Yale vs. Columbia - any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

Uhm . . . nobody -- actually, DH, kids and I are Stanford, Cal, Michigan and Princeton folks. I've just been amused by this thread -- esp. the Yalies who have confirmed every obnoxious stereotype about themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

Uhm . . . nobody -- actually, DH, kids and I are Stanford, Cal, Michigan and Princeton folks. I've just been amused by this thread -- esp. the Yalies who have confirmed every obnoxious stereotype about themselves.

I'm not seeing that. And I went to an Ivy other than Yale for undergrad, and then to Columbia, so I'd think I'd pick up on excessive "Boola Boola." But the post to which you responded seemed to be quite even-handed.

[Anonymous]

NP here. As the parent of a very happy Columbia student, I'd probably have to say ... Yale for most kids. Yale's campus is lovely and more like the imaginary ivory tower (although despite what you'll read, Columbia does have a discrete campus and provides dorms for all for years). Also, Yale's stress level is lower than Columbia's according to several rankings like Huffington Post.

That said, I'll play devil's advocate for Columbia. There are a lot of arty kids who want NYC for the art, theater, film or music opportunities - Vampire Weekend is recent Columbia grads. A significant share of the undergrad student body is in the engineering school, with the liberal arts kids in Columbia college. The student body is very diverse, ethnically and income-wise. Columbia kids tend to see an almost punishing workload as a challenge, and these are the kids who weren't put off by the idea of reading Herodotus one week and St. Augustine the next week (Columbia's core curriculum).

DC has made great friends, has joined several clubs, and seems to be getting good grades. DC is still in the first two years, but has already had several profs with national reputations who actually teach undergrad courses.

My own DC refused to apply to Yale (or Harvard, or Princeton), in fact we drove right past all of these places on I-95 during the East Coast college tour and DC ignored our suggestions to "just drive through" these campuses. DC, and many of DC's friends, were put off by the reputations for exclusive eating and other clubs. I personally think these reputations are over-blown, and that it's possibly to be extremely happy at Yale without joining Skull and Bones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

Uhm . . . nobody -- actually, DH, kids and I are Stanford, Cal, Michigan and Princeton folks. I've just been amused by this thread -- esp. the Yalies who have confirmed every obnoxious stereotype about themselves.

I'm not seeing that. And I went to an Ivy other than Yale for undergrad, and then to Columbia, so I'd think I'd pick up on excessive "Boola Boola." But the post to which you responded seemed to be quite even-handed.

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.

I guess one person's "even-handed" is another's provincial and xenophobic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

Uhm . . . nobody -- actually, DH, kids and I are Stanford, Cal, Michigan and Princeton folks. I've just been amused by this thread -- esp. the Yalies who have confirmed every obnoxious stereotype about themselves.

I'm not seeing that. And I went to an Ivy other than Yale for undergrad, and then to Columbia, so I'd think I'd pick up on excessive "Boola Boola." But the post to which you responded seemed to be quite even-handed.

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.

I guess one person's "even-handed" is another's provincial and xenophobic.

Again, the other poster should speak for himself/herself, but neither of the passages that you bolded exactly jumps out as the most incendiary statement in history. Regardless of whether Columbia offers housing to undergrads for four years, you'll still find more people living "off-campus" than you would at Yale (i.e., some of the options offered by the university aren't great). Maybe they've improved the quality of the university housing, but I can see why a poster might think Yale's residential colleges would be more attractive to many students. As to the existence of a "foreign student cabal," I think the poster just meant that perhaps a student from Europe would end up with mostly European friends at Columbia. I doubt that would be the case, particularly since we're talking about undergraduates, but again it's not exactly fighting language.

[Anonymous]

DD is a freshman at Yale, and is loving every minute of her experience. When we drove up in the fall, a large group of fellow Morse College upperclassmen were there to welcome our daughter, including the Dean of the college. The students unloaded our car and took every bag and suitcase up many, many flights of stairs to my daughter's dorm room. Yale students do this for the freshmen at every residential college. That gesture set the tone for what has been an amazing, wonderful year for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a freshman at Yale, and is loving every minute of her experience. When we drove up in the fall, a large group of fellow Morse College upperclassmen were there to welcome our daughter, including the Dean of the college. The students unloaded our car and took every bag and suitcase up many, many flights of stairs to my daughter's dorm room. Yale students do this for the freshmen at every residential college. That gesture set the tone for what has been an amazing, wonderful year for her.

11:52 here. I just have to say, if the welcome is very important to you, Columbia was good at that, too. Every freshman has to attend an orientation week, and upperclassmen sign up to help with it. Nobody carried her bags, but they help load everybody's stuff into big blue bins that you wheel into the elevators. A freshman dorm like John Jay has 12 stories, maybe more, so carrying everyone's bags upstairs was probably a little much to ask.

[Anonymous]

Glad to hear that other schools have similar welcomes. I don't remember anything remotely like that when I was a freshman at another Ivy league school many years ago -- Yalie's parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear that other schools have similar welcomes. I don't remember anything remotely like that when I was a freshman at another Ivy league school many years ago -- Yalie's parent

Really? DH and I both recall RAs and orientation volunteers helping us move in as freshmen many years ago. Same thing happened at the two other schools our two oldest kids attend/ed (a recent grad and current student). I think it happens pretty much everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You sound bitter. Who got turned down in your family?

Uhm . . . nobody -- actually, DH, kids and I are Stanford, Cal, Michigan and Princeton folks. I've just been amused by this thread -- esp. the Yalies who have confirmed every obnoxious stereotype about themselves.

I'm not seeing that. And I went to an Ivy other than Yale for undergrad, and then to Columbia, so I'd think I'd pick up on excessive "Boola Boola." But the post to which you responded seemed to be quite even-handed.

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.

I guess one person's "even-handed" is another's provincial and xenophobic.

Again, the other poster should speak for himself/herself, but neither of the passages that you bolded exactly jumps out as the most incendiary statement in history. Regardless of whether Columbia offers housing to undergrads for four years, you'll still find more people living "off-campus" than you would at Yale (i.e., some of the options offered by the university aren't great). Maybe they've improved the quality of the university housing, but I can see why a poster might think Yale's residential colleges would be more attractive to many students. As to the existence of a "foreign student cabal," I think the poster just meant that perhaps a student from Europe would end up with mostly European friends at Columbia. I doubt that would be the case, particularly since we're talking about undergraduates, but again it's not exactly fighting language.

1) I have no idea whether Columbia has improved its dorms, but I doubt that the quoted poster does either. Why not simply say postive things about Yale without resorting to taking a dig at another school?

2) Using the word "cabal" to describe friendships among foreign students implies at the very least cliquishness and perhaps even some nefarious intent. The poster is either xenophobic or has a very poor command of language.

[Anonymous]

Here's another data point: Obama wrnt to Columbia College -- George W. Bush went to Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's another data point: Obama wrnt to Columbia College -- George W. Bush went to Yale.

Princeton sounds better all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another data point: Obama wrnt to Columbia College -- George W. Bush went to Yale.

Princeton sounds better all the time.

Michelle Obama went to Princeton. So did Eliot Spitzer. Where are you going to run to this time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's another data point: Obama wrnt to Columbia College -- George W. Bush went to Yale.

Princeton sounds better all the time.

Michelle Obama went to Princeton. So did Eliot Spitzer. Where are you going to run to this time?

But I like Michelle. Spitzer, not so much!