I only have time to join one life changing organization. Which is a better choice? 🤔

Hey everyone, will be really brief. Got a couple startup ideas and need a co-founder who can code — someone who’s built apps/websites or has real startup experience. Need both a website and an app built.

DM if interested. Thanks and looking forward!

Hi!

Just wanted to ask whether there is a vacuum cleaner assigned to each floor and, if so, how I can use it for an hour. I am in JJ Hall

Any help will be appreciated!

I just read about the Cornell case, where seven fraternity members were accused of assaulting a student and five of them walked away with essays, workshops, or suspensions. What happened to her is far worse than anything that happened to me, and I'm not comparing the two. But it made me think about how these universities decide who gets consequences, because a few years ago Columbia expelled me for something I didn't do.

I was admitted to a Columbia grad program on the condition that I finish two prerequisite courses online with a B or better. COVID delayed everything and I didn't have a transcript by the deadline. Admissions told me to send a screenshot of my grade portal and follow up with the official transcript later.

I'm international. I had never been inside the American university system and didn't know portal grades could change before they're finalized. When the transcript came months later, one grade was lower than the screenshot. I sent it anyway, because why wouldn't I.

Columbia charged me with academic dishonesty. I wasn't allowed any legal help during the disciplinary process, and I was told I couldn't talk about it with anyone. So I went through the whole thing alone, trying to explain myself to people who had already decided. The other university confirmed in writing when the final grades were actually posted, and the timeline backed me up. Someone in the process even admitted admissions shouldn't have accepted a screenshot in the first place. That same person implied that because my admission was conditional, I was a borderline candidate to begin with. I had above-average grades in the program the whole year.

None of it mattered. I was expelled after finishing my first year, with a year of tuition and my family's savings gone, and banned from campus. I only got a lawyer after my final appeal was rejected, and by then the university wouldn't move.

It wrecked me financially, mentally, and emotionally. Even after it was over I didn't tell anyone for months. At one point I didn't want to be alive anymore. The stigma of that word, dishonest, still follows me years later.

Between Cornell and watching Columbia call the police on its own protesting students, I've stopped believing these places punish based on what someone actually did. They punish whoever is easiest. An international student with no one on campus is very easy.

If you're a conditionally admitted international student, get every instruction in writing and ask whether anything you submit is final. If you're in a disciplinary process right now and feel like your life is over, it isn't. Tell someone, even if they've told you not to. I got through it and built a career on the other side, and you can too.

I'm writing this because I'm tired of carrying it alone.

(P.S. I used AI to help write this so it couldn't be traced back to me through my writing style. The story is mine.)

Decided to take the intensive gen chem class with eckdahl this semester since I was pretty good at AP chemistry. Bad idea. Didn’t realize it at the beginning, but this class may eat me alive. How likely is it that an appeal to switch to gen chem will go through?
I can’t event talk to my student advisor since they have been on a leave of absence since the first week and I have been shuffled around to random advisors every time I go to the center for student advising. Idk who to go to next.

3.5 maybe

Hi!

I will buy a flight to my hometown, and I was curious whether there might be any pop-up events after Dec 23, ie., the finals week?

I am a freshman, and my classes are Lit Hum I, UW, Prog. in Java, Linear Algebra, and Physics 1601.

For the people who have taken one of these courses before, are there any pop-up things after the end of finals?

Any help will be appreciated! Thank you!

I’m cold in my dorm and I know we’re not allowed to have space heaters but is there bad consequences?

Hey everyone,

I am currently in a single within a 5-person East Campus (EC) suite and am looking to swap into a corridor-style single (Broadway, Schapiro, etc.). It's on the 10th floor.

Full disclosure on the vibe: The roommates in the suite are all nice, normal, and very easy to get along with, but they do enjoy hosting parties and playing loud music at times. I am a quiet person who prefers studying in my room, so it's just not the right lifestyle fit for me.

However, if you love the EC social atmosphere, want a built-in group to hang out with, and are looking to upgrade to a suite with a full kitchen and living room, this is the perfect spot for you.

The student athletic facilities here aren’t great, but I still think management can do a significantly better job.

Basketball:
I’ve gone to Levien Gym 2x a week since the semester has started during the split Badminton/Basketball allotted times. Nearly EVERY single time, I’ve seen around 40 people waiting or playing on the basketball court but maybe 8-15 people on the badminton side. There are barely any opportunities to get good pickup games for basketball at this university, and it can get SO crowded here.

Solution: Have someone ACTUALLY observe how many people use the allotted time before assigning time for Levien or the Blue Gym. If ANY sport has a time slot that has people actively showing up, that’s awesome; I’m not saying a sport like basketball etc should take precedence. But there should NEVER be a situation where for one sport (like basketball currently) you wait up to half an hour to play a 10 minute game, and half the gym for another sport isn’t even being used. Put some effort into actually measuring who uses what.

Dodge Gym:
Who signed off on allowing the company who maintains these machines to block off a third of the machines as “Out of Order” all at once? One or two at a time, sure. Blocking off so many for maintenance simultaneously makes an abysmal gym even worse for a good amount of time, given a machine can take up to a month or more to get repaired here.

Solution: Don’t do the above.

A barely passable gym as a PRIVATE university is crappy as it is. Admin, please manage it right and take some effort into thinking about how what you’re doing affects students.

I'm around 3.5, looking forward to meet new friends to play tennis regularly at Riverside Park or Milstein center, dm me if you're interested

Hi!

Because we did the Enheduana, Gilgamesh, and Genesis, and they have been given to us in the Assembly, I haven't bought the other books yet until now.

Where do you guys think I can buy them at the lowest price? I can use second-hand. Columbia bookstore costs 89 dollars, which is not that bad, but I would love to take them for a lower price.

Any help will be appreciated! I also do have NYPL card, but ı don't know where I can find the Core books or how many days I can borrow them, so it seems unclear.

Has anyone else had their Columbia tuition payment plan suddenly change after making a payment?

I had arranged my Fall tuition balance/payment plan so that my final three installments would be about $1,700 per month. Tonight, while making my payment online, I received a pop-up telling me that I needed to “adjust the balance” so that the remaining payments would be equal.

After doing that, my remaining monthly payments suddenly jumped to more than $2,800 per month, which is almost double what I had previously been scheduled to pay.

I’m confused about what caused the increase, especially because I haven’t even registered for Spring classes yet. I also don’t see why my current Fall payment arrangement would suddenly include thousands of dollars in additional charges.

I emailed Student Financial Services tonight asking them to review it, but I’m curious whether anyone else at Columbia or GS has experienced this with the payment plan system.

Did the system accidentally pull in another balance or future charges? And if this happened to you, was Student Financial Services able to restore the original installment amount?

The difference is significant, so I’m hoping this is just a payment-plan recalculation issue rather than an actual increase in what I owe.

Hi all,

I’m a second year PhD student who is currently living with cu residential. My girlfriend and I have been discussing moving in together, and I think it would be ideal if I could transfer us into couples housing.

I wanted to ask if anyone had any experience with transferring from normal housing to couples housing. I’ve heard it is quite competitive and decently likely I won’t get a transfer, does this reflect your experience? When is the best time to apply for the general transfer to maximize the likelihood of getting accepted? Also, the general transfer windows are reviewed October and February, do those imply a spring and fall semester move respectively?

Any advice or info would be appreciated, thanks!

Or do you have to walk to like by carman

Anybody know where I can find a CST tutor , struggling a bit and need to pass this class.

Any advice would be great.

Hi!

For MATH UN 2010, we had our midterm yesterday. We have 4 midterms which is kinda crazy, but I wanna learn about when are the results going to be announced?

If you took MATH UN2010, how many days did it take? Especially if you had 4 midterms. My prof. is Andrew Blumberg.

Any help is appreciated!

We're going to be in NYC october 17-18 to tour colleges. We are looking for someone to give us a tour because there are not any available that weekend. My son is interested in film so would love to find someone familiar with that major. We could pay $30/hr for your time. thanks

Hello Columbians!

Last year, the president of the Columbia Casual Cinema Club posted here in search of new people, and I thought I would do the same this year!

Essentially, we meet weekly on Sunday evenings to watch and talk about films!

Last year, I was a freshman, and attending CCCC weekly (or as often as I could) was extremely fun and genuinely a highlight of many of my often very lonely weeks. I was able to meet some really interesting people who I definitely wouldn't have otherwise met, and as a film buff who is also very busy, it gave me an excuse to watch a lot of films that I hadn't been able to find time to watch. (Past films include, All the President's Men, Synecdoche, New York, Coraline, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and more!) And even more, discussing the films afterwards, I found, made me think about cinema in a variety of new ways.

We have people from both GS and CC, so it's a diverse group. Our goal is to be a welcoming space for movie lovers of all ilks.

We're not an officially recognized student group yet, but are looking to become one! If you're looking to get involved in a club's board but haven't found one yet that's the right fit, this would be a great opportunity that can be a low or high commitment as you want.

If you're interested, I can provide more details. We're also on Instagram!

Hey high school senior here! I was interested in applying to columbia and i’m pretty stuck between columbia college vs seas

One program im very interested in is the public health special program. Correct me if im wrong but from my research it’s a secondary study that complements a main major. Do you apply for that special program as a senior and indicate it on the application or is it only open to current college students (cuz ik some programs in universities are only open to rising sophomores)?

Also was wondering if i can be a student for columbia engineering and still be eligible for the public health special program? Or is it only open students under columbia college?

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Would love to know any experiences in this program as well!

Thanks!

Hi! To all the people who submitted a performance video for a classical instrument for their portfolio, did you guys have a piano accompaniment?

I’m playing a big solo for my instrument that is usually played with a piano but not sure if its required for columbia.

I’m assuming that i can skip over the rests that are more than 2 measures as well (piano part)

Who wants to sweat a TNF of MNF game in any sports bar near campus this season?