<p>I came to Columbia believing that Columbia did not have an on campus community, but that was okay because I've never been too rah rah school spirit anyway. Columbia can be very cliquish, which no one had told me, but I do feel that slipper that your information about Columbia is outdated, which is what bothers me. I'm currently an undergrad here, and from what I have observed, the city does not NEARLY dominate life as much as I thought it would. People are on the steps all the time, weather permitting, not just sometimes. It has a very laidback California feel, and I was pleasantly suprised by this. Columbia is certainly unique and I warn any person that wants to come here that there is a less campus centered life, everybody seems to go to the same major on-campus events. Sometimes people stay in, other times people go out. What makes Columbia different is the option. Also, facebook did a lot to revolutionize the college experience by helping to advertise campus events and parties. And facebook invites keeps people in the loop.</p>
<p>Lilsmiley, I guess my point is not that columbia doesn't have an on-campus social life- it does. Just much less so than its peers.</p>
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I feel like my arguments are not so hard to grasp. Columbia is an awesome school for a certain type, as I have asserted often.
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I agree with that! In fact, I believe it is a statement that could be made about every school. Dartmouth is awesome for some people, MIT is awesome for some people, Harvard is awesome for some people, but not necessarily the same people. It's the way you lump every other Ivy, as well as every other college you consider "typical", together -- and oppose them all to the Columbia experience -- that I find problematic. As if Columbia is a place for only a certain type, but other Ivies are for every type.</p>
<p>Wonder how many Brown students would agree with your statement that Harvard and Brown are the most alike of the Ivies.</p>
<p>As to the arguments I and others have made here, the point is that Columbia does not lack campus social life. It offers choice -- and for many people that is a positive, not a negative.</p>
<p>I do acknowledge your expertise on Dartmouth, and am pleasantly surprised by its efforts towards diversity. A lot can change in a few years at a college:) Columbia can get more on-campus social life, Dartmouth can get more diverse.</p>
<p>This is from 2002:
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Most everyone agrees that Dartmouth has a lot of work ahead of it. The drive [for greater diversity and understanding between races] here was inspired in part by an internal report last year telling of many minority students who over the years actually "felt damaged" by the climate at the college. Just four years ago, a Dartmouth fraternity and sorority prompted an outcry on campus after having "a ghetto party" at which students dressed in so-called inner city clothes.
...
This year, Dartmouth's incoming freshman class consists of about 30 percent minority students, the most diverse group in the college's history, with 13 percent Asian, 7 percent Hispanic, nearly 7 percent black and 3 percent Native American. </p>
<p>This is a great step forward for Dartmouth which does need a focus on diversity and greater understanding between the races.
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<p>Go to Stanford!
Please post this thread in the Stanford board and see what others say :)</p>
<p>I think SAC that I know Columbia undergrad better than you think. I agree that cell phones, AIM, and Facebook make it easier to communicate, but the simple truth is outside of the first week where people are all over 114th street people tend to segregate and go off into the city. The "festive" feeling just isn't there.</p>
<p>that is just not true. when the weather is nice (which admittedly is not as often as stanford) the campus has every bit of a traditional campus feel. at the moment, I am looking out of my dorm room at fields absolutely blanketed by lounging students, library steps packed with reading/talking kids, and air filled with frisbees.</p>
<p>As a student here at Columbia, I'm really really fed up of hearing slipper claim that Columbia students go off to the city all the time and that there is no festive feeling. That's ridiculous. People do both, they stay on campus, go off campus. Its expensive to go off campus all the time, and there's plenty of people here all the time as well. Although the weather isn't always as nice as Stanford, when it is, everyone is outside playing frisbee, croquet, eating, reading, and people have classes outside. People sit on the steps and watch movies, smoke hookah, whatever. I come from where Stanford is where the weather is generally nice and let me tell you, when the weather is nice here, people REALLY appreciate it compares to Cali where I'm so used to it. When it snows really hard, everyone packs up in snow gear and run around outside and have snowball fights and sled down the steps. On the first snow, a bunch of us Floridians and Californians ran around at four in the morning throwing snowballs. There's even community outside of campus. When the Christmas tree lighting occured or the Halloween parade, you can guarantee a strong Columbia contingent. Columbia has one of the smallest undergrad population, and you are constantly running into your classmates because there is no segregating college system and the campus is tiny so you see everybody all the time. I want this to be VERY clear to anyone considering Columbia because I was misinformed. Sure, you may get lost in the administration and bureaucracy, but for the most part, the class has more unity because we're not THAT close to the city like NYU where we run around greenwich everyday. Please DON'T expect New York City to absolutely dominate your life here. I go off campus A LOT more than some of my peers, and I still have a very strong campus sentiment. The "festive" feeling is definitely here depending on how you define it. I don't like to attack people but I feel like slipper falls under the catagory of almost white upper middle class that wants kind of an old school boy feel about his school, which is NOT what you're going to get here. I'm sorry if I am wrong. I'm on these boards because few students come here, and my information is up to date and honest with what is going on here. I found these boards to be very helpful in my college decision making process. I care about the people that come to Columbia, and I host pre-frosh so I can share with them my experience both at Columbia and in the city. Columbia is AMAZING, granted not for everybody, but to say that it lacks a "festive" feeling really really ****es me off. And to say that people segregate and go off into the city is not NEARLY as true as slipper makes it out to be. As you become an upper classmen, then yes, its true, you tend to go off more into the city, and yes freshman go to Greenwich and the Lower East Side a lot. But I feel community on and off campus ranging from sledding down low library steps to large movie outings in times square because we can. It may not be AS MUCH community as in other colleges, but come on, people seem to hang out with relatively the same people no matter what college they go to. And as to not having off campus HOUSES to party at, that's because we have much more off campus places to party at ranging from rented out clubs to restaurants and so on. Columbia is for the more independent and less shelters, for those that are slightly more adult, yet the typical college frat boys/atheletes exist, and while life is not SUPPORTED by Columbia, it doesnt mean that Columbia is not festive. Excuse any grammar and spelling errors I have made, its Thursday night and I want to go out. But as a Columbia student, I am positively OUTRAGED by this whole "oh Columbia isn't festive" thing. I just had a grad student say that he looks at everyone lounging in the lawn and misses being an undergrad because grad students to lounge on the lawn. How can you say you know Columbia undergrad better than I do? I go and live there as an undergrad RIGHT NOW, and I agree that its a hard time adjusting, there's less hand holding, but the festive feeling is there. You say you know a lot of undergrads, etc. I talk to people too. Columbia has less community than other colleges. Yes. But there's a strong undergrad spirit that exists in the quad and on the streets of morningside everyday and every night. I'm no authority Columbia and I can only speak from my own experience and from the others that I've spoken with. True, if you haven't found some friends, than it can be lonely. As with life.</p>
<p>thanks lilsmileycolumbian! that was really helpful.</p>
<p>Yeah, as a freshman at Columbia, it's quite tiring to hear people say that Columbia lacks community. I feel like I know every freshman's face since almost all of us live in one of two buildings, and I run into classmates EVERYWHERE. Basically, what lilsmileycolumbian said is completely true. Morningside Heights is basically a college town in itself, while still being an integral part of New York City. Stanford's campus is HUGE, while I rarely have to walk more than 1500 feet anywhere. Since Columbia is in New York, its campus is quite compact, which definitely fosters community. Plus, Columbia is an Ivy, and you'll never be able to say you go to an Ivy-League school if you go to Stanford. I know it's elitist, but it makes a difference for some...plus, since Columbia is much older than Stanford, its got a lot of that old-school charm. Stanford looks like a Disney Land. While Stanford has far better athletics, that is a product of its non-Ivy status, where they offer athletes $$$. Finally, New York kicks Palo Altos ass any day of the week.</p>
<p>to be fair, though, Stanford honestly doesn't need ivy status to be considered prestigious and elite. it's about half as old as Columbia, and yet more people know what Stanford is than Columbia. and this is coming from a Columbia student. I personally think Columbia is great, and I'd definitely choose it over Stanford any day (just my preference), but we shouldn't delude ourselves about its prestige, since Stanford edges out Columbia in that department, though arguably not by much.</p>
<p>Alright I am on the brink of making my choice and i need to know two very important things... (i have just completed visiting both and am very very confused)
1) is the whole red tape/ un helpful administration aspect of columbia true? especially in their mentorship system
2) Stanford gives money like water... for studing abroad.. everything, I had the impression columbia is more stingy. I am wrong, how liberal is columbia with its under grads, money wise? not just fiancial aid but for undergrad research grants etc</p>
<p>though Columbia nominally gives more money to its grad students than other Ivy league schools (about $25k a year in addition to free tuition/fees, more than about six of the Ivies), the standard of living in New York City makes it difficult to stretch that out, giving the impression that Columbia is very stingy with its grad students.</p>
<p>I've never had a problem with the administration/red tape. If you set up an appointment, you'll be guaranteed one, barring of course grave circumstances. My advisor's secretary knows me by name, for crying out loud.</p>
<p>what about stinginess with its undergrad though... and how easy is it to get an off campus job?</p>
<p>You'll be living in new york city... The whole city is your job market and the school doesn't regulate what you do with your free time so i'd say very easy.</p>
<p>Thank you guys.. im split- i visited both schools and although stanford is giving me more money, I cant get over what i FELT at columbia, i want to go there and if I resolve my financial issues I will- hands down.</p>
<p>Fax Columbia your Stanford aid with a concise explanation of why you feel you need more money. Columbia would be happy to reconsider your offer, and even match your better aid, as in most cases. You might want to do this as soon as possible because it takes them about a week to process/review the files and come to a decision; May is coming around in less than two weeks. Send the fax with an "Attn: Appeals Committee" at the financial aid office if you plan on doing this. Good luck with your offer!</p>
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Stanford looks like a Disney Land.
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<p>Are you out of your mind?</p>
<p>I did fax them about that, because i do need more aid. They gave me lots of loans while my other offer gave me none. Do you think they will reduce thier loans? Should I email them, i am afraid I will not get a desicion in time because mail takes forever to get here</p>