<p>Columbia is a university that is dominated by grad students. It's really not the best compared to the other two as far as undergrad is concerned. Also, Columbia has a non-exisant campus. They have one patch of grass that is something like 50ft X 50ft
Stanford>Penn>Columbia for undergrad</p>
<p>Having spent time on all three campuses, I have to say you don't know what you're talking about re Columbia. Columbia's campus is very nice, although not 10,000 acres like "the farm" in Cal. I see you are trying to transfer to NYU, which truly has no campus. I think you might be confused on this point -- or way over the top in your hyperbole.</p>
<p>I went to Columbia undergrad and grad. Campus life is WEAK.</p>
<p>slipper stop going into every single thread on columbia and disparaging the schools social life its ridiculous. OK you didn't like it we got it. I have met so many more people who love the social life--the mix of on campus events, groups, some greek life and all the offerings of NYC. There are parties on campus and bars off campus ect.. </p>
<p>Campus life may be weak compared to Dartmouth but for many people that is not a negative. Are you seriously going to tell me on a friday or saturday night you won't fight campus parties at Columbia and a lot of people doing stuff, because I have never heard that before.</p>
<p>Here's the social life ON CAMPUS-
Go to a frat party and its mostly only people from that frat. Rarely are parties open to everyone. Barely anyone has an off campus apartment so there aren;t house parties. Dorms are on lockdown so no parties in Carman, John Jay, Shapiro, etc besides a few people drinking in a room hoping to not get caught, There are occasional EC, Hogan, or (which are university apartments) parties, but those are hardly amazing and in no way do they carry the schools' social life.</p>
<p>Thursday bars can be fun, Friday is dead, and on Saturday there are a couple of bars active (1020, the heights, havana central every ONCE in a while) but most have closed down over the past few years. That's about it. </p>
<p>If I'm missing something let me know. BTW I work with 7 Columbia alums in my group, and they all say that the y wish the campus social life were more active. Its not a community-driven school. There's no question its campus life is the weakest of the Ivies.</p>
<p>Then again, for sure some people like it. It is cliquey, but many prefer this type of social life. If you are really into something - an ethnic group, music, etc - NY can be fun because it brings more of that scene. Columbia is a far cry from NYU (which has ZERO campus), and does have community for an urban school. But if you are looking for a real campus community- look elsewhere.</p>
<p>Slipper since your PM is full I have some questions I wanted to ask..
I would really appreciate a response.
I did ED to Columbia and I am a pretty social person, who likes to go out and drink. I heard that Carman, which is considered fairly "social" has parties a decent amount, is that not true? How do RAs react if they catch people drinking? Would it be a good idea to rush if you are interested in that kind of life since it seems that it will be hard to have a good fake for Freshman year for the bar scene. If you want to have a good social life do you really need a fake for nearby bars? I always assumed that any college would be social and have a good amount of parties is that not the same with Columbia?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Hey Bescraze,</p>
<p>No prob. I need to clean it! Carman is a fun dorm in that people tend to be much friendlier and there are lots of open doors. You'll get to know your hall, at a minimum, very well. There's lots of late night conversation and general silliness. BY FAR the best Columbia first-year choice IMO. But party wise, its pretty hard to get anything really started in Carman as pretty much every party with more than 10-15 people gets noticed. I probably saw a FEW parties there first year, but mostly pre-gaming before going out to the bars which is the main part of the scene (Thursdays are very active, Fridays dead, Saturdays are hit or miss). RAs might report you, but its slap on the wrist stuff. Most tend to be cool enough to let things slide - a little.</p>
<p>The bars aren;t too strict with IDs, but I would get one soon. Without a doubt the local bars fuel the social life. I think rushing is a good idea, but most people who rush tend to stay active within their own houses. I would do it though for sure. My issue with Columbia frats is that they tend to be insular - i.e. lots more of just brothers hanging out with the door locked outside than the huge parties you find at places like Duke, Penn, Princeton, and Dartmouth with hundreds of people out. But its worth it to join for sure.</p>
<p>Its not that people at Columbia don't party- its college so they definitely do! It just tends to be in a less cohesive way than you'll find at more campus based schools.</p>
<p>great thanks for all the answers!</p>
<p>Hey slipper which grad school did you go to at CU (if you don't mind my asking)</p>
<p>ilovebagels, you're an idiot for suggesting that Michelle got into HLS because of AA. That was unnecessary and you're impressing no one.</p>
<p>On the colleges I'll only talk about Stanford cuz I attend Stanford and am from NJ funny enough. On grades, well like the other two schools, Stanford is pretty grade inflated. As long as you don't take a killer courseload getting a 3.6 should be well within range if you have stats like most CCers who get into Stanford (2250+, near the top of the class). This quarter I'll be getting all A's/A-'s and I partied almost every weekend and spent a quarter of my time playing ping-pong in the lounge. And I'm an engineer. Its not a big deal. People like to ***** about the work but seriously people will ***** about anything I've learned. My friends at the other schools concur. They take care of you as long as you're smart enough to get in. On the distance, I personally think its a bigger deal than I thought it would be. I really miss my family lol. I haven't seen them for about 3 months since I didn't go home for Thanksgiving because the ticket price is outrageous. Its also pretty different here in California and I miss NJ a lot. Not the weather, but just, the ambiance. So yeah, your parents probably know what they're talking about so don't fight them to death over it just tell them you think you are ready for the responsibility of moving far away from home. That being said, Stanford is a really great school with excellent academics. I won't compare it to Penn or Columbia other than all three schools are of the first rank so you can't go wrong with any of them. So definitely apply to all. Good Luck!</p>
<p>At the same time, disregarding its influence completely would render you myopic on a similar level.</p>
<p>amciw, no it wouldn't. For me you'd be innocent until proven guilty. There's little in Michelle's record in public performance to imply that she's not a highly intelligent ambitious woman. Just like if Bush presented himself to the public as a really smart individual no one would imply that he got into Yale because of daddy. Implying that because someone is black AA helped them get admitted is wrong. Seriously guys, the behavior I'm seeing from some on this thread is representative of middle schoolers. Grow up.</p>
<p>Morsmordre what about the history or international relations majors?</p>
<p>I attended Stanford but it was long ago. Still, I've kept up with the general consensus that Stanford is grade inflated, as are many top schools (Princeton, Cornell, Berkeley being exceptions that come immediately to mind).</p>
<p>I can say that as long as you actually do the reading and necessary assigned preparatory work or problem sets, there are very few courses (at most one or two) in which you will ever see a C grade assuming you are in the middle 75% of the accepted applicant pool. This is with a normal 4-6 hours daily of reading and problem sets. No all nighters, at least with reasonable time management. This measns attending class, socializing for 2-3 hours per day during the week, and about half the weekend, Most will never see a C in their four years. While interviewing at Yale, a few of my high school acquaintances whom I saw there could speak of little else than how difficult the load was and how little sleep they got. I can't tell you what a turnoff that was.... Stanford was nothing remotely like that... I almost never heard a complaint -- about anything!</p>
<p>As to law school, they would be looking for 3.5 or above from Stanford, and a high LSAT score, absent other remarkable factors. I would imagine they are looking for about 3.3 or 3.4 and above from Penn or Columbia.</p>
<p>These admissions committees have decades of experience correlating gpas by University and Major with performance at their Law school. There is no short-cut or easy route wrt Law School.</p>
<p>Well I'm neither a history nor IR major but I know they work less than I do lol, idk actually. I would even say to be honest that if you go to almost all your classes you shouldn't have to work more than 3 hours a day outside of class that is to get at least a B assuming you deserve to be there in the first place academically. (Assuming you aren't taking Math 51h, physics 60 series, or any of the primarily premed classes, the last one being a biggie)</p>
<p>DunninLA,</p>
<p>Cornell has grade inflation, especially in AEM. Cornell</a> University Registrar: Median Grades I'd say based on my experience at Northwestern and these median grade reports, there's more grade inflation there than Northwestern in the arts and sciences.</p>
<p>I don't know about Princeton. I vaguely remember they were embarrassed by the grade inflation back in 2001 or something.</p>
<p>i would choose columbia. its academics are strong and its in a great city.</p>
<p>Ow, my hominem... it's been attacked!</p>
<p>Anyway, when it comes to history and IR, all 3 at the undergraduate level will serve you equally well.</p>
<p>It should be noted that even though Columbia has a grad school dedicated to IR (SIPA) Columbia doesn't actually have an IR major per se. You'd have to major in Political science, mixing in area studies, econ, etc.</p>
<p>I found Penn's to be particularly appealing because it offered the broadest range of IR coursework thanks to the Wharton school, which offers IR-centric classes (multinational management, global finance, globalization history, etc) that count towards the IR major. Similar synergies exist for Penn undergrads with the Annenberg school of Communications and Public Policy and Penn's Law School.</p>
<p>But really, you can't go wrong with any of them. And if you can get into even one of them, then you get a high five! ;)</p>
<p>bumpbumpbump</p>