<p>My mom started working at Columbia after I was waitlisted there, so if I'd transferred, I could have gone for free. I didn't want to transfer for a few reasons.</p>
<p>One was that I didn't want to be in the city. I figured I'd have my whole life to live and work in New York. Secondly, being so close to home was an issue for me, but not because I want to escape my family or any such nonsense: it's damn expensive to live in NYC. I'm technically close enough to commute. So if I lived there, I'd feel guilty about spending so much money to live close to home, and if I commuted, I'd feel like I was missing out on my college experience. My friend did this for a while at NYU and eventually realized he barely knew anyone in his school and got campus housing for his junior year. But besides that, for ME, the city would have been too much, and distracted me from my studies. Though it'd have been nice to grab lunch with my mom every week! Also, Columbia being in the city means, TO ME (not necessarily true) that potentially a lot of the people who are attracted to it are the types who are like "I NEED TO BE IN MANHATTAN! NEW YORK STATE OF MIND! TIMES SQUARE! CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS! MANHATTAN IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE AND I NEVER LEAVE THE ISLAND!" Having grown up outside of Manhattan I find that attitude annoying and tiresome. lol.</p>
<p>Secondly, the Core Curriculum was a turnoff for me. I felt as though the strong requirements were forcing me into taking classes I wasn't interested in. Why take another math class that I'm not interested in if I what I really want to learn about is IR and Econ? Of course, this appeals to some people - they're interested in multiple disciplines, or hope to be well-rounded, or like having a school where there's such a common base of knowledge among the students.</p>
<p>Third, I had the opportunity to take free summer classes at Columbia for 2 years. Now, I will QUALIFY this by saying that people who take summer classes through the School of Continuing Education or the School of Int'l and Public Affairs are NOT a representative sample of Columbia undergrads. There were some randos. And people who take summer classes are different from people who get jobs - for example, they're usually more financially secure. But the point is, while I liked my professors (who were a grad student and an LIU professor, btw), I didn't really jive with my classmates so much. Class discussions annoyed me, b/c I felt they were all trying to impress one another with their points of view. "Well, I read Jeffrey Sachs and I think THIS," and then "Well I was in his CLASS, and HE said," and it was all kind of windbaggy and went nowhere. I came back to Tufts set on doing EPIIC because of this - I felt like they were just posturing, and had no intention of really using their knowledge to practically implement solutions in the world. I think at Tufts that's a big theme - learning in order to take it and put it to good use. And fast. (Also, now I, too, have read Sachs, and think he's a moron. LOL.)</p>
<p>BUT LIKE I SAID, this experience is most probably NOT representative of a Columbia experience. And one thing you'll get at Columbia is access to a lot of resources, just b/c it's such a moneyed, well-known school. Maybe Tufts has good IR classes and professors, but at Columbia you can get an internship at the UN. Stuff like that.</p>
<p>Hope that helps you make your decision! And please, you should also email Columbia admissions people or students to ask for their views, b/c I'm sure they'll be more accurate.</p>