One things been bugging me.... (Denzera, Columbia2002)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>So, I'm trying to decide between Princeton and Columbia... I don't want to go at lengths about what I like/dislike about each university, but I really like Columbia (it has been on the top of my list since the beginning of J high. </p>

<p>However, I'm worried about one thing: Administration. Not for the undergrads as a whole, but for incoming freshmen in particular. I know that at Columbia, there's no hand holding and special attention. But how are they at helping you transition into the campus, workload, class registration, housing, etc? Is there some sort of support, or are you left stranded, running around and asking seniors for advice? Also, does being a scholar (Kluge) help in terms of more/better advising?</p>

<p>Please, Columbia students/parents, inform me on this! Thank you very much! </p>

<p>p.s. Added Denzera and Columbia2002 because I see you two are experts at Columbia :p</p>

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<p>resources at columbia:</p>

<p>1) student advisor: center for student advising gives you a single advisor for all four years, if you are a kluge scholar, your advisor will come from the scholar’s office. you will meet with this person the week of orientation, they will help you devise plans for what to do, tell you most likely not to ‘strain’ yourself during the first semester. unlike other advisors, the scholar’s office folks will probably be more involved in your daily life because this office also puts on the scholar events, so you’ll see them every few weeks. this means they will get to know you well, and it isn’t as if you need to seek them out, you’ll see them around rather frequently.</p>

<p>2) resident advisors: every floor will have at least one RA, this person used to just be the person on the floor, but columbia has sort of changed it to make it so that RAs are more qualified to give advice and support, and they go through training. beyond the fact that they are just upperclassmen who have been there before.</p>

<p>3) orientation leaders: they range from super helpful to not, but ostensibly their job is during the first week of campus to a) help you move into your room, b) help you navigate campus for the week’s events, c) give you someone to talk to who can share their experience.</p>

<p>4) other advisors…the number grows depending on what you want to do. there are folks at the center for career education there to help you for internships, student group advisors if you are either part of a club or want to be part of one, the academic success program if you perhaps are in need of a tutor.</p>

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<p>your advisor will keep track of your progress, if you’re not doing well, they’ll ask to see you, but otherwise it is pretty hands off. i’ve seen students who get into some trouble, and the advisors certainly can act as a safety net (but you have to fall pretty far for this), but for the most part they trust you are just a student adjusting to college and life in the city.</p>

<p>for the most party 80% of the things you learn will come from someone you meet, an upperclassmen, a rather precocious first-year, the kid next to you in class. and all this information is more than enough to help you transition.</p>

<p>for me it took about a week or two before i felt like i knew what was going on relatively well. i lived in the LLC so i had a large number of sophomores and juniors that helped out, and that made the experience pretty easy to adjust to, they took me under their wings and i enjoyed myself.</p>

<p>and the first thing to know: college seems more daunting than it is. you are very prepared for it. and you might think somehow that you are the only one freaking out, but everyone else is too, when you open up about it, and feel comfortable asking the resources columbia has - it is very easy to adjust.</p>

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<p>Orientation seems very well prepared, especially in terms of preparing students for classes and college life in general. There are special events, meetings with advisors, OLs and RAs can help out, etc. My only problem is that the administration handholding/school spirit faded one week after orientation.</p>

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<p>Tough choice. You cannot go wrong.</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone (I forgot about you, admissionsgeek. I would have put your name in the subject, haha)…</p>

<p>Epaminondas, can you elaborate on what you mean by the administration handholding/school spirit fading one week after orientation?</p>

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<p>It really depends. The people who are there for you may be helpful, competent, available, useful, etc. – or they may not be. It’s not that you’re left stranded; you’re just responsible for yourself in the end. Nobody’s your mommy and truly cares about you and is watching over you as your guardian angel to make sure you get what you need. And you have to navigate the support system to figure out who can help you get what you need.</p>

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<p>No.</p>

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<p>This is a bit starry-eyed. Some advisors are lazy, incompetent, give you blatantly wrong information, etc. Many RAs are just in it for the free housing and/or are too busy with their own lives/classes/problems to baby you. You may get a helpful advisor/RA, or you may not. The point is that you can’t depend on having a helpful one.</p>

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<p>OP, don’t get me wrong (or it could be just me being unclear). During orientation, you’re made to feel very special, as a part of Columbia (blah blah). That feeling and atmosphere rubs off very quickly after classes start, and you’re just one person in this huge Columbia community (it’s just that you get no more special treatment after the coverage of that Orientation Fee). You tell me if being treated like a graduate or GS student by the admin feels good.</p>

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<p>Based on the reports of *****ty advisors from my fellow non-scholar classmates I’m inclined to say Yes. First of all you get the same person for four years. And i have the feeling they know more (tho I’ve only been there once).</p>

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<p>I have heard bad things about Columbia’s upper-level administration (the head honchos) but good things about their advising system from family on campus. Isn’t there something called “LionShare” which is like a set of classified ads for internships targeted at Columbia students by prospective employers?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the information, everyone! This has been very enlightening. </p>

<p>And, just for the record, when I asked the question, I wasn’t expecting to be baby’d at Columbia. I was simply inquiring whether Columbia provides a supportive living and learning environment to its incoming freshmen, as well as all of its other students. Specifically, I wanted to know whether Columbia takes care of its students as an Ivy League higher ed. institution should, relative to peer institutions.</p>

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<p>i think you’ll definitely find folks like C02 with an older view of columbia will push a rather (and frankly true at the time) negative image of columbia and its treatment of students.</p>

<p>its probably late to the game, but doing quite well at the task at this point. there has been a lot of investment in enhancing advising, resources, and reconceptualizing the student experience (which has come with some pretty notable new hires across the board). and i can say from an alum perspective every event or email chain i participate on is with this singular interest in mind, how to improve the resources so that students feel they have more resources.</p>

<p>in the end knowing folks in student affairs, columbia will always want to keep the relatively handholding-less environment of columbia, so you wont see the kumbaya initiatives of other schools, but there certainly is an interest for students to have more visibility of resources and people they can talk to if something is wrong.</p>

<p>i can’t say its perfect (yet), but its ever on the way.</p>

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<p>For what it’s worth, my younger son, a first-year at Columbia, is ecstatic with his choice. As a kid who grew up in an upper-middle class suburb thousands of miles from NYC, with a stay-at-home mom who spent most of his years volunteering in his school, he was essentially spoon-fed his entire life before college. He has had no trouble adapting to the “dog-eat-dog” world of Columbia. If you are the self-starter that Columbia attracts, you won’t have any trouble either.</p>