"There Are Schedules to Be Maintained. Even in Columbia..."*

So, the whole point of this journey was to look at Columbia and NYU, right? Well, here's what I thought in a nutshell: "Ho hum." Followed shortly thereafter by: "What the hell am I doing in a nuthsell?" But in all seriousness (am I ever really "all seriousness"?), I was left rather unimpressed. Whereas Harvard rolled out the red carpet (or was it crimson?), NYU and Columbia had very little to offer me. Granted, it was spring break for them, and I was even counting on campus being a little dead. But even though I expected there to be no classes to sit in on, the provided tours were pretty useless. Columbia and NYU each just gave me a packet that they called a "self-guided" tour. This amounted to pointing out buildings and rooms on campus. Not surprisingly, I was left cold.

We visited Columbia first. Gorgeous campus and all that, but... meh. It was still blah. One of the finest legal institutions in the world, and I was bored. There was no personality, no character to the campus, the neighborhood. Sure, I was happy to see that Columbia law school provided a lactation room, but that was just another let-down in the end. NYU was pretty much the same. Neither of them called to me the way Harvard and Cambridge/Boston did. I was so excited there, I felt in my niche, and I could see myself living there. But New York? I absolutely love visiting Manhattan. There is always so much to do and see and eat. But I couldn't see myself living in those neighborhoods or going to school there. No, it just isn't me.

So, that seemed simple enough, right? Well, let's hope so. I don't think I'll visit Northwestern again. So, unless I hear from Stanford soon enough to organize a third trip, I'm done. Look out Harvard, here I come!

*Anyone who can tell me what movie this quote is from might very well be my friend for life. Hint: the original line is: "Colombia."