<p>So, how numerous and often do good parties show up at Columbia? Do a lot of kids get involved with them? Also, how dominate is Greek life at the school?</p>
<p>It is pretty insular. Not much fun compared to other schools, and the scene is pretty small. I would say Columbia has the worst party scene of all the Ivies. People go downtown after freshmen year. If you want parties go to Penn, Dartmouth, or Princeton.</p>
<p>Judging from his past posts, slipper is very biased against the Columbia social life (or supposed lack thereof), so remember that when you consider his opinion.</p>
<p>I'm a prefrosh but I've been to Columbia four or five times, and not just for admitted students days. From what I've heard and experienced there are numerous dorm parties, some frat parties (though it's true that they seem to be less of a focus than at other schools), and plenty of opportunities to play beer pong. The difference between Columbia and other schools is that it offers variety for people who don't want to head out to a kegger every Saturday night. And I think it's definitely possible to spend every weekend in the dorm drinking with your friends but it's also an option to go out and enjoy all the other things to do (besides getting drunk) that Columbia and the city have to offer. campusdirt.com is a fun site for questions like this -- but it's not always an accurate resource because the people who are REALLY partying it up and having a good time are probably too busy having fun to write about it.</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm a little biased too, and I do have every intention of drinking and partying at Columbia... but I also want to explore the city and go to restaurants, concerts, fancy department stores, museums, comedy clubs, art galleries, slam poetry events, coffee houses, open-mic nights... any of the millions of fun, social things you can do every night in the city that you can't do on a regular basis anywhere else. But I also realize you asked about parties and I'm rambling on about what there is to do BESIDES party. Hahaha...</p>
<p>Uhh, there's other places to get drunk/party other than at the campus. I live in NYC and almost every Saturday night I go barhopping or to clubs. Some even have discounted covers for students.</p>
<p>Sure there are "parties" if you mean going out to bars and paying for drinks. But for someone who loves a circuit around a campus full of their friends are going to be very disappointed. The dorm parties are small and are much less common than at most of the other Ivies. the frat scene is very insular, you'll only see widely attended campus wide parties a couple times a year. Go visit Penn, Dartmouth, or Brown on a random weekend then visit Columbia. You'll see what I mean. Its totally different.</p>
<p>slipper: If you lead such a great life at your new school, why do you post (ahem, troll) so much through your school year? On college confidential, no less? On a school's board which you no longer even attend? Your posts are completely useless to this board, except to slightly irritate a few others; your information is usually coloured by bitterness rather than by fact. Perhaps you need a new hobby- even if that means trolling instead for the school that you <em>do</em> attend?</p>
<p>Alright, so I guess I'm not getting a very accurate take on this yet, except that Greek life isn't too big of a deal.</p>
<p>Is it just that no one at the campus is putting forth effort to get everyone to party, or the kids there jsut really dont want to?</p>
<p>I could not agree more with suburbamania. i'm actually not at columbia either, I was wait listed, than short listed and am attending uc berkeley in the fall...but i've noticed the same trend.</p>
<p>if you hate the school so much, why would you spend even one minute on these boards? it just doesn't make much sense!</p>
<p>If I were you, I'd brag about Dartmouth in the DARTMOUTH boards. </p>
<p>On the topic posted by the OP, I think everyone knows Columbia is a very unique college experience. At this point, you've commited to attending based on a variety of reasons, and hopefully have taken this unique experience to heart. You will have an amazing time as a Lion, frat party or no frat party. </p>
<p>GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>I just graduated from grad school at Columbia actually. My intention isn't to bring down Columbia and for some its the perfect fit. But trying to sell it as a party school is ridiculous. Columbia's location does come at an expense to its community, anyone who thinks they are going to find the same school spirit and parties compared to the other Ivies is just mistaken. I've spent three years of my life here, its not even close to a party school. The reason no one parties together are a few reasons.</p>
<p>1) Columbia is in NYC, which means less student owned social space. First year dorms are ruled with an iron fist, have a party and you WILL get busted. Its not like other places where you can just play music and people come to your party. </p>
<p>2) Upperclassmen venture into the city, whereas at other schools in many ways they support the social scene (they are over 21, have houses, etc). </p>
<p>3) Being in NYC means students are more cliquey. Imagine "club zamana" having a party for Indians downtown. That whole population will go there. It also adds to Columbia's cliqueyness.</p>
<p>I have always said columbia is social for an urban school, but its far from a party school.</p>
<p>notice, however, the difference in extremity between your most recent post and your first. in the first, columbia is labeled as "pretty insular" and "not much fun." in the post directly above, you argue that columbia is not a party school. point taken in that regard, but the other statements are far too strong. columbia is a serious school in a serious city--if that's too much for you to handle, then save columbia for grad school or just don't go period. no need to continue knocking the school, as it seems rather presumptuous to assume your experience with the school is the same as everyone else's. granted, it's not a rah rah we all love each other kind of school, and sometimes it can be tough because of that. in the end, though, the fact that columbia/nyc offer such a wide variety "social experiences" means that it's pretty hard to get bored. i believe, in the interest of providing a complete and accurate picture for incoming students, that if you're going to continue to preach the "columbia's cliquey insular etc etc" thing, you shouldn't neglect to mention the many positive things that replace the weekly frat parties which dominate the social scene at a schools like dartmouth.</p>
<p>Brostrad, I could not agree with you more regarding Columbia being a serious school in a serious city. But for some one who posts "Parties!!!" I assume they are talking about the Columbia party scene which isn't that active. The NYC party scene is very active and of course Columbia students party in NYC all the time. Its not campus based though (although far more so than a place like NYU!)</p>
<p>damn, students never show up at the same parties or clubs in NYC?</p>
<p>No they go to the same clubs sometimes, but its more cliquey. Like a frat will have a party at a club, but mostly it will just be the guys in that frat and then the girls that hang out with them. Or it will be a minority group and a bunch of their friends. In no way is Columbia not a fun school, but the fun is more cliquey and less focused on the campus. The West End is the one exception, but its mostly underclassmen and its hit or miss. On some nights its the best party scene in NYC, other nights its totally empty.</p>