<p>Alright, so I'm quite a bit off with my undergrad number too, but 7000 undergrads is definitely not a whole lot more than Harvard, Cornell, UPenn</p>
<p>^^ UF is a humongous public school. Very, very few universities approach 50,000. Many of the largest top publics--Michigan, UCLA, Wisconsin--are roughly 40,000 students, and Berkeley fluctuates between 31,000 and 35,000. However, in comparison to the vast majority of publics, 25,000 is at best "normal" and at worst very big.</p>
<p>Hehehe well you did say large public school, so i picked one of the largest.</p>
<p>This topic has gotten completely sidetracked so I do apologize to the OP, I'll let it rest now unless someone else can give relevant information regarding he OP's questions</p>
<p>Purely in term's of layman's prestige, Columbia beats Amherst hands down.
In any other respect, it doesn't come close =)</p>
<p>Edit, because it's the new fad:</p>
<p>If we're talking about prestige here, then Notre Dame and NYU would be ranked on the same level as Harvard and Princeton. Prestige and quality are two very different things.</p>
<p>Columbia is a sufficiently prestigious AND high quality school.</p>
<p>I stayed in a suite in a Columbia dorm some years back for a little program from school. I was not impressed. In fact, I was grossed out by the mildew in the communal bathroom. Some guy from my group woke up early to go to the bookstore and get a sweatshirt. I thought he was nut. At the time I didn't know Columbia is part of the ivy league and prestigious (I just realized ivy league is more than HYPSMCaltech minus SMCaltech this year). I still don't know how prestigious it is except I know Fu school of Engineering is weak. Williams and Amherst, according to many CC'ers, are only behind HYPSMC.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with Columbia. With the demographic swell of the past decade, what's happened and continues to happen is that there is now a larger circle of schools just below HYPSM that are enrolling terrific students and these are more active competitors for top students than in yesteryear. In looking at this broader geography of colleges, students are realizing that there truly are great universities all across the country, many of which can offer a differentiated experience from some of the historical powers like Columbia. But other colleges moving up in prominence does not mean that Columbia is not still a terrific college.</p>
<p>Columbia is presitgious but not as presitigious as HYPMS, Cal Tech, Penn, Duke and Amherst</p>
<p>They have a long way to go to be that good...
</p>
<p>You're absolutely right. Columbia is not as "presitigious" as Puke. But it certainly is a billion times more prestigious than Duke.</p>
<p>Columbia is better than Duke in every aspect of academia. Prestige, academic programs, faculty strength, post-graduation employment, etc. The only thing Duke has on Columbia is a rape scandal.</p>
<p>"presitgious" -- perfectly indicative of the Duke student body.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's just me, but I would say that Stanford and MIT are more prestigious than Princeton...but it might just be my location (new jersey!!). Or, at least Stanford is--MIT can be slightly less prestigious because of their techy focus and lack of humanities.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You live in NJ and you think they're more prestigious than Princeton? Cool.</p>
<p>For some reason, I don't really see much Columbia talk on this board. For me, every other non-HYP Ivy has its hook and all Columbia seems to have is its location. </p>
<p>Academically it's as good as any other non HYP(<em>S</em>) ivy and the other top schools/LAC's.</p>
<p>Does every thread have to devolve into a urinating contest involving Duke?</p>
<p>Columbia's incredible. Why does more need to be said? Sure, its president made a complete *** out of himself and the U.S. when he caved to media pressure by visciously attacking the president of Iran while introducing him, then being outclassed by him. But, I guess that's just the weakness of humans - even presidents of Ivy League universities. </p>
<p>For certain programs it's superior, for others inferior, to its peer schools. If you want the big city atmosphere but removed from the prime hustle of NYC, then it's probably great for you. The north end of Manhattan remains a rather untapped frontier of urban gentrification and isn't even considered Manhattan by most snooty Manhattanites. There's even virgin forests up there!</p>
<p>
[quote]
The student body at Caltech is no where near as well rounded as HYPSM....</p>
<p>Caltech is quite literally an engineering LAC (yes...oxymoron) for the pure sciences...
[/quote]
Umm, what is well-rounded? Most students at Caltech are there because they simply love to learn. You will less likely find shenanigans or packaged students there. If your definition of well-rounded is someone else's definition of well-packaged, I'd say thank goodness Caltech isn't. The student body is as quirky as they come, i.e. Caltech v. MIT pranks.</p>
<p>As to Columbia's prestige, the published rankings both undergrad and grad seem to have it right. Why wouldn't they? It is, in most programs, located between #7 and #12 in the rankings.</p>
<p>Other unrelated thoughts --</p>
<p>Penn-Wharton is a mile ahead of UPenn in general. I find the distinction useful. Penn-Wharton is equal in prestige to all schools except Harvard.</p>
<p>If you look at MBA program rankings from various sources, Wharton is #1 on average. This is why an undergrad degree from Penn-Wharton is so powerful in the business community.</p>
<p>If I were interviewing a candidate for a finance or other quant position in business, I would put Penn-Wharton and MIT equally at the top on undergraduate sheepskin.</p>
<p>Some of the comments here are funny. Especially from people who go to other schools trying to make their schools elite. Columbia is by far among the handful (5-6) of top schools that have great name recognition, prestige, money, etc. </p>
<p>As for prestige, Harvard is the top dog, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. After H, then there is Y/P. In NY, Columbia is by far more prestigious than all the other schools mentioned on this forum. I can't speak of other places since I am currently in NY, i.e., Caltech? WHo even knows about that school... Even when I was in California for 3 years, Caltech didn't seem to be well known, that is not to say it is not of course respected.</p>
<p>Also, people fail to realize that for everyone who applies to Columbia because it is in NYC, there is another person who is not applying there for exactly the same reason. You can't have it both ways.</p>
<p>OK...Duke has a better biomedical engineering program (#2) while Columbia's program lol......sucks to mention on here....hahah; Duke has a better med school;...the list goes on...</p>
<p>Stop referring to the rape scandal...i guess you columbia students learned nothing....the people were proven innocent...so your columbia degrees are useleses now....pathetic school haha....</p>