<p>Having posted something like this in other forums, I'd like to hear why some of you have chosen Columbia. If you had Stanford as one of your options, what would you have done instead? Is NYC really that appealing? Location-wise, NYC wins big time, but besides that, can someone give me some more reasons to go to Columbia?</p>
<p>I'm sorry to be old and repetitive but going to Columbia and being from where Stanford is, location, depending on who you are, can make or break a college experience. Repeat- depending on who you are. I can't stand the usual drinking and very insular college life where life revolves around the school so I need the city and city life to balance really awesome school functions (which I enjoy in addition to roaming around Manhatten). I feel like there are more reasons not to go to Columbia than to go, so I'll list some main complaints, and if they don't bother you, and the idea of New York City and having a core curriculum appeal to you more than these complaints, than you should come here. First off, if you are an outdoorsy person, or even if you're not an outdoorsy person but like the chance to do sports outside, etc, than don't come here. My friends, from both NYU and Columbia, both comment on how they miss the outdoors and outdoor group sports. I could give a **** less about outdoor sports, so that wasn't a deterrent for me. Another thing is school community. In my personal opinion, Columbia has enough school community for me- there are always interesting weekend events for me to go to ranging from plays to speakers to dance showcases to poetry slams on campus if I want to stay in. But that being said, there are people that think they are "too cool" to hang out on campus, and since many people leave on weekends, it's hard to have a united and spirited community. If these things are a great deterrent to you, than Columbia probably isn't a good choice. This isn't my personal experience, but talking to people who aren't sure Columbia was the right place for them, this is what I have heard. That being said...Palo Alto bores me to tears, its expensive, and its majorly yuppy.</p>
<p>I didnt apply to Stanford, kept my apps to the east coast but i can tell you why I'm choosing columbia over cornell, cmu, and some others...</p>
<p>1) location - NYC (as you mentioned)
2) the core (a year ago i would have scoffed and said i would hate this but the more i look at it the more i love it..i mean, come on. masterpieces of western music! even the name sounds awesome. and i'm an engineer =) )
3) location reason 2 - close but not TOO close to a bunch of my family that i like
4) diversity....i dont mean to offend since your sn implies you are asian but i saw stats for stanford and it was like 35% asian and 50% white. that leaves a 15% other which, personally (being hispanic-israeli-african) i would find a little stifling. again, i dont mean to offend, i dont have anything against asians (i work at a thai restaurant and my ex-gf was korean) but there's just something about that number that bothers me
5) i dunno how stanford is about undergrad research but that was a big factor in my decision (me being an engineering major tho so hey)</p>
<p>again, dont mean to offend, i love everybody :) but those are my reasons for going to columbia</p>
<p>I went to middle and high school in Palo Alto, so am I quite familiar with Stanford (at least from the perspective of a prospective student...I haven't actually taken a class there), and I am off to study at Columbia next year, so I think my perspective <em>should</em> be helpful.</p>
<p>For me (a prospective engineer), Columbia provided a much more gestalt approach to the undergrad experience than Stanford. I've leaned more towards science and math in recent years, but I've also always been very interested in the humanities and even music. It's widely considered cliche to cite the Core as a main reason for wanting to attend Columbia for the application essay, but in most cases it's probably true - I felt that Columbia would be much more suited to pursuing my somewhat ecletic interests.</p>
<p>On the other side of the issue, I believe that Stanford is ranked higher than Columbia in many departments (I know for a fact that it's ranked higher for engineering). You can decide for yourself whether this has any significance. As I said before I have never taken a class at Stanford, but I have interned in the Mechanical Engineering Department for the past year. The head of ME, Professor Prinz, is an awesome and very friendly guy, as is the rest of the faculty and the grad students that I've worked with. I think it says something about the availability of internships if I, a high school student from across the street, can get one. </p>
<p>Another reason I passed up Stanford for Columbia is location. Palo Alto is a pretty boring place unless you're rich and old, in which case it's a nice quiet place to retire. It can take anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour and a half to get to SF depending on the time of day and your mode of transportation (parking can be an enormous hassle, so I often take the Caltrain or BART), which isn't terrible. Downtown Palo Alto shuts down after about 10 (I'm not kidding), and this place in general feels like nothing is ever really going on. There isn't even a notion of a competition with NYC, provided that you're into the whole enormous city thing of course.</p>
<p>i've been to stanford 1x in my life and i thought it sucked. maybe i was at the sucker/boring areas that were ugly.....conclusion:i'd choose columbia over stanford ANYDAY</p>
<p>ifortune... My kid made this decision and chose Columbia. If you've been admitted to both and this is a serious question, I'd be glad to lay out his reasons if you PM me.</p>
<p>sac
...can I have the reasons, please?
I'm deciding between Columbia and Harvard. Trust me, I'm dying here!
I know...most go for the name. I don't (at least not for now, and hopefully not in the future).
--Thanks</p>
<p>ncaliguy -- I PM'ed you. Congrats on your choices, and good for you, looking beyond the Harvard name!</p>
<p>ncaliguy06, go to Harvard. I mean, Columbia's great and all..but seriously, name counts professionally speaking. Congratulations! :)</p>
<p>yeah, go to harvard....usually you can argue the name factor but with harvard, the name goes way too far to give it up = )</p>
<p>why would u tell him to go some place based on name? if you think you'd be miserable, dont go to harvard. boston and NYC are 2 very different places, i have family in both and know. both will fund you to come out there, just ask them. dunno if you got it but columbia sent me an email on exactly how to ask them to fund it even.</p>
<p>seriously, i'll say it again, visit both and see which one <em>feels</em> right.</p>
<p>To second Skaylor and sac, you most definitely should visit. I visited Harvard last year and absolutely hated it. I didn't even bother to apply. </p>
<p>A name is a name. I might be biased since I'm going to Columbia and all, but in my opinion if there is any difference in prestige between the Ivy League schools it's too small to have any significance. You're deciding between two schools that reject 9 out of every 10 applicants who are extremely qualified to begin with. Prestige isn't the issue here - it's purely a matter of where you feel like you fit in.</p>
<p>I'm NOT a harvard fan...However I'm sure, by virtue of it's prestige, ranking and "name", it's going to make a HUGE difference in terms of grad school placement, starting salary and job placement. I'm sure all that will compensate for a horrible time in college.... :P</p>
<p>And HOW horrible can it be?? After all, it IS college! You can make it fun! (God..I sound cheesy)</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly disagree. If it were between Harvard and the local community college then yes, the Harvard name would make a very real difference post-graduation. However, it's between ultra-selective Ivy League school #1 and ultra-selective Ivy League school #2. Claiming that it's going to make a "HUGE" difference is an enormous exaggeration, if not completely false.</p>
<p>
[quote]
However I'm sure, by virtue of it's prestige, ranking and "name", it's going to make a HUGE difference in terms of grad school placement, starting salary and job placement. I'm sure all that will compensate for a horrible time in college.... :P
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I love how an ignorant high school seniors can make such a baseless and incorrect statement. I've never heard of something so stupid.</p>
<p>And who's to say that Columbia is even lacking in a name/reputation? No one will ever doubt the quality of education you can make for yourself at any one of these top schools, and I'm sure (at least I hope) no one who knows what Columbia is will ever say it isn't an extremely prestigious school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And who's to say that Columbia is even lacking in a name/reputation?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, most stupid people don't know what Columbia is. I can't tell you how many people thought I attended college in South America. These are the same people who think that UPenn is Joe Paterno's great football school. These people really don't matter, but even stupid people know what Harvard is.</p>
<p>Sorry...didn't mean to start any arguments here. But thank for all of your input people--I will definintely use it (with a grain of salt, of course). I guess it comes down to visits....grrrreeeeat, no pressure now! Best of luck to you all.</p>
<p>Once you make your decision, no pressure at all. You will be fine wherever you choose. Good luck!</p>