<p>May 1st is near and I still haven't placed my deposit yet!</p>
<p>I cannot decide between Macaulay Honors at City College and Columbia because both are such great schools. For Macaulay it would be free tuition and for Columbia I have to pay about 2500 a year. Also, I plan to major in biomedical engineering and both schools offer this major. I was accepted to the Grove School of Engineering at City and SEAS at Columbia.</p>
<p>Can anyone give me any insight? =]</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>so you’re asking us to compare a community college with a world renown ivy league institution???</p>
<p>CCNY is not a community college. It has been known as the “poor man’s Harvard,” and has a very strong engineering program. Also, the Macaulay Honors Program covers far more than just tuition and thus is worth very careful consideration.</p>
<p>hey, no diss to city which is a great school, but columbia will offer you quite a few things city cannot. and at 2500K a year, it will be for a bargain of the actual tuition. </p>
<p>columbia’s biomed is very good, rigorous and definitely one of the most sought after majors at the school. but what you get is the school’s network, connections to firms, strong research opportunities. the university will also push you a lot more than city. very bright kids are at city (no mistake there), but at columbia there is an ethos in which people push each other to succeed that is very unlike city and is something that encompasses not just a few students in the honors program, but the entire university. </p>
<p>and the bureacracy of cuny and city is mindnumbing compared to what you will find at columbia - a veritable paradise where things are handing to you (yeah columbians, i know it sounds weird to hear that).</p>
<p>lastly, the curriculum at columbia is top notch, it will help you become a well rounded and strong student and the cu degree opens a lot of doors.</p>
<p>i think that unless you think 2500 is a lot of money a year, columbia will offer you a lot at the ugrad level that city cannot compare.</p>
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<p>thisis, it was known as the poor man’s harvard in the 50s and 60s, but its reputation is not quite its former self, though very good. as a public school it means that it fluctuates a lot with the economic downturn. grove is a good eng school, but at the ugrad level part of what you should look for is what kind of ugrad education it will afford, and at that point i think columbia wins out by a considerable margin. macaulay is a fine opportunity, with some funding involved beyond tuition (housing, sometimes summer funding i believe), but the savings will not be significant compared to let’s say free at city v. 50k at Columbia, which would be a different conversation.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you, admissionsgeek…I was just vexed by emigre’s post. I would go for Columbia as well.</p>
<p>Just to add to what people have said, you peers will be incomparable at each institution. Columbia is a pretty special place with reason.</p>
<p>Yes, City College was once a deeply-respected institution, but no more.</p>
<p>There are countless reasons that explain its tragic decline, but it’s neither necessary nor relevant to elaborate.</p>
<p>Columbia is worth the 10,000 investment.
Even if you took all of that out as loans, you would be able to pay it off right away after your first year of employment.</p>
<p>“a veritable paradise where things are handing to you”</p>
<p>This is a dreadful exaggeration, and Columbia is coldly bureaucratic as any other university. Less so than City College, certainly, but not to the extent to which you describe.</p>
<p>“i think that unless you think 2500 is a lot of money a year”</p>
<p>There are people for whom 2,500 dollars a year is an impossible burden.</p>
<p>this is absolutely no contest whatsoever…i dont think a single person would choose city college over a practically free education at columbia. the professors are better, your classmates will be the the brightest 18 year olds in the country, the name is nationally and internationally recognized by employers and graduate schools whereas Macaulay Honors is barely known among employers in NYC and is certainly nowhere near as highly regarded as columbia. i would be shocked if you can give one reason other than money (which in this case is definitely no big deal) why you should go to city college over a top 10 ivy league school.</p>
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<p>i really hope you guys are kidding…OP is your cost 2500 without taking out any loans or is that with taking out loans? i’m confused…if this is without taking out any loans you can EASILY cover this with subsidized stafford loans and pay off the 10k in half a year after graduating with a BME degree and making a starting salary of 60k!</p>
<p>Let’s also consider the opportunity costs here. If he attends Columbia and decides it’s not for him and wants to transfer, it’s likely that CCNY will take him with open arms. On the other hand, if he goes to City College and decides he made the wrong choice, it will be very difficult - nigh impossible, really - to get a transfer admission.</p>
<p>You can go anywhere and succeed, but it’s much more likely at a place like Columbia, and Columbia helps you out in ways you wouldn’t anticipate beforehand, and may not even be aware of while you’re there. I suggest starting at Columbia and seeing how much you like a semester there.</p>
<p>2500 a year for Columbia!? go! send in your deposit…NOW!</p>
<p>“If he attends Columbia and decides it’s not for him and wants to transfer, it’s likely that CCNY will take him with open arms.”</p>
<p>The Macaulay Honors Program doesn’t accept transfers, Denzera.</p>
<p>Oh. Sorry.</p>
<p>My point of view is unchanged though. admissionsgeek covers most of the main points. What I think most people don’t appreciate, though, is the intellectual and personal benefits of simply being in a community like that of Columbia. It forces you to think faster, better, all of the time, and it raises your game a notch - gives your mind an extra gear. Just by virtue of being in such a power-packed intellectual community like that, where, for the first time in your life, everyone is as smart as you and as motivated and intellectually curious as you, and they’re all interesting people with passions they like to talk about that you can get sucked in to. You can’t quantify it, but the difference is meaningful - I’m a much smarter person as a result of going to Columbia than I would have been had I gone to a 2nd or 3rd-tier institution, of that I’m certain.</p>
<p>Then, sure, you get into things like research opportunities, graduate school coaching and placement, access to internships and top career opportunities, the usefulness of the alumni network, and all the little events that Columbia connects you to in new york just by virtue of being well-connected throughout the city’s cultural, political and professional institutions. And the classes, the classes are great. Some of the dorms are even great, as an upperclassman. But seriously - the intellectual atmosphere is the key selling point, and it isn’t sold enough.</p>
<p>I hope you choose Columbia.</p>
<p>City College was devastated by the open admissions policy instituted in the 1960s and 1970s. It basically ruined the school’s deserved reputation as the “Poor Man’s Harvard”. Columbia is the obvious choice.</p>
<p>choose Columbia</p>
<p>Hey!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input! I have chosen Columbia =]</p>
<p>a wise choice, friend</p>