<p>Which school has the best overall academics? Student life? Poly Sci program?</p>
<p>Harvard is a great school but the social life there is kind of boring and
i don’t know much about Columbia but Yale is the best school ever !!</p>
<p>Seriously, they’re both amazing schools. You can’t go wrong with either one. Harvard probably has a slightly better academic reputation, but Columbia is in NYC and student life will be great with lots of stuff to do.</p>
<p>I visited both schools, and if anything, I felt that Columbia had better academics and student-life. It is in NYC, and when I went to a science preview there, it seemed liked people were really involved there. That isn’t to say that people aren’t in invested at Harvard, I just got a better vibe at Columbia</p>
<p>As with other elite private universities, the similarities between Harvard and Columbia (and Yale) far outweigh the differences, but that doesn’t help much if you are trying to distinguish between them.</p>
<p>Here are some of the major points of difference: </p>
<p>Columbia has a very strong, inflexible core curriculum for all but engineering students. Everybody pretty much studies the same things at the same time for a lot of their first two years. That ensures that everyone has something to talk to everyone else about (often, how annoying the core is). Harvard calls its much looser requirements a core, too, but it’s nothing like Columbia’s, and doesn’t provide anything like the common experience people get at Columbia.</p>
<p>Harvard actually has some sports culture. It likes its teams to win. Columbia is kind of satisfied if its teams show up with almost a full complement of players. Neither place is all that big on “school spirit,” but Columbia may have less of it than anywhere else, period.</p>
<p>The fact that it’s crushingly expensive to live off-campus anywhere near either college means that they both have almost 100% residency rates. But Harvard’s house system is the envy of every other college besides Yale. It really works to enhance student life. Columbia has garden variety dorms.</p>
<p>Harvard is all sprawly and intermixed with not-Harvard in the Cambridge community. Columbia is like a little, highly compressed fortress with walls and limited points of entry to keep the riff-raff out. The entire campus is elevated far above street level so you feel better than everyone else when you are there. It’s perhaps one of the most obnoxious architectural moves of all time.</p>
<p>Both are smack in the middle of exciting, vibrant cities, but New York plays a bigger role at Columbia than Boston/Cambridge does at Harvard. Columbia tries to have stuff on campus for students to do, but it’s almost impossible to compete with the Capital of the World right at your doorstep. Columbia students just get sucked off campus for their play time and their work/internship time. For Harvard students, I think the campus and their houses are much more the center of their lives, with occasional field trips into the city. A corollary of this is that Columbia can be tough if you don’t have a lot of extra spending money, because a lot of what your classmates are doing requires extra spending money. Harvard isn’t immune from that problem, but it’s not constant the way it is at Columbia.</p>
<p>“I felt that Columbia had better academics and student-life.” Better go take a second look. I’m not certain about “Prez Bo” and the current administration, but Columbia has a long history of ignoring student issues.</p>
<p>same thing.</p>
<p>Undergrad? Columbia. Grad School? Harvard. </p>
<p>If you are open to other options… and f I correctly grasp the main points of inquiry via your question, I would choose among Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Brown for an undergraduate Ivy education centered in the areas of Political Science, Political Economy or International Relations. If you are considering non-Ivy alternatives, I would also suggest UChicago and Johns Hopkins. Good Luck…</p>
<p>It’s like going between a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. How could you possibly go wrong with either one?</p>
<p>I would choose Harvard (I actually am considering it for grad school since I was accepted last month), but I have heard that it is more grad student focused. I heard that Columbia is also that way, and being in the city makes student life less centered about campus (and it’s also really expensive to live in NYC). For undergrad, I would choose between a place more along the lines of Stanford, Penn, Cornell, Duke, Princeton, Yale, or Chicago since they are world class research universities but also have great undergrad education. Brown and Dartmouth are much weaker as universities than the rest of the Ivies.</p>
<p>The impression that Harvard doesn’t focus on undergrads lingers years after it was addressed quite effectively. And yes, the house system, with its sense of community, is a great asset, as is Yale’s.</p>
<p>Some main differences I can see are the following:</p>
<p>Do you want an undergrad research university experience where the campus life is central to one’s life(Harvard) or one where it competes/overshadowed by being in one of the major cities in the nation(Columbia). A social life which makes for a more cohesive campus/house community versus one where the undergrad experience can be really atomized unless one’s proactive about joining organizations or organizing classmates for outings around campus/city. </p>
<p>Do you want your campus to be more spread out suburban/small town feel or as a part of the major city landscape in which it’s located?</p>
<p>Do you want a bureaucracy which can be reasonably responsive to student concerns or one where it can be hit/miss?</p>
<p>Boston/Cambridge or NYC? Parties and fun activities available in both…though YMMV on which types a given student would prefer.</p>
<p>Extensive core curriculum versus more flexible core?</p>
<p>If entering as an engineering major, ability to transfer divisions without too many issues versus needing to apply as a transfer to the college as if one’s transferring from another college?</p>
<p>It’s going to be very difficult for anyone to offer relevant commentary, as very few people have attended both. That being said, you’d be best served by visiting them both and seeing for yourself what they’re like. </p>
<p>When I offered my earlier opinion, it was clearly only defined by two things… my personal visits & my discussions with those who go there or went there. I personally like the feel of being at Harvard better, as a visitor. Then again, you can capture the same general college experience at Brown, Princeton and Yale as well. But I was also shocked by the overwhelming majority of undergrads who I spoke with at Harvard that had negative things to say about life at Harvard as an Undergrad… i.e 2nd class status to grad schools, being taught by graduate assistants, etc. The negative comments at Harvard seemed to outweigh the positives by a ratio of 3-4 to one. Columbia undergrads to the contrary seemed to have very few things to complain about. And they did seem to list NYC over and over again as one of the key positives. </p>
<p>This seems to alter a bit once you start talking to alums, as they do not want to overly criticize their own diploma-factory. So the Harvard alums that I have spoken to seem to be more friendly toward their historical recollections of life there while they were undergrads. The key takeaway I have received from Columbia alum seems to be regarding the connections/opportunities that Columbia/NYC offered them. They did emphasize though that Columbia is not for those that require a lot of hand-holding or guidance. It is for the self-starter… someone more independent and self-focused. I am sure that applies to students at all elite schools… but I think they were saying or trying to say that Columbia especially will let you fail or fall through the cracks more so than at places like Princeton or Brown - where there is a stronger undergrad emphasis.</p>
<p>Columbia is a great school. In terms of the undergraduate experience though, I would be more encouraging of a direct comparison to Yale, Princeton and Brown versus Harvard though. Sounds like a good dilemma to have to face though… Good Luck</p>
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<p>I’m very surprised by that as someone who has taken courses at both institutions and quite familiar with both campuses. </p>
<p>IME, Columbia undergrads complained at a similar rate about being taught by TAs as their Harvard counterparts had about TFs. Not to mention Columbia undergrad and grad students seem to have many more issues with what they regarded as a hit/miss bureaucracy compared with their Harvard counterparts where the bureaucracy seems more decentralized, but more responsive. </p>
<p>Also, it seemed Columbia students were more openly concerned and stressed about courses, grades, and future careers than their Harvard counterparts who seemed a bit more even-keeled and even relaxed about it. </p>
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<p>Agreed. Some Columbia undergrads I’ve known were not happy at having to be proactive to even get friends together to hangout, attend a campus activity, or go enjoy NYC life. </p>
<p>At Harvard, you had your House and to an extent, the campus to organize social activities. </p>
<p>^^^ Thanks for expanding, as someone who actually took classes at both schools. My daughter is actually awaiting decisions from 5 Ivies on March 27th. She did not apply to Harvard, but did apply to Columbia. Currently though, she ranks Columbia 3rd on her Wish List, behind Brown and Princeton. I would be content and happy if she manages to gain admission to any of the Ivies she applied to… but all of these comments regarding Columbia especially have been helpful… and they likely help to keep Columbia in that 3rd position.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you wait and see where you’re admitted and then do visits/revisits if you possibly can. Both of these schools have ridiculously low admittance rates, so there’s no assurance you’ll have the choice, but if you do get into both, it’s a nice choice to have. My son was fortunate enough to be admitted to both schools, and when the letters came in, I think Harvard was the top choice. But after spending a fair amount of time at both schools (he took the full month to decide), talking with a lot of people about the pluses and minuses of each, and imagining himself at each school, he chose Columbia. I understand this is not the conventional choice as between the two, and he initially got some flak from some sources about turning down Harvard, but he loves Columbia and has never had a second thought about whether his decision was the right one for him.</p>
<p>It makes no sense to try to contrast the academic quality of either school because both are quite simply superior and among the best undergraduate institutions in the world, if the student grasps for a superior education. Of course, you can find slackers and the “Gentlemen’s C” crowd at both places.</p>
<p>Someone misspoke earlier; Columbia engineering students are required to enroll in some ‘Contemporary Civilization’ Core Courses. They are not exempt. Also, the undergraduate life at CU can be varied and vibrant, again if one searches for it. Although in the past 15 years Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side neighborhood has been polished up with shiny new restaurants etc., sad to say. The old dives like the “Jerry Seinfeld diner” (a.k.a. Tom’s Diner) are all but gone. In my biased opinion, Cambridge and Harvard Square can in no way favorably compare to the Upper West Side of Manhattan or the Columbia tidy little greenspace campus.</p>
<p>About social life at both schools–I’m still a high schooler, so I’m not an expert, but I lived in New York, and I visited Harvard and stayed around the school. And I saw some posts that Columbia will have a great city nightlife, because it’s in NYC compared to Harvard. But if you’re a New Yorker, you would never say that, and you’d know that’s not true AT ALL. Columbia’s at somewhere around 117th street-120th street in Manhattan, only except that people don’t consider that part an “actual” Manhattan. It’s largely residential area. There’s Harlem to the west side, but it won’t give you many options for bars, pubs, or restaurants you’d expect to go. In front of Columbia, you will find a couple restaurants and a market, but that’s pretty much it. Everything up from Upper East Side and Upper West Side is nothing like Manhattan, and in fact, many people from there won’t answer “Manhattan”, if they are asked where they’re from by another New Yorker. They will mostly say, “Harlem”, “East Harlem”, “Washington Heights”, or “Morning Heights”. It’s that different. Of course you can take a subway to somewhere you can have some nightlife. But it will take you more about 40 minutes. Trains don’t come every single minute in New York, and there is no express train that stops right by Columbia. You either have to travel to 125th street in Harlem (so you gotta walk up and go west, which will take you at least 10 minutes to walk) and take A (express) train, or take a local train and exchange later. Either you exchange or not, it will take you a lot of time. Actually, my brother’s friends who attend Columbia find it almost impossible to travel to enjoy some nightlife, because they need to write paper, and in general, the travel is exhausting. Meanwhile, Harvard is only 5-10 minutes from downtown by subway even without an express train (I don’t think there’s an express train in Boston anyways?) And there are tons of things to do in Cambridge, so much more than in Morning heights, Manhattan, New York. The actual fun part of New York is all in downtown Manhattan, where NYU is. Not all Manhattan is exciting like in Sex in the City, and Columbia is in the neighborhood that’s considered to be “suburban” within Manhattan by New Yorkers. </p>
<p>Just my five cents for people expecting greater nightlife in Columbia than in Harvard. Well, maybe for people who grew up in a rural area might find Morning Heights still interesting, but for someone who lived in the hub of the bars around East Village/SoHo, Morning Heights life is no NYC life. Harvard certainly has more nightlife than Columbia, unless you’d travel more than 40 minutes on train one-way (so 80 minutes in total) to have some fun. Of course, we are not going to a school just to have fun, but as a person who lived in New York, Morning Height’s nightlife > Cambridge’s nightlife can be misleading. </p>
<p>I grew up in Boston and went to college there, and I’ve now lived in NYC for 30 years. I really like Boston, but to say that the night life in Boston is greater than NYC is pretty ridiculous. To say that there’s more to do in Cambridge than Morningside Heights (not Morning Heights) is pretty ridiculous. To say that the Columbia area is considered “suburban” by New Yorkers is pretty ridiculous. And to say that Boston is more accessible from Cambridge than the rest of Manhattan is from Morningside Heights is pretty ridiculous. My son, who grew up in NYC and is now at Columbia, roams around the city at all hours (sometimes to the consternation of his parents). Boston basically rolls up the sidewalk by midnight or 1 am, when the T shuts down. (The subway in NYC never shuts down.) There are lots of reasons to go to Harvard and, as I said earlier, I understand that most students lucky enough to have the choice between Harvard and Columbia end up choosing Harvard. But don’t choose Harvard for “greater nightlife”. If you do, you’ll be disappointed.</p>