Columbia's Core Curriculum/Rigor

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>My question is, what do you guys think of Columbia's core curriculum for Columbia College? I've read previous responses about the core curriculum and that, students usually like it or they do not. </p>

<p>For a biochemistry major with a concentration on premed, how much impact do you believe, the core curriculum will have on premed courses? </p>

<p>Also, just how competitive is Columbia within the classroom? Are grades such as A's manageable to get if you are putting in the maximum effort you can, or is it limited due to the competition?</p>

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<p>a) you have read most of the opinions on this - i mean if you want new opinions, i don’t know, i have spoken exhaustively on this, so i’ll defer to others.</p>

<p>b) um, it might annoy you depending who you are. some folks really don’t like having to take humanities classes when they are science majors, others like the breadth that it imposes. in general doing biochem+premed means that with the core you don’t have a lot more other electives you can take, just keep that in mind. but this also depends how crazy a student you are, there are some science majors who are just nutso, doing 24 credit hours as a usual semester, they make it through it all like a piece of cake.</p>

<p>c) science, econ and math you will see curves, and then i guess the competition is highest, though the curve is really not that bed. humanities classes are without curve, and teachers often grade individually based - so based on how much effort you put in based on what they expect from you. so yeah an A is manageable if you put the effort in. but overall i think even in the sci and econ classes i took, it wasn’t ever cutthroat. people were very collegial, and it made it easy to go through classes like that. but i will say if you ever get behind in a curved class, it is a ***** to get back - it is what makes a lot of premed kids who enter become something else pretty soon.</p>

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<p>It’s entirely possible to get A’s in your classes, although some are harder than others, obviously. The intensest competition I’ve witnessed has been in the pre-med classes (although this may be due to the fact that I tend to sit near the front where I overhear a lot of postbac conversations). Actually, competition may not be the right word. It’s more like the typical pre-med concern for grades. People are still willing to help each other out, and there are lots of informal study groups. </p>

<p>Also, I believe you mean that you’re on the pre-med track. Pre-med concentrations are slightly different. (For example, there’s a “pre-med concentration in English,” an officially recognized program in which you complete your pre-med requirements while taking five English classes. The number of English classes you take as a pre-med concentrator, however, is fewer than what you would take as a regular English concentrator or major. And there are fewer requirements to deal with.) </p>

<p>As a biochem major, you’ll need to take a lot of the pre-med classes for your major anyway, so it won’t be that different from being a biochem major and not being pre-med. I think you will have the least wiggle room in your first two years due to how pre-med and Core curricula are scaffolded. However, you should be fine with taking 5 classes/semester (but I have very little knowledge of the biochem requirements, so you should check for yourself). </p>

<p>The thing about juggling science and humanities classes at the same time is that you will pretty much always have something due, whether it’s a midterm or paper. Core classes (and many humanities classes) have a midterm and final as well as several (usually 2-3) papers throughout the semester. Science classes may or may not have problem sets due, and they usually have 2-4 “midterms” (really more like unit exams) throughout, with a cumulative final at the end. So if you care a lot about your grades, you have to be on top of everything and not fall behind. It’s especially easy to fall behind in Lit Hum and CC when you decide to skip a reading or two. </p>

<p>But it’s entirely doable. I’m a bio and English double major and have done just fine in all my classes. My advice to you is to make learning, not grades, your priority. This sounds really cheesy, but if you spend all your time fretting about your GPA and med school admissions, you won’t be able to appreciate what’s actually going on in the classroom. I’ll admit that I’ve been guilty of caring too much about grades, but that kind of agonizing really made me miserable and resentful of my classes. Just go into your classes with an open mind. And even if you don’t like a class, be positive about it and try to find something that you appreciate, whether it’s the professor’s enthusiasm, or the skills you’re learning, or the thought-provoking discussions, etc.</p>