Core Curriculum Throwdown - Columbia v. Chicago

[Anonymous]

Which is better?

I've heard that since the mid-2000's Chicago's core has been 'watered' down a bit..i.e. almost like distribution requirements because students can choose from a menu of options to fulfill parts of the core. Where's columbia's core are specific prescribed courses (no choice from a menu).

But i've heard that chicago's culture is such that students expect everyone else to do the readings/participate (just more intellectual) etc compared to columbia so they get more out of the core.

so which core is better? and does the fact that chicago runs on quarter system compared to columbia also affect this comparison (i.e. is one better than the other?)

[Anonymous]

Columbia has a little bit of choice - you can take Music vs. Art, for example. But yes, everybody takes Lit Hum.

Most students do the readings, although a few Spark Note them. The core, especially Lit Hum, really seems to be a bonding experience among Columbia kids, and among themselves they'll drop references to the readings. Which they couldn't do if nobody did the readings.

[Anonymous]

18:00 again. College Confidential regularly has threads comparing these two cores. You could try a search there too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia has a little bit of choice - you can take Music vs. Art, for example. But yes, everybody takes Lit Hum.

Most students do the readings, although a few Spark Note them. The core, especially Lit Hum, really seems to be a bonding experience among Columbia kids, and among themselves they'll drop references to the readings. Which they couldn't do if nobody did the readings.

Columbia offers some choice, but not much. Columbia's is less-pure "Great Books" than Chicago. But if for some reason you don't like Columbia, it's semester system so you can transfer out. A trimester system means that, whether you transfer in or transfer out, you might lose some time.

And from a look-and-feel perspective, you may find that Columbia kids are just more cosmopolitan and seem to project greater sophistication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Columbia has a little bit of choice - you can take Music vs. Art, for example. But yes, everybody takes Lit Hum.

Most students do the readings, although a few Spark Note them. The core, especially Lit Hum, really seems to be a bonding experience among Columbia kids, and among themselves they'll drop references to the readings. Which they couldn't do if nobody did the readings.

Columbia offers some choice, but not much. Columbia's is less-pure "Great Books" than Chicago. But if for some reason you don't like Columbia, it's semester system so you can transfer out. A trimester system means that, whether you transfer in or transfer out, you might lose some time.

And from a look-and-feel perspective, you may find that Columbia kids are just more cosmopolitan and seem to project greater sophistication.

As the mom of a recent Columbia grad and a current student, I can only say that this is hilariously funny. Thanks for the laugh at the end of a long day, PP.

[Anonymous]

Chicago's core has always provided a student with choices to fulfill the core course requirements. That is nothing new.

[Anonymous]

As a current Columbia student (sadly) reading this in Butler [library] instead of writing my essay, I would like to comment that both art and music humanities are required. The two courses basically translate into music and art history respectively, with a lot of the course quality depending on your professor or instructor.

I strongly considered Chicago and also Yale DS but chose Columbia over the two largely due to the core which, unlike Chicago is not a distribution requirements sort of thing but a serious component of your curriculum which will take up at lest 1/3 of your time here. In other words, the core is not something to be taken lightly.

Finally, while I don't know that we "project greater sophistication," I think Columbia students, having chosen to come to New York, are more likely to be invested in generating an "urban" aesthetic when it comes to fashion. There is also a visible international student pop. (20-25% depending on the year), many of whom studied abroad or come from upper class families and are thus more likely to signal and present themselves in certain ways by drawing upon inherited repositories of cultural knowledge. This really impacts the general vibe of the student body and the way interactions take place.

Then again, your college experience really is what you yourself make of it and I likely have an entirely different view of "Columbia" than others my year, demographic, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a current Columbia student (sadly) reading this in Butler [library] instead of writing my essay, I would like to comment that both art and music humanities are required. The two courses basically translate into music and art history respectively, with a lot of the course quality depending on your professor or instructor.

I strongly considered Chicago and also Yale DS but chose Columbia over the two largely due to the core which, unlike Chicago is not a distribution requirements sort of thing but a serious component of your curriculum which will take up at lest 1/3 of your time here. In other words, the core is not something to be taken lightly.

Finally, while I don't know that we "project greater sophistication," I think Columbia students, having chosen to come to New York, are more likely to be invested in generating an "urban" aesthetic when it comes to fashion. There is also a visible international student pop. (20-25% depending on the year), many of whom studied abroad or come from upper class families and are thus more likely to signal and present themselves in certain ways by drawing upon inherited repositories of cultural knowledge. This really impacts the general vibe of the student body and the way interactions take place.

Then again, your college experience really is what you yourself make of it and I likely have an entirely different view of "Columbia" than others my year, demographic, etc.

OP here. Thanks for your insight.

What are your thoughts on this from the Columbia BWOG:

http://bwog.com/2012/04/29/east-coast-or-no-coast-uchicago-vs-columbia/

[Anonymous]

I'm really sorry I don't have time to go through the entire article and proffer any opinion at the moment, I'm more than willing to speak via private message or email if you have a son/daughter that's looking at Columbia. My sister's a junior at ncs and just beginning the whole college application process so I've been through it myself and am going through it again with her, also my brother who's a freshman in college this fall.

[Anonymous]

University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

DC got spammed - interestingly, it was mostly about their fine arts program. We wondered if Chicago was trying to change their reputation a bit, from "school with a lot of Nobel-prize winning conservative economists if you want to do grad school there" to "artsy-nerdy undergrad program." I don't mean artsy-nerdy in a pejorative sense.

[Anonymous]

I think Chicago has had a reputation for some time now as a school for nerdy, quirky, very bright kids -- artsy for some, by no means all. I don't see this as anything new -- at least not new in past several years.

[Anonymous]

St. John's College in Annapoils or Santa Fe. That's hard core.

[Anonymous]

Re the comment that Columbia kids don't do the readings -- they have to discuss the core books in seminars of 15-20 kids. DC says there's no escape, you have to do the reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re the comment that Columbia kids don't do the readings -- they have to discuss the core books in seminars of 15-20 kids. DC says there's no escape, you have to do the reading.

This. Absolutely right. And if a LitHum or CC instructor thinks the class isn't suffienciently engaged, there are little essay-reports due in 3 or 4 days. That happens.