<p>Fine, you want answers?</p>
<p>1. Who does the teaching?
Professors do lectures and seminars. In large lecture classes you'll also have a recitation section taught by a TA, who is usually a grad student, and in those you get the chance to ask more specific questions in a smaller more friendly setting.</p>
<p>2. What do faculty expect of students?
Hard work. For analytical (math/science) courses, weekly problem sets and 1-2 midterms + final. For literature/history type courses, a few research papers (or the equivalent) and a midterm+final. There's no expectation that you come to office hours, but you'll find them very helpful.</p>
<p>3. Does the school have good faculty people across the board?
Yes. </p>
<p>Good faculty people? What were you expecting, "no, all the professors are ****. they keep hiring hobos off the street"?</p>
<p>4. In what ways do faculty challenge students to leave their comfort zone in order to excel?
You're expected to take responsibility for your own education. Nobody's going to hold your hand. If you want to challenge yourself, the challenges are there and are plentiful. If you want to try something new, and you need to work to keep up at it, there's lots of support - but you have to go and find it. You have to go to office hours, you have to study with friends, you have to seek out TAs or go to the physics helproom or buy a book to supplement your textbook. Nobody's going to force you to leave your comfort zone (except the core classes), so with that exception you have to take responsibility for yourself.</p>
<p>5. What is the learning atmosphere? Is learning the concern, or are grades? Is there intense competition for grades?
There's intense competition for grades, but in my experience it's mostly self-focused, i.e. people measure themselves against their own standards of what they should be getting. There's no backstabbing each other in curved classes, it's highly cooperative if you want it to be.</p>
<p>Grades are an indicator of learning - this isn't some high school assessment test like the Regents. If you can get a good grade in a class, it's because you've learned a whole lot. The two are intertwined. Bad question.</p>
<p>6. How much time do students spend on homework each week?
I'd say the average student studies 2-3 hours a night during the week (which includes reading), and puts a lot of time in on Sundays, maybe 5-6 hours and up. thursday, friday and saturday nights, most people don't do a lot of work, or if they do it's a rare circumstance. during midterms and finals time, there'll be more work across the board.</p>
<p>7. What types of assignments are given (papers, exams, problem sets, rehearsals, research projects, etc.)?
All of the above. Depends on the class. Dumb question.</p>
<p>8. How much writing is expected?
Depends on your major. I was an applied math major in the engineering school, I had to do 4 papers for University Writing freshman year, 4 papers across 2 semesters for Lit Hum, and then voluntarily signed up for History of NYC and did a research paper there. But other than that my classes were problem sets and exams.</p>
<p>9. How much reading is assigned per class?
Depends on the class. Lit Hum and CC (contemporary civ) are the cornerstones of the core curriculum and involve a long reading list of fiction and nonfiction, respectively. For each of those classes I was reading 300-400 pages per week. There's a lot of complex philosophy and political thought in CC, so that goes by slower.</p>
<p>10. What are exams like? Do the professors give essay or multiple-choice exams?
Depends on the class. Multiple choice is very rare though. Most of the time it's either essay (for a liberal arts class) or "solve this problem, show your work, and give an answer" (math/science class) or short answer to prove you understand a concept (any class).</p>
<p>11. Is there an honor code that condemns cheating?
Uh, yes, but there's no ritual involved with it. Get caught and you're ****ed. There's a disciplinary committee. Why are you asking this?</p>
<p>12. In what ways are students given the opportunity to express themselves creatively in assignments?
Analytical classes: Get the right answer, foo. If you can do so elegantly, all the better, but you still just get full credit. Interpretive classes (literature, history, cultures, etc): write a well-thought-out paper or essay on an interesting subject.</p>
<p>Dumb question.</p>
<p>13. What types of tutors or tutoring opportunities exist on campus?
Lots. Both internal to the school (doesn't pay so well) and off-campus, tutoring underprivileged kids (may not pay at all), or rich kids who want some smartass columbia student to help them (can pay very well - $50 is not unheard-of).</p>
<p>14. Does every senior have to write a thesis or do some major project as a capstone of his college experience?
No. Although plenty do.</p>
<p>15. Is this a demanding or an easy place?
This question is like Rockefeller's yacht. How much does it cost? Well, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. Similarly, if you have to ask whether this is an easy school, it may not be the right place for you. </p>
<p>Most every columbia student I know relishes the intensity level and the challenge that columbia poses. They may b*tch about it occasionally but deep down most of them love it. If you have to ask, you're probably not like that.</p>