<p>My daughter, a recruited athlete, received a likely letter to Columbia ED about a week ago. A few questions:
1. Do athletes get treated differently from non-athletes, by professors? other students?
2. Do athletes usually befriend other athletes, or do they usually have a mixed group of friends?
3. How much more difficult is it to balance their workload?</p>
<p>I can’t speak on treatment by professors but my D lives in Carman surrounded by quite a few athletes and they definitely intermingle. She is not a D1 athlete at Columbia but has several friends who are on various teams. I think the athletes do spend lots of time with their teams (obviously) but also have other friends. They need to balance practices with homework/studying so that will be a challenge but all students there have a lot of work and balance it with other activities, clubs, etc.</p>
<p>Everything is quite intermingled, but obviously athletes will be spending a lot of time with their teammates at workouts. Most of the time other students and professors have no idea who the athletes are. The balancing act will be the same at any school you attend, however you must remember Columbia is quite academic. </p>
<ol>
<li>Not really, I have athlete friends. And I’m not athletic at all. </li>
<li>Mixed group of friends, but athletes do bond just like any other college.</li>
<li>The workload is challenging but there are resources to help. I’m not so sure exactly how much more difficult it is though.</li>
</ol>
<p>Students at Columbia in the heart of NYC typically find loads of friends of all kinds throughout the city, and endless opportunities for activities and interests to flourish besides hanging with the athletes. I’m sure she will make great friends with other athletes and enjoy exploring the city with them, but she can easily venture outside that circle to whatever extent she wants, both on and off campus. </p>
<p>I’m not sure one can really generalize across all students. Athletes can certainly hang out mostly with other athletes if they want, but it’s also easy to have a mix of friends. My son, not an athlete, has athlete and non-athlete friends. Balancing workload can be a challenge for any student. Athletes obviously devote time to their sport, but non-athletes typically have substantial extra-curriculars too (my son does). But if they made it to Columbia, they generally are able to find a way. I remember the advice that the Dean gave parents at freshman convocation: “trust your student”. </p>
<p>With respect to mommyrocks’ comment about exploring the city, there again you can’t generalize. My son, who grew up in NYC and likes to wander the city, is sometimes amazed at how much he has to twist arms to get his friends to wander off campus. Though they’re typically glad they did. There’s a lot going on outside campus (though a lot going on at the campus as well).</p>