Today marked the beginning of the actual Columbia portion of our trip to New York!
The morning started out with a fantastic brunch with the admissions officer in charge of the Northern California region from Yale. He was very different from my expectations of an admissions officer. He was humorous, friendly, and seemed genuinely interested in helping us succeed in applying to the school of our choice, especially Yale. He also explained how the application review process works, which was really enlightening. His main tip for us when applying was to make sure that we sounded "genuine and authentic", meaning that we should distinguish ourselves as individuals with regard to clubs and grades, instead of just being a collection of test scores and grades.
After the delicious lunch, we then picked up our luggage, and went to Columbia to get ready to move into our dorms. It was a relatively straightforward process, with almost no hassle, which was an unexpected relief. I think all the ILC students were split up, but I'm not entirely sure. I was suprised at the variety of students attending, and also the sheer volume of students. There were around 800 residential students, and my RA, Kyle (who is really casual and relaxed), said that there were at least that many commuter students also. We then had the opportunity to relax until around 5:00, where there would be a "Welcome Barbecue" for the students. I took advantage of this time to take a nap to get rid of the last of the jet lag.
The dinner was actually very good, even though it was a far cry from the fancy expensive dinners we had started to be accustomed to. Even so, it was nice to be able to dig into a hamburger without having to worry about proper dining etiquette. Plus, I really missed the taste of fast food. After the dinner, Kyle took us to the lawn to go over the rules and such of Columbia, and it seems like it is a really relaxed and casual program, which is really cool. The campus itself is very beautiful, and it has a nice brick and stone style, which is different from much of the glass and metal style of New York. I can't wait for classes to begin tomorrow!
Winston,
ReplyDeleteI don't want this to come across in a negative way but if you want to get in good with admissions officers it helps to remember their names. This isn't to say that you didn't remember the Yale admissions officer's name but had you used it here it would have sent more of a message.
For those that you referred to as commuter students, they're just taking a class while you and other boarders are there for the experience -- while taking a class. There's a difference.