Amherst, Rice or Columbia
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Anonymous
I know plenty of students who have chosen Rice and other universities over Columbia. These are all full pay students. You just don't understand that Columbia is not appealing to or safe for many students. Besides the rampant antisemitism and hostile environment for students, there are severe administration problems at Columbia, increase criminal activity in the surrounding area, and the lack of focus on undergraduates are just a few reasons why people don't like Columbia. Don't even get me started on the quality of life issues at Columbia. I will not recommend Columbia for undergraduates. Amherst and Rice are better options for undergraduates. |
Anonymous
I would be choosing between Rice and Amherst, though I would never have applied to Columbia. Everything about the Columbia experience seems miserable, and the only two kids we know who went there both transferred. |
Anonymous
Or that not everyone is impressed by the things you are! |
Anonymous
Everything about Columbia is bottom-tier Ivy—student morale, job outcomes. alumni giving. It’s hard to plunk down $90K a year for that. |
Anonymous
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The Amherst campus is definitely the best.
I think I’d choose rice over it for engineering, comp sci or applied math. Toss up for physics or bio or chem if the goal is med school or a PhD. Probably Amherst for humanities if we are just talking academics. But the environments are very different. If you hate the cold, that tips it to rice. But I’m a little surprised by people saying Houston is such a great city…there are great cities to live in Texas but Houston is not one of them. It is muggy, buggy, in hurricane belt with no city planning and awful sprawl and traffic. And in response to PPs, I would say Amherst is neither rural nor suburban. It’s really an almost unique situation — with the five colleges there, there is a significant community of young people and professors which leads to great restaurants, music scene, etc., that you don’t normally get in either rural areas or suburbs. Amherst has done a good job keeping the country feel of the campus with the bird sanctuary and view of the “mountains.” (What we’d call foothills out west.). It’s really very pretty but does not feel at all isolated because of the buzzing community. As Pp noted, there is an area with stuff like Trader Joe’s and your standard chain restaurants about a 10 minute drive from campus. The town of Amherst itself is more cutesy with the standard New England town commons, school bookstore, and little shops/restaurants. Columbia is I think just a different kind of place. You’re either going to love that or hate it and your kid probably already has a good sense of what camp they fall in. |
Anonymous
| Columbia all the way. If you can’t hack it there like some of the people on this thread, then I guess pick one of the other two. The Columbia name will get you far |
Anonymous
This. 4 years in NYC vs. 4 years in Houston. I would pick NYC any day of the week. Nothing against Rice though. |
Anonymous
| I don't even think this poster has these three options for their kid. Probably just deciding where to ED next year. |
Anonymous
Columbia is a bottom tier that leads. Columbia lit the wildfire that's engulfing the country now. Not a whole lot a student does at Amherst or Rice gets noticed, as good as these schools are. When it's done at Columbia, it gets noticed. When Columbia calls for action, other ivies and everyone else answer the call. |
Anonymous
| I think everone can see quite well the type of student enrolled at Columbia, as well as.the.professors. I'm happy for you that you admire that setting. I would much prefer Rice for academic excellence, safety, and.normalcy. |
Anonymous
Rice follows the leader - Pro Palestine protest at Rice: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/civil-rights/protests/2024/04/24/484557/rice-students-nationwide-pro-palestinian-protests-encampment/ |
Anonymous
It's not "following the leader" to have the same or similar political views, and the Rice campus has not had the type and number of demonstrations and situations in which Jewish students have been afraid. |
Anonymous
| All three are outstanding schools. You might want to compare the weather in each location. Some people love Houston's warmth. Personally, I feel close to collapse in that sort of humidity and find it unbearable. It's a small thing but something to consider. |
Anonymous
Maybe not yet. The protests are picking up rather quickly on campuses throughout the U.S. Columbia was an early hot spot, but it no longer stands out in terms of activism. |
Anonymous
Haters going to hate. It's perfectly safe. I was on campus last week. Protests over blown. No worse than GW, Yale, and other campuses. |