An Ivy League private school in New York, Columbia University has been a fixture of the city for more than 200 years and is, in fact, the oldest higher learning institution in the entire state of New York. Located in the neighborhood of Morningside Heights, Columbia University occupies a campus that measures approximately 32 acres, or six conventional city blocks. The university also owns several undergraduate dormitories that are located outside of the campus, but still in Morningside Heights.

Today, Columbia University is home to about 100 different academic departments and 4,000 undergraduate students. The school also is home to a unique feature known as the Tunnels. Referring to an intricate series of underground tunnels beneath the campus grounds, the Tunnels -- now off-limits to the public -- were used for everything from transporting coal to different buildings to connecting laboratories and rooms that were used during the historic Manhattan Project.

Above ground, Columbia University still holds many interesting sights and sounds. Student meet on the Steps, which connect the lower and upper parts of the campus grounds, to meet and hang out between classes. And near the center of the campus, where the school’s giant sundial used to stand, is a makeshift podium where students gather to make speeches.