Teachers College, Columbia University - 2020

[ConscientiousObjector]

As someone who withdrew from Teachers College—due primarily to finding my program, specifically, and the school, more generally, quite a disappointment—I wanted to start the thread for 2020 with a solid warning to all applicants: despite the name recognition Columbia garners, and the resources that such recognition generally signals, Teachers College is sufficiently removed from Columbia to call into question both the value of its name and the quality of the education it provides. Only those with ego problems come to Teachers College to say that they attained a degree from Columbia. 

With that in mind, the following personal experiences should be of little or no surprise to all:

• Low-quality classes: I took several classes in the EPSA department, each of which were somewhat larger than would allow for excellent discussion, engaged participation, and personalized attention. (Two had more than 30 students while the others had between 23 and 27.) Two classes were instructed by adjuncts; one class was instructed by a professor who should have retired long ago. Many lectures in many classes wandered and did not get into the theory and detail. But the content, on its own, was by and large great. If you are looking for intimate classes and excellent instruction, beware of this institution.
• Low-quality peers: Coming from an elite university, I was expecting to be surrounded, again, by the best of the best. To my dismay, I found instead that my classes were populated largely by dullards, to be quite blunt. These are the types of students who browse the internet during lecture, ask simple questions, and shy away from theory and abstraction. Part of this, I think, is due to the students' lackluster undergraduate preparation. For example, TC being an education school, it is perhaps no surprise that many majored in education. To echo Winston Churchill, however, all it takes to convince one that undergraduates should study real subjects (history, not history education; math, not math education; psychology, not special education) is a 5-minute conversation with the average education major. What's worse, many students, in fact over half, study only part-time. This means that you're taking classes with students who work real jobs and then have classwork on top of those jobs. While great for access, in practice this means that many students simply lack the time required to devote themselves fully to their studies, making for uninspiring conversations. If you are looking to be challenged by your peers, beware of this institution.
• Intellectual laziness: If the only things you enjoy talking about, ever, are race, privilege, intersectionality, and oppression and if you want to spend all of your time surrounded by others who are just as "woke" as you and who will jump on board any liberal agenda item, this is your school. If you're interested instead in hearing multiple perspectives, seeing people first and foremost as people rather than as (insert race/ethnicity/gender identity) people, steer clear of this echo chamber. In other words, if you are looking for a balanced education, or are a conservative who can't tolerate being shouted down, beware of this institution.
• Expensive: Living in New York City is amazing and I highly recommend the experience to all. That said, there are much cheaper ways to live in the city than to attend Teachers College. Tuition is quite high, the financial aid, from my understanding, is quite low, and the payout after the fact is not, in my assessment, worth the cost of the degree. What's worse, in my understanding, many Ph.D. programs are either wholly or partially unfunded, which should signal to all the sorry state of the school's finances and the sorry state of its academic rigor. If you're getting an unfunded Ph.D. you might as well get a Ph.D. from some for-profit online program; it's likely to cost the same and be just as worthless. (Over-generalization, I know, but I maintain the core of the thought.)

In sum, if you want a degree that says "Columbia University" on it, and want this at all costs, this is your school. If you care about receiving a high-quality education, being challenged by your peers and professors, and engaging in academic content, consider going to Stanford or Harvard. These, and perhaps a few other schools, are in my judgment the only ones that can be said to deliver real learning, and even then only in some programs. If you can't get in there, in my assessment you're either unqualified, and so would be the kind of dullard I am referring to above, or have just been handed an incredible opportunity and can now with good reason switch into a field that is actually rigorous, i.e., not education.

To be sure, I am certain that some programs are stellar, that some professors are amazing, that some peers are motivated, and that real education does happen here. All of these, in my experience at least, required much searching to locate and even then were scarce, which isn't my idea of a great graduate education. That is, if you really try, you might succeed; otherwise, or even if you do, you might end up with a second-rate product.

If this post is upsetting to you, I apologize. If you want to throw back vitriol and defend the school, I invite you, and all readers, to consider whether such defense comes from a desire to redeem and justify personal choices or from reasoned argument and evidence that claims my observations as missing the mark. Finally, if it is not clear, I had quite the negative experience here and as such have quite biased opinions on the place. Take them for what you will: my experiences, not necessary facts. I hope, if nothing else, that you thoroughly consider all of the choices before applying or matriculating here. And will consider the other positive and negative reviews floating around Grad Cafe.

Good luck to all. And let the comments begin.

Edited May 30, 2019 by ConscientiousObjector
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[educateme]

So which school are you in now?  Harvard or Stanford?

[Anonym]

I found this, and sort of concurred with you. Thanks for sharing.