<p>How to approach classes/majors</p>
<p>Columbia has between its two schools over 90 academic majors, dozens of concentrations, thousands of classes, and when you include graduate schools - just a ridiculous amount of options. By comparison: Harvard offers about 40 majors, mit about 50, Princeton just 29 major departments (though 42 certificate programs), yale is up to 80 (but you should note that they up that number by counting classics as 3 different majors depending if you do greek/latin or both).</p>
<p>So the two obvious things to note - 1) you have options, take them! don't restrict yourself to doing one thing because then you wont get the full experience and see what makes columbia absolutely and undeniably one of the greatest places to study. 2) columbia is simulataneously one of the most diverse in terms of academic options and one of the smallest, which means more direct connection with faculty members.</p>
<p>Now here is the reality kicker: between the core and your major, columbia students spend a good 1/2-3/4 of their time taking required courses. It can be a lot. So if you want to be able to take a lot of courses, you should have a few things in mind. you have to think strategically. start taking major courses in what you think you might major in as soon as you get on campus. you of course have time to change your mind, figure out new things, but to make a lot of the exploration manageable, you should get things out of the way. second, columbia doesn't publicize this a lot (oops), but professors and advisors can be flexible, and they are especially flexible with some of the non-core requirements. so an example: a friend of mine was a physics major doing research, and was able to get physics lab and a lot of intro courses waived! </p>
<p>how many classes to take a semester is always a question - if you're not sure, start with 4 get your groove on. but eventually it should be standard to do 5 to 6. more than your peers, but in a sense this frees up space in your schedule that lets you take courses in different departments. if you end up doing this, you can easily finish a major by the end of junior year, and study abroad, and do multiple work internships. for cc the expectation is that you have 124 credits. i think that comes to 15.5 credits a semester. i graduated and know a lot of people who ended up graduating around 150. pushing yourself beyond the norm is a great thing, and lets you come away with college with great stories. there will be good days and bad days, but in the end you'll be fine.</p>
<p>the rest of this post is thoughts on people who can make your life easier:</p>
<p>So the biggest thing to know is that Teaching Assistants are great academic allies. They can run from the very quirky to the very cool, but ultimately they have more in common with you than they do with professors and admins. So ask questions, get advice, make chit chat. And when or if, feel free to ask them to hang out for coffee, shoot the sht. It is a great way to make new friends, often people with a different image of New York than ugrads.</p>
<p>Professors at Columbia care about ugrads. Believe it. But here is something about professors, sometimes they are too smart that they fail in social graces. They will forget your names, they might even confuse you with someone else. They will sometimes appear frazzled, and that is because well they have a lot on their minds. Professors do not do this to be malicious, especially at Columbia. I didnt have a single class I didnt find something redeeming (though my optimism helped), and I found that once you figure out that in their own cute way they really want to know that you have learned something from them, it actually makes dealing with professors very easily. For example profs often get upset that students do not use their office hours. I know, crazy! But these brilliant minds have feelings too, and one thing they like is to be visited, to talk to students, to get an understanding how they are doing as professors.</p>
<p>But a few questions not worth contemplating: dont ask for the easiest class for the sake of it, dont look for a major just because it makes you look better (youre at Columbia, you look great already), dont ask someone to do something for you unless you do something for them (especially recommendations). Often this means being respectful, so if you go to class and speak up, and meet with profs, they are more likely to give you a recommendation. </p>
<p>Grades at Columbia are not worth squabbling over. The vast majority of you will get a grade in the 3.0-4.0 range. God bless inflation, it means that your goal is to learn. So go in knowing that if you do your work, you will be rewarded sufficiently enough. But that isnt enough for going to school at Columbia. It is to take this rather unique and intense intellectual experience and capture it.</p>