Hi! I am a senior applying to Columbia University Class of 2021.
For the prospective applicants and for those who are currently enrolled at Columbia: What are the specific things at Columbia that make you fall in love with the place? And what are the things that you specifically dislike at Columbia?
I want to create this post, since I have read a lot of other “Why Columbia” posts and essays and they all say pretty generic stuff that is not really specific.
When I was on the science tour in particular, the tour guide started to talk about all of the things that the professors have been accomplishing and researching on campus (one of which was finding a way to inject hormones into the body to reduce the genetic mutations for diseases/sickness/cancer to be able to cure them without using medicine). When I heard this, I was completely astonished and realized that I too wanted to be working so closely with professors and literally solving world problems. I also loved the fact that they let you start research virtually immediately and will fund any research you want to conduct. My tour guide was paid to research in London for an entire semester (plus no cost for the trip either).
I also wanted to mention that the atmosphere on campus did not seem really pressuring or competitive. It just seemed like a motivating place where every single student was in love with what they were studying.
Another thing I like was the coffee shop haha and the fact that its in NYC (pretty generic wouldn’t mention this in an essay but still).
I’m sure there are more things but I can’t remember them haha
-Cold, competitive atmosphere (NYC kind of permeates the social ethos at the school).
-Professors, particularly the more distinguished ones, come off as indifferent towards undergrads and more interested in their research.
-It’s easy to drift away from entrenched social groups because NYC has so much to offer.
-Discernable lack of school spirit.
-Related to the foregoing point. The lack of school spirit stems from, in part, an utter disinterest in our sports teams.
Likes:
-Simply walking around campus makes you feel smart. (Socrates, Plato, Aristophanes, et al. are literally etched onto Butler Library.
-Butler Library (great/cozy places to study abound.)
-Awesome TAs (some snarky TAs who are not awesome)
-Incredibly rich learning environment (lectures can be fascinating, discussion sections with the right group can be really interesting).
-You feel proud to go here.
-Easy access to the 1 train which takes all the way down Broadway.
-Barnard girls (they’re smart, and add a different flavor to the community).
-Diversity.