Columbia University in the City of New York (StudentsReview)

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	A-	Faculty Accessibility	B-
Useful Schoolwork	A	Excess Competition	A
Academic Success	A	Creativity/ Innovation	B
Individual Value	B	University Resource Use	A-
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+	Friendliness	B
Campus Maintenance	B	Social Life	B
Surrounding City	A	Extra Curriculars	B+
Safety	B

Describes the student body as: Describes the faculty as:

Female

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Faculty Accessibility	B-

Highest Rating Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A+

She rated most things higher than other students did.

Date: Nov 20 2009
Major: PreMed and Medical (This Major's Salary over time)
First of all, I graduated from the College more than 15 years ago, so I am not up to date on the current state of affairs. But I will say that having graduated from Columbia has given me a "leg up" and given me some connections that have helped me later in life. There is at least one job that I know I got specifically because I was a Columbia grad, and I know the Columbia name does carry some weight (although not quite as much as the top tier Ivies).

Overall, I feel I received a high quality liberal arts education. There are definitely some disciplines that are better taught than others. If your aspirations are in journalism, law, or political science, Columbia is the place for you. I am a big believer in the Core Curriculum and the critical thinking skills that it instills. However, I was a pre-health professional student, and the basic science classes were mediocre. The downsides were a lot of classes taught by grad students and non-native English speakers (esp. in the sciences). Also, as a University, Columbia does not place enough priority on its undergraduate programs.

Of course, one of the biggest assets of a Columbia education is having NYC as your playground. My advice is to take full advantage of this, get outside of Morningside Heights, and enjoy the benefits of living in an awesome city.

My college experience was very different from that of my peers who went to other schools. Obviously, football and other athletics are not big at Columbia. Greek life was not so big as at other schools as well.

Some of the negative comments I've seen on StudentsReview I understand. New Yorkers are viewed as rude, impersonal, and rough around the edges. Crime is an issue in any big city. But there are communities within the Columbia campus that are genuine, caring, passionate, and compassionate—maybe not outwardly friendly but still good people.

Looking back, I have no regrets about my Columbia education. It could have been better in some respects, but I do value what I learned, and in many ways it has been an asset in my post-college life. However, with skyrocketing tuition, honestly I am not so sure it would be worth the money to go to Columbia nowadays. If you have limited resources, it may be better to use that money to attend a top Ivy for undergrad or save it for graduate/professional school.

Responses

Okay, so I am 12 and my dad wants me to start looking into colleges. I want to be an editor in chief and I thought this school would be perfect because of the experienced teachers. Do you have any advice for me as to chose to go? I would like to with hold a job in NY too. Thank you.

Due to your high praise of Columbia, I thought you might be the right person to bug:) I will be applying to universities this fall/winter and I am wondering what it takes to make it to Columbia? I know GPA, test scores and all those standard indicators of intelligence are important, but is there anything that I can do to make me stand out to admissions committee? How did you make it to Columbia?

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