<p>I am applying to 22 schools however one school that I am deliberately leaving out is Columbia. I visited most of the Ivy leagues this summer and this was by far the worst. The overbearing arrogance of the admissions office was utterly suffocating. They acted as if they were HYPS when they really weren't. Their core curriculum is utterly stupid. They believe that each student should have taken some of the classes. Why not make us all mindless drones?</p>
<p>Secondly, when I visited the student tour guides were utterly incompetent and didn't know much. One guide decided to show us her room. Apparently, she had not cleaned up from the previous night becuase there were numerous beer cans and a bong out in the open. Now, I know that these things occur all the time in college but is it really necesary to be so open about it?</p>
<p>Thirdly, as a native New Yorker(moved to Southern California 3 years ago), I
am fully cognizant of the perils of Manhattan. Yet, Columbia seems to be located in an island within an island. Now, don't get me wrong but most of what occurs in Manhattan occurs in Midtown and Downtown, both of which are south of Columbia. But, to get to those places one has to go through Harlem. I know that Harlem has gentrified somewhat in recent years but it is still not the utopian atmosphere that Columbia portrays in its pamphlets.
Don't get me wrong, Columbia does have plenty of pretty buildings, but then again, any school can have pretty buildings. The sole factor which sets a school apart ( in my mind) amongst all the ivies is the quality of the undergraduate class. As stated before, Columbia was utterly lacking in that quality was arrogant in its approach.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that you've lived in manhattan for 3 years if you went through harlem to get to columbia. Morningside heights is contiguous with the upper west side...
As for the HYPS comment and your thoughts on the core - you are entitled to your opinions, however thoughtless and unsubstantiated they may be.</p>
<p>Maybe it's because I was denied admission.. but anyway I agree with: "The overbearing arrogance of the admissions office was utterly suffocating."</p>
<p>Lol, sempitern555, you're going to be getting a lot of attacks from the columbians and columbia-lovers. I used to be one, and I woulda probably felt quite offended by your comments before.
I don't agree with all of them.. But I totally see your point.
I never really liked the Core very much.
As for being in Manhattan....Who cares if you're in the Upper west side.. It's still Manhattan!! downtown and midtown is only a subway ride away!!!
Columbia may be close to Harlem.. But that's better than being stuck in the middle of nowhere like Yale (I know this one's arguable but STILL) or Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Anyway, the #1 reason why Columbia rocks --> NYC... It's as simple as that. There's nothing more to it... It's a prestigious school in NYC (probably the best city in the world!)</p>
<p>As for HYPS, I hated Princeton.. And I think Harvard and Stanford are pretty cool... But isn't it just all about the presitge?</p>
<p>"Thirdly, as a native New Yorker(moved to Southern California 3 years ago), I
am fully cognizant of the perils of Manhattan. Yet, Columbia seems to be located in an island within an island. Now, don't get me wrong but most of what occurs in Manhattan occurs in Midtown and Downtown, both of which are south of Columbia. But, to get to those places one has to go through Harlem."</p>
<p>yeah someone pointed this out already, but its so wrong i just have to say again... as a native new yorker you should know that Harlem is UPTOWN of columbia. morningside heights is NOT harlem, in fact studios there sell for $500,000 (seriously) and to get to midtown and downtown, you go DOWNTOWN (lol, get it?) therefore, not going through harlem. theyre also like 10 mins away on the train from columbia. and manhattans perils? i dont get it. those three years have left you slightly misinformed. :)</p>
<p>Hmmm...fascinating, despite my absolute love for Columbia I did notice SOME of your concerns. And I would like to address them.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I also noticed the arrogance of SOME MEMBERS of the admissions process (especially the people at the visitor center), but not all of them are like that, a majority are great people. I'm attending Columbia not because I want to socialize with adcom for four years, but for a greater reason.</p></li>
<li><p>The tour guide took a whole group of 15 (including me) to visit the dorms and it's absolutely crazy (unkempt is an understatement). But again, I bring out the argument that we are not attending a wonderful college just to live there. I visited some crappy LACs that have dorms that look like palaces.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are not comfortable with the atmosphere, then it's okay. But some people thrive on it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>NOTE For RDers: When you have identified all the "problems" (which exist in every form in every university) and still decides that Columbia is right for you, then you definitely found a prospective college for your future. If you feel these minor obstructions are of GREAT importance, then maybe Columbia just isn't right for you.</p>
<p>Sempitern555, the rest of what you said are just your opinions, and like ivyman1 said, everyone is entitled to their opinions. But for someone who's applying to 22 schools (Not an attack on you!), I really don't know what else to say.</p>
<p>wow, if you add application fee, Exam fees, SAT/ACT score-sending fees, postages, other costs(like PROFILE).. oh man you could get a nice civic. :P</p>
<p>but even for people applying to <10 schools, it gets pretty expensive. If you apply for financial aid, CSS profile costs a lot, which is really stupid...why are you paying so much money when you need it? Stupid college board!</p>
<p>about the CSS, i thought the same thing. damn you CB. COLUMBIA is the best in the whole entire world. yea that sounds like a statement a 5 year old would make, but i LOVE the city. and no im not a native, but it would be pretty cool if i was.</p>
<p>You prove that you don't know much about the geography of NYC or about the neighborhood Columbia is in. Good job. </p>
<p>And my tour guides were incredibly, incredibly nice, and I know some other people have horror stories of mean admissions people, but my admissions people were also very nice. My financial aid woman was not nice, but I think she just needs calls from parents who are happy with their finaid package once in a while, and she might feel much better. . . . people out there who are happy with their finaid, this woman needs you. Send her some love on my behalf, won't you?</p>
<p>ok ok , my geography may be a bit rusty,( I lived in Queens a borough a NYC but not manhattan itself) but my comments concerning the island within an island are still justified( in my point of view) as for the 22 schools, here they are :</p>
<p>Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Dartmouth
Cornell
University of Pennsylvania
Brown
Stanford
UC Berkeley
UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara
Amherst
Williams
Rice
Tufts
Duke
Tulane
Washington University
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown</p>
<p>a bit excessive, maybe, but I like to use the shotgun approach when it comes to college applications</p>
<p>Wow, did you just apply to schools based on name recognition? Because there is hardly any consistency of any sort [size, geography, academic character] in your list. And Columbia is an awesome school, the Core is meant to make students more culturally literate, something that is surely lacking in our generation, and the campus is gorgeous considering it's in NYC, it has a lot of charisma with the rhythm of the city just on its edges. And no, I don't go to Columbia, I actually do not like city schools but if I had to go to one, it would be Columbia [if I got in... which probably wouldn't happen anyways].</p>