<p>was anyone up there for it?....i just got back today...loved the campus..!!...share your thoughts..!</p>
<p>Ugh wasn't it amazing?! </p>
<p>I had so much fun. The campus is beautiful. It felt like home. I could TOTALLY see myself there for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>nani, I had a FEELING that you would post something like this. heh it was fun</p>
<p>I was there too ... of course, it made me really regret not applying to Columbia (that was a dumb move by yours truly), but my best friend was in "la-la land" b/c she was accepted ED.</p>
<p>CSPA conventions rock my socks, and I always love going. :)</p>
<p>I went last year, and it was great. Didn't go this year, though. I guess my school figures it's not worth paying the money to send me there since I'm a senior, and I only have a few months left to contribute to the newspaper.</p>
<p>yeah saxfeq...i loved the campus too...it has a very intellectual feel...lol...although i'm sure a lot of these schools have a similiar environment...i could totally see myself going there if i got in....it was my first trip to ny...loved it..!!</p>
<p>First trip to NY. Awesome. What state do you live in? (I'm a NJ native, m'self.)</p>
<p>As far as other schools having similar environments. . . well, somewhat. But Columbia has something distinct; I can't quite put my finger on what it is . . .</p>
<p>Somehow I enjoyed the campus more when I went to the Journalism Conference during my sophomore year and on a subsequent visit last spring break (then again, that day I was giddy from getting my surprisingly good SAT score off a computer at the Columbia admissions office). This year could feel the lack of campus life, but I think this was just a product of the students being off on spring break. Reading in a book in the campus store that "study drugs like ritalin and cocaine dominate the scene during exam periods" didn't help. I'm torn between an intense attraction to Columbia as an institution and a gut feeling that it might not be the right place for me.</p>
<p>Ritalin and Cocaine don't "dominate" the scene. You hear about some people taking things like Ritalin and Adderol but it's hardly ubiquitous. Caffeine is the studier's drug of choice.</p>
<p>What is your view on the students who say that hardly anyone in their dorm knows eachother? Do you ever miss the college-y feel that Columbia seems to lack? I am drawn to the idea of going to school while living in NYC but I feel like I might miss you know...college life.</p>
<p>personally i haven't heard anyone speak negatively of columbia college life...but it depends a lot on the person...barski222: i personally would go with the gut feeling if i get into comparable schools...because if you start out thinking you might not fit in...you might find yourself paying more attention to things that you don't like about the school...don't know..that's what i tend to do...but i wouldn't sacrifice a great academic experience for the social aspect of the college...again that's just me...i hope you don't have a real hard time deciding in may...</p>
<p>saxfeq: i'm from LA...out of the other ivies i've only been to harvard and princeton...i like all of them...but yeah columbia has something special that i liked right away....</p>
<p>UChicago has a romantic academic feeling, too, for me. Maybe it's the core of the two schools. Or maybe it's the architecture. UChicago has romantic gothic and Columbia has grand, what, Georgian-Classical? I feel like you "enter" Columbia buildings, feels like entering a world of books and writing. Kind of a modern, mentally "together" academic feel.</p>
<p>I have LOVED both Princeton and Columbia for quite a while but my passion for those two has waned slightly (perhaps a defense mechanism against the chance of being rejected?). Somehow that doesn't explain why I'm still psyched about Brown. It does explain, however, why I can get excited about the Echols program at UVa now that they've accepted me. I think I'll have to wait for decisions to know how I feel for sure about any of them.</p>
<p>I decided for Columbia over Princeton ED because I liked it better. To be honest, I didn't know why everyone said Princeton was beautiful, because I actually found the appearance of Columbia much nicer. Princeton looked dusty while Columbia looked polished. The buildings at Princeton also don't match, which makes the campus look funny. Some of the Princeton buildings are also very unusual and in some cases unattractive.</p>
<p>I chose Princeton ED...but I'm not even sure it's my top choice after all. Princeton's ironically fugly architecture building certaintly fits your bill, jono. Columbia mixed, however, with the ultramodern glass building in the South West (?) corner amd various buildings in the Engineering school, but I like that sort of stuff so that didn't bother me.</p>
<p>Barski - As I've said in other posts, there are times, mostly when talking to friends at other schools, when I wish there was more of a "college-y" feel. Aside from the beginning (and ending, I'm told) of the academic year, you're really on your own for entertainment. There are parties in dorm rooms, but you need to know about them and they're not exactly advertised. There are parties at the frat houses at the beginning of the year, but after that it's a "Greeks only" type thing.</p>
<p>If you absolutely want a "collegey" experience, with a campus of acres and acres and a football stadium nearby and lots of people cheering for athletics and then everyone partying on campus that night, go somewhere else. If you want world class education in what is arguably the center of the world, well, you know how that ends.</p>
<p>PS - to those who have mentioned Columbia's architecture: I agree. I don't think there are finer buildings in all the country with the exception of those in our nation's capital.</p>