don't be dumb about things and people usually leave you alone.</p>
<p>But a few parting things. I hope you get into all the programs you like and attend the school that is the right fit for you. I also hope, however, that your rationalization for not attending Columbia SOA has nothing to do with the safety question because it is one of those urban myths that I believe a lot of us have debunked by now. But the biggest question of all: what the heck are you doing applying to a school that is a 40 minute subway ride from where you did your ugrad and never visited? Shows to me that you could care less about Columbia, kind of an insult to the school, I should say. I hope that doesn't work against you in the admissions process.</p>
<p>^finally a great post by a noob member, thank you admissions geek, you represent alma well.</p>
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First of all Columbia is intricately connected to Harlem, it is not as if things magically change and there is a sign that says welcome to Morningside Heights. It is a broad area where business and life is interconnected
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<p>I disagree with this, the areas below morningside park look markedly different and poorer than columbia areas, there is a sharp change east of morningside park and north of 125th. We go into harlem a fair amount (I do whenever i need to without thinking twice), but the neighborhoods are not intricately connected by any means, you see a drop in affluence when you leave columbia to the north or east, these areas are still quite save as the statistics make amply clear. 110th and 7th is a bad example, you need to be further north and further east to see the difference.</p>