Columbia University in the City of New York Top Questions

The student body is really diverse, which was surprising to me at first going to an ivy. I thought it would be all upper class white kids. But thats not the case. On a single floor, theres probably an equal distribution of white, black, hispanic, asian, and indian kids. You make friends with all sorts of people from all over the country. in my close group of friends, one girl is from turkey, one from brazil, another went to boarding school in rome, and I am from texas. Political action is not really shown on campus. If you're into it I guess there are clubs for it, but otherwise you don't really see it. Noone talks about politics or about the race that much.

Noone feels out of place in this city unless they are completely closed minded.

Honestly, Columbia's student body is as diverse as a student body can be. It is probably the exciting diversity of New York City itself that draws such an eclectic, interesting group of students together. Students are of all different cultural and financial backgrounds, with interests ranging from African Studies to Metaphysics. Every student is so different and so intelligent in one way or another also: my group of best friends here includes a girl who can fluently speak three languages and is learning a fourth, a girl who starts on Columbia's fencing team and was on the U.S. National fencing team, a girl who is President of the sophomore class at Barnard College and is involved in about half of the clubs on campus, and a coxen on the crew team who is also a whiz in math.

It's a diverse campus, and it's awesome. When I first got here I hate to admit this, but, it was a culture shock to me. The only thing that annoys me is that everyone is so concerned with being politically correct. I think people get offended way to easily sometimes...but maybe that's just me.

Very diverse. All sides represented.

There is no way to describe the typical Columbia student because there is no typical Columbia student. That being said I really don't feel that anyone would feel out of place at Columbia. I have, however, been disappointed recently by the amount of racism and biased opinions that have surfaced from the student body.

While the students here are diverse, they tend to only hang out with other students that are of the same race/religion. For example. black students are only friends with black students, indian students are only friends with other indians, making the different ethnic groups on campus very exclusive. I don't think that most students would feel out of place, since there is diversity among students. Most columbia students are from the tri-state area, there are also a lot from california, florida, and texas. Most students here are upper/middle class. Students are very politically aware and active and are predominantly left. Many students take about future jobs, especially those who wish to work in finance/wall street.

sucks. students are awkward and unfriendly.

I thought I was at a school with a student body which was very diverse and accepting, then comes Juicy Campus and I am embarassed and disgusted by those who took that site as an opportunity to unleash their racist banter.

Social people feel out of place here because so much is being done to prevent people from having fun.