<p>I am currently struggling to decide between Columbia and Penn for early decision. I love the Columbia campus, its proximity to New York (more importantly the Morningside Heights area), its proximity and relaitonship with JTS, the Core, its deep rooting in the liberal arts, everything. Penn is very similar in many of those ways but replaces the nice neighborhood/clean city and such a strong core for an incredibly vibrant campus life which includes graduates and undergraduates which is an attractive thing. </p>
<p>If someone who has a sibling, a friend, or (best of all) a current student could pelase tell me their thoughts on campus life at Columbia. Does much go on, on campus, or does everyone just leave? Dorm life fun, or does everyone leave, etc.</p>
<p>Columbia's social life is OKAY, but as a social prson myself I found it cliquey and not 100% fulfilling. I transferred out purely for this reason. My advice is apply ED to Penn.</p>
<p>Your freshman year floor becomes friends for life. You meet plenty of other people. People go out, go downtown, in groups all the time. When the weather's nice, the entire campus is out on the steps, or on south lawn, sunning, playing football, pretending to work, etc. It's very easy to meet people and there's a real community feel.</p>
<p>I don't know what you mean by "includes graduates and undergraduates". I mean, the grad schools are very close by, and except for the med school, all are generally visible and their students are around, but undergrads have a lot less in common with them and they don't join groups. It's really not much that anyone's missing. But if you want to take a class at the school of International Affairs or something, it's right there.</p>
<p>I think the best way to describe Columbia is that its social for an urban school (local bar scene, not THAT big so you know people, etc) but its not social compared to most schools. Penn's social scene is MUCH bigger and many more stay on campus.</p>
<p>Its not really a campus based party scene. Its New York, so student's don't have off campus houses to support that. The frats exist, but they aren't "open" like they are at the other Ivies. They aren't a real factor socially. The bar scene is hit or miss, sometimes tons of people are out at places like Casbah, other nights (usually Friday) it might be quiet. Alot of people get into cliques and go off into the city.</p>
<p>Yes, Co2002 has a point. Althought i've heard many more positive stories about freshman floormates than negative ones. I just moved into Carman a week ago and so far i love my floormates. Our RA told us that her freshman floor actually decided to be on the same floor next year. i'm not sure how they got that to work out but it shows you that you'll probably end up liking your floormates that not.</p>
<p>I think slipper is mostly correct, but forgets that there's a definite party scene in the suite dorms- EC and to a lesser extent Claremont. Last night I took my girlfriend out for dinner near Lincoln Center, then we came back and party-hopped in EC. City life and campus life are not mutually exclusive, though I could have just as easily chosen to stay out all night or stay on campus.</p>
<p>2007, I think your comment about going out into NYC that night OR coming back to campus is indicative of Columbia life. For those who love the ability to go out wherever in NYC but want a little bit of a campus life, Columbia does a great job meshing both worlds and its perhaps the perfect choice. But for someone who wants a very active campus experience Columbia lags compared to most campus based schools. The sheer size of the place (it feels like a large university with tons of grad students), the location (people leave and go off into the city), and the lack of student owned social space ( no off campus houses, etc) makes this so. </p>
<p>The thing about the EC parties is that they are still pretty small. Sure they exist almost every weekend, but you have to compare it to other schools where there will be a much larger portion of the student body on campus and a much more inclusive social scene. At most of the other Ivies there will be bars, frats (that are open to everyone), dorm parties, off-campus parties, etc. No matter how you break it that's alot more activity on a weekend night.</p>
<p>I'd just like to thank everyone who posted, you all were so much help. I am fairly positive now that I will be applying to Columbia ED. I really did love everything about it and the more I hear about the social paradigm there, the more I think it sounds like me (i.e. smaller groups doing more, etc.). The only variable left is whether I would be hurt enough by sub-par SAT II scores despite my 34 ACT enough that I would have a better shot at a 3rd choice school, 2nd choice also requiring subject tests. Yale has an 8% lower admit rate, but does not require subject tests, so I need to figure out which way I would have a better shot at getting in somewhere that I would really like. In an ideal world my next round of subject tests will make this question irrelevant and Columbia will be a good bet; if not, we'll have to see.</p>
<p>I never felt like I was missing out on anything. Just because my college experience didn't look like something out of the movie Old School didn't mean I didn't have every opportunity to party however I liked with my friends. At how many schools can you have parties on the rooftop of 20-story buildings overlooking a spectacular skyline? How many campuses have 30 restaurants and 8 bars, many of the latter open until 4AM, within a 5-block radius of the central campus?</p>
<p>Columbia is not a school for the claustrophobic, but the upside of that tradeoff is having everything right at your fingertips, at all hours. That is how I usually characterize it to other people, at any rate.</p>
<p>Slipper and Matzah- I think you raise a good point, being that the Columbia social scene is more oriented toward small groups, and that is independent of the "emptying effect" of the city. I've never been to a truly large party here; the size of suites and that of the limited number of frats, if anything, dictates against that, and the bar scene mandates it from early on. </p>
<p>This and the seminar style of most core classes, which people take in their early years generally, makes Columbia feel a lot smaller and more intimate than it really is, which is why (in addition to the compact campus) I never got the sense that I was overwhelmed by grad students. Universities seem more intimidating, I think, when they're physically large in addition to the size of their enrollment- Penn and Harvard in particular feel vast, though the latter has the merit of a mediating house system.</p>
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Yes, Co2002 has a point. Althought i've heard many more positive stories about freshman floormates than negative ones.
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<p>Your freshman dorm is like anything else in life. You'll love a certain number of people. You'll be friendly with others. There will be some you don't really care for all that much. And there will be a few you absolutely hate.</p>