<p>Columbia lags considerably behind Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford in per student endowment. It's in a similar range as Duke and Vanderbilt (roughly $225,000 per student at the end of 2004). The big endowment schools are in the $1 million per student and above neighborhood.</p>
<p>Columbia gets a big boost in desireability from its NYC location.</p>
<p>
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Columbia gets a big boost in desireability from its NYC location.
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Um... Columbia is in Harlem...</p>
<p>The Globe Trotters, the Rennaissance, etc. whats not to like about Harlem?</p>
<p>In seriousness though, to most people NYC is NYC, doesn't matter what part until you actually get there and realize it.</p>
<p>I do not understand where this thread is going. It seems there is an inferiority complex among some Columbia students, for I cannot see why the yearning to be recognized by the masses as the best university, as Columbia is already viewed as a very respectable university.</p>
<p>Um....thanks. I know where Columbia is located. </p>
<p>The actual neighorhood is known as Morningside Heights. It's bordered by Harlem to the north and the Upper West Side to the south.</p>
<p>The point about NYC is that, if Columbia moved across the river, to say, Hoboken or Newark or Trenton, its apps would drop like a rock, and NYU would become even hotter than it is now.</p>
<p>Hausdorff: your focus on Nobels is one data point for major research Unis, but essentially that means that schools LACs (AWSP) and LAC-like schools (Dartmouth) are lacking, no?</p>
<p>"(admit rates are) as much a factor of location as it is a measure of prestige.."</p>
<p>thethoughtprocess, i don't really understand the connection you made between location and admit rates. yale has a lower admit rate than columbia (CC+SEAS), and yet NYC is generally accepted as more desirable than new haven. if better location equaled a lower admit rate, wouldn't Columbia (located in NYC) have a lower admit rate than Yale (in relatively boring New Haven)?</p>
<p>Columbia supporters enjoy comparing Columbia to HYP despite the fact that P has no professional schools, Y is in a small town and H has weak engineering.</p>
<p>Why not compare Columbia to a another outstanding school that is actually very similar in almost every way - University of Chicago. If you check out the thread below, you'll see just how similar they are. The difference in admit rate is likely hugely affected by Columbia's location in NYC and association with the Ivy league.</p>
<p>I know how much Columbia people enjoy the numbers, so check out the number of Nobel prizes claimed by each institution, the academic stats of the students and the rankings of the college, medical, law and business schools. Columbia's total endowment is slightly bigger while Chicago's per student endowment is slightly bigger. Both schools also lay claim to historical academic dominance! </p>
<p>You will be hard pressed to find 2 schools more similar by the numbers.</p>
<p>mj93 - seriously??!?!??!?! That is possibly the most flawed logic ever.</p>
<p>Yale is better than Columbia, however, NYC is better than New Haven(according to most people), so, the app difference goes beyond any one thing.</p>
<p>Agree with Russ456...
Columbia is most similar to the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>"Yale is better than Columbia, however, NYC is better than New Haven(according to most people), so, the app difference goes beyond any one thing."</p>
<p>I agrer with you. I was trying to question thethoughtprocess's logic in that location=lower adrate (which i, too, believe is flawed).</p>
<p>How is Yale better then Columbia? Harvard>Columbia overall I agree Princeton>Columbia maybe, but many programs Columbia offers that P-Town does not means to me, more academic opportunities to take classes in the worl renowned professional schools at Columbia. Yale Law> Columbia Law yes....Med schools are about equal, but Columbia is slightly better, CU Math=Yale Math, CU Economics> Yale Econ, Yale Journalism (lol) < CU J-school, Many Columbia departments are the best, e.g. Poly Sci, East Asian, Chemstry (top 5), Neurscience (2 nobel Profs and $200 mil on the way), NYC (Yes, if Columbia moved this would negatively affect CU, but if Dartmouth and CU switiched places those that wanted a rual atmosphere would not attend Dartmouth and vice-versa so location is sometimes a major part of a student's experience...I just don't see how the opportunities of NYC (harlem is NYC...LMAO) are a negative or somehow unfair for CU to exploit and champion....Doesn't Yale talk about its proximty to NYC in its brochures? Come on, anyway...This is clearly a rambling half hearted post since I should be doing other things right now, but stop the CU=NYC bashing since it is a big advantage for CU. Also, Chicago is a great school, but Chicago is not NYC....lmao.</p>
<p>i dont believe columbia is as good as HYP, or as prestigious, but i do believe that Columbia's acceptance rate will become lower and lower. I think it will continue to get lower because it is in NYC. Freakin NYC, everyone wants to go to a school in NYC.</p>
<p>Which I'll never understand. I think NYC is a horrible place to go to college.</p>
<p>"Yale Journalism (lol)"</p>
<p>Does Yale have a bad Journalism program?</p>
<p>^^^ "Also, Chicago is a great school, but Chicago is not NYC"</p>
<p>Hausdorff, I agree with you completely. That's basically my point: Columbia and Chicago are virtually identical except for Columbia is located in NYC (in fact, Columbia advertises itself as "Columbia University in New York City". I guess it would be stupid to say "University of Chicago ... in Chicago".</p>
<p>Lookee here:</p>
<p>US News rankings:
college - Columbia #9, Chicago #9
law - Columbia #5, Chicago #6
business - Columbia #9, Chicago #5
medicine - Columbia #10, Chicago #15</p>
<p>Times World rankings: Columbia #12, Chicago #11</p>
<p>Total endowment 2006: Columbia 5.9B, Chicago 4.9B
Endowment per student: Columbia 280K, Chicago 370K</p>
<p>Nobel prizes: Columbia 81, Chicago 79</p>
<p>Need I go on? Their level of prestige is very similar. Both have twice as many graduate students as undergraduates. Columbia's biggest advantage is that it is a much more popular school. Chicago is actually wealthier on a per student basis. Yale, schmale, compare yourself to that toddlin town!</p>
<p>How did this thread become Columbia v. Chicago :P</p>
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The Globe Trotters, the Rennaissance, etc. whats not to like about Harlem?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I thought the Renaissance was in Florence?</p>
<p>I would prefer Columbia to HYPS based on the great books core, which I think provide an intellectual depth unsurpassed in academia.</p>
<p>^^ I just want Columbians to realize they have a fantastic school and it's kind of pointless to compare against HYP because the schools are quite different. They have much more in common with schools like Chicago, Penn and Duke. </p>
<p>I'm glad this thread was posted here under College Search and Selection. It's useless to go to another school's home board (not just Columbia) and argue. Those threads are for tooting your own horn (and thats A-OK)</p>
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Um... Columbia is in Harlem...
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not to pile on, but anyone who's ever been to both the Columbia neighborhood and Harlem proper would never confuse the two. They share very little besides the continuation of some street names. As much as I hate the term, "Morningside Heights" is the 2nd-safest district in the whole city, right after the upper east side.</p>
<hr>
<p>To the main point of the discussion, it wasn't that long ago (50s and earlier) that Columbia was considered in the same league with HYP. Poor faculty management and endowment management (not to mention 1968) drove its ability to provide for its students down up through the 80s, and it is only starting to recover now. For example, Columbia used to own the land under rockefeller center, as well as many other properties in the city (which it had owned for decades if not centuries), and had to sell them for cash in the 80s to cover for bad fiscal management. That might have been worth a little now, wouldn't you say? :)</p>
<p>I think the real gap between Columbia (to take the current subject) and HYP, besides endowment, is popular recognition and name-brand management. All 3, especially harvard, are very shrewd at pushing their brand name awareness (although Princeton is, of course, more limited in defending it). Columbia, it seems, just doesn't have the name-recognition in the country.</p>
<p>If only Obama hadn't gone to columbia at a low point in its history, maybe we'd have an easy promotion opportunity. Oh well.</p>
<p>-D</p>
<p>PS - props to JohnnyK for post #11, got a good laugh out of me</p>