International Students at Columbia

Introduction
When I applied to Columbia, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Anyone applying here should definitely be ready to be completely independent. Columbia is an amazing school, but nothing is given to you, meaning that you aren't spoon-fed what classes you should take or anything like that. People here are always very self-sufficient and because of this, if you need something, you have to go and find it yourself. No one will do it for you. Even though this might discourage some, it must be said that once you look for the resources, Columbia has absolutely everything you might need.

That aside, I chose Columbia because of its great environment. An Ivy in New York City, Columbia is everything you could dream of in a great university. The location is obviously a huge plus for Columbia and affected my decision to come here immensely.

Campus Life and Social Life
A typical weekend at Columbia normally begins Thursday nights, since most students don't have classes on Friday. Thursday nights are great for staying around campus and hitting up to 4 or 5 of the bars around the neighborhood, which are always packed with college students. These bars, located on Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues, tend to have a good mix of people, good music and are all quite different so one can always find a place that suits his/her taste. The bars range from hookah bar to bar with beer pong tables in the back, so there's a lot to choose from. Fridays tend to be pretty much the same as Thursday and the Frats tend to throw parties on one of these nights. If you like beer-stinking, crammed spaces, then the Frats are for you. Saturdays differ because lots of people leave Morningside Heights and go downtown to bars, lounges and clubs. This can be really fun, but getting into these places is a little harder, the wait is longer and everything is more expensive. This weekend routine gets a bit repetitive at times and because Columbia is so far uptown, one can get really bored from the scene up here. Going downtown is always a bigger commitment than just crossing the street to a bar, so that is definitely a downside of the party scene.

Sports at Columbia are not a very big deal because we suck at playing anything. So, if you are looking for school spirit in the sense of going to games and tailgates and stuff like that, Columbia is not the place for you. Advertisement
Academics
Through my short experience at Columbia, I have found the academics amazing. I have been lucky enough to have had great professors who have all been challenging, interesting and very accessible. The Political Science department is great and the people who teach Poly Sci are all remarkable people, so it is worth it to take a few classes in that area. The Core Curriculum at Columbia offers classes that I have found useful, fun and interesting, but I do feel that some of the professors don't really care about the class and that they aren't very accessible. Overall, Columbia is very demanding. The workload is managable but can be very overwhelming around midterms and finals. Attendance is necessary to most classes and most subjects involve tons of reading.

Student Body
I guess the typical student at my school would be wearing a Polo with the popped collar, jeans and expensive shoes. And yes, Columbia often seems to be part of the Ralph Lauren catalogue, but only on the surface. Columbia is very diverse and although the above-mentioned description might seem to fit all Columbia students, it is not true. As an international student, I have found many other people that come from all over the world and this increases the diversity at Columbia. I find that people here are very unique and that you can find a little bit of everything. This may cause the scene to be a little difficult to adapt to because people tend to hang out in cliques, but when you find your right group of people, you are set. I also find that even though people hang in cliques, they interact with other cliques, so it is very easy to have 2 or 3 different groups of friends and jump around these groups. You can definitely make great friends here.

In Closing...
During my first year here at Columbia, I have found that most people either love it or hate it. Meaning that they love or hate ALL aspects of it, from the core to the social life. And that pretty much describes Columbia: you will always find extremes but there really isn't a grey area in between, there is no comfort zone.