<p>What is the matter with U Chicago? Is this Nobel thing vis a vis Columbia a recent occurence?</p>
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<p>When it comes to choosing schools, location isn’t much of a huge factor as are school reputation, academic quality and cost. That is why people still choose MIT engineering, Princeton undergrad, Yale law, Harvard Med, Stanford CS or Caltech sciences over Columbia. </p>
<p>I’d say Columbia’s peers for undergrad are UPenn, Duke, Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown, and to a lesser extent, JHU, NU, WU@StL, Cornell, Berkeley, Rice, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, UVa, Michigan, CMU and Georgetown.</p>
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I both agree and disagree with you. On one hand, I very much agree that location can be of little importance. Dartmouth and Cornell graduates do perfectly well despite their relatively rural locations, as do LACs like Oberlin and Kenyon. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is much to be said for being in NYC. One of my friends studied archaeology in NYC, interned at the Met while in college, was able to land an extremely competitive internship overseas thanks to that, and is now studying at Oxford on a full scholarship. She also had the opportunity to hob-nob with all the big-wigs in archaeology who visited the Met or Brooklyn Museum, gave guest lectures at the IFA, or attended conferences in NYC or nearby cities. Frankly, that gives one a pretty big leg up over someone out in the boonies.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s unreasonable to note that being in NYC can be a big bonus for many fields, just as other locations can provide a bonus (say, LA for film or the western US for geology). It doesn’t make a NYC college better, mind you – just better for certain people. </p>
<p>In any case, I highly doubt that location is as unimportant in decisions as people make it out to be. Columbia falls behind only Yale in applications-per-spot, a popularity which no doubt can be attributed almost entirely to NYC. Schools in, well, not as pleasant areas like Hopkins and (yes) Duke, on the other hand, flourish in spite of rather than because of their locations.</p>
<p>Location is extremely important in deciding what college to attend. Many students will not even apply to schools like Columbia and Penn due to their location within a large city, and particularly a bad location within a large city, such as Harlem and surrounding areas.</p>
<p>Then you look at other schools such as Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara, which draw many applications specifically because of their location.</p>
<p>When was the last time you ever heard a conversation about Pepperdine without “Beautiful Malibu on the cliffs overlooking the ocean” not being mentioned?</p>
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<p>Well, in those particular instances which you cited, one would have to be damned stupid to pick Columbia.</p>
<p>But, let’s say you’ve got a kid who grew up in a wealthy, white suburb in the middle of nowhere, who’s pretty much a country bumpkin. Columbia, with everything it has to offer, just seems more appealing than Princeton, even if Princeton is a train ride away from the city. And, besides, kids like these come from loaded families, and don’t have to worry about their futures, so choosing Columbia over HYPSM isn’t a big deal for them.</p>
<p>no you would not be “damned stupid.”
And location does matter to a lot of people. Some people do prefer urban settings over rural areas and vice/versa</p>
<p>I’m talking about generality. You’re all talking about certain circumstances. </p>
<p>Columbia is a great school. It is one of the very best in the world. It has several top departments. It has top faculty and students. But - in general - it does not have the brand power of HYPSMC.</p>
<p>Brand Power? What is this. When in the world did Caltech ever have more brand power then Columbia? Or MIT? MIT more likely has less brand power then Columbia.</p>
<p>Let me get this straight: You think a NICHE TECH school has more brand recognition and power than an IVY LEAGUE school in NEW YORK CITY where PRESIDENT OBAMA graduated from? Please stop embarrassing yourself RML.</p>
<p>99% of CALIFORNIANS probably haven’t heard of Caltech, let alone regular employers, adults and students in other parts the US LOL.</p>
<p>SEAS is a third-rate engineering school. It doesn’t rank in the top 10 in any engineering specialty.</p>
<p>An engineering curriculum and the Columbia name prepare one excellently for a career in finance/consulting.</p>
<p>But, for engineering itself of any kind? Preference may be given instead to a graduate from one of these “niche” schools.</p>
<p>Wasting four years of one’s life studying a narrow and rigid discipline just to end up not practicing the discipline seems strange to me, especially when the same end can be reached by a graduate of the College who had undertaken a more diverse and meaningful education.</p>
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<p>Not only that. A number of Columbia’s graduate programs are considered 2nd or 3rd tier. You can’t say the same thing for Caltech, MIT and Stanford.</p>
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Even in this area, HYPSM + Penn are superior to Columbia, despite that WS is just right in Columbia’s backyard.</p>
<p>^ What? MIT/CALTECH’s humanities are so bad when compared to Columbia it’s not worth mentioning.</p>
<p>“Wasting four years of one’s life studying a narrow and rigid discipline just to end up not practicing the discipline seems strange to me, especially when the same end can be reached by a graduate of the College who had undertaken a more diverse and meaningful education.”</p>
<p>As someone with an engineering degree who wound up in finance, I agree with this whole heartedly. I regret the time I spent studying engineering. Fortunately my engineering degree was only a Master’s, not undergrad; less time wasted. But still.</p>
<p>^ Try to get into MIT humanities and let’s see if you would even get onto the program. </p>
<p>What about Columbia vs Stanford? Is Columbia superior to Stanford?</p>
<p>^ I don’t need to. Columbia is more selective then MIT as a whole.</p>
<p>Columbia vs Stanford? I already posted about this. There both in the same caliber, not one above another. Though they have unique programs, academically, there both high achieving and equal.</p>
<p>^ That’s because you go to Columbia. But anyone who’s not connected to Columbia and Stanford would honestly think that Stanford is in a league above Columbia.</p>
<p>^ I don’t go to Columbia sadly 
I haven’t applied, but will. But there will be a surge of applicants once they see that Columbia is ranked #4. I would rather it be ranked at #7 though so the application’s aren’t so high from students, so I have a great chance :)</p>
<p>Academically, Stanford and Columbia are of equal caliber. What Stanford has is more of a peer liking, where Columbia has better SAT’s/selectivity. One reason why more people might like Stanford is because of it’s huge campus, whereas Columbia doesn’t have a campus (or more like a small campus).</p>
<p>Where you go to the point of Columbia vs Stanford is all subjective views. If you try to factor in Academics and selectivity (SAT, GPA, Admit Rate), Columbia reigns supreme over Stanford, and Stanford reins supreme over Columbia in personal liking (People feel more comfortable, at Stanford, and say it has a better community or etc)</p>
<p>No; they’re not in the same league - academically or prestige-wise.</p>
<p>Stanford is superior to Columbia is almost ALL major fields from engineering to humanites on both undergrad and postgrad levels. </p>
<p>Stanford is also more respected in WS despite that WS is right within Columbia’s backyard and Stanford is even in a different time zone. </p>
<p>Addtionally, Stanford grads are paid more than Columbia grads are (the difference is not even close), and Stanford grads are more likely to get accepted at top med, law, business and engneering schools. For example, try to compare how many Stanford and Columbia grads that get into Harvard or Yale law each year. And how many Columbia grads get into Stanford’s world class professional and postgraduate schools and compare them to Stanford’s record.</p>
<p>Stanford pawns Columbia in WS and Bay Area (including SV).</p>
<p>Columbia has a bigger name than MIT or CalTech. Infact, I never heard of those schools until I was searching for college this year. A CalTech not until this summer. I did hear of HYP since I was like in elementary school, because everyone knows those three schools the most. I Of course I would know of Columbia, I live in the city.</p>
<p>I bet even MIT pawns Columbia is its own backyard - Wall Street.</p>