<p>I've been doing extensive online and literary research (especially "Untangling the Ivy League" by College *******), trying to find out about life at Columbia. I've learned a lot about the dormitories, facilities, and campus, however all it really amounts to is an aggregate of factoids (such as Columbia's campus being one, if not the, wettest one of the Ivies), and I am still lacking a solid overview of life at Columbia. For example, what's a typical weekend night at Columbia like (in particular for Freshman)? Would one generally have his head in a book at Butler every night, go to a bar (meaning fake ID's are readily available), an Animal House party (at a Frat house, suite dorm, etc.), hang out at a friend's dorm? Maybe people actually participate in the college's extracurricular activities? Any insight/experience is appreciated.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I am not a Columbia student(yet, hopefully I'll get accepted after being deferred ED), but I have been to the campus many times, talked to students currently attending, and have hung around these boards a lot.</p>
<p>What I have heard is that Columbia has much less of a central social scene than most other ivies(or most other schools for that matter). Whereas in other schools, the majority students participate in fraternities/sororities, this is not the case at Columbia. There is a greek scene, but it is not nearly as ubiquitous as many other schools', and (to paraphrase someone on these boards) if you don't participate in it, you'll never know it exists, but if you're in the greek scene, you'll have a lot of fun. There really aren't many "Animal House" parties at Columbia from what I've heard, mostly just close groups of friends hanging out.</p>
<p>What a typical Columbian does on a Thursday/Friday/Saturday(remember, Columbia students for the most part have Friday off!) is go downtown with a close group of friends. Maybe you'll see a movie, go shopping, go to a club, go to a play, anything. It's New York City. Whatever you want, it's there. What you do is completely up to you. NOTHING is the "norm"! A $2($4 roundtrip) subway ride gets you almost anywhere in the city in a matter of minutes.</p>
<p>On Sunday, most students sit down and study instead of going out(not really a surprise). Likewise, the same holds true for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. So, 4 days of hard work, and 3 days of play. A pretty nice schedule to have, if you ask me!</p>
<p>Oh, also, one thing that the Fridays off from school(save for labs and recitations) gives you is the freedom to do an internship during the year. This is a very nice opportunity to have which almost no one else gets(you're in the financial capital of the world, attending an ivy league school, and have Fridays off). Working Fridays alone, you can probably do a 10 hour/week internship easily. That said, it is (from what I've heard) a bit of a drag to get up on a Friday for 9AM work after you've been partying with your friends all night.</p>
<p>In case you don't know, Columbia athletics are a joke. If you are care a lot about athletics(other than inter-murals) don't come to Columbia! Columbia's teams are really pathetic, and they are not at all the focus of campus life as is the case in other colleges.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. If you have any other questions feel free to post here.</p>
<p>I'm sure others will expand on this, but we definitely have a broken social scene.</p>
<p>Couple follow up questions for your post, mike.</p>
<p>1) By "close group of friends," do you mean to say they're "clicky" and exclusive? I know it's a very cynical view of friendships, but many times it's also quite true. </p>
<p>2) By "clubs," do you mean music clubs, fake-ID-get-wasted-clubs?</p>
<p>3) What do you mean by less of a "central" social scene?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>From what I've heard, the groups of friends are not cliquey per se. It's just that you have a close group of friends who know you well. Kind of like Seinfeld, I guess.</p></li>
<li><p>When I said clubs, I was referring to the latter(fake-ID-get-wasted-clubs-with-bouncers-etc.). However, this is not what every student does! If you don't love to go to clubs, you can do whatever you want! That was merely an example of what one could do. I am not one of these individuals who likes to go to clubs. I think paying $100 for booze to sit in a loud place where you can't hear anyone is a waste of money, time and hearing.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>When referring to "music clubs" I assume you mean jazz club-type places. These certainly exist in NYC, and you can definitely go to one(I think for Music Humanities, you even have a "field trip" to one of these clubs in Harlem).</p>
<ol>
<li>What I mean by a less "central" social scene is that you won't find everyone from the school cheering on the lions at a football game. It's not a type of culture where you are always hanging out on campus like you would on a more rural campus(e.x. Cornell); there really is no campus "culture." To paraphrase a TheU video from youtube, a student expressed her views as the following: "Students are on campus to get their business done. There's no one to hold your hand."</li>
</ol>
<p>That's not at all to say you're lonely or isolated in any way; you can always ask someone in the dorms if they want to grab a bite to eat or something. You can always find someone to hang out with on campus. Just don't expect to get the community feeling of being together all at once like you would at an athletic event(at a big athletic school) or a big house party on a rural campus.</p>
<p>Lol, yet another likeness between Columbia and Seinfeld. </p>
<p>Thanks for the help, buuuuut, you did mention something about a youtube video from which you got some of this information. I pray thee, tellest me whence thou did acquire said video(s).</p>
<p>Btw, good luck in your RD round. Better pray to God, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Confucius, and L. Ron Hubbard that you get in, because if you're like me then no other school comes close.</p>
<p>
[quote]
1) By "close group of friends," do you mean to say they're "clicky" and exclusive? I know it's a very cynical view of friendships, but many times it's also quite true.
[/quote]
From my experience, most people are settled into their groups a couple weeks into the first semester. It's not exactly cliquey in the high school sense, but I do get the feeling that people are a lot less open to making new friends (versus just making acquaintances you would say hi to in passing). It's definitely easiest to meet people during Orientation week because everyone's "trying out" new friends. After that, you have to make a much bigger effort. But this also depends on your personality.
[quote]
you can always ask someone in the dorms if they want to grab a bite to eat or something
[/quote]
Of course, this will depend on how well you know your floormates. Some floors just get along really well, while others are less tight.</p>
<p>Godfatherbob: TheU has a bunch of videos on youtube showcasing various colleges(and students opinions). Either find them at <a href="http://www.theu.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.theu.com/</a> or at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/theUrocks%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/user/theUrocks</a>.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>I actually feel that it has been much easier for me to make friends after orientation week because you get involved in different classes, groups, people, and naturally get in contact with a lot of social circles. It's easier to tell what sort of scene people are into after everything has settled down a bit. I think people are still totally open for the most part to making friends, especially if they are sick of spending first semester with all the same people- at least that's the impression I get.</p>
<p>ahh! The U videos almost stopped me from considering Columbia...back in the day before I visited a few times, talked to people, etc. </p>
<p>It makes Columbia look like a scary place and if you enroll nobody will ever love you.</p>
<p>^ lol yea it does. The people in the videos seem to only talk about how tough and intense the place is.</p>
<p>ok i haven't posted here for about 2 years, but after getting an email notice and reading this post i have to say something. Columbia is so not intense. I feel like Yale, Harvard, Princeton is way more uptight. All my friends are so chill, there are some kids who are really uptight, but no one likes those people. We're people and we like people who are chill. Yes, we do hell of a reading. I'm reading the anti-federalist writings right now and have micro and stuff, but i'm not like uptight. I go out and have a drink on the weekends. I have to admit the work is quite heavy, but sometimes a dose of Kant brings new insight. I certainly would not have thought about the human self and its relationship to not treating it as a means but as an end.</p>
<p>are there frat parties? or ones at other nearby colleges that people go to?</p>
<p>godfatherbob, i'm more than happy to answer your questions, and i know there are a bunch of CU students on this board who can provide more firsthand experiences than mikesown (and imiracle is a good start). But first, you really ought to read the threads linked under Life/Atmosphere on this stickied thread:</p>
<p>It's got a bunch of threads where we talk extensively about college life at columbia.</p>
<p>edit: here's another one not on the list which has some details. it's focused on columbia-vs-princeton but has a number of good details about each.</p>
<p>My first post...I have been reading the Columbia helpful threads, but have not found the answer to this question - where do students shop for basic necessities? Last child is going off to CU in August; when we moved the other two into their dorm rooms we just drove to a nearby Target for everything they needed. We're flying in from the west coast, so we can't bring much with us ahead of time. Don't know what the options are in NYC...any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!</p>
<p>"I have been reading the Columbia helpful threads, but have not found the answer to this question - where do students shop for basic necessities?"
well, if you define necessities as kitchenware, toileteries, medicine, groceries--there's lots of places. Also, given that CU is in New York City, you can get everything under the sun, accessibility to stores is not an issue. But, to be more specific, there are a bunch of places around campus: Duane Reade and Rite Aid are no more than 3 or four blocks from campus, there are lots of local restaurants and grocery stores within a 4 block radius (Morton Williams, Westside Market, Milano Market and Appletree market), University Hardwares, the Columbia Barnes and Noble (overpriced, but it's there when you need it:))...Also, Bed, Bath & Beyond is a subway ride away at 66th street Lincoln Center. In fact, the university organizes trips during orientation to take students down there to pick up things at a 10% discount.
If you're looking for Target, which is certainly the economical option for basics, there's one in the Bronx.</p>
<p>To add to the posts about the social scene at Columbia:
1) It's as centric as you want it to be, people aren't going to be 'cliquey' if you're open and willing to make friends--fundamental rule of human nature. In my experience, Columbia kids have been terrific (quirky, but I love it). The campus is a bubble, but in no way isolating--so going downtown isn't an issue</p>
<p>2) Students do go out to bars or clubs, but I get the impression that bars are more common because they're cheaper and there's a bunch of them around campus. There's plenty to do besides drink though.</p>
<p>3) Although Columbia is not like a rural campus at all, I completely disagree with the notion that "students are on campus to get their business done". The campus was a very core part of my life--even if it just meant lying in the grass or stting on the steps. It's in a very student-friendly, self sufficient neighbourhood, and the campus culture is pretty strong, although unique. In fact, I've complained that I don't get off campus enough--and that's not because I locked myself in my dorm room, it's because there was enough to do on and around campus that I didn't feel compelled to go downtown for entertainment.</p>
<p>cerberus08, Thank you for the info --on shopping and on the social aspects-- it's reassuring.</p>
<p>I go to Duane Reade for household items like tissues, cleaning supplies, etc. There's also a hardware store a few blocks away (called University Hardware), and I think there's a kitchen supply store (maybe University Kitchen?). Morton Williams is the grocery store closest to campus (right across the street on Broadway), but prices are slightly lower at grocery stores farther away (e.g. Westside Market on Broadway, Appletree Market on Amsterdam).</p>
<p>There are several bookstores around campus. Obviously, there's the Columbia bookstore, but a lot of professors will also order textbooks through Book Culture/Labyrinth between Amsterdam and Broadway on 112th.</p>
<p>
[quote]
people aren't going to be 'cliquey' if you're open and willing to make friends--fundamental rule of human nature.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Maybe that's a rule of human nature at colleges, but definitely not in High School. Regardless, I'm happy to hear that Columbia is like that :)</p>