<p>Just that, I'd like to you, Columbia's students to tell me why Columbia's the best college for future leaders</p>
<p>please ^^</p>
<p>the truth is that there is a group of elite colleges which have ideal environments for crafting future leaders. columbia is among that group, but more than anything, it matters how well the student uses the resources of the college. here are SOME of the special things going on at columbia:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>NYC. The city brings intellectuals into the real world and keeps them up to date with all kinds of people. NYC has its own culture.
-For art and history - MoMa, the Guggenheim, Museum of Natural History. This fall, Vaclev Havel (the Czech guy who was known for leading the Velvet Revolution against communism is also an artist) is staying at Columbia and will be giving lectures.
-For politics - party conferences, global colloquiums (one on economics was actually hosted at Columbia by Kofi Annan for world leaders), and since its NYC, politicians naturally come through the area to see their constituents and often times give speeches at Columbia at events. World leaders make their way to NYC because the UN has its int'l hq there, which means that Columbia gets several great and powerful visitors to give talks throughout the year since it's simply right there.
-For the social life. columbia is for the person who likes to have fun by going out in the city, partying either in clubs or going to bars and things like that. NYC has amazing restaurants, cafes, and more variety for food and shopping than arguably any other place in the world. Oh and don't forget that there are some kickass concerts at MSG and comedy clubs which, on Thursday nights (party nights), you can easily check out.</p></li>
<li><p>Academics. For what it's worth, LSE ranked Columbia's Dept of Political Science as #1 in the world. Now whether it's really #1 depends on what you use to measure the dept, but it goes without any dispute to say that Columbia has special opportunities for the politically-inclined student. Lee Bollinger, famous (among many other things) for his role in two Supreme Court cases, is not only the President of the University but also a Poli Sci professor who teaches a class for undergrads.
That's just politics. Columbia has insane physics and chem depts- look at their faculty online because they have ridiculous amounts of Nobel laureates in physics. For economics, every major firm in the city loves Columbia econ-majors who are looking for either internships or full time jobs after graduation. They're treated as the kings of NYC and because of their college experience, are street smart. Professors and career services know all the big names in the city and can hook Columbia kids up with top jobs.</p></li>
<li><p>The campus. I know it's not that big, but the truth is that the campus makes the college extremely enjoyable. When you see people playing frisbee or football on the athletic fields set up right infront of the library, it makes everything seem alot more relaxed. It's a compact but beautiful construction, and one thing I personally like about it is that regardless of the time of day, you'll always see people walking around.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In terms of undergraduate academics, all the Ivies (and other top universities) are similar in quality. As a Columbia College undergrad, I can think of a few reasons why a "future leader" would choose Columbia, and these are really the things that make Columbia unique in general. IMO, Columbia has the highest ratio of campus life to city life of every US University. While she doesn't have the most campus life, Columbia's student life isn't bad by any means. And while not in downtown Manhattan, it's still Manhattan, while simultaneosly getting sort of a "college town" feel out of Morningside Heights, which is very nice. </p>
<p>Furthermore, becuase of her location, Columbia students enjoy the ability to find jobs in New York (one of the largest magents for college graduates) MUCH more easily than students at other colleges, save NYU. I was able to interview for New York summer jobs while still in class at Columbia, which was very convienent. I'm also quite familar with New York since I spend the school year here, I'm and easily able to stay in Columbia dorms in the summer due to my Columbia status. </p>
<p>Columbia's unique Core allows students to be well versed in the classics, as you're forced to study them. I knew that if I went to any other college, I wouldn't be taking courses that required the reading of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, etc. You probably know about the core already. </p>
<p>Lastly, Columbia carries a rather prestigious connotation among the intellectual elite of the country. I would say only Harvard, Princeton, and Yale carry greater "prestige," for what it's worth. Stanford, Duke, MIT and other such schools are fantastic and have great networking connections within themselves; however, the Ivy League has a unique and powerful set of alumni that's great for networking.</p>
<p>From what I recall, it was somewhat more a process of elimination than an emphasis on the positive that allowed me to choose Columbia. I've always been enamored with the city, so I could never be as isolated from urban life as one would be at Cornell or Dartmouth. I wanted to somewhat get away from home, so Harvard, which is near me, was not my first choice. Visits eliminated the others: Brown felt too rowdy and disjointed, Yale too WASPily pretentious (and situated in what was then a much less interesting city), and Penn unnervingly ghetto (and filled with hostile students to boot). I was greatly impressed with Princeton after my tour there but dreaded its reputed conformity and especially the culture of the eating clubs. The distance and hassle involved in going to New York was unattractive as well. Columbia, meanwhile, inspired me with its intellectual fervor (I arrived on a warm spring day; the entire campus was reading on the steps of Low) and the classical character of the campus and Core, which seemed to complement and embody one another so well (I went to a Catholic prep school and Latin was a substantial portion of our curriculum, so the importance of a classical education was heightened for me). </p>
<p>I've subsequently found some of my judgments to have been made in haste. I never really investigated what Columbia's student body was like, nor its living arrangements (which can be abysmal). I had never taken the New York subway until the first week of orientation, and hence never experienced its vicissitudes. I also never really gave the other schools a good chance; I should have looked more into Yale's residential college system in particular. </p>
<p>Still, none of these other schools offer an undergraduate education like Columbia's. In assuming you're "grown up enough," they ask you to deconstruct what you haven't already learned. One of the reasons Columbia has been such a reknowned center of such academic phenomena as postmodernism and deconstruction is because these philosophies have both a foundation to stand upon and ideas to challenge- those embodied by the Core curriculum. The entire university becomes an open book, an ongoing debate illuminated by this tension. It struck me what an essential part of Columbia's character this was when the freshmen we had inducted into the debate team couldn't stop arguing the merits of the Core, and when a friend penned a column in the newspaper noting that the Core stood as Columbia's riposte to residential colleges and eating clubs, its sole unifying legacy. </p>
<p>None of these schools can offer an educational experience that embraces a true metropolis. As a Columbia student I've taken in concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall as part of Music Hum, I've visited half a dozen musea (for free!) for Art Hum and other classes, I bonded with my John Jay floormates at a baseball game, and had my choice of dozens of ethnic cuisines when the dining hall was closed for a holiday. If you want to do research, some of the largest library systems in the US are right within the city. If you study architecture or urban studies, the benefits are obvious. St. John the Divine, a block away, is the largest gothic church in the Western Hamisphere! The history of New York course takes a storied midnight bike ride through the city to Brooklyn. How does this compare to viewing slides, listening to tapes, or hearing oral descriptions of such things in the classrooms of an Amherst or Oberlin?</p>
<p>And despite all the city's attractions, one could still stay in the womblike embrace of campus and Morningside Heights and have a fulfilling college life. There are still a considerable number of plays, concerts, readings, club meetings, and other events to keep one occupied, and enough ample grass to make one reconsider trekking to Central, Riverside, or Morningside Parks, which are only steps away. </p>
<p>The one thing Columbia does not give you enough of is time, because it flies by so quickly. I can't believe it will be over for me a year from now.</p>
<p>Thanks for the excellent post, Columbia2007!</p>