Hi everyone, I was lucky enough to be accepted into both Stanford and Columbia and now have a tough choice ahead of me. Any advice would be hugely appreciated.
I want to be a journalist, and wish to major in political science. Most of my classes would be focused around poli-sci and possibly some philosophy/English.
My main priorities are:
-Good quality of teaching/lectures etc.
-Possible job/internship/connections options (perhaps NYC is better for this?)
-Strength of the departments that I’m interested in (political science, philosophy, English)
First, I’d say it depends where you’re from. If you’re from NY or Northeast region I’d say go to Stanford. If you’re from Cali or the west coast id say head to the big apple. If you’re from the south or mid west it can go either way.
Second, take a look at the rankings to your respected majors. Columbia has a stellar journalism program (hell, they invented the Pulitzer Prize!!). Yet Stanford’s poli sci program is phenomenal! Which, to be honest, is how almost ALL their programs are. Which brings me to my final point…
…lastly, pick the school that will offer you MORE than just a degree. While Columbia is in NY and that is super sexy (which you won’t be able to afford to live as a student, btw), its rankings, job opportunities, network and connections don’t even come CLOSE (and I mean CLOSE) to Stanford!!
Let me put it in perspective for you: its basically a mid tier Ivy League school (on par with Penn but lets be honest its not Harvard, Yale or Princeton) vs a world-recognized top 3 school in the world whose alumni has founded Amazon, Google, Nike and I can keep going. And - keep this in mind - is always compared to schools like Harvard, MIT or Cambridge.
So with that being said…I’d go with Stanford if I were you. And before you ask…no did not not go to Stanford nor Columbia. hahaha.
I’m from Australia actually! So the location isn’t a big thing haha.
But that’s super helpful. The last thing I should say is: I probably want to work in New York someday. Would job opportunities there be easier to come by if I studied at Columbia?
As far as strength of departments, both are excellent. Stanford arguably more prestigious overall, but not in any significant way. For another major I’d probably pick Stanford, but for journalism, I’d pick Columbia simply to be in NYC and the opportunities that could provide.
Hmm ok. I’ve also heard that Columbia undergraduate students suffer a bit as a result of the school’s post-grad focus - does anyone have any thoughts on this?
This is a little bit silly, and not really true. I am not a huge fan of rankings, but Stanford and Columbia are comparable on most rankings of colleges. They are tied for #4 at USNWR and a few places apart on the Forbes rankings (Stanford is at #3 and Columbia is at #15. That seems like a lot until you realize that there are 2,000 four-year colleges in the U.S., and Stanford and Columbia are both in the top 1% according to Forbes). The networking and connections are very comparable - Stanford undoubtedly has better connections in high tech, but in other fields they’re about the same. (I have also found any divisions between the 8 Ivy League universities to be somewhat absurd, as all of them are excellent universities and it seems like the most precise kind of hair-splitting). Columbia is also usually compared to Harvard, MIT, and Stanford.
Also, Jeff Bezos didn’t go to Stanford - he went to Princeton. The two founders of Nike didn’t go to Stanford, either; both went to the University of Oregon. Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to Stanford for graduate school, but Page went to Michigan for undergrad and Brin went to Maryland.
You really can’t go wrong choosing between these universities, OP, so it all comes down to experience and location. Do you want to be in New York or Palo Alto? Which of the student bodies calls out to you? Do you prefer the campus or experience of either?
I have heard this before. I went to graduate school at Columbia, and frankly that’s the impression I got - the university really seems like a great place to be a graduate student but a so-so place to be an undergrad. However, most of the undergrads I talked to didn’t necessarily feel that way. I think it’s maybe a comparative thing - I went to a small LAC for undergrad because I was looking for personal attention from professors. But if you don’t really desire that kind of environment then Columbia probably suits you just fine.
