Columbia Admits Q&A: Your Questions, Answered
Congrats on your admit! Now comes the next part — deciding whether to actually come. I’m a graduate student at Columbia (MS in Data Science) and I get a lot of DMs from people in exactly this position. Here are my honest answers to the questions I hear most.
RA / TA Roles
Q: Can I get an RA or TA position as a master’s student?
TA positions are easy to get, you can earn approx $3500 per semester from a TA positions working 10 hours/week. The workload is not a lot and if you like the course, its fun as well. Pay varies by department, there are some departments which pay $7000 as well. You can also do 2 TA positions in a semester. But I don’t believe that its a good utilization of your time.
RA positions are competetive. Being a DS/CS student, core research happens in Engineering school with CS professors. I have not seen much people getting paid for research with CS professors. But if you can impress them enough, there is always a possibility. I recommend working on good foundational work 200%, even if you are not getting paid. As thats the single most thing that differentiates you, get you an expertise and you get to work closely with PhD and profssors dirctly. There are many other research happening at other sectors like medical, buisness or other branches ot columbia, where they have to get some CS/DS work done. You can get a paid research there, But the projects are mainly apllied and not core CS.
Courses & Academic Experience
Q: How are the courses? Are they rigorous?
The courses are in depth and flexible. [DS] Doing all core courses prepare you well for any data scientist interviews. I myself am not a fan of courses in general, and like to learn things by doing things directly via research positions. There is a variety of courses ranging form easy to rigorous, if you plan it well, you can boost your GPA easily (but then whats the point?).
Some of the courses like Unsupervised learning, Competetive Coding, Continual Learning and Memory Layers are my favourite..
Q: How flexible is the curriculum?
Fairly flexible. [DS]You have core requirements but also a good chunk of elective credits. You can take courses across departments (e.g., computer science, business school, stats department).
Q: How are the professors? Awesome! Many of the professors are leading in their field and we can learn a lot from them. Some professors have a lot of knowledge, but can’t pass it on that well, but its a LOT better than Indian Universities.
Finances
Q: How expensive is Columbia honestly?
Expensive. You have the tuition and college expenses at the Columbia website itself. For personal expenses, I would say that they would range around $1500-$2000 per month inclusing rent. The rent varies from $1000 to $1600. With its mean arounf $1400 for a good apartment(no compromise on size, distance to university, amenities, etc.)
Q: Is financial aid available for MS students?
No, I have heard previous batches getting one, but I am not aware of any financial aid in my batch.
RA/TA pay generally cannot handle full living expenses.
Q: Is working part-time feasible?
Yes, many students do it. On an F-1 visa you’re limited to 20 hrs/week on-campus. Off-campus CPT is available after your first year. There are other jobs at campus apart form RA/TA. For example - Library, Gym, etc. But the pay less than RA/TA.
Housing & Stay
Q: Where do most students live?
Most MS students live off-campus. Common areas are Morningside Heights (right next to campus) from 105th street to 125th Street. On-campus housing exists but its luck based and very few people get it. On campus is not cheaper than Off campus.
Very few students commute from New jersey as well, but thats a commute of an hour minimum each side, and I don’t believe that its a good spend of your time. Plus including the transport, you are not saving a lot as well.
Q: When should I start looking for housing?
As early as possible, ideally 2–3 months before your program starts. People get it till the very end as well. Look at websites like streeteasy.com, Apartments.com, Zillow.com. Beware of the scams and send someone to check in person before signing the lease. Most people sign lease before landing in NYC
Few Advices
- Be early in everything. Apply for internships from March, Fincances applications open up already
- Start reaching out for research work under professor as soon as you get your admit, you are paying your tuition to work with the amazing people, the sooner you start the better.
- You can ask about extending the deadling to universities if you are still waiting for other results.
- Looking at the seniors and my batch, most people get placed, but you have to fight hard and everyone’s story has a scary phase.
Have a question I didn’t cover? Reach out and I’ll add it to the next post.