Columbia University in the City of New York

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 this forum 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.