<p>Thanks coffee, now i want to know how life is like in NYC, i must admit my knowledge is limited to Seinfeld and Law and Order. Got any insights?</p>
<p>Can't help ya much w/ NYC, never been there. I only know a few students who went to Columbia or Fordham...but they loved being on a "campus" unlike someplaces like NYU while still having the opportunities of New York right outside. They liked how the campus at least helped foster a more community feel than NYU would and allowed for a good place to chill and hang out to study or whatever away from the distractions of the city. Then when they wanted, they could take a quick and easy trip to NYC, Bronx zoo, museums, etc. They wouldn't trade college life in NYC for anything. That's all the info I have. The only downside they said was that NY can get expensive (of course) so you may need to save up and be frugal with money and what you buy...or maybe get a job. Hope this helps. I myself am interested in a bunch of schools in New York including Columbia (and Fordham) and feel it would be one of the best places to study and live in for college (plus I want to live in NYC after school most likely) Good luck w/ your college search!</p>
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For information i was referring to the segment on Bill O'Riley where Columbia students stormed the stage during a minutemen protest and the fact that the ROTC is not allowed on campus, and the fact that I got the Columbia book in the mail today and there was a girl from Houston, TX who said that NYC was liberal. Look I don't care about Brown. I was asking about Columbia.
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<p>(1) Bill O'Reilly is famous (or infamous, depending on your POV) for taking an issue and painting it in the worst possible light for purposes of getting people riled up. If you are basing any part of your worldview on what he says (and I have no idea whether you are or not), you are likely more brainwashed than any wacko liberal parading college walk at Columbia.</p>
<p>(2) Columbia</a> University - ROTC</p>
<p>(3) There are plenty of conservatives in NYC. They tend to be economic conservatives rather than social conservatives - i.e. in favor of low taxes and government intervention, rather than opposing gay rights, abortion, and sex ed for teens. NYC is a culturally liberal town because it has historically embraced whatever cultural waves have hit its shores, and you can literally find anything under the sun within the 5 boroughs somewhere.</p>
<p>(4) My usual phrase when asked this is, Columbia breaks down roughly as 10% liberal whackos who do things like rush the stage at televised events, 10% conservatives who join things like [url=<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/conservative/%5DC4%5B/url">http://www.columbia.edu/cu/conservative/]C4[/url</a>], and 80% of people who range from fairly liberal to moderate-leaning-conservative but by and large don't care enough to get worked up. The majority of the campus would consider themselves liberal, for sure, but they have better things to do than stand around picketing the administration for buying funds which bought funds which bought securities issued by a chinese firm. The problem is those 10% of the campus who think that is Priority Numero Uno, and 10% is actually quite a lot of people, so they get noticed easily. It's not helped by the fact that there's so much media presence in NYC anyway that anything going on at Columbia becomes national news fodder on a slow news day. Dem's de breaks.</p>
<p>(5) Most Importantly: There is a stickied thread at the top of this forum called Helpful Columbia Threads. There is a section of those threads about Life/Atmosphere. Read those, you'll get better answers.</p>
<p>"Oh, please. This again? If you can't handle it when people point out flaws in your reasoning and disprove points you have made, then you'll never be comfortable anywhere at any college, unless you decide to go to Bob Jones University."</p>
<p>nope, demeaning view points exists, it's especially prevalent in a place where people are one sided. At columbia you meet people who are liberal and are surrounded by liberal people and so denounce conservatism as both wrong and unpopular. These are few, and fewer than at other colleges I know of. </p>
<p>I minor in being the devil's advocate (which at columbia means defending conservative view points a lot of the time) and so i've seen first hand the difference between a thoughtful respectful vs. a hostile rebuttal.</p>
<p>it's the difference between: "hmm that's interesting, I thoroughly disagree because..." and "Oh please. This again?..."</p>
<p>I can assure you, that i've ephemerally lost friendships by simply (and very respectfully) disagreeing with people. It's doesn't happen with conservatives at college, because they realize they're in a minority. And from what i've seen, it happens as much if not more at other places as at Columbia.</p>
<p>Columbia is filled more with political rather than hippie liberals. So their views are well thought out and well defended. Sometimes you will be demeaned (usually if it's you against a group - i've attempted this many times), but it's rare, most people are up for an open debate. one on one, I feel people are pretty open about hearing different view.</p>
<p>Conservatives though do have the tendency to victimize themselves, which annoys me. </p>
<p>As for the minutemen stage rushers - campus wide they and their supporters were in a small minority, punitive action was taken and I'm fairly certain they undermined support for their cause, heck even the daily show ridiculed our "poor, defenseless ivy league kids" </p>
<p>Dbate, as a black conservative, you would certainly be a rarity, but I think you're you'll fit in very well. debate is accepted and for the most part embraced, most good colleges are liberal, and columbia isn't blindly liberal. I've actually held a group's attention many a time on stuff they clearly disagreed with me on.</p>