<p>It might sound weird that I know so much about Columbia, but I attend UMD and I visit Columbia every week. I have an internship at a pickup soccer organization, and I network in NYC every week and stay at Columbia for a night. So, I know my fair share about the school. </p>
<p>Yes, my friend who is a FRESHMAN is concerned about graduating on time. He’s mapped out his next 3 years with different possible majors and said it’s really hard to get flexibility because of the CORE. He took LitHum (2 semesters), UWriting, and Frontiers of Science this semester. He’s taking Contemporary Civilizations (2 semester) and Music Humanities next year, and he’s doing art humanities, his language requirement, and a few others his junior year. He’s still deciding about his major, and he’s a little upset that he can’t take certain classes out of mere interest, such as music classes or political science classes. </p>
<p>The Columbia atmosphere is great though. I visited my friend at Penn this semester, and what I gathered was their campus had A LOT more unity and spirit. Haha I actually loved Penn; their students are really friendly and diverse (not just city “hipsters”), and their campus is absolutely gorgeous.</p>
<p>I got rejected from both. <em>le sigh</em> lol but I would choose Penn! That has always been my dream school and besides, as a junior transfer, Columbia’s core makes it almost IMPOSSIBLE to graduate on time. I visited for a transfer-info day and they specifically said if you come in as a junior, you CANNOT study abroad because of the Core. Side note: They also said that they discourage junior transfers because of the need to fulfill the core, which should have definitely discouraged me from applying anyway. lol a waste of an application fee.
I’m also from the NYC-Metropolitan area so living in NYC doesn’t really do anything for me or really excite me. I would have loved to go to school in another major American city.</p>
<p>Anyway, congrats! (to the both of you!) Whatever choice you make will be an awesome one!</p>
<p>"that UCLA is as good or even slightly better than UPenn or columbia "</p>
<p>No, it’s not. Look for a second at the trash rankings that are being cited before making such a claim…and then how the definition of “good” is so uncertain that it makes any comparison that is relevant for everybody’s goals impossible anyway.</p>
<p>What’s the business about Columbians not being friendly? People, in my experience, are much friendlier here than in my native Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, the violent crime rate in Philly is way higher than in New York. I feel safer on the New York subway in the middle of the night than I do in many place in Philly in the middle of the day.</p>
<p>And, to answer concerns about the Core, you get the pamphlet long before you ever commit to attending. It’s a big, big part of our tradition an if you’re not interested in doing it, you’re probably not that interested in a Columbia education.</p>
<p>hellojan, it’s great to hear that there’s a friendly atmosphere! I definitely thought so when I was there for a bit, but I was scared off by some old CC threads Do you have suggestions for housing? I’ve been looking through the profiles of all the buildings :P</p>
<p>Are profs and classmates usually helpful ? Or does it get scarily competitive ? (For either school?)</p>
<p>Hello, hellojan. As someone coming from an incredibly restrictive academic program let me say I can appreciate the benefit of structure – what appealed to me so much about the core was the fact that it is so broad based and will actually force me to try things outside of my comfort zone. My only concern is finding time to study abroad and such; basically, I’m just anxious about entering as a Sophomore yet to fulfill any of the requirements most of my peers will soon finish. Are there any current transfers able to give advice on this?
P.S. Just to allay any possible misinterpretations of my earlier comment, I don’t think I can properly vocalize how humbled and ecstatic I am to have the opportunity to attend Columbia University. It’s…Columbia!!! Now just let the transfer anxiety settle in – omg new friends social scene blahblahblah ;).</p>
Thanks again!</p>