<p>Cornell
Brown
Dartmouth-UPENN
Columbia
Princeton
Yale
Harvard</p>
<p>"Columbia has an awesome core curriculum though and arguably the best location of all the Ivies."</p>
<p>What??? Harlem is not my idea of paradise. It's scarrry. But, that's just my opinion. Some people think it's scummy, others think it's metropolitan...whatever.</p>
<p>It's in MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS!!! and it's beautiful!! and the Columbia campus is gorgeous.. very accessible.. not so huge!</p>
<p>and dude!!! it's in NYC!!! Possibly the greatest metropolis in the world!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, and its sweet when you are 25, but going to a school in NYC you sacrifice alot of the college experience.</p>
<p>Anyone who mistakes Morningside Heights for Harlem has insufficient experience with cities or else is reaching snap judgments based on skin color of the pedestrians.
I'd say that the neighborhood around Columbia is better than that around USC in Los Angeles and <em>that</em> neighborhood is not the ghetto that its detractors would like you to believe.</p>
<p>Columbia had been my D's #1 on paper but decided not to even apply after visiting it but the neighborhood had nothing to do with it. She did apply to Barnard and was admitted but chose Smith instead.</p>
<p>It's not a matter of mistaking Morningside Heights for Harlem; it's a matter of proximity. The point is that Harlem is right on it's doorstep, and I think many people could do without that added worry in what is already a very stressful transition (high school/home life to college/dorm life.)</p>
<p>Morningside Heights was a middle class neighborhood, but no area in Manhattan can remain middle class because it makes no economic sense. People are either bought out, or the area goes to Hell with crime. So while the area immediately surrounding Columbia is somewhat gentrified due to the University, it's still too close for comfort.</p>
<p>That said, I am extremely partial to New York City and would encourage everyone to spend some time there, particularly for grad school or a first job. It is truly amazing!</p>
<p>You can spend all four years in teh campus if you're so prejudiced and terrified of a neighborhood that isn't even part of Harlem. And if you decide to venture out into the city, the subway station is right outside of the campus, so you just get in and then get out in a different part of the city without even having to ever step foot in Harlem. I don't see how Columbia's location isn't safe.</p>
<p>Personally I think the jab against Columbia being in Harlem is using easy material that is rather uneducated. The city is largely safe. Rather, I feel the real argument against columbia is that students who go there are trading school spirit and a strong sense of community to be in the city. Collegeonly happens once, living in NYC is usually always going to be there, and trust me its alot more fun once you are over 21 and have some money to spend.</p>
<p>Dressagechick, it has nothing to with prejudice. It is a realistic fear if someone is concerned about going to school within walking distance of a ghetto.</p>
<p>But yes, the city is largely safe. But not Harlem. It's not prejudice to speak the truth.</p>
<p>As good part of education is getting away from the guard-gate & bunker mentality. Accurate threat assessment and risk management are useful life skills.</p>
<p>I agree that NYC is a lot more fun if you have some money. One of the reasons I was happy when Barnard became a bridesmaid for my D is that while you can get by in NYC without a fair amount of money, I think you can feel "cramped" without it in terms of everything from off-campus dining to entertainment to transportation.</p>
<p>We talked a lot about the advantages of being in NYC as an undergrad vs grad school or later in life when my son chose Columbia. He really wanted, not just the urban life, but the core curriculum. To him, that seemed as much a bonding experience as the more typical pep rally type of school spirit. (Besides, TheDad, Smith was not an option for him -- he couldn't meet the admissions requirements.)</p>
<p>No denying that NYC is expensive. That's why it's great to be there as a student! Columbia brings a lot of free or inexpensive entertainment to campus and offers many discounts to students off campus. The Met and MoMA are free to Columbia students, they have a lottery for tickets to other events (son only won a brunch, but some of his friends got tickets to Wicked and Avenue Q) and various campus groups also provide free excursions to things such as off Broadway shows. His LitHum instructor took them to see Lysistrata. Many NYC venues also have student rates -- the Blue Note for example, is half price to students for their late show on certain nights of the week. Then, there is housing. Ok, it's a dorm. But it's four years of housing in a NYC neighborhood he won't be able to afford again for decades -- unless he becomes a faculty member.</p>
<p>As for safety, Columbia consistently comes out better than other urban Ivies like Harvard, Penn, and Yale. I think it even had less crime last year than Princeton. The question is not whether Harlem is safe but whether campus is safe. They really take their campus security seriously, unlike some of the colleges that are in areas that feel safer. New York City just was rated the fifth safest city in the country. It's a city. There are crazies on the subways (I worry about people who hear voices much more than I worry about people who live in Harlem). You need some street smarts. But students tend to travel around in groups, cause that's what students tend to do, and they also tend to know where it's safe to go and at what time of day.</p>
<p>I echo everything Sac said. In that lottery she spoke of, S got a ticket for The NY Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Each of these events is a group trip, and he has met people through this. He has also attended on-campus events; for instance, seeing a friend play a lead role in Much Ado About Nothing. Also, he joined the marching band, which seems to be a very welcoming group. Also, as Sac says, the experience of the Core is extremely communal: everyone is reading the same book at the same time, so you can discuss, for instance, Euripedes or Plato with anyone on your floor, at the next table in the cateteria, etc.</p>
<p>I really don't get the rap on Columbia that there's no college experience: who do you think students are spending time with?--Other students! They live together, go out together, hang out on the Low Library steps together, study together, eat together, take classes together, etc, etc. I'm really not understanding how in any fundamental way my S's experience so far has been any different from his D's at an LAC (except tht he seems to be having an easier time registering for the classes he wants...)</p>
<p>There's a reason why they call the section of Manhattan where Columbia University is located at Morningside Heights. Why they do, however, I'll leave up to you to decide.</p>
<p>One of the things my D found attractive about Columbia was the tradition of the marching band marching through the library on the night before the O Chem final.</p>
<p>About the Core there are two antithetical schools of thought. You need to embrace it if you go to Columbia.</p>
<p>"About the Core there are two antithetical schools of thought. You need to embrace it if you go to Columbia."</p>
<p>Yup. I absolutely agree with that. Students should check out the core and the reading lists, not just apply because they want to go to an Ivy League school in NYC.</p>
<p>ok...as someone who actually lives in New York...Harlem is not all a bad neighborhood...lets not be judgemental...but either way Columbia is not even in Harlem...the neighborhood its in is very nice and upscale, and the campus is beautiful also. Either way...for people who dont live there already (and some who do) NYC is definitely great location wise...wanna talk about schools in bad neighborhoods? Ahem NEW HAVEN? cmon now...
Also easinesswise...isnt Penn not too hard because of its size?</p>
<p>CORNELL: Easiest to get into, hardest to get out of....</p>
<p>penn IS the party ivy. dartmouth can't compete.</p>
<p>I'm applying to cornell and am just wondering what its like in Ithaca as far as weather and social life</p>