The "Truth" About Columbia, NYU, And Other NYC Colleges
We live in a world where stereotypes run rampant and often find their way, whether we admit it or not, into our minds. We all know that our perfect little island is no exception; here’s what people are saying about some of our city’s schools.---
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Columbia University – "Rich Nerds"
With an 11% admission rate, students at this branch of the Ivy League are safely labeled the “Rich Nerds.” Quite simply, they are better than the rest of us, with nearly 100% scoring 2050 or higher on the SATs. A trip to the campus (one of the only actual “campuses” in the city) feels like walking into a J-Crew catalogue with slightly less attractive, stressed out models.
Hangouts: Despite their unfortunate location in Manhattan’s Siberia, these smarties let loose at Bar 1020 for beer on tap, La Negrita for live music, the Dead Poet for some quiet drinking, or Jake’s Dilemma, filled with your usual assortment of drunk girls and guys.
Clothes: Abercrombie & Fitch, J-Crew, and lots and lots of sweats (grades beat out appearance for these kids any day).
New York University – “Cooler”
I speak from personal experience on this one. It’s pretty safe to say that NYU is filled with hipsters, celebuspawns, and “socially aware” youth, whatever that means. I can’t help but mention, however, that our stereotypes truly depend on which school students attend. Tisch kids, for example, are the “struggling artists” (who can afford to pay $62,000 a year?), and are a bit overly proud of their chase for fame, often acting out skits for fun outside of the dorms. We Gallatin kids spit at the word “major,” for we are the non-conformist lost souls with open minds who eventually decide upon a “concentration.” Aka, we are as hipster as it gets, often getting distracted by the American Apparel and Shakespeare & Co. visible out the window.
Hangouts: NYU kids strive for swankier night life than most, and were probably responsible for the underage incidents at The Jane (sorry, Manhattan). Other hangouts include Avenue, Antik, and my friends’ personal favorite, the KGB Bar. Students often nurse hangovers with free classes at “Yoga to the People” on St. Marks.
Clothes: American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, Thrift Stores (Buffalo Exchange)
Pace University – “I don’t like school but I love Manhattan”
With only 11% of students having had a GPA of 3.75 or higher, it’s safe to say that these students weren’t exactly “academically driven” in high school, and may have come to the big city for other reasons.
Hangouts: These kids often escape the island to hang out in bars and at apartment parties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
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Fordham University “Godly”
Due to their Jesuit educations, these students are quite literally “holier than thou.” Filled with Catholics, townies, and some of the only real frat boys in NYC, the student population tends to be politically conservative and somewhat money-driven, often having had a Catholic school background.
Hangouts: Mugzs on Mondays for beer pong tournaments, Tinkers on Tuesdays, and house parties on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. On the seventh day, they rest.
Pratt Institute of Design “I am an artist.”
Arsty, extremely alternative, and pretentious sums up Pratt kids pretty thoroughly. While NYU kids aspire to reach their level of “alternative-ness,” Pratt kids aspire to be, well, homeless. These are the kids staying up 24/7 (by whatever substances necessary) to finish projects. Being one of the leading art schools in the US, work of alumni can be seen in almost any museum or sky scraper.
Hangouts: Five Spot, Rope, and tons of unknown holes in the wall.
Clothes: Lots of hand-made clothing, as well as anything that looks like it was picked out of a dumpster.
The New School "Too Cool For Normal School"
Similar to NYU, these students depend on which department they attend. Students of the Parsons School of Design tend to be gay boys, rich girls, and international students, with graduates including Mark Jacobs, Donna Karan, and Isaac Mizrahi. These are the ones incessantly chain smoking on 12th Street and 3rd Avenue. Students at the Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts, however, are simply hippies. Graduates include musicians Matisyahu and Sufjan Stevens, as well as Emily Gould, former co-editor of Gawker. Attempted graduates include Olivia Palermo. New School Students are known for the frequent protests and "study-ins".
Hangouts and clothing, due to location, are similar to those of NYU students.
Vassili Verrecchia Shows Off His Favorite Things In His Paris Home
While his brother, Timothee, runs the NYC office, Vassili takes on the Paris-based side of things. To gain some insight to what inspires such a creative and entrepreneurial spirit, we asked Vass to show off some of his favorite worldly and sentimental possessions in his Paris home. See where Vass's travels have taken him...
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oh yeah
December 1, 2009
8:54pm
this columbia post is totally off. 1020 is fine, but otherwise-completely inaccurate. and yes, i went to columbia.
Janine Just
December 1, 2009
10:14pm
I'm shocked that FIT didn't make it into the mix. I was interested to see what they would have said about "our demo."
S
December 1, 2009
10:19pm
Marymount Manhattan College.
Mike
December 2, 2009
1:27am
How bout every CUNY school (Baruch, Hunter, John J) I go to a cuny and often attend places like avenue, 1oak, SL and the Jane
LC
December 2, 2009
2:19am
What 12 year old wrote this article?
jr cash
December 2, 2009
11:37am
nothing like ignoring that a majority of nyu kids are rich nerds. im pretty sure most of nyu isn't out ragin at sl on the reg.
jr cash
December 2, 2009
11:39am
and might i add the fact nyu kids are all over the bars on w4 and bleeker, which certainly aren't very hip.
S
December 2, 2009
2:08pm
I can't help but agree about NYU and Fordham
December 2, 2009
8:01pm
wildy inaccuate
nyu undergrad
December 2, 2009
8:08pm
hey, dick, thanks for making NYU look like a bunch of jackasses. and, no one hangs out at those places.
columbia senior
December 3, 2009
12:42am
haha. Mathias Rozenwieg, how old are you? 18? 19? You're a freshman at NYU. Before you start dishing out stereotypes on other universities, maybe you should wait until you've finished your first semester in college. Did you scavenge nymag or comb through TONY when you wrote these reviews? Though, that would mean you came close to doing a good job. They at least know what's what. And I'm not just talking about Columbia -- you can't even get your own school's stereotypes right. GuestofaGuest: perhaps next time you attempt to feature NYC schools on your website, you'll at least choose someone who knows what they're talking about.
Columbia 2011
December 3, 2009
1:03am
the (freshman) author is sadly deluded. i suspect that the bitterness from his ED rejection at Columbia has inspired these (patently false) perceptions. perhaps GOAG should have invited, you know, someone who has been in college in NYC for more than 2.5 months to write this. Videbimus Lumen.
onjuju
December 3, 2009
6:15am
Amazing how everyone took this to heart. Its just an article and of COURSE it isn't 100%. No sterotype is. Its called majority rules. I find this arcticle VERY accurate. Loves it!
julia
December 3, 2009
6:32am
I'm a Columbia student, and I am not going to even take the time to pick apart every wrong detail of this article. But I will note one thing that may be easily overlooked: the author claims that Fordham has some of the only "real frat boys" in NYC. Ha! Do your research - Fordham as a rule does NOT have ANY sororities or fraternities.
Columbia '09
December 3, 2009
8:15am
Congratulations, you just verified a negative stereotype about NYU students... Kids who falsely believe they have a monopoly on cool and for whatever reason have deluded perspectives of both other nyc college students and themselves. Just because you googled reviews of each college doesn't mean you are an authority on the subject. Speaking only on Columbia: "Real Frat Kids" at Fordham ignores the fact that of late Columbia has a resurgent greek scene, the bar reviews are wildly inaccurate and insufficient, and the stereotypes fail to include the fact that Columbia also has ties with JTS or the fact that it there are a ton of hipsters, and other groupings on campus. As stated in comments above, wait till you finish your first semester in the city to make judgments, or given your poor prose and worse research skills, just give up now.
CU Alum
December 3, 2009
9:15am
I can't speak for the other schools, but the Columbia entry is way off. The photo wasn't even taken anywhere near Columbia.
False
December 3, 2009
3:39pm
Im a senior at columbia. Go out every weekend. Never been to 1020. Never even heard of La Negrita, the Dead Poet or Jake’s Dilemma. Did you just pick those names out of a hat? I can only imagine the other articles are as amazingly inaccurate.
WRONG
December 3, 2009
4:40pm
I am a Columbia student and the Columbia post is BY FAR the most inaccurate. No Columbia student travels to the 80s to drink. No one. As far as the student asthetic goes I would say most people look overly bookish and academic. I would have written something along the lines of, "At Columbia the competition is so high that if you can't BE smarter than the next person you can LOOK smarter than the next person (large glasses, tweed, skinny jeans, argyle...)" Are you aware that Fordham does not have a frats?
Columbia
December 3, 2009
6:07pm
You could all get Oscars for best over re-actors. He's clearly making fun of the stereotypes themselves, and not the actual schools. And although there aren't frats at Fordham, the guys there often resemble typical frat boys. As a Columbia graduate, i did go to 1020, but none of the others. So yeah, it's not totally accurate, but whatever.
Really Off
December 3, 2009
6:15pm
I find it quite interesting that the author seems to only be capable of identifying three general groupings of stereotypes: "Cool hipsters," "dumb asses, and "helpless nerds." Now, I can't speak much to the stereotypes spoken about the other schools, but Columbia students (author's bias should be noted) aren't all rich, don't wear exclusively preppy standbys, and (GASP!) leave the Morningside Heights to party. And the 80s? On Amsterdam Ave? To drink? Where did you find your bar choices, child? Googling "Upper West Side bars" and name dropping based on what you found? Clever....
December 3, 2009
9:59pm
Yeah, this guy is an idiot. He does go to the Gallatin School, so I guess that makes sense. Who needs a major or real course of study when you can pay $200,000 to screw around four years? Also, the Columbia entry is, as pointed out by myriad folks, wholly inaccurate. That is not a photograph of Columbia's campus. Interestingly enough, two of the people in the image are wearing NYU purple. Also way to leave out the hundreds of thousands of CUNY students who probably comprise 80% of New York's college population.
M
December 4, 2009
1:03am
Marymount Manhattan College? Yes, please?
Huh?
December 9, 2009
7:36am
I go to Columbia, and yeah there are some rich people, but considering as how Columbia gives a heck of a lot more financial aid than NYU, trust me, there are a lot more middle and lower class students here. The Dead Poet? Jake's Dilemma? Where the hell are those? Next time try Googling bars in Morningside Heights. A J. Crew ad? Really? I never see any polos or khakis on campus unless they're on a professor. The only time someone in New York dresses that way is either on the Upper East Side or some dumb NYU student thinking they're being "ironic" or something.
NYU Rep.M
March 12, 2010
10:25pm
It's fascinating, really, the number of Columbia students who lashed out at the article - veritable juggernauts, the lot of you; to the point were it just bypasses school spirit and becomes embarrassingly pretentious: "trust me, there are a lot more middle and lower class students here." = = "Nu UH! WE TOTALLY HAVE MORE POOR PPL HERE, CAUSE WE'RE - uh - AND IVY! AND THAT MEANS SOMETHING ... GOOD - RIGHT?? ALL THOSE YEARS SPENT LABORING INCESSANTLY OVER THE COURSE MATERIAL WAS GOOD RIGHT?? MOM? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW MOM?! DID I MAKE THE FAMILY PROUD??
P.
April 13, 2011
5:44am
Hm, why is everyone--especially those from Columbia (or as you claim to be)--getting so worked up about this article? I mean is it because the author called you guys nerds? or "less attractive"? I'm pretty sure the author is making fun of these common perceptions the public has about each of the schools. In reality, we know that there are going to be a variety of rich, poor, nerdy, "hipster" students at BOTH Columbia and NYU...so take a chill pill or get a sense of humor. There is no need to put down any school...except the not-so-serious ones, ahem. There's nothing wrong with being called a nerd...it just means you work harder than others to get where you are.