Very prestigious university with top-notch professors and students, but the campus was windy and FREEZING when I visited in March six years ago. The entire campus (including the dorms) was enclosed in one square block, which gave me the feeling that the buildings were towering over me in an ominous, claustrophobic way. We weren’t allowed to walk on the tiny plots of grass, and there were like, five tree total. For someone who was used to bigger campuses with large trees and rolling lawns, this place was scary.

Columbia was the worst experience of my life. The administration is corrupt, and could care less about student concerns. The campus is unsafe, and suffers from high crime and lots of cover-up from the so called "campus security," and the students are snobby and cold. I'm sorry I wasted 4 years of my time, and way to much money on this dump.

Horrible, Horrible, HORRIBLE school. The administration is pure evil. That means you Chris Columbo, Morgan Levy, Mary McGee, and Susan Glancy.
I would NEVER RECOMMEND COLUMBIA TO ANYONE. If you care about education, you can do much better at a community college.

I had a very negative experience at Columbia University involving harassment from another student.  Because this student's father as a graduate of the school, Columbia protected my harasser by providing him with an attorney.  Moreover, they threatened me with discipiplinary action if I were to file an official complaint. The student in question has used drugs and  alcohol on campus, is in posession of a fake ID, and has  harassed several other students.  A girl that lived on his dorm floor was so upset by his anti-social behavior, that she was compelled to move out of her room.   Yet, the administration continues to proctect him, even though Columbia's policies make him subject to expulsion.   Dean Colombo of Coumbia College, Marsha Wagner of the Ombuds Office, the Assistant Provost, Roxie Smith, Campus Security who failed to respond to any of my valid complaints are just some of the players complicit in his crime.

Former alumnus speaking here -- great place, have fond memories of the school and surrounding neighborhood. Love the campus and the architecture. If you want to go to a great school at an urban campus, this is the place.

This is a place where, in the '50s, about half of its professors in the Physics dept had won or were going to win Nobel Prizes, and its dept.'s in the social sciences were among the best, if not the best. Academically, the school did lose some of its lustre in the '70s and '80s, but since the '90s, it's been getting it back. In the late '90s, 3 of the Nobel Prize winners in Economics were either current professors or alumni of Columbia (Mundell, Vickrey, Merton). Columbia recently went on a huge hiring spree for its Econ dept., hiring ~10 or more rising academic stars away from other schools, and its current president, Bollinger, seems very committed to expanding the school and investing more in its dept.'s in the hard sciences.

Columbia's always had a rep for being in a 'bad' neighborhood, but by now, that reputation is undeserved, especially now that the relentless wave of gentrification in Manhattan has made property values in the area pretty high. Anyone who went to school at Columbia in the '80s or early-to-mid-90's (or earlier) will be surprised by the changes in the neighborhood since then. Certainly students around the country are aware of this, as indicated by the steadily falling admissions rates to the College (last year, the rate was < 10%).

I love this place. Barnard girls are easy.

From Alumni, Full Scholarship Student and FORMER donor. pros: extremely diverse university - u can take women studies at Barnard; biomed engineering at engineering; Health admin at Business School; synergies with Presbyterian Hospital. easier way to get job on Wall Street or Fashion or Advertising undergrad research and Noble Prize winners core curriculum - Discuss writing, philosophy (the GREAT ideas), aka contemporary civilization. The underground book at Papyrus Bookstore calls it "contempt for civilization." MIT and Polytech make nerds and inventors. Columbia makes the ONLY well rounded IVY league engineers. SIPA - international grad studies - or on your 'spare time' go to the 'French House' for conversation/film busy, everyone is into their own thing cons: highly competitive, sometimes grading on the 'curve' busy, "Grand Central Station" grad tutors (foreign) speak with an accent, but they have 1400 SATs housing is dirty, moldy, sometimes rats professors are interested in research - "publish or perish" poor cafeteria food expensive city living located in Harlem - poor area with a crime rate!! http://ci.columbia.edu/ci/index.html

One of the top institutions

My son is a spohmore in high school here in NJ, and Columbia is one of the schools he is interested in. Could someone please answer some of our questions? What is the core curriculum that some of the posts have criticized? Also, I have heard so many different things from parents about the Ivy league schools and getting admitted. One told me that you have to be in honors or AP in every class. My is in all honors this year except for math, which we just recently dropped down to college prep because of the teacher. However, AP's start next year, and he is taking a competitive course load, so I am hoping the schools will not mind that he is getting an A+ in college prep math. He will be taking AP US history, AP European History (first one in the school to take the two together), AP English, AP Environmental Science, Asian Studies Honors, and Spanish 4 Honors, and Advanced math/precal CP. He is debating whether to take Bio AP next year or senior year. He is in the Science League, Academic Decatholon, and runs Cross Country/Track. Right now, his GPA is over a 4, but with the AP's next year, that should go up even more, hopefully. He is liberal minded when it comes to politics, so hopefully from what I am reading here, he will fit with Columbia. Any suggestions to help gain admission, would be great. Thanks!!!

This school is unreal. Beautiful architecture, amazing studies, perfect location. Ivy League status. What more could you ask for? I hope I get in!!

Amazing school

Bottom rung Ivy school. Has a great rep in NYC, but it's profile wanes the further you go from The City. Good school, no doubt, but there are some students there who are really.....out there....Like they should be at Cal -Berkeley.

From my position as an alum. of Columbia, I can honestly say there is no university with quite the same spark. Ethnically diverse, invigorating coursework and the most beautiful campus nestled in the heart of the most exciting city in the world. Top 5 school, hands down.

an absolutely amazing school. the Core is actually extremely useful, provided you get a good professor. the location, of course, is one of the top reasons to choose Columbia. sports suck though. the classes are often hard, but grade inflation always helps. very liberal, very diverse, and overall definitely a top 5 university.

One of the best schools in the entire world--no question. Although many students dislike its Core requirement, it allows students to develop into more well-rounded individuals. Besides, it's in NYC, the opportunities are endless!

Columbia is the best university in the nation, bar none.

Top school, but certainly not top 5 material. It's not even the best school in NY state.

Columbia University is a great school!!!!! I myself am an african american and believe that my treatment is terrific. I LOVE THIS PLACE!

Definitely not appreciative of minorities. Elitist liberals!

Great!!! Hahaha.

It's a super university in an awesome town; the classes are hard and there is a lot to be learned for anyone willing to work hard. However, if you're not so good at making friends, the social life is a little dull (you have to really make an effort to go out and meet people).

With its New York City location and world class student body, there is no better place to learn about academics and people.

College feeling in the middle of the busiest and most exciting city!

Not supportive of African-American students.