<p>Hey everyone :) </p>
<p>I got accepted into Columbia and Cornell but i can't decide which school to attend. Can you guys please help me with a few questions: which of the two is better, why columbia > cornell or why cornell > columbia</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys!</p>
<p>tell us what you value, this is ridiculously undirected</p>
<p>i probably am gonna major in physics/something along that line. since you’re at columbia, can you tell me a bit about columbia’s community? i’ve read about columbia students being individualistic and rather “cold” so what really is the sense of community there? how’s the college life in general? Yeah, still pretty much undirected but i don’t know where to begin. i kinda like both nyc and ithaca and am neutral towards the core. how’s the core from your personal point of view, btw? have read mixed reviews about the core and i wont mind receiving more. thanks a lot.</p>
<p>A few threads to start:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/836242-down-wire-hard-sell-columbia.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/836242-down-wire-hard-sell-columbia.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/902588-columbia-vs-university-chicago-physics.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/902588-columbia-vs-university-chicago-physics.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/861406-make-most-out-columbia-serial-no-1-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/861406-make-most-out-columbia-serial-no-1-a.html</a></p>
<p>in the end 'xhaustion is hitting in, i agree with concoll, there is a lot that could be said, but a lot more that has been said on the subject.</p>
<p>help us out here a bit, tell us what you wanna know. in general - i believe there is no more exciting collegiete experience than columbia’s; you will do things you could never do in ithaca, have experiences that go far beyond.</p>
<p>and ultimately it is really hard for us to combat mistruths such as columbia students are ‘cold,’ especially on an online format. if you are hearing that stuff and believing it, i don’t quite know what I can say to make you not believe that other than suggest that you should visit campus and meet students, you’ll be surprised. columbia students are certainly goal-oriented, but they are incredibly relaxed about it, and there is no real aggressive competitiveness. it is a nice paradox.</p>
<p>Your decision will require consideration of the colleges themselves, and then their physics departments.
Columbia is urban and more selective, with an “intellectual” vibe and small(er) student community. Perhaps most of all, it is located in NYC.
Cornell is rural, physically gorgeous, and less selective (or at any rate, its 3 state schools and hotel school drag it down significantly). The student body is almost 3 times larger than Columbia, and the according sub-communities and layers reflect that. It is likely that you will find a niche at either school, though.</p>
<p>As for physics: Cornell is undeniably better. I know Columbians like to point to the Manhattan project (whose chief physicists, by the way, came from Cornell/MIT/Princeton/Harvard, [List</a> of Cornell Manhattan Project people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cornell_Manhattan_Project_people]List”>List of Cornell Manhattan Project people - Wikipedia) ), and Columbia is certainly a force in academic physics, but Cornell’s department is one of the all-time best, on par with Caltech and even MIT.
Just look at the US News rankings: Cornell is ranked 7th with a score of 4.7 (Princeton, for comparison, has a 4.9) while Columbia is ranked 11th with 4.3, flanked by Penn and UCSB (admittedly all great physics departments, but again, not the very best).
These rankings are borne out by similar rankings, such as the NRC (Cornell = 6, Columbia = 13) and others.</p>
<p>People like to point to Brian Greene, but he is not as much of a serious scientist as he is publicist. This is one of the reasons he moved from Cornell to Columbia; in order to avail himself more easily of the spotlight.</p>
<p>At any rate, they are both great departments, and it’s unlikely that you would exhaust the resources of either one. Choose based on fit.</p>
<p>great post muerte - though would you agree that these rankings geared toward graduate students are not necessarily the best, plus they actually tend to be more conservative regarding shifts than even the usnews college rankings. columbia has a lot of young professors (30-50) that haven’t quite gained the brian greene spotlight, but show a lot of promise in the field. this also means they are more interested and willing to work with ugrads - astrolion’s experience being a great example of which.</p>
<p>all together, you can’t deny cornell has a great department, but it might not translate into it being the ideal ugrad fit for the poster. only he/she can know what makes most sense.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys! Thanks adgeek for your wonderful posts! I guess it can’t go wrong with either school and I hope I wont regret – and instead try to live every moment to its fullest at C or C, no matter what turns out to be my ultimate decision. That said, keep the influx of posts guys; i’d really like to see more of both schools before finally hitting submit this May 1. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I can never thank all of you enough but here I am again, asking a question. What makes the Core different from the requirements of other great schools? Thanks a lot in advance 
:)</p>
<p>The Core is not just a set of requirements, stating that you have to take a certai number of history or science or English classes; it’s a set of seminar-style classes that everyone must take. Every Columbia student must take Literature Humanities their first year and Contemporary Civilizations their sophomore year. These small (less than 20 students) yearlong discussion courses ensure that every student has a working knowledge of great works of literature and (political) philosophy, so that they have a core of knowledge they can rely on when discussing other works. Students must also take Art Humanities and Music Humanities, which ensures they have a working knowledge of art and culture, which is particularly important in New York. </p>
<p>The Core also serves a socially unifying purpose, since all Columbians and Columbian alumni must take the Core. Other schools may be united around their football team (whether they love it or think it sucks), but we are united around our Core (with the same diversity of opinion!)</p>
<p>Go to Columbia. If you’re interested in physics and and other science related fields Columbia is the place to be. They have Nobel Prize winners teaching you. Plust there’s Horst Strommer. In my opinion you should go to the school which is rated higher academically, i.e. Columbia.</p>
<p>Hmm. Really split now :/</p>
<p>“They have Nobel Prize winners teaching you.”</p>
<p>I took three physical sciences classes taught by future Nobel prize winners when I was an undergraduate at Cornell. These individuals are still there.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, for physics, that would be Cornell.</p>
<p>I agree that Columbia is more selective for undergrad, but I don’t think that their overall departmental rankings are better than Cornell’s. Cornell is consider a top-notch research university, even if its undergrad’s repute occasionally suffers in comparison to its peers.</p>
<p>Columbia. no doubt</p>
<p>Again I think words like “fit” are used by students to maybe lessen the pain of rejection. You should go to a school with better funding and facilities. The vast majority of students fit into a school just fine after having chosen that school purley for its academic merits. Besides, if you don’t like Columbia after going there for your freshman year you could always transfer to say MIT or Harvard. (Notice I didn’t say Cornell)</p>
<p>“…better funding and facilities…”
To complete that thought, with respect to the physical sciences and allied fields of engineering, that school is probably Cornell, I would imagine.
However,frankly I think this is a strawman anyway, it’s not like Columbia is horrible, OPs objectives would likely be quite adequately served at either.</p>
<p>Does Columbia have better funding and facilities than Cornell?</p>
<p>I do know that Cornell has both more physics faculty AND more particle accelerators (if only by 1) than Columbia does…</p>
<p>“…that school is probably Cornell, I would imagine”</p>
<p>I imagine a lot of things, but I don’t post them as concrete evidence. Again go to Columbia.</p>
<p>There aren’t many science majors in Columbia College, right. What about physics? heard there are 20-30 majors. </p>
<p>And i’m an international student. Can’t visit these schools :(</p>
<p>Gedion, you seem to be a very strong advocate of Columbia physics? Do you mind sharing anything or why you think it’s an awesome place to study physics? (apart from one professor heh)</p>
<p>“concrete evidence”</p>
<p>Well I’m sure there’s some concrete in the brand spanking new,for Fall 2010, physical sciences building:
[School</a> of Applied & Engineering Physics (A&EP) - College of Engineering - Cornell University](<a href=“http://www.aep.cornell.edu/eng10_page.cfm?webpageID=105]School”>http://www.aep.cornell.edu/eng10_page.cfm?webpageID=105)
[Far</a> Above… The Campaign for Cornell<a href=“BTW,%20Teukolsky%20is%20a%20tremendously%20great%20teacher”>/url</a></p>
<p>If your interest runs towards the applied, Duffield Hall, new in 2004, probably has some concrete in it too, besides housing the nanoscience facility
<a href=“Duffield Hall Space and Reservation System | Cornell Engineering”>http://www.duffield.cornell.edu/](<a href=“http://www.campaign.cornell.edu/multimedia.cfm?display=49#main]Far”>http://www.campaign.cornell.edu/multimedia.cfm?display=49#main)</a>
<a href=“http://www.cnf.cornell.edu/[/url]”>http://www.cnf.cornell.edu/</a></p>