<p>What made you choose to go to Columbia College? What would you say is the best aspect of it? The worst?</p>
<p>I'm currently a freshman at the college. It was the best school that I got into, so there wasn't much choice in going there. What I really like (maybe it's just compared to my high school) is the fact that I have so much freedom in choosing my classes (apart from the core, of course). Advising is not exactly the strong point- they'll let you take whatever you can sign up for if you meet the requirements, so you have to be careful. I took 6 academic classes (22 credits) and no one tried to discourage me doing so as a first semester freshman.</p>
<p>advising is hit or miss. personally i like my advisor (carillo) but i guess its all about each person...</p>
<p>i wouldnt say freedom of classes is columbia's strong point tho, most definitely not....name recognition is a nice thing, right in NYC but extremely safe, diverse student body, famous faculty, good research opportunities, the list goes on for why i chose columbia.</p>
<p>As an international student, perhaps not that familiar with the US credit system... is doing 22 points exceptionally difficult? In terms of lesson hours how much is it, and then how much out of class study does it require? Slightly odd question, but i'm interested to compare it with UK students.</p>
<p>hmm well my friend at Stanford originally took 18 credits, but that in itself was really hard, so he dropped a class to take 14 credits.. and that seems about the average number people take.</p>
<p>honestly I have a hard time believing this kid is in CC and no one told him 22 credits was ludicrous. 22 credits is beyond the limit you can take without special permission anyways. That means he had to petition to take more than 18 (I think 18)...</p>
<p>14-17 is a good range to be in. Engineers tend to be the ones to take 20+ but their classes are more problem sets as compared to essay writing for humanities majors.</p>
<p>16-18 is average for SEAS in my experience. i only knew a few people who cracked 20.</p>
<p>21 is the limit unless you get a waiver...most people take around 15. Most courses are 3, CORE classes are usually 4, and rarely will there be anything 5+ (although some language and upper level courses are 5 or even 6). Most people take 2 Core classes 8+ 2 normal 6 = 14. Maybe they will take 5 classes and 17. Some people will take 6 and get 20+, although that is extremely demanding and rare.</p>
<p>You can take 22 points- 23 or more, you need a waiver. I'm not going to lie- academics took over my life first semester, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.</p>
<p>its actually 21 for SEAS, 22 for CC...just looked it up</p>
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You can take 22 points- 23 or more, you need a waiver. I'm not going to lie- academics took over my life first semester, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
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<p>My best GPA semester was 24 credits. It's one of those things where the more crap you have, the more efficient you become.</p>
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My best GPA semester was 24 credits. It's one of those things where the more crap you have, the more efficient you become.
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<p>Amen, my best GPA semester (so far) i was taking 20.5 credits. I agree with that statement 100%.</p>
<p>LOL yeah my lowest GPA in my three semesters here was when I had the least credits. My highest was when I took classes that I feared would lower my grade, but that I loved. </p>
<p>The best aspect is that you're in the city. If you're independent and have a variety of interests, the city is perfect for internships, playdates, self-exploration, etc. I change my mind everyday about a possible career, but anything I feel like doing, there's an internship opportunity out there for me to explore. I also love the variety of restaurants, cafes, venues, shopping outlets, etc. Location was definitely one of my prime reasons for choosing Columbia.</p>
<p>Second reason why I chose Columbia- political science. When I applied, I was under the impression that Columbia had an awesome poli sci department (which I'm sure it does, but I haven't taken any poli sci classes yet). Now I'm planning to double major in French and Art History, which Columbia has really good departments for too (I heard somehwere that their Art History department is one of the best the in the world). </p>
<p>Third reason- grade inflation. I wanted to go to law school, and I realize how important it is to keep a high GPA for that. People can argue with me about the amount of grade inflation Columbia has, because quite frankly I'm not so sure, but I've been treated kindly in Columbia's system so far. </p>
<p>Bad aspects:
You get your fare share of intellectually cocky folks here that take themselves far too seriously, and housing isn't so hot (as it would be in any big city). For the most part, I find that your peers are willing to help you and no one is TOO competitive or catty. Also, SEAs kids (this is based on personall experience) tend to be unhappier than CC kids and the overall consensus I get from my SEAs vs. CC friends is that Columbia is definitely more for those interested in the liberal arts.</p>