<p>so right now, i'm going back and forth between Penn and Columbia.</p>
<p>i know both schools are equally great academically, so it's ultimately going to come down to which school is the better fit. i'm going to visit both Penn and Columbia obviously, but in your opinion, how do they compare in terms of social life and general campus atmosphere?</p>
<p>anybody??? i’m sure at least some of you guys know about either of these schools.</p>
<p>Penn is more of a “campus” campus if you will. Whereas, Columbia is very much an urban campus. I know that sounds odd given they both are located in urban areas, but Columbia does not have the same type of typical campus experience. It is as much about NYC as it is about Columbia, whereas at Penn students immerse themselves in the campus experience. Personally, I would opt for Columbia, but its more about preference.</p>
<p>I would have typed vociferous’ statement word-for-word. Except where saying “personally, I would opt for Penn”</p>
<p>I will say that Penn students DO take advantage of Philadelphia. I liked the Philly-Penn dynamic for the “goldilocks” reason.</p>
<p>No city is too small, NYC is too big (for college) and Philly is juuuust right.</p>
<p>NYC is a bigger and better city, no doubt. But for me that’s why I didn’t want to go there for college. It would drain the energy and focus from campus life and all the gloriously stupid shenanigans that happen there ;). I figure I have my whole life to do the NYC thing, but college is just 4 short years (or 5 if you get a bad case of mono like yours truly).</p>
<p>I think the ideal is Penn for undergrad and Columbia for grad school (when it comes to grad school, there is no place I’d rather go than Columbia, with the possible exception of Harvard)</p>