<p>I got bored of the area around Brown after visiting for 2-3 hours. There's really not much to do.</p>
<p>Hilarious. You guys don’t know how annoying it can be in China. People would think I’m literally crazy if I give up Columbia for Brown or Amherst.</p>
<p>I chose Brown over Columbia (to throw out a stick against all this Columbia love) and I am so happy I did. Ecstatically happy. I’ve been to Columbia a few times over the year to visit my best friend and I always come away with the feeling that SOCIALLY Columbia cannot compare. In my opinion NYC isn’t a great college town, its only a distraction from an actual campus life where students actually spend time together and have real places to hang out. The bars that the Columbia kids went to seemed dark and just not what should be the core social part of someone’s college experience.</p>
<p>As for research, you aren’t a grad student yet. You are going to get equal opportunities at both places. In fact my friend at Columbia complains about the size of his chem classes (250 to 300 people) and the fact that he hasn’t even met many of his science professors because the classes are so big. I think most of the people on this board are high schoolers who like the idea of NYC, but actually haven’t spent time on the Columbia campus.</p>
<p>I understand the argument that NYC has music and perhaps for that reason Columbia is a better choice for someone who wants to work in that field. But for most “normal” students, i.e. ones who want to become doctors, bankers, CEOs, work in Washington, go to grad school, work in media, and other people like that I would never choose one similar level Ivy over another because of anything else outside of what is a good social fit. The rest is seriously all about the same.</p>
<p>admitone,</p>
<p>Which chem class is your friend taking that has 250+ students? Here’s a link to the CU course listing:</p>
<p>[CU</a> Directory of Classes](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/]CU”>CU Directory of Classes)</p>
<p>If you look at the enrollment numbers for Spring 2010 chemistry classes you will find class counts between 15 and 30. One of the lab sections has 50, but there are plenty of others with less than 20. The one exception to this is the general chemistry classes I and II which have 150 and 180 (or so).</p>
<p>It’s true that there are a handful of classes at Columbia with 200+ kids but they are the ‘celebrity’ professor classes taught by the likes of Gulati, Foner and Bollinger, not the hard science classes.</p>
<p>Research/internship opportunities are plentiful for CC (and I’m sure SEAS) students.</p>
<p>It’s great that you are so happy at Brown, it is a fantastic place, after all. Sing it’s praises. But don’t criticize other schools with fatuous remarks which are so obviously wrong.</p>
<p>Sorry 198 people…so yea, not “200.” </p>
<p>[Columbia</a> College](<a href=“Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University”>Columbia College Bulletin < Columbia College | Columbia University)</p>
<p>Columbia. Brown is great but its faculty and quality of research is rapidly declining. I suspect in a few years, it will replace Cornell as the black sheep of the Ivy League (academically). The student body is, a bit more ‘artsy’-hence the stereotype about Brown being a school for tree hugging hippies.</p>
<p>@admitone I doubt its about just about social fit. Usually I would say that too, but in this case academic rating should be your criterion. Unless you want to try your luck with Emma Watson.</p>
<p>Haha I never realized how stereotypical Chinese people are about Columbia! They even have an abbreviation for Columbia in Chinese haha… “Ge lun bi ya” becomes “Ge Da”. 
Such an endearment :] And seriously, they have never heard of Dartmouth, let alone Penn or Brown. Though I think Cornell is “Kang Nai Er”…</p>
<p>1) brown academically is usually considered the black sheep academically, it always has been because it is not a research powerhouse. at times folks say dartmouth is as well. and this could be a bias against these LAC type unis, but there is often a correlation that is made between research and academics, which is in part flawed and in part based in reality.</p>
<p>2) brown’s popularity often stems from its anti-intellectualism, some hofstadterian nature, in which its socialization schema is often recognized over its brute academics.</p>
<p>3) and from the score of elites that sent their kids (beginning with JFK Jr.) to brown beginning in the 80s that finally propelled the school from being the last regional ivy into a full blown national idea.</p>
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<p>i mean no disrespect to the bears, and they have some pretty righteous professors, but to say that cornell is worse academically is pure farce, it is a very very solid academic school. and often regarded as one of the more difficult schools in the country, let alone in the ivies, to complete. of course i think cu is better (especially in humanities and social sciences), but it is difficult to compare because there is a difference between a) quality of professors, b) quality of graduate students, c) quality of undergraduate experience. though a informs b informs c, they are mutually exclusive at times, and it is why a place like brown could be bad at b, okay at a and great at c. columbia, god bless her, is one of a few set of institutions that is good at all three :)</p>