<p>Hey guys, the theme on this board seems to be "Will I Get In?," but I'd actually like to hear about something different. Are students at Columbia happy? Are they intellectual? Are they more interested in personal affairs (i.e. their own resume building) or in student organizations? </p>
<p>For those who go to Columbia, how do you like it? If you were a high school senior, would you choose to attend knowing everything you do now? How would you do things differently a second time around? </p>
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Hey guys, the theme on this board seems to be "Will I Get In?,"
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<p>Actually, it's not. There are far more substantive posts on all the sorts of questions you've posed than there chances threads, which most a lot of people ignore because they're all the same sh**. </p>
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I'd actually like to hear about something different.
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<p>Search or read through recent threads. There's tons of stuff out there.</p>
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Are students at Columbia happy? Are they intellectual? Are they more interested in personal affairs (i.e. their own resume building) or in student organizations?
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<p>You might want to think of better questions. Some Columbia students are happy as can be, others slit their wrists, are on antidepressants and attempt suicide. Etc.</p>
<p>You know, Columbia 2002, I really don't appreciate that. I said that the dominant theme seemed to be chances because, well, taking a quick look at the most recent threads I see three "Important" threads that ALL deal with admission. Then there are (let me count them real quick) oh yeah THIRTEEN of the top twenty that are about future applicants wanting to know their chances. So yeah, I'd say the dominant theme IS a "chances" type of deal.</p>
<p>As far as the other questions go, I made them intentionally broad. I just wanted someone, perhaps yourself, to comment on their own subjective Columbia experience. I'd still like to hear about it.</p>
<p>And I didn't say it earlier because I didn't think it was entirely relevant, but I'm NOT another person who dreams of going to Columbia one day. I've already been accepted. </p>
<p>You know, maybe my friend was right when he said that one shouldn't hang around College Confidential any longer than one has to since the people who post are only going to put you down for being genuinely curious. I see what he means.</p>
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You know, Columbia 2002, I really don't appreciate that. I said that the dominant theme seemed to be chances because, well, taking a quick look at the most recent threads I see three "Important" threads that ALL deal with admission. Then there are (let me count them real quick) oh yeah THIRTEEN of the top twenty that are about future applicants wanting to know their chances. So yeah, I'd say the dominant theme IS a "chances" type of deal.
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<p>what c2002 said is true. there are only 2 times of year that people post chances threads, this just happens to be one of them, go into the 2010 or 2011 forums, or even the second/third pages of this forum tho and you will find plenty of threads about life.</p>
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As far as the other questions go, I made them intentionally broad. I just wanted someone, perhaps yourself, to comment on their own subjective Columbia experience. I'd still like to hear about it.
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<p>the people on this board are more than willing to help anyone but no one likes broad, open ended questions. think of specific things that we can answer with 2-3 sentences and you'll get a much better response. not many people on this board like to digress on things unless its something personally interesting</p>
<p>I don't understand why ppl attack C02 all the time, the guy is mostly right even if his tone is a bit rough. If you ask vague questions, which btw can be answered with common sense, you'll get answers like that.</p>
<p>I think you guys are responding negatively to what was a question with good intentions. It may be frustrating to read a vague question but I think the intention more than anything was to try to get your two cents on what life is really like at Columbia, a natural question that admits have and a curiosity that I myself have too.</p>
<p>y does every thread have to end up like this.....C02, I agree that you are helpful but seroiusly if you feel that a question is too broad or irrelevant or poorly phrased or whatever then just dont answer it....i do it all the time, there are tons of stupid questions that i just ignore but turning every thread into insult hurling is just unnecessary. </p>
<p>On the other hand though, you (all of you) should really search the board before posting a question that is clearly so broad that you can't be the first genius to think of asking it.....some of us have responded and tend to respond to these questions with very long answers so its somewhat insulting to ask the same thing over and over without making an effort to see what we've said before and targetting your question to specific areas that weren't covered in other similar threads. </p>
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Then there are (let me count them real quick) oh yeah THIRTEEN of the top twenty that are about future applicants wanting to know their chances. So yeah, I'd say the dominant theme IS a "chances" type of deal.
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<p>So what if most of the first 20 threads r chances threads? are you saying that it takes more effort for you to click "next" than it does for me to summarize the social life at columbia from four years of experience? Think before you speak please.</p>
<p>What we need is for someone who's bored (or a collection of people who are slightly bored) to go through our Columbia archives and start a compendium of "Useful Threads About Columbia". We can have the mods pin it to the top, and add to it every time there's a thread where people make particularly useful comments. And then all the repeat questions of "so how smart are Columbia students?" or "what's the social life like" can be answered with a few judicious links.</p>
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<p>I happen to consider Laneb's questions fair ones. I also don't have all day to detail personal anecdotes that support my opinions. So in brief:</p>
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<li><p>The single most valuable asset of attending a school like Columbia is the quality of the people you meet there. They are all not just smart but highly curious, and being around them "raises your game" and your expectations about conversations and the assumptions you make about how other people think (and how quickly). It forces you to be a more interesting person, really.</p></li>
<li><p>Personally, attending Columbia was heaven on earth for me, was the absolute right decision, and with the possible exception of Stanford (i'll never know), I doubt there's anywhere I would've been as happy.</p></li>
<li><p>Most students spend very little time thinking about their resumes or post-graduation plans through their first 3 years. They spend their time thinking about classes, activities, partying, and girls/boys. Starting at the end of junior year and through a lot of senior year, the focus shifts (of course). But I knew very few people who worried a lot about their future and/or resume before they absolutely had to. Except for the 20-25% of people who are in absolute love with their chosen academic subject and know pretty early on that they want to chase it to the ends of the earth, get their PhD, work with professors on research, etc. Those guys are committed, but not committed to the business world- it's just an extension of the commitment to academics that most Columbia students passively have.</p></li>
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<p>To explain what I mean by my last sentence, my impression of Columbia students is that except for people who are in love with their chosen field (and even then, only with that chosen field), nobody really relishes doing their classwork. But there is a definite stigma attached to those who don't get it done. The assumption is that, sure, you can party thursday night, friday, saturday... but if you're not getting your stuff done on sunday, you're kind of looked upon as weird, almost "what the hell are you doing?". Everybody understands that there's a time to play hard and a time to work hard.</p>
<p>Thanks Denzera. That's exactly what I was looking for. </p>
<p>And to those above, I didn't mean to be too caustic. I didn't take the time to look through other threads about student life, something I'll admit I should have done. I asked broad questions because to be completely honest I don't know enough about student life at Columbia to ask anything specific. I've spent a total of five hours in New York my entire life, three of them on the Columbia campus. It's going to be an exciting Fall...</p>
<p>I stumbled onto The Bwog and IvyWise websites and those seem to shed some light on things.</p>