Columbia University
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- Olympic-quality fencing and diving teams and a pretty spiffy crew team. No football for me, thank you.
- Protesting. It's not a good year at Columbia without a student protest. (Although, it would be better year if my students didn't need to protest...) My most famous protest was when a bunch of students rioted in 1968.
- Looking pretty on campus. You can find me in various Spider-Man movies, Casino Royale, in a Gossip Girl episode as Yale, and oh, so many more.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- A Metrocard, because you're not going to want to be stuck above 110th street forever.
- A subway map. Just be sure not to look at it where anyone can see you.
- A Labyrinth tote bag. Don't be fooled by the on-campus bookstore—this is where you'll be picking up most of your books. Plus, it's not like you're going to be walking around New York City carrying a backpack, are you?
- Student ID. This baby will nab you discounts all around the city, including free or discounted entry to tons of museums.
- An Internet connection. How else are you going to read Bwog, Columbia's answer to Manhattan's gossip sites? It's also just a fun word to say out loud. Bwog.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- I have this nifty thing called the Core Curriculum. All Columbia College students take a two-year long-ish stretch of core classes, including year-long literature and philosophy classes. This means that you can finally make your joke about Aristophanes's speech in the Symposium.
- I give out the Pulitzer awards. Yep, that's me.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
I'm probably filling up on a giant slice of Kornet pizza. When I'm done, I'll probably head back to sit on the Low Library steps before trying to sneak into a Saint A's party, ultimately giving up, and then heading to one of the bars around campus. I usually just end up back in a friend's suite watching Sex and the City reruns.
Favorite Hangouts:
- Low Library Steps, for the two months out of the year that the weather's nice
- Butler Library. Got to ace that Orgo final.
- The Heights
- Lion's Head
- 1020
- The Ding-Dong Lounge
Quirks:
- Since freshmen and sophomores all take the same courses—Literature, Humanities, and Contemporary Civilization—half the campus has a final exam on the same day. It just so happens to be the same time as the final exam for organic chemistry. The night before is Orgo Night, and, traditionally, the marching band saunters into Butler Library to try to "ruin the curve."
- Every single graduating senior here—except the engineering school—has to pass a swim test. Seriously. Legends abound, including that (1) Engineers don't have to take it because they can build rafts, and (2) A wealthy donor's child drowned.
- Every single student has to take two semesters of PE. If you're lucky, you can snag yoga or skiing. If you're uncoordinated, you can opt for two semesters of plain ol' cardio.
- I'm not really into Greek life (unless you're talking the ancient kind).
Famous Alumni:
- Julia Stiles
- Maggie Gyllenhaal
- Rider Strong, from Boy Meets World
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
- Ralph Izzo, of the power company Public Service Enterprise Group
- Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were students here back in the 1950s before dropping out to, you know, invent Beat literature