<p>hey guys i know it's a little late but I just found out i got into columbia off the waitlist today.....still don't know if i'm gonna go though I originally decided on cornell. where do you guys think I should go? for those that chose columbia over cornell, what was your reason (I'm a biochem major w/ premed)?</p>
<p>For biochem/ pre med, i'd say they're comparable. you need to decide where you want to be, what sort of curriculum you want to study in and what sort of students you want to be around. If you aren't a serious rural person, I'd say columbia hands down :)</p>
<p>to respond to some of the misconceptions from the cornell board about columbia:</p>
<p>-columbia is liberal arts centered, but it prepares you very well for whatever you want to get into whether that be med school or wall street, in both these respects it matches if not beats cornell.</p>
<p>-it's a myth that cornell is more undergrad focused than columbia. CC prides it self on being undergrad focused, the student faculty ratio is 6:1. all classes are taught by profs, except perhaps lit hum or university writing and in these they only choose the top english phd students who make great teachers. Cornell has three times the number of undergrads so standing out will probably be more difficult.</p>
<p>-columbia matches cornell for bio, chem and bio chem.</p>
<p>-I know of no one in the sciences and engineering who's had trouble getting research, working in labs/with profs/with med schools/local hospitals is not difficult at all.</p>
<ul>
<li>cornell has the reputation of being the pressure cooker when it comes to academics, columbia kids are smart and work hard, but they are all involved in substantial non-academic activities, both on campus and in the city. Columbia students are not high strung by any measure we minor in making fun of ourselves.</li>
</ul>
<p>-though columbia's campus is small, it is a stand alone campus, and is not integrated with the rest of the city, there is very much a college feel to campus, along with many quiet spots and ultimate frisbee games.</p>
<p>the decision should be what sort of a college experience you want, a smaller, much more compact campus in the city, or a rural one which is much larger and more one with nature. and then there's the brutal Ithaca winter with a long walk/bike ride to classes...:p</p>
<p>My brother went to Cornell, so I have a little insight on Cornell and Ithaca:</p>
<p>-The weather is very much over-exaggerated. He took with him one winter coat (lighter weight than I wear here in Boston) and didn't even wear it once. </p>
<p>-At Cornell, you're not in the middle of nowhere. Ithaca's pretty much the stereotypical college town, which is inhabited by Cornell students, Ithaca College students, and the townies. There are a bunch of restaurants and a few stores, but that's kind of it. You won't find the 4am-bars anywhere within 150 miles of Ithaca. (Well, maybe in Albany).</p>
<p>-The campus is a lot bigger than Columbia's, and there are more frats</p>
<p>-Some of the townies are weird</p>
<p>I went to Cornell, wish I had gone to Columbia because I think the education at Columbia is second-to-none. That said, the housing, both on and off campus, is much better at Cornell. Also, the food is very good.</p>
<p>thanks a lot guys, you are a definitely providing some valuable insight......now if things couldn't get more complicated duke also took me off their waitlist today......i'm even more conflicted now</p>
<p>Cornell is really good if you plan on going to med school afterwards.</p>
<p>71% of students that have the choice of Columbia and Cornell choose Columbia</p>
<p>The</a> New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices</p>
<p>OKAY LISTEN TO ME. i am a freshman at cornell considering biochem.genetics. i am also considering transfer because of the level/depth of undergrad education here. it is entirely possible that i am looking for MIT-level, but even comparing the depth of course material for engineering here to the biology courses, it is clear that bio education here is not up to par(i'm primarily an engineering student). </p>
<p>also, as someone already mentioned, the city, Ithaca is not a really attractive place to spend your most exciting 4 years. but someone got it totally wrong. IT IS SWEARABLY COLD during the winters. also, the campus is HUGE. lots of walking is assumed. class size is generally big (3 times the student body).</p>
<p>AND among the two essential biochem courses (protein and DNA/RNA), not sure about both, but certainly one of the professors is a really poor teacher. and i constantly feel that we don't go much in depth.</p>
<p>gotcha, well I think I am leaning between Columbia and Duke anyway so I don't know if Cornell is in the picture as much anymore.....</p>
<p>^good to hear, read what you wrote on the duke board, if you like the vibe at columbia it only gets better :), it's a fantastic place, there's actually quite a bit of campus life and campus fun and, i've found this year, a surprising amount of school spirit. Perhaps it's been a good year, but I've seen a marked change in the sense of community, perhaps it's me making more friends, and feeling in my element, but people definitely sing our fight song (roar lions roar) more often, at orgo night (when the marching band stroms the library at 1159pm before finals begin, disturbs everyone and makes fun of the semester passed, it's supposed to target organic chemistry students :p) people were definitely singing the song louder than before, chanting and fisting the air. Our sports are definitely worse than Dukes, but I feel we make up for it with our other organizations: community service, acapella, political, pre-professional etc. The sports aren't that bad, we're still division 1, so we're much better than schools like MIT and smaller schools, but if you are big into sports go to Duke, you'll probably be happier there. Though it's the middle of finals week, I'm loving it here, don't feel like columbia lacks school spirit or community, it might just take longer to get there, I didn't love columbia on my first week, but it's keeps getting better the longer I stay.</p>
<p>Columbia and Duke are like night and day, from a social and campus perspective.
Duke has a beautiful campus but it is very large. The freshman live in a separate part of campus and have to take a shuttle to and from classes Also, the campus is so large that there are shuttles that take people to and from classes. Duke also has no town outside of campus really, and is pretty much isolated. Some go to chapel hill but not often. As a result the social life is entirely on campus. There is also a big sorority and fraternity scene and a lot of great sports teams which brings a lot of school spirit. Being entirely on campus brings the student body together, however if you are looking for a college town, they dont have one. Durham is not a great city.
Columbia is as you know in New York City, one of the most exciting cities in the world. The campus is beautiful but small in comparison. There is a lack of school spirit though because the football team is not on campus (it is about 60 blocks away) and also perhaps because it is in the city which has so much to offer outside of campus. Being in the city can be a positive, but it can also be a negative as many students venture off campus to do things instead of staying on campus on weekends. New York has so much to offer that some complain that more things are not organized on campus, and it is harder to feel the sense of connection. You have to work at it. Also, the academics are so intense that many students stay in their rooms a lot and are contantly studying.
Duke tends to be more homogenous, and although there are students from all different cultures and backgrounds, you do see a lot of preppy, clean cut students walking around
Columbia tends to attract more diversity and the presense of students from different cultures and backgrounds seems greater. Also, it is a very attractive school for international students who love New York City, and very popular across the world. As a result, there is more of an international mix.
On any day at Duke, you see tons of college students walking around
However Columbia is open on West 116th street between amsterdam and broadway, and anyone can walk through
On any given day you can see a family strolling through with their children,
locals ect.
There are also a lot of graduate students walking around Columbia so you see students of all ages.
Columbia would be more of an interesting experience, and I think Duke would be more the American college experience.</p>
<p>cuculici1, when you were accepted off the waitlist, were you given a deadline to enroll/deposit at Columbia? Just wondering when the adcomm will start "re-reviewing" waitlist-ees.</p>
<p>yeah, they gave me until may 15th, which is this thursday......I wish it was longer though. You think they would give me an extension? Or would that be a little wishful thinking?</p>
<p>also, do you guys think columbia has more to offer academically than duke?</p>
<p>"also, do you guys think columbia has more to offer academically than duke?"</p>
<p>the duke board keeps saying that sciences at duke are harder and better etc. but there's no substantiation to any of that, how would they possibly know what columbia sciences are like. according to usnews graduate rankings in the sciences:</p>
<p>bio: duke = 12, col = 15
chem: duke = 43, col =11
phy: duke = 29, col = 11</p>
<p>these don't say too much since they are grad rankings, but they do tell you that, if anything, columbia is stronger in the sciences, I say they're probably comparable. Columbia was also ranked the #1 research university in the country by the center for measuring university performance. I think columbia might actually have more to offer in the sciences, there's tons of science research on offer, and many chances to work closely and extensively with profs. Anecdotially, the kids that come to columbia for science are really well prepared from highschool, passionate and very smart, and even then they find the classes very challenging. If your question is whether overall academically (many disciplines), columbia has more to offer - almost for sure it does, there's just a huge range of classes, and columbia is strong in every field - social sciences, sciences, humanities, engineering, strong professional schools also. </p>
<p>"yeah, they gave me until may 15th, which is this thursday......I wish it was longer though. You think they would give me an extension? Or would that be a little wishful thinking?"</p>
<p>wishful, they want your money or someone elses.</p>
<p>don't look to academic rankings to get your comparisons. unless you are hyper-specialized already as an incoming college freshman (which would be very rare indeed), or are passionately interested in economics or political science (in which case Columbia has an edge), the academic differences are negligible.</p>
<p>What is STRIKINGLY different is the campus culture, and of course the surrounding environment. Some people love Durham, some hate it. Same with NYC (though I would venture a higher % love new york, but it's not for everyone...).</p>
<p>My advice to you is:
1. Search for all the "duke" threads on this board, some of which are:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/485682-columbia-vs-duke.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/485682-columbia-vs-duke.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/504664-duke-pratt-vs-columbia-seas.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/504664-duke-pratt-vs-columbia-seas.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/324657-columbia-vs-duke.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/324657-columbia-vs-duke.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/320419-duke-columbia-u-college.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/320419-duke-columbia-u-college.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/281061-columbia-vs-duke-brown.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/281061-columbia-vs-duke-brown.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/169414-columbia-duke.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/169414-columbia-duke.html</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/171077-plz-help-me-decide-columbia-duke-stern.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/171077-plz-help-me-decide-columbia-duke-stern.html</a></p>
<p>You may also find this interesting:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/97624-transfer-columbia-another-ivy.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/97624-transfer-columbia-another-ivy.html</a>
2. Read the various threads linked in the Helpful Columbia Threads thread which is pinned on this board. It'll tell you a lot about Columbia. You can also read Columbia-vs-Princeton threads, which are more common, to get a sense of how the two environments compare - Princeton is perhaps the school most like Duke, with the possible exceptions of Emory or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>The big decision you have to make is whether you are more an urban or suburban school kind of person - whether you'd prefer to have a car or to not need one, whether you'd prefer to have more open space or more things close at hand, whether you'd prefer to be more connected to the real world or more isolated from it. There are appeals on both sides and it really depends on your personality more than the quality of the school.</p>
<p>But if you want any more than that, please start your own Duke thread. This thread was supposed to be about Cornell.</p>
<p>true, but I started this thread before I got into duke, and can't figure out how to change the name of it.............there is already a similar thread that i started in the duke forum as well, so at least I can get conflicting opinions, if that's considered a positive.</p>
<p>yeah, i guess you're allowed to hijack your own thread :) never mind that part.</p>
<p>hope you find the rest helpful.</p>