Hi guys,
I am a student from Germany and will spent my next fall semester studying in the US.
I applied at the Columbia University and Harvard University as an visiting student and recently I received an offer from Columbia University and will get my feedback from Harvard in a few weeks.
Now assuming that the Harvard feedback is positive as well, I am asking myself what would be the best way to go? I have never been to New York or Boston before and I think New York is more exciting, but I dont know if I will have this much free time to explore the city. But on the other side I dont think that I will go wrong with either one of them and it is a big difference of you are getting your degree at one of those universities or if you are “just” an visiting student, so I think the name Harvard with a bit more reputation will not be that important in the CV.
Where do you think is the place to learn more, not only from an academic perspective, but also from a personal perspective.
And one question I have is regarding the course work. I need to do at least 15 credits in the US for transferring the grades to my German university. Harvard has 4 courses with 4 credits each, which would be fine. Columbia University however has only 3 credits per course which means I have to take 5 classes instead of 4. Does this mean 1 Harvard course is more work but all in all they are the same work or will 5 courses at Columbia be a lot of work, because I read that most students take only 4 classes per semester at Columbia.
Thanks for your help.
Best wishes