Down to the Wire - the Hard Sell on Columbia

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>Thanks admissionsgeek for doing starting this awesome thread. Although I must admit that I am one of those terrible applicants who chose to apply in the “11th hour,” I sincerely do like Columbia. My application, however, really didn’t show that, and was just a generic, sappy, “I-Like-Columbia-and-I-Want-To-Go-Here” mess. Now, I really regret it, especially after reading this thread. </p>

<p>But even if I do get rejected (which is highly probable, since my app wasn’t that great), at least I can apply for grad school. :D</p>

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<p>1) Was it really pretentious? Were students out there just for their own thing or is everyone willing to look out for each other?</p>

<p>I’ve said this before, I (generally) hate first years, they have been told over and over again that they are God’s gift to humanity, they tend to be insecure, self-conscious, spineless and pretentious. It all gets beaten out of them. and I’d say Columbia by sophomore year is one of the least pretentious schools I have come across (only stanford has been less pretentious in my experience). if you want pretentious try princeton or wharton. Columbia can be a little individualistic at times in that no-one is going to baby you and always be looking out for you, but friends are abound and it is college in a pretty tight campus, so whenever you ask for help, there are tons of people who will come to the rescue. Even though the last suicide was one year ago, we have a very very low suicide rate, which is a sign that there is a strong official and natural support system.</p>

<p>2) very manageable, as an econ-math major you’ll be fine. It’s not easy, it’ll require consistent work to do well, but with good management you’ll have ample time for exercise, clubs, socializing and sleep. When I’m well-organized, I don’t really need to compromise on social life or sleep. \Once in a while I’ll say no to a bar run, because I have too much work that night or the next morning.</p>

<p>3) dunno, probably fun, join other clubs as well</p>

<p>4) lowest meals, max points, no question. The ideal number of meals is less than the minimum they allow</p>

<p>5) I think the girls are cute and in ample supply, I love the parties, although I much prefer parties with a high concentration of my friends. Joining clubs gets you to their unofficial parties and helps you really expand your number of friends, because you’ll already know a number of people there. Huge amount of bonding, over how much john jay dining hall sucks, over lit hum books, political debates, snowball fights, intoxicated times together etc. It is college after all.</p>

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<p>Since you guys are so helpful in answering questions, I hope you don’t mind answering a few more!</p>

<p>What are athletics like? As prospective student-athlete, I was wondering how athletes are (for lack of a better term) treated? Obviously, Columbia isn’t Duke and athletes aren’t treated like demigods. But what are the relations like between student-athlete and students that aren’t in sports?</p>

<p>I read somewhere about a student lottery for tickets to events are the city. What exactly is this? And, what types of events are the tickets for?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>at many schools athletes are treated as a higher class of citizen. At columbia you will be treated the same as other students (apart from a few school privileges like choosing classes early). But the students at Columbia do not pander to their athletes. Athletes are definitely not looked down upon, and if you belong to a successful team, you will have slight celebrity status. Sports that are watched by Columbia students: basketball, football, fencing (because we’re good and because it’s usually in the middle of the gym). Every other sport will have a small following.</p>

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<p>thank you so much for this thread. a great read indeed. perfect for someone considering to apply early to columbia next year.</p>

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<p>I didn’t know this. It does sound a bit unfair if you think about it. Do you know the rationale behind this? As well, do Barnard and GS students pick classes before Columbia kids do? just wondering</p>

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<p>Epa, it started one of my last years - the rationale is pretty simple. athletes have very tight training schedules and they need to register for classes that work around these schedules. it is not as if you or I don’t have tight schedules, though they are not nearly as jampacked as the ones athletes face. and it just makes sure that they are able to do what they need to do to graduate on time.</p>

<p>in practice - this wont really effect you at all. i never saw myself shut out of a class any more or less because athletes picked earlier.</p>

<p>as for how it works - cc/seas/gs/bc are all treated the same in registration. so seniors start picking one day, then juniors, then soph, then frosh. within each day, you will notice, some people start earlier and some later - and this is to create some parity. so yes some bc students that are in your grade may start picking classes before you. but the next semester you might pick before them.</p>

<p>and a caveat on the athletes thing. though they are able to register before others, it doesn’t mean they DO register. they could forget their time and then they are right back with the rest of us.</p>

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<p>we’re taking about rights not human stupidity, in practice nearly all athletes will get into coveted classes before you do, and they will shut people out of these classes at the margins. As a senior I have been able to register for every class that I had most wanted to take.</p>

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<p>Good points, adgeek and concoll. That explains why Gulati’s econ class is full of athletes. I don’t think it’s that much of a deal since many people talk the instructor into signing their adddrop forms anyway.</p>

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<p>Any opinions on the 3-2 program?</p>

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<p>man columbia college got some good chinese food</p>

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<p>admissionsgeek,</p>

<p>As the parent of a Columbia undergrad who loves the school but is not very verbal about why, this was very helpful to me.</p>

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<p>I’m sorry, I know it’s off topic and nitpicking and this is the Columbia forum and not the Brown forum, but I JUST want to mention that this is exactly why Brown has the option to take classes Pass/Fail - so you can take Art History classes with Art History majors and not wreck your GPA.</p>

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<p>point well taken, but to be clear - columbia lets you pass fail classes too (one a semester that isn’t a major/core class). it isn’t as broad as brown’s system, but i think it provides that fall back mechanism that students want, particularly if you did bad on a midterm. </p>

<p>i could go off more about what i think about brown and the new curriculum, but i’ll avoid being too controversial, if you’re interested, feel free to message.</p>

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<p>I was wondering about the differences between SEAS and CC in terms of general program strength, how much people like SEAS, rankings and prestige.</p>

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<p>Some people have told me that undergrad attention at Columbia is horrible…but I’d like some opinions from current and former Columbia undergrads. I’m not looking to get coddled but is it true that Columbia is bad for undergrad? Do most professors only care about their research? How easy is it to get to know a professor if you make the effort?</p>

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<p>seeme, you’re killing me! read my post.</p>

<p>no columbia is not horrible for ugrads. it is the opposite.</p>

<p>profs i would say probably consider dealing with ugrads over grads their primary responsability, especially among profs that select to teach in the core. plus even the times you face a grad student, i have enjoyed every interaction, and count them as some of my greatest mentors while at columbia.</p>

<p>as for only caring about research - it is fascinating thing, a lot of profs will use their class as a means to test out their own research hypotheses, and so they will openly be like, i’m working through this idea, and presenting it to you, what do you think. as a prof at columbia once called it, he considers students his ‘co-investigators’ in his research helping challenge your presumptions (it also tells you in what kind of esteem they hold their ugrads). it also means that you are always aware and involved in current debates in the subject matter (which actually is more interesting, considering i’ve visited a few LACs where they are still text-booking issues).</p>

<p>i was a research asst for a prof just by asking. i grab coffee with him anytime i’m back in nyc, he’s acknowledged me in a handful of books. i actually have a close relationship with one of the Deans at the uni (he wrote my grad school recommendation, and same thing, i just give him a call when i’m in town). and i always formed good relationships with profs it made life easier (so when i would invariably need an extension, or was late for class they were okay with it).</p>

<p>i might have an exceptionally rosy picture for you, but i feel like i really maximized my time there, and if you make the effort columbia really is easy to harness all of its potential.</p>

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<p>Hello:</p>

<p>This is a very useful thread! I feel that I know a good bit more about Columbia now.</p>

<p>However, my question is about potential theater major or minor students. Does Columbia have a solid program that also allows participation in extracurricular drama? I found one thread but didn’t really get a good sense of this aspect of the program.</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/898106-columbia-brown-3.html?highlight=Varsity+Show[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/898106-columbia-brown-3.html?highlight=Varsity+Show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>consider this thread and perhaps pm enangel who seems to know a lot about the program.</p>

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<p>I have in light of truazn’s post decided to bump my own. think about it.</p>