Columbia University in the City of New York

Date: Nov 14 2005
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
My first year at this school was a nightmare because so many unfortunate incidents happened to me. But now I'm a sophomore, and my opinion of columbia has changed. Highlights of Columbia: Columbia takes care of its students. It opens you to many opportunities, such as internships. The faculty is very helpful. They become really concerned if you're not doing well (unfortunately many professors are not very acessible because they have a limited number of office hours). The professors expect you to think. There are so many extracurriculars to do on campus. Columbia is really a social place. Famous people also come on campus (eg. Bill Gates, the Dalai Lama, Hilary Clinton)

Down side of columbia: the core curriculum really needs to be updated. Most of the classes seem to be useless because the professors expect you to cram a lot of knowledge in very little time. You probably won't remember a majority of it a week later. The core classes are supposed to make you more "cultured" though. You'll encounter some mean TA's who don't care about helping students. A lot of the professors here know their stuff but can't transmit the material too well to students. So far all my professors have been mediocre but not as great as the ones I've had in high school.

WARNING: If you're a new york city public school kid you might not like the people here very much. It's a bit too..white.

But overall columbia isn't bad. It's got its ups and downs like any other school.