Hi, My name is Alma. I go to Columbia College, in the city of New York. I'm planning on studying econ and visual arts. I'm from South Korea, yeah
So at Columbia usually, since you take four to five classes per semester, I chose to take four this semester. Today is Monday, I have three classes.
So, at around noon, I have my Contemporary Civilization class, which is part of the core. At 2.30, I have my printmaking class intaglio in that building actually over there. And then, I have my Calc1 class, from 6:30 to 7:25.
So, this is Hamilton Hall, I'm about to walk in to CC, which is Contemporary Civilization, it's a class that most sophomores have to take, if you're in the college,
and it's part of the core. It's a full year long, 2-semester class of mostly philosophy, important books, Plato, Aristotle, the works.
Right now, we just read Machiavelli's "Prince", and I'm about to head to class right now. The core curriculum at Columbia, kind of consists of a set of classes, that are more heavier in your freshman year, and they get lighter as you go, towards your senior year and declare your major.
Freshman year, there are two major classes, that everyone needs to take. It's called Frontiers of Science or Fro Sci, and Literature Humanities or Lit Hum.
A major in econ is one of the more intensive majors. It's not extremely math-based, but it does involve you taking up to Calc3. I'm in Calc1 right now.
I decided to do econ because I thought it would be an extremely practical way for me to approach things I might wanna do after college, since Columbia actually doesn't have a business major,
it has a special minor, which you have to apply in to, but it doesn't have a business major, and no business undergraduate programs.
So, econ for me, was the closest thing that aligned with my interests after college.
My art major, I actually took a studio or a class, on a totally whim last semester with my friend, who is a professional artist, and then later talked to my advisor,
and a few other people who had done an econ-visual art double major, and decided that it was actually not that much big of a difference to do a minor versus the major, so that's what I'm doing.
So, I am part of a few organizations at Columbia. Firstly, I am a part of Greek life, so, I'm in Kappa Theta, that doesn't, it's not a huge part of my life here.
Only 30% of social life is Greek life, so, it's not any pressure to be in it. It just, for me, was a good way to reach out to people who I wouldn't have met otherwise, like, girls who go to Barnard, and older girls that I wouldn't have met.
A lot of the older girls in the committees are also probably, best bet, majoring in econ or something related to econ.
And other than that, there are a lot of people that you get to meet, at the conference or in the process of reaching out, in planning the conference, that you mostly like will meet or have something to do with in the future.
So, reaching out to those people, keeping in contact with those people, is really important and will be really beneficial.
I completely was not expecting the welcoming culture at Columbia at all. I thought, city of New York, the first thing that popped into my head was, everyone was gonna be so unfriendly here.
And I was completely taken aback by how welcoming and how friendly everyone is here, so, I think that was a thing that surprised me the most.
The second thing is how amazing it is to be surrounded by so many people, that you know but also are unfamiliar with.
And what I'm talking about is, in my first year here, I actually ran into a friend from Exeter, who had also taken a gap year with me, and met so many people with her and through her.
And so, I think the biggest thing, I would say, is although academics, and stress culture, and work-life for the future, is gonna be so challenging to handle, especially sophomore and junior years, I would say, really look out for the people who can help you,
and who can sort of create a network around you, to be that support system,
because I think in the long run, that is the most important thing and the most gratifying thing, that will come out of a college experience.
