<p>Im getting recruited to Columbia and I was wondering what it is like being a student-athlete at Columbia. Is it very stressful with the workload? Is there free time for fun and stuff? Also, how is the social scene like at Columbia? </p>
<p>Congratulations.
The process for a student-athlete is the same as everyone else. No special treatment, and at the end of the day your grades requirements is the only priority, everything else comes second.
Fun? Hello , its NYC…PARTY AT YOUR OWN RISK. - However, if you flung, YOU ARE OUT.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Academics. Athletics. Social Life.</p>
<p>Choose two of the above. Good luck!!</p>
<p>LOL…^ good one.</p>
<p>You’d have to ask a student-athlete at Columbia to get the full picture! I don’t know first-hand - only from the outside. I have supervised and worked with student-athletes in my capacity as a hall director in Columbia’s residential life system, and also have had some in my classes (I’ve served as a teaching assistant and have had my own lab sections and seminars).</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, it looks like Columbia’s student-athletes don’t have nearly the expectations placed on them that you’d have at a huge sports school like Penn State or Georgia or something like that. Academics come first. I had two football players and two track runners in one of my classes and they rarely missed class because of sports. I do remember the two football players missing one of my classes for a game and their coach emailed me ahead of time to let me know, but included the note that this was not to be construed as an excuse for missing any work, that the players were responsible for making up any work they were missing and to please contact him if I had any questions or concerns. They had both already let me know ahead of time and made up the work promptly. The track runners never missed class - they came directly from practice (they were always dressed in their clothes). I later found out that one of them was actually an excellent runner with some Ivy League titles, but her athletics never interfered with class and she was an excellent student who wrote a thesis and got departmental honors.</p>
<p>I also had some RAs on my staff who were student-athletes. Most of them seemed very, very involved - they were athletes, RAs, and involved in a few other campus organizations and activities. Some of them had also done internships. They were very busy but I didn’t know they were athletes until I saw them wear their gear or we talked about it in one-on-ones or in casual conversations.</p>
<p>So - again, as an outsider - my perception is that student-athletes are very busy but that it’s quite possible to do well in classes and join other kinds of activities while being an athlete at Columbia, as long as you manage your time well.</p>