Rumors about Columbia University?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>I can't tell if these comments on the site below is true, but they are seriously making me reconsider Columbia University, even though it has been a dream school since my freshmen year. Could you browse through the comments in the website and see if the negative comments are true or not (especially for engineering)?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.s%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.s&lt;/a> tudentsreview.com/NY/CU_comments.html</p>

<p>(ignore the space between the s and the t. They turn into stars for some reason if I post this with all the letters together. Please consider this...)</p>

2

<p>The merits of that website are dubious at best. If you do have reservations about attending Columbia, I would suggest speaking to actual students rather than trusting an opaque and anonymous message board.</p>

3

<p>I understand the desire—no, compulsion—to seek out as much information as possible about the school that’s your top choice, and I have to say I’m impressed that you’re such a diligent researcher you can find truly obscure sources about the university, but the comments on that site are absolute ********.</p>

<p>I mean, are you really going to trust someone who writes: </p>

<p>"The name of the university and its location were the reasons that made me choose Columbia. 3 weeks after the beginning of my freshman year I realized that I have done a terrible mistake.</p>

<p>As my counselor told me; engineering should not be studied in an Ivy League school just because it is a label. I wish I have preferred another school I was admitted to such as Stanford, Cornell or even USC. Engineering in Columbia is totally trash and useless."</p>

<p>Sorry, but I think the atrocious grammar of that comment is telling. If it’s simply a result of carelessness, then you have to consider how serious the commenter must be if they’re unwilling to even read over their comment before submitting it. If they truly believed that it was imperative to keep people away from Columbia, wouldn’t they have bothered to make their writing intelligible?</p>

<p>If it’s the case that the commenter—despite being at an Ivy League school—has atrocious grammar, then you should consider whether their experience at Columbia can really be generalized for other students. Pay attention to what they’re saying: they chose Columbia entirely because of its prestige and location in New York and now believe they would have received a better engineering education at USC. That’s an unusual perspective. It doesn’t mean it’s not valid for that specific individual (who, if I had to guess, I’d assume was an international student), but it suggests it’s probably not valid for all, or even most, of the other students at Columbia, particularly those in CC.</p>

<p>As tsar said, it’s an anonymous, disorganized collection of comments. You shouldn’t take it that seriously.</p>

4

<p>Thank you! My negative doubts have been completely erased. I should learn to discern good information from the bad. Sorry!</p>

5

<p>Your experience at any intstitution will be a mix of expectations. It is the things that are out of your control that you will have to learn to tolerate. Beauracracy, class availability, expenses, housing and the competitve atmosphere; these are the things that you have to make sure don’t drag you down.</p>

<p>Just make sure you do the things that are in your control that will help make it a positive stay. Attempt to take courses that will stimulate you. Attempt to make friends that are compatible with your personality. Explore those aspects of the city that appeal to you and above all take care of your health, both mental and physical. Do these things and you’ll be happy.</p>

6

<p>I’m a graduate student and a TA at Columbia who also works in res life. So I have only viewed this from those perspectives, and not as an undergrad.</p>

<p>However, I WILL say that I agree with them that the administration simply does not care. Columbia is a bureaucratic nightmare. Any honest Columbia student, grad or undergrad, will tell you that. I would say most of the time, it doesn’t directly affect you.</p>

<p>I will also say that as a TA who went to, and dreams of teaching at, a small liberal arts college, I do have some reservations about student education and teaching here especially at the lower levels. I try to be as connected and helpful to my students as possible as a TA but I will say that the professors have varied in how much they care about pedagogy and reaching out to students. I’ve never found it to be as good as it is at the small liberal arts college I attended. In the interest of honesty, I would say that there’s at least a kernel of truth in the idea that the professors here are aloof and have a less-than-interested attitude in undergraduate education. I think in some ways, the professors do kind of leave students to fend for themselves. However, I only have experience in one department.</p>

<p>The accusation that “116th Street is far from civilization” is so absurd it’s laughable. The lack of safety in the area is greatly exaggerated, and I think has more to do with myths about Harlem dredged up from 1970s New York than actual experiences. Notice how everyone has a “friend of a friend” who got mugged/raped/attacked, and it’s never happened to anyone themselves.</p>

<p>You WILL NOT walk across campus and “see the bodies of the students who had jumped out of the windows…” That person is blatantly lying. However, I will say in my experience working as a TA and in residence life…Columbia students are unusually stressed out. I don’t really know what it is - whether it’s the environment, their backgrounds, a combination of both or something else entirely. But I get the sense - from talking to students and responding to crises - that a lot of students (not all, not most, but a lot) feel isolated and lonely here, and feel a constant need to compete with their classmates that eventually overwhelms them. For example, in all three of the classes I TAed the professors have graded on a curve - I found out it’s our departmental standard, so that a certain percentage of students get As and no more. That DOES put students in indirect competition with one another. The students ARE a little obsessive over grades, but I sympathize with them.</p>

<p>So I’d say there’s a mix of truth and blatant lies in some of those reviews. Talking honestly to my undergrads, they will always describe some aspect of Columbia they don’t like. But I have yet to meet someone who regrets coming here or who completely hates it. On the contrary, most of my undergrads seem to be quite happy with their experiences here.</p>

7

<p>I think that “116th Street is far from civilization” is exaggerated. However, consider the fact that students feel tethered to the tremendous weight of work at all times. Academics is different from a job in that the former can be completed anywhere and anytime. Furthermore, taking 5 classes means that students are constantly behind on their work. Between classes, activities, and job-finding, it means that it can be difficult to coordinate a group of even 3-4 students to go out and do something. </p>

<p>I’ve had semesters where I had a midterm in 8 weeks out of the 13 week semester. Add on problem sets, labs, a part-time job, and activities. It means that I didn’t have much of a chance to socialize and invest in lunch or dinner with friends let alone go out to New York City. Sure, the glimmering lights are right there, but do I really have 4-5 hours to go downtown, especially since I’ll be spending 2 of those hours on the subway?</p>

8

<p>Also, I feel that undergraduates tend to put up a wall towards other students and professors. As a sophomore or junior, I wasn’t going say that I disliked this place to my acquaintances let alone someone who was affiliated with this university and had control over my grade. My candor was limited to shrugging my shoulders and wistfully saying that this place is okay.</p>

<p>However, there were 2 students on my floor junior year who had both taken 1 year off from university. They were the only ones who said they hated this place. While I appreciated their bluntness, I was hesitant to seem that negative, especially when everyone else was so “happy” here. One year on, as a senior who has matured a little bit, I answer “Glad to be leaving” as the other students nod in solidarity and hang their heads in regret.</p>

9

<p>“As a sophomore or junior, I wasn’t going say that I disliked this place to my acquaintances let alone someone who was affiliated with this university and had control over my grade.”</p>

<p>Really? I find that *****ing about Columbia (and even trying to change it) is one of Columbians’ favorite past times. You’ve seen the Bwog comments and the Student Wellness Project; people are happy to say they hate Columbia, even as they love certain aspects of it.</p>

10

<p>With the anonymity of an online forum, I’d express my feelings about Columbia openly. However, in person, especially to acquaintances or strangers, I’d be much more hesitant about openly complaining about the university. When was the last time that someone who you saw occasionally confided in you that they hated their time here or went on a rant about this place? Perhaps, they said 1 or 2 snide comments about the administration ****ing them for an event they were hosting, but nothing to the magnitude necessary to discern true dislike for this place.</p>

11

<p>Why does everybody hate the Columbia administration so much?</p>

12

<p>@kpackett Just Google “War on fun columbia.”</p>