Yale vs. Columbia - any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

I went to both (one for UG and one for law school). Can't go wrong with either. Biggest factor is campus. If the type of 18-yo to do well in NYC (very independent, likes exploring, likes urban enviro) go to Columbia. If less so, go to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale. I dislike the Core Curriculum at Columbia. Too rigid. Also, the residential colleges at Yale make for a very fun undergrad experience.

Core is only 2 classes per semester for first 4 semesters... and it's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Bitter much? Sorry you didn't get in.

Both are fine schools. The opportunities provided by both are great. There's a slightly different feel, but this really is a first world problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Yale & Princeton are no doubt the top ivys to the rest of the world & to the people who went there themselves. I say this having gone to one of the 'lesser ivys' - and have seen the trajectories of the relative privileges granted to the graduates of both tiers.

But Columbia is not a lesser ivy in a sense of Cornell, brown and Dartmouth. It's kind of in the middle. And then, Yale is not Harvard, and even Princeton is not Harvard. And Columbia is the only one in the world class city, probably the most important, iconic city in the world at the moment. Hence, the dilemma.

There shouldn't be a dilemma. You go to college for opportunity, not for a nice city. Yale and Harvard are YALE and HARVARD. And you don't turn that down. Columbia is a great school, and maybe there could be a great debate about the pros and cons for Columbia v. Princeton or Stanford or other top U.S. News school, but against Yale? Game, set, match. The tennis team is probably better at Yale, too.

But Yale is not Harvard, I am not sure where are you getting that equivalence. Certainly, internationally, they do not compare at all. For one, Harvard has much more prominent graduate programs. This might or might not be relevant when deciding about college, but it certainly affects international recognition. International university rankings reflect this, too - Harvard is almost always #1, but Yale is never #1, nor #2, nor #3 nor #5. It just does not compare. USA <> the world.

I'm getting the equivalence from American history, which lauds these two institutions like no other and puts them on a separate playing field. I'm getting the equivalence from Yale and Harvard themselves. By the way, last I checked, Yale had a law school that was ranked pretty decently, if you consider #1 to be decent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

Insecure?
New Haven vs NYC?
Core curriculum taught by profs vs grad student teachers?
Faux oxbridge?
Pretentious clubs?
Sorry, but Yale is certainly a great school and very prestigious and I'd very proud to have my DCs go there, but you sound silly when you postulate that every kid who gets into both would choose Yale. As pp noted, Columbia is hands-down more rigorous and in NYC to boot - for many that's the clincher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

Insecure?
New Haven vs NYC?
Core curriculum taught by profs vs grad student teachers?
Faux oxbridge?
Pretentious clubs?
Sorry, but Yale is certainly a great school and very prestigious and I'd very proud to have my DCs go there, but you sound silly when you postulate that every kid who gets into both would choose Yale. As pp noted, Columbia is hands-down more rigorous and in NYC to boot - for many that's the clincher.

Insecure? What are you prattling on about? I didn't go to Yale, although you can be damn sure I would have chosen Yale over Columbia back in the day when I was choosing colleges. For the record, I didn't get into Yale, but did get into Columbia, and didn't attend the latter. So I have nothing personal involved here. All i have is common sense. If you care, and want to see real head-to-head stats, you can look at Parchment, which is a website that looks at this very issue: when students are accepted at several peer institutions, which one do they attend? Unsurprisingly, Yale is much higher on this lost than Columbia, which suggests - contrary to your "faux oxbridge" sneering, that I am correct, and kids overwhelmingly select Yale when given the option. Columbia is a great school, but one you can turn down. I think the same can't be said of Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

Insecure?
New Haven vs NYC?
Core curriculum taught by profs vs grad student teachers?
Faux oxbridge?
Pretentious clubs?
Sorry, but Yale is certainly a great school and very prestigious and I'd very proud to have my DCs go there, but you sound silly when you postulate that every kid who gets into both would choose Yale. As pp noted, Columbia is hands-down more rigorous and in NYC to boot - for many that's the clincher.

Insecure? What are you prattling on about? I didn't go to Yale, although you can be damn sure I would have chosen Yale over Columbia back in the day when I was choosing colleges. For the record, I didn't get into Yale, but did get into Columbia, and didn't attend the latter. So I have nothing personal involved here. All i have is common sense. If you care, and want to see real head-to-head stats, you can look at Parchment, which is a website that looks at this very issue: when students are accepted at several peer institutions, which one do they attend? Unsurprisingly, Yale is much higher on this lost than Columbia, which suggests - contrary to your "faux oxbridge" sneering, that I am correct, and kids overwhelmingly select Yale when given the option. Columbia is a great school, but one you can turn down. I think the same can't be said of Yale.

And Brigham Young is better than Johns Hopkins according to the same site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer is so obvious I can't even believe it's a question. Yale.

Really? I am not being snarky, just genuinely surprised.

That's because the answer isn't necessarily obvious. Getting into Columbia is awesome, and Morningside Heights is a great place to live.

But I do think Yale is pretty much a quintessential American university and offers the best undergraduate experience in the country, along with Princeton. Having spent some time at Yale, though never a full-time student there, I would find it very, very difficult to turn down.

Hyperbole much?

If you weren't a full time student there, how do you know what kind of undergraduate experience it offers, never mind whether it is the best in the country?

Ridiculous.

You sound bitter. I spent time there visiting friends and fell in love with the place. There was so much to do there, the campus architecture was amazing, the residential colleges were impressive, the food was pretty good, and the kids were just really interesting people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

Insecure?
New Haven vs NYC?
Core curriculum taught by profs vs grad student teachers?
Faux oxbridge?
Pretentious clubs?
Sorry, but Yale is certainly a great school and very prestigious and I'd very proud to have my DCs go there, but you sound silly when you postulate that every kid who gets into both would choose Yale. As pp noted, Columbia is hands-down more rigorous and in NYC to boot - for many that's the clincher.

Insecure? What are you prattling on about? I didn't go to Yale, although you can be damn sure I would have chosen Yale over Columbia back in the day when I was choosing colleges. For the record, I didn't get into Yale, but did get into Columbia, and didn't attend the latter. So I have nothing personal involved here. All i have is common sense. If you care, and want to see real head-to-head stats, you can look at Parchment, which is a website that looks at this very issue: when students are accepted at several peer institutions, which one do they attend? Unsurprisingly, Yale is much higher on this lost than Columbia, which suggests - contrary to your "faux oxbridge" sneering, that I am correct, and kids overwhelmingly select Yale when given the option. Columbia is a great school, but one you can turn down. I think the same can't be said of Yale.

And Brigham Young is better than Johns Hopkins according to the same site.

I grant you I am not entirely sure how to account for the oddities, but you should look at the 2013 list not 2014. The 2014 list can't be accurate (yet) because students haven't yet committed to schools. The 2013 list is based on completed statistics, and not surprisingly, more closely resembles US News rankings. The interesting thing about that list is that it looks at overlapping applicants, and it seems clear that Yale does far better than Columbia in getting commitments from students as against its peer institutions than does Columbia, which, you will notice, has a larger cross-applicant pool with Yale than vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the kid is an energetic, mature, self-starter, Columbia. Columbia doesn't "make" the adult, but it's the right school if the applicant is already an adult.

SO true. Yale is great for kids who aren't ready for the big leagues and want to stay in the cocoon a bit longer. Columbia offers so, so much more and is far more serious academically.

Yes, SO true. Here is a good experiment: ask the Columbia kids whether or not a single one of them got accepted by Yale and actually had this choice to make. Then ask the Yale kids. I can guess which kids actually made the choice, and they won't be the Columbia ones....

Insecure?
New Haven vs NYC?
Core curriculum taught by profs vs grad student teachers?
Faux oxbridge?
Pretentious clubs?
Sorry, but Yale is certainly a great school and very prestigious and I'd very proud to have my DCs go there, but you sound silly when you postulate that every kid who gets into both would choose Yale. As pp noted, Columbia is hands-down more rigorous and in NYC to boot - for many that's the clincher.

Yes. Yalies (and Columbians) of a certain age may remember that when Benno Schmidt, a Columbia dean, became president of Yale, he continued to live in New York City. This ruffled a few bulldog feathers in New Haven.

[Anonymous]

I'd choose Columbia. I lived in NYC in my 20s and wondered why I never even looked at Columbia. If I could be an undergraduate again, I'd go to Columbia.

OP, really, both are fine schools. If your friend is concerned about prestige, then Yale is the obvious choice. But setting prestige aside, I'd choose Columbia because I love NYC. And the education is fabulous at both schools. It's a win-win choice. Congrats to your friend!

[Anonymous]

NP here -- My DC was torn between Yale and Columbia as his first choice, but ultimately opted for Yale. Two great schools, but at the end of the day: (1) Columbia is a more outward/city experience; while Yale is in New Haven, it is more of a traditional, inward college experience for undergrads -- depends what you want; (2) my DC loved the idea of the core, but also might want to double major and that is much harder to do at Columbia than at Yale because of the core; (3) DC thinks residential colleges are really unique at Yale; very different than living in a converted apartment building 3 blocks from the main campus at Columbia after your first year or two; (4) I think Columbia's international student body is larger -- may appeal more to a foreign student or may lead to a foreign student cabal and less chance for a more typical American experience -- depends what you want -- but Yale also has plenty of foreign students even if not as many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here -- My DC was torn between Yale and Columbia as his first choice, but ultimately opted for Yale. Two great schools, but at the end of the day: (1) Columbia is a more outward/city experience; while Yale is in New Haven, it is more of a traditional, inward college experience for undergrads -- depends what you want; (2) my DC loved the idea of the core, but also might want to double major and that is much harder to do at Columbia than at Yale because of the core; (3) DC thinks residential colleges are really unique at Yale; very different than living in a converted apartment building 3 blocks from the main campus at Columbia after your first year or two; (4) I think Columbia's international student body is larger -- may appeal more to a foreign student or may lead to a foreign student cabal and less chance for a more typical American experience -- depends what you want -- but Yale also has plenty of foreign students even if not as many.

And then, of course, there's the allure of all the pretentious assholes at Yale.