<p>I honestly thought I'd never be fortunate enough to make this choice--I consider myself extremely lucky to get acceptance letters from these two amazing colleges and more, especially when I went through a nasty early round just last year. Although I know this is a choice I should make on my own, I simply cannot choose--and being an international student it'd be a bit difficult for me to actually visit these colleges before matriculation.</p>
<p>I'm a Humanities girl--possibly a English Literature/Comparative Literature major possibly going to law school (so maintaining a stellar GPA would still be important for me whilst in college). I'd much rather go to a school I can mingle fun with academics.</p>
<p>Yes, prestige does matter a little, but I am inclined to believe both colleges are more or less equally prestigious. Both seem to have top tier English Departments (Columbia's more of a "humanities" school", but Stanford has its almost exclusive creative writing programs) I love making friends; I'm not big on sports but school spirit does matter. I'm confident I can cope with any kind of environment, urban or otherwise. </p>
<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Lol, I have almost the same choice to make! (Dartmouth vs Stanford vs Duke vs Brown vs Columbia) :D</p>
<p>Ok, let’s break this down:</p>
<p>For Humanities - Columbia
School Spirit - Stanford
Not big on sports - Columbia</p>
<p>Try visiting. I’ll be visiting most of my colleges next week and hopefully that’ll help. 
Good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Do you prefer or think you would prefer CA weather over NY weather?</p>
<p>One of the big differences is the surrounding community. Columbia is an urban school surrounded by New York City. Does that appeal to you or do you prefer the suburban feel that you will get at Stanford?</p>
<p>Columbia offers a creative writing major. Whether you’re interested in this or not, it speaks to the level of the creative writing opportunities available at Columbia (never mind the accessibility of publishing houses and literary magazines). But I’ll admit that Stanford’s CW opportunities are excellent as well, and that both schools are very strong in the humanities. Their vibes, however, are extremely different: Stanford strikes me as exceedingly sports-centered, with a prevailing “healthy living” attitude that contributes to more of an entrepreneurial spirit; Columbia, on the other hand, has less of a campus culture, since kids are more likely to head off-campus for fun than hang out on the quad. Consider the campuses too–sprawling and contained versus compact and open to an entire city.</p>
<p>Hi- I am familiar with both due to relatives attending and my visiting. They were also good about giving their opinions.</p>
<p>The major may or may not make a difference- a CW major versus a more comprehensive major with opportunities for CW. This level of university has world class faculty so there is no wrong answer for academics. </p>
<p>My understanding at Columbia is that the students tend to be more independent, go off on their own types 'cause there isn’t much of a campus so the cohesive feel isn’t there.</p>
<p>The Stanford experience seems to revolve around dorm life and there is lots of social opportunities which bond the students and the school. Sports enthusiasm if you want it and plenty of other things to be enthused about if you don’t.</p>
<p>Great choices! </p>
<p>I am a west girl, went east to visit schools- Columbia and NYU were just not for me! NYC overwhelmed me. I have some eastern considerations that are not in as big a place as NYC and trying to determine if they are a fit. Otherwise I will stay west and enjoy the sunshine and amazing opportunities at S. Wish you the best!</p>
<p>Have you been in NYC ? If you think you will to become a great writer one day, go to Columbia and enjoy the city life fully in the next 4 best years of your life
Stanford if you think you just want to become an English teacher one day, or if you have an urgent need of being in a super safe environment :)</p>