Columbia is BRUTAL.

Introduction
If you want to coast through college, Columbia is not the place for you, and you should probably RUN AWAY. Don't be fooled by the school's reputation - it's not at all what it seems.

Campus Life and Social Life
Students at CU are high-strung and alienated. People are rude and elitist, and walk around with a sense of entitlement. People usually spend the vast majority of their four years sequestered in Butler Library, trying to deal with the ridiculous load of work that hampers every other aspect of normal college life. The vast majority of your friends will be those that lived on your floor freshman year. Parties are few and far between after freshman year and are quick to get broken up by public safety. Sports are a joke (except for the fencing team), but the school is continually trying to better its NCAA reputation. There are a multitude of clubs to join if you can find time for them. Academics
The workload is brutal. It will rip away your soul and make you resort to tactics you've never dreamed of. Nobody deserves to have this much work heaped upon them. Like I said before, if you value your sanity, RUN. Professors are typical. TA's are the most unfriendly, condescending, passive-aggressive bunch of sad-sacks you'll ever meet, and most of them HATE THEIR JOB. Granted, there are a few that actually LIKE what their doing and will treat you like a human adult - make friends with them.

Student Body
People say that the student body at CU is incredibly diverse. While this is true from an ethnic standpoint and somewhat from a geographic standpoint, the personality pool is as homogeneous as a farming town in Nebraska. There seems to be a general trend of people's lives revolving around achievement, getting into grad school, getting a job, etc.

In Closing...
Columbia is the most stressful, dehumanizing use of four years and $200,000 you could think of. Its Ivy League prestige is not worth it. Unless you get off on self-torture, reconsider what you want out of your life and don't touch this University with a 100-foot pole. Your health and sanity will thank you in the end.