Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without question!

+1000. I would not take any other school over Amherst.
- Not an Amherst alum

Parchment on Amherst-Columbia cross-admits:

https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Amherst+College&with=Columbia+University+in+the+City+of+New+York

- Not a Columbia alum.

Columbia’s prestige has crumbled over the last couple of years though.

Still ok if a kid is really set in living in NYC and is ok with crowded classes. Outcomes are similar to Cornell, Emory, and other peercachools.

80% of Amherst admits can't be that wrong to forgo Amherst for for Columbia for an outcome that is similar to Emory...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without question!

+1000. I would not take any other school over Amherst.
- Not an Amherst alum

Parchment on Amherst-Columbia cross-admits:

https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Amherst+College&with=Columbia+University+in+the+City+of+New+York

- Not a Columbia alum.

Columbia’s prestige has crumbled over the last couple of years though.

Still ok if a kid is really set in living in NYC and is ok with crowded classes. Outcomes are similar to Cornell, Emory, and other peercachools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without question!

+1000. I would not take any other school over Amherst.
- Not an Amherst alum

Parchment on Amherst-Columbia cross-admits:

https://www.parchment.com/c/college/tools/college-cross-admit-comparison.php?compare=Amherst+College&with=Columbia+University+in+the+City+of+New+York

- Not a Columbia alum.

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without question!

+1000. I would not take any other school over Amherst.
- Not an Amherst alum

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The core is something to keep in mind for Columbia

There's a kid who posts in YouTube about his Columbia experience. He's a transfer from Rice, had a transfer choice among Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. After a year, he dropped out of Columbia. His reasonings were vague. Looking at a few of his earlier videos, however, I realized he had trouble with the Core.

So, the student needs to know what s/he wants. Open curriculum? Amherst. Core? Columbia.

Why is the CORE considered so bad? It looks so interesting online.

For the above YouTube student, he was an Asian student who may have been unprepared to read so many of the Western classics he was unfamiliar with. It's not for everyone. For those who want to understand who we are as a people, where we (our thoughts, beliefs, worldviews) came from, and where we are heading, there's nothing like the Core.

For those who visit the campus, underneath your feet are bunkers and basements where the Manhattan project took place. Knowledge without humanities can lead to the complete destruction of humanity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without a doubt. I say this as a Columbia grad. Just not the right place for undergrad for most students.

+100

Also a Columbia alum who agrees, 95% of kids shouldn't go there for undergrad

Right! That leaves the 5% accepted.

Am I the only one shocked that the same student applied to these three schools? They couldn’t be more different. Amherst and Columbia, in particular, are opposites in every way. Please, please visit all and also make sure your student understands the requirements (or lack there of in Amherst’s case). There is bound to be a clear choice.

All great schools so you can’t go wrong. Just go see for yourself.

Anonymous wrote:Would highly discourage Columbia. I graduated from there 8 years ago and almost everyone I know regrets going there for undergrad

Agree. Unless you go in with a group of friends you know attending college in NYC (at Columbia or other schools) it can be lonely and hard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All three are great choices in and of themselves, and assuming that campus visits to each are financially and logistically feasible, the decision should be dictated by fit.

That said, I would be very hesitant in the current political climate to matriculate at a red state school. Rice may be in Houston, but Houston is still in TX which means that it is subject to all of the lunacy of the Republican-controlled state legislature.

As compared to the safety and sanity of NYC?

Quoting my response to another poster in this thread: Two words: open carry. Texas has had seven mass shootings in 2024 alone (and we're only three months into the calendar year), three in Houston proper and one in Katy. And for the record, Houston's population is 2.3 million. NYC's is 8.2.

Anonymous wrote:Amherst without a doubt. I say this as a Columbia grad. Just not the right place for undergrad for most students.

+100

Also a Columbia alum who agrees, 95% of kids shouldn't go there for undergrad

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All three are great choices in and of themselves, and assuming that campus visits to each are financially and logistically feasible, the decision should be dictated by fit.

That said, I would be very hesitant in the current political climate to matriculate at a red state school. Rice may be in Houston, but Houston is still in TX which means that it is subject to all of the lunacy of the Republican-controlled state legislature.

Pretty funny how people have concerns about sending their kid to school in Texas when we are comparing it to a school in New York City which has spun completely out of control... white women getting punched in the face in broad daylight left and right... migrants taking over schools. But you are worried about Greg Abbott protecting the border.

Ah, yes, the same mentality that underlies the 1915 film Birth of A Nation. Two words: open carry. Texas has had seven mass shootings in 2024 alone (and we're only three months into the calendar year), three in Houston proper and one in Katy. Also, I encourage anyone who actually thinks that the presence of migrants in the U.S. is a problem to lobby Congress for sanctions against the corporations and entities (including individual farmers) who hire them.

Anonymous wrote:Ivy League. Every time.

While I understand your position, I disagree in this case as the environment at Columbia can be a nightmare due to the stress inducing environment.

OP: The student should know whether or not he/she wants NYC. If yes, then the answer is clear. My thought is that Amherst & Rice offer a better environment for undergraduate study.

Amherst without a doubt. I say this as a Columbia grad. Just not the right place for undergrad for most students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The core is something to keep in mind for Columbia

There's a kid who posts in YouTube about his Columbia experience. He's a transfer from Rice, had a transfer choice among Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. After a year, he dropped out of Columbia. His reasonings were vague. Looking at a few of his earlier videos, however, I realized he had trouble with the Core.

So, the student needs to know what s/he wants. Open curriculum? Amherst. Core? Columbia.

Why is the CORE considered so bad? It looks so interesting online.

Anonymous wrote:All three are great choices in and of themselves, and assuming that campus visits to each are financially and logistically feasible, the decision should be dictated by fit.

That said, I would be very hesitant in the current political climate to matriculate at a red state school. Rice may be in Houston, but Houston is still in TX which means that it is subject to all of the lunacy of the Republican-controlled state legislature.

As compared to the safety and sanity of NYC?