You are required to fulfill the core curriculum. Class are for a grade. It is competitive.

Housing is not great. I think dining should be cheaper and more available to upperclassmen. I think there need to be more University sponsored events.

There is an early decision and regular decision option. It uses the Common Application. There is an interview process however it is not guaranteed. Our school only offers need based financial aid.

3

2012

The core is large, almost too large. It accounts for at least 1/3 of your total coursework.

Housing is okay, but there is not enough of it. The campus, library, neighborhood are all wonderful. I generally feel safe on campus. The one hindrance on my quality of life is community relations. For starters, there's Barnard. I didn't even know the place existed until after I stepped on campus. As an early decision applicant, this is something I would like to know. Columbia advertises its male: female ratio as 50:50. However, factoring in Barnard that becomes 1:2. This is not about dating life, it is about the blurred sense of female identity on this campus. The relationship between Barnard and Columbia is never made clear. Barnard claims to be one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University. However, Columbia never lists Barnard ANYWHERE on their website stating that Barnard is an undergraduate college. What are we left with? - Barnard students who claim to be Columbia Students and Columbia Students who look down on Barnard students. It doesn't help that the hierarchy is already set up before we meet the girls at Barnard. They are thrown into our orientation program but after that certain Columbia events are: "for students of Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science." It doesn't help that they have considerably lower admissions statistics either. I don't think that we Columbians would have an issue with the fact that they get to register for OUR classes before we do, or that they get OUR diploma, if they had statistics closer to our own. Again, this is not a comment about Barnard so much as it a comment about the need to clarify what Barnard is. Is it a college of Columbia University? Things need to be clarified, both for Columbia Students and for the students at Barnard. And, if there is uncertainty about this with the Columbia bureaucracy, I have a suggestion: we need to either absorb the school or sever the ties. No more of this messy "affiliated" jargon, because what does that actually mean.

When I applied, there was a unique application, outside of the common ap. Now, Columbia operates on the Common Application, making it all the more difficult to get in. I can only speak for the older application, but it really tries to get to know you personally.

2

2013

The Core Curriculum is pretty heavy - it constitutes about 1/3 of what you'll be studying in your time at Columbia - but despite the intense amount of effort you have to put into it, it really can change your perspectives on the world. It forces you to re-evaluate your thinking and all the values you hold. I feel like a totally different person coming out of it than I was going in.

It's pretty decent. It's a safe neighborhood, tons of restaurants, grocery stores, and local eateries. It's a really quiet neighborhood for Manhattan, but it's decent nonetheless.

They're making the switch this upcoming year to the Common Application, but before it was an entirely separate application process. There was something quite nice about having to fill out the application separately. It made you care more about the work you were putting into the application, since it couldn't just be replicated for 14 other schools.

4

2010