<p>I attended Columbia 30 years ago; my son is leaning towards Cornell or Brown. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t enjoy all the core courses at the time, but as I look back, there is no doubt that the intense exposure to the classics and the discussions that comprised much of the class time, especially in CC and Lit Hum, plus the writing that was required provided me with an absolutely fabulous education in thinking, reasoning and articulating. That has served me very, very well over the years. I’m sure it is not right for everyone, including my son, but there is huge value in it.</p>
<p>Congrats on Cornell, Srrinath. I remember you from back in the Columbia/Chicago boards.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I can’t say I remember you Arzachel, but thanks! I did have a lot of fun and learned a lot talking to some of you guys from those boards, even if Columbia/Chicago didn’t work out. I am going to a school where I know I will be very happy, and I hope you’ve had similar good news. :)</p>
<p>columbiacornell,
I would definitely suggest visiting the two places. I’m visiting Cornell right now and I absolutely love it. Tomorrow I’m flying to see if I like Carnegie Mellon more, but it’ll be hard to beat Cornell. We all know that both Columbia and Cornell will give you an excellent education and will not leave you wanting, so from this point, just visit the two and leave the decision to your gut instinct.</p>
<p>flip a coin…honestly. just pick a path and follow through with it…no regrets.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting test that might help you:
Imagine if you took Columbia out of NYC and placed it into a small town like Ithaca.
Which would you prefer? Columbia or Cornell?</p>
<p>Now, put Columbia back in the city. Imagine Cornell was also in a large city.
Which would you prefer? Columbia or Cornell?</p>
<p>Hopefully this helps give you some insight into what’s important to you in terms of location, academic environment, etc. A friend of mine used this and discovered that, once she took Columbia out of its city environment, she actually didn’t really want to go there at all… I’m sure this could be applied to Cornell as well.</p>
<p>Honestly though, you can’t go wrong with either one. =) I agree with what gigi2010 said, no matter which path you choose, just follow it with no regrets.</p>
<p>Regarding squareroot’s wise and nicely stated advise above: I find myself in complete concurrence and agreement.</p>
<p>I would encourage OP to read some of Columbia’s threads. There is always a thread about Barnard’s relationship with Columbia. Now there is an issue about Barnard girls are allowed to register for Columbia courses before Columbia students, clearly Barnard’s courses must be inferior to Columbia’s courses, so it’s not fair. There is also a discussion about Columbia red tape - how well undergrats are treated by the administration. </p>
<p>I think college forums give you a lot of color about each school, what students are concerned about and various issues of each school. I would also speak with each school’s alums. Ask them if they would go to Columbia/Cornell if they could do it over again.</p>
<p>Hi all thanks for your replies! Actually, I’m an international student and I can’t visit these schools in the U.S. Thanks for everything, everyone! :)
I’m still split, but I hope to come up with a decision soon.</p>
<p>COLUMBIA. Even though I love Cornell.</p>
<p>I can’t believe this question is even being asked. </p>
<p>Go to Columbia.</p>
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<p>I suppose you should go to Columbia if you want to be around arrogance like this.</p>
<p>But seriously, such a question was readily asked by the students I knew who transferred from Columbia to Cornell.</p>
<p>I wanted to make my ED school a true reach, so it was either going to be Cornell or Columbia, with my RD schools (as of 12/10 4:59 PM, when I was ready to send out RD apps) being whichever school I didn’t do ED with (obviously this was Columbia) along with Vanderbilt, Emory, Davidson, Claremont McKenna, Richmond, Dickinson, Washington and Lee, and an in-state safety. Obviously Cornell and Columbia were the odd men out (in terms of the type of school–personality, experience, etc) on this list, which clearly had a pretty consistent theme throughout. I did ED at Cornell mostly because of the practical and unique nature of the program I applied for (ILR, as opposed to the gov’t/pol sci majors I was looking at everywhere else), their financial aid commitments (something the two schools share–Cornell and Columbia are well above their Ivy League peers in terms of percentage of Pell Grant students), and proximity (lame, but with my two other top choices being in NC and CA, this became a factor–especially since I wouldn’t have been able to come home much at the other schools, if at all). When I compared Cornell with Columbia, I found myself listing a multitude of legitimate reasons to go to Cornell with Columbia’s main strengths being “New York is so cool, blah blah blah” and, for some reason, I thought the name would be better on the law school and/or job market, which seems to be false now that I’ve heard about what Cornell’s alumni network can do (from both Cornell people and people in the business world). Actually thinking about it made the city end up being a negative for Columbia because of cost of living and the fact that I don’t think I’m cut out for actually living in a city full time as a college student. I also got a greater sense of diversity at Cornell, not in a traditional sense, but in terms of the types of students going there, maybe because of the wide range of academic offerings Cornell has due to its size. The Core also seemed way too confining, especially in contrast to the freedom I’m going to have at ILR. It’s going to come down to your personality, though. I wouldn’t go to Columbia if I were in your shoes unless I’m 100% cool with committing to the Core and feel prepared to have my first long-term independent living experience in Manhattan. Also, if you’re applying for financial aid…forget everything I said above. I know the finaid practices for domestic kids at both schools don’t vary much, but international finaid is a crapshoot. Go where they’re showing you the money. Seriously, I’d deal with the Core (waa waa waa you have to take a science course–shut up and try to BS some stuff about ribosomes or something) and the nuisances of city life if it’d save me a few bucks.</p>