Reply to How to pick between Columbia, Cornell or Princeton?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]When you find yourself in a hole, PP, stop digging.  Your arguments about the vast superiority of attending school in a city like Boston may appeal to a handful of posters.  That's why some urban schools thrive.  But they'll largely fall flat on the majority of people, whose own experiences don't square with your characterizations at all.  And it won't help your cause if you respond to them by making assumptions about where they attended school or whether they are intellectually curious or not.

In any event, you now seem to have focused your arguments on what you think life is like at rural colleges or universities with 4000-6000 students, which does not describe Columbia, Cornell, or Princeton.  Each of these universities has more than 6000 students on campus, taking graduate students into account, and only Cornell could be described as rural, although Ithaca provides some additional small-town amenities beyond those on the Cornell campus. [/quote]

No, my argument is regarding small colleges in both rural and suburban areas.

No one is taking graduate students into account, and my posts are not entirely about Princeton/Columbia/Cornell solely. 
Its about Princeton's suburban, sheltered setting that many students will find boring after 2 years. 
Columbia is in the city
Cornell is a large school

I did not say that attending urban schools is 'vastly' superior, at any point - you are again making random assumptions based on your personal sensitivities and perhaps insecurities having attended a suburban/rural school. I specifically argued that many students will want to congregate and meet with students from other universities while they are at college, rather than being sheltered in a boarding school-like environment for 4 years. Perhaps you like that sort of lifestyle, many don't.

And neither are Boston College, MIT, Harvard, etc. hyper "urban" schools like NYU - they have their own campuses within the larger city - it's simply that if the students chooses, they have the option to explore wider. Those in small suburban and rural colleges don't have that option at all. [/quote]

You said previously, and I quote:  "Being stuck in the [i]same rural college town[/i] of 4000-6000 students gets very old after 1-2 years, especially for college students."  Not that attending a suburban school easily accessible to two of the nation's largest cities, or that attending Princeton specifically, would "get very old."

It seems just as likely that students would find the lack of community at a larger and/or urban school as off-putting as they might find the greater cohesiveness of a school like Princeton stifling.  And those who attend a larger and/or urban school don't have any option - besides transferring - to change those attributes of a larger and/or urban school if they conclude it is not to their liking.

Your argument that many students want to "congregate" with students from other schools has been debunked repeatedly by multiple posters.  Repeating it over and over again - along with references to "boarding schools" - won't make it any more convincing. [/quote]
The quote in italics is an [b]example[/b] of being stuck in a rural/suburban environment. 
Princeton is an hour away from NYC - its not exactly right next door. Again, as I have argued in this thread, Princeton is the best university for undergraduate CS given education quality. However they are all good options and fit matters depending on student.

My argument is not being "debunked" by multiple posters so much as multiple posters here prefer the suburban environment - given they live in the suburbs of DC - to the dynamics of urban environment. That does not change the fact that many students prefer to live in urban environments with more opportunities including more college students from different colleges. That's why colleges in urban environments are becoming more and more popular.

Colleges like Harvard and Boston College do have a college community despite being in a city. But they also have the advantage of opportunities outside of that small community. That's an advantage that rural/suburban isolated schools don't have. This is not difficult to understand.

Let me put it into kindergarten terms so that perhaps you understand: Being good at two things is better than one. [/quote]

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