<p>Of course, this is the “Yale” thread but I was wondering…</p>
<li>Yale is arguably one of the best American colleges as far as its reputation and overall education are concerned.</li>
<li>But Columbia seems to offer a better core curriculum and a great opportunity to spend four years in the heart of NYC!</li>
</ol>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Further arguments for or against either school are welcomed.</p>
<p>core curriculum doesn't mean much, since you could take those classes anyway without the requirements in place.</p>
<p>as far as location, NYC isn't high up on my list of places to live. I'm a Yankees fan, but the place sucks to live in. I spent a week there, and my eyes watered, my throat died for clean air, and I heard a week's worth of angry drivers.</p>
<p>If you like an intense core and a lot of structure, then Columbia might be better for you. If you want a little more flexibility, go with Yale. Keep in mind that if you get into Yale you can always take Directed Studies, which has courses similar to those in Columbia's core.</p>
<p>edit: Sonata badmouth nyc one more time and I'll give you something to complain about. ;)
You have to either be born here or in another country (lol) to get it. Foreigners and native new yorkers are the ones who fit in. :)</p>
<p>The core curriculum is one of the defining features of a Columbia education. If that's what you're looking for, then Columbia is the school for you. Personally, I would rather have more flexibility in the courses I take. So while there are distributional requirements at Yale, I would be able to take more of the classes that I'm interested in.</p>
<p>Location: Arguably, NYC is a much more appealing location, depending on whether you like big cities or not. However, this may mean that on the weekends, everyone disperses into NYC. At Yale, the social life is mostly centered on campus, which provides for a tight-knit community. It all depends on what your preferences are.</p>
<p>In your choice between Yale and Columbia, it would probably be good to figure out what it is you want to study, and see which school offers a stronger program (i.e., if you want to go engineering, pick Columbia. If you want to go into law, probably Yale).</p>
<p>On that note, and to put this all into perspective, keep in mind that having to choose between Yale and Columbia is one of the best choices you will ever have to make. If you are lucky enough to get into both, then no matter which you choose, you cannot go wrong.</p>
<p>Actually, Yale has a stronger engineering program. You need to ignore most of the rankings, which are based on the size of the program and have nothing to do with educational quality (esp at the undergrad level).</p>
<p>In the quality-based rankings, Yale's engineering program is #1 in the country, ranking above Stanford and Caltech. Yale has recently hired dozens of new professors to its engineering programs and is expanding and improving in quality every month.</p>
<p>In terms of location, Yale is much better. Columbia's location pretty much completely kills all campus life, whereas Yale is like a hive buzzing with student activity 24 hours a day. Also, although there are a handful of nice restaurants and bars near Columbia, Yale has a much more accessible and interesting college town in the immediate area, since downtown New Haven is the center of student life for tens of thousands of college students in that region. There are multiplex cinemas, dozens of nightclubs, hundreds of restaurants and bars, etc., right within a couple blocks of Yale. </p>
<p>Also, obviously, New Haven is also a part of the New York City metropolitan area, so daytrips from there to NYC are very easy.</p>
<p>A few quick things on Directed Studies: on the negative side, it's competitive (i.e., most people have to apply--though I hear some people are invited at the time of acceptance to Yale--and not everyone gets in); on the plus side, it's only a year of your time.</p>