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What do you wish to do in the rest of your

time at Columbia?
I want to take advantage of the student-run
events on campus that I haven't in the past and
explore NYC
Meet more people and explore more student-run
clubs

What is one thing you would redo about the


last four years?
I would have worked harder academically and I
would have told myself to not be afraid to
explore and take classes I didn't feel I would be
good at.
Choose different place of residence/dorm

explore the city more

get more involved in fun clubs

go out and explore the city more with friends


(restaurants bars museums)

hated first two years but hard to branch out


and meet new people not on my freshman
floor

experience more of new york city and taking


classes specific to new york (immigrant class)

would not have started out in the major that I


did (Econ) then I switched to poli sci

get to know some of my professors really well /


build solid relationships

would have explored other interesting classes


more and taken other intro courses in different
disciplines

meet more people and be more involved on


campus

I wish I interacted more with my professors and


went to more office hours

GPA 4.0

I wish I had taken more diverse classes as a


freshman

I want to make more friends

Especially as an engineer I wish our core


exposed us to more diverse classes maybe in
the humanities

enjoy time with people and not worry about


grades, just loving life

I wish I took classes that genuinely interested


me. As an engineer I wish I seized the
opportunity to take cool humanities classes.

party more and letting the weekends be the


weekends

I wish I had studied abroad. I wish I audited


some cool classes. But it's hard to balance
time.

Cherish time with friends before they move away I would have taken my classes and grades
all across the country
more seriously

Finish the year strong academically

I wish I went to more job and career events to


network more

I wish I went to more on-campus shows such


as the varsity show and take advantage of the
arts initiative discounts.
I would have tried to establish a stronger
I want to pass all my classes and get out of here relationship with my academic advisor.
try to explore the city more (museums,
restaurants, etc) and go to more senior events

make more friends; meet more people

I should have done undergraduate research

Spend more time with friends, met more people

Be better at communicating.

I want to take more classes in math

I wish I discovered my career interests earlier


and took classes on that path earlier

I want to do good quality research

I wish I tried to meet more people earlier

I'm really into writing and I think I haven't been


able to pursue this interest in the last few years
here. I really want to publish more around
campus. I definitely want to spend time with my
friends too.

I wanted to study music originally and I had


pretty ambitious plans to go to music school.
Then those goals changed. I guess I technically
wasted time and while I think they definitely
contributed to my outlook on life now and
defintiely shaped me, I feel like I can't afford to
regret because then I'll be immobilized. I would
tell my freshman-self to not worry too much
about whether I'd find the right group and be
exactly on the right path from the start.

My biggest goal is to get as many classes


successfully completed as possible so that they
can trasnfer into Masters program credits.

niothing; I should've gotten involved in research


earlier and I should have thought about long
term career goals earlier and acted toward that
earlier

Enjoy my senior year? I haven't really processed


that I'm a senior. I want to go out more and go to
those mingling events on campus.
I would read more for fun

Because people are going to be spread all over


the place soon, I want to reconnect with old
friends. I want to take my classes a little more
seriously too. I also want to walk around campus
and I realized it could be such a psychological
distance between where I'll be next year and
campus.

I wish I had met more people. I had always


been content with my friend group and I didn't
go out of my way to meet people with all sorts
of different passions. Yes you can meet a lot of
like-minded people but you'll never again be in
a concentration of people passionate about so
many different things.

I want to party a lot and have fun. I'm taking a lot


of classes and I want to take advantage of the
I think I've lived my life right. But sometimes I
education that is offered here. I don't feel super feel like I put myself in my comfort zone socially
prepared to go out in the world yet.
and maybe didn't reach out enough.
I wish to hang out with my friends more and
finish my senior thesis with really good quality
(that's my main goal this semester). I want to
reconnect with people I really like but didn't get a
chance to talk to. I also want to focus on my job
search or graduate school.

I would have gone out more and met more


people. I wish I took more humanities classes.
Sophomore year first semester, academic-wise,
I took all the wrong classes and I was focusing
on my sorority.

I'm taking really cool courses for the first time!


Learn new things and cherish my time with my
suite.

I wish I had tried to meet more people and had


gotten involved in a wider variety of clubs. I
started two clubs freshman year and then I
didn't really join anything afterward.

I want to have a really balanced time: I want to


still do well in classes but make sure I'm
spending time with friends and make sure I'm
making the most of what NYC has to offer. I also
want to go to more events such as the World
Forum.
I wish I tried to branch out more class-wise.

I want to take advantage of NYC and also take


advantage of what Columbia has to offer such as
the subscriptions to journals and the advisory
I wish I had tried to find more serious romantic
services
relationships.

chill in NYC some more and go to more


Columbia events such as basketball games

I wish I took more advantage of the research


opportunities at Columbia

I want to finish my submission to Global


Biomimicry Design Challenge (you take
processes in nature and apply them to business
models). I also want to publish my paper on
climate change, migration, human rights, and
international immigration policy in a law journal.

I would have picked my friends a little bit more


wisely. I would have soent more time with
people who share more similar interests with
me earlier. I would have made more friends in
the sustainable development department. I also
should have talked to professors more. They're
so approachable!

I also wish I spent more time talking to


professors and advisors. I wish I spent more
time researching about my career and seeking
out academic mentorship. I wish I had done
I want to focus on myself because during the last this earlier. I also wish I had tried to get
three years of undergraduate studies, the pursuit research opportunities earlier, and even tried to
of academics and activities has caused me to
reach out to professors I had never taken
neglect focus on myself. I wish to spend more
classes with. The professors aren't aloof. That
time with friends and the community.
needs to be debunked.

I want to do more things in the City because I'm


leaving NYC soon. There are a lot of things I feel
like I've missed out on over the last several
I wish I had a different freshman year dorm and
years.
roommate.

Favorite Columbia memory or aspect

Least favorite memory or aspect

Sitting on Low Steps and hanging out with Not good at helping us connect to become
friends
closer friends
Hard to meet other undergrads that share your
The people in my suite
interests
Core had too many stringent requirements (too
diversity of people
much readings/workload)
meeting the friends I've made and it's
increased my perspective on the world
not very conducive for frienship building and
(grew up in metropolitan area) diversity the stressful culture (people give into it)
when teachers acknowledge athletes and
are understanding of time constraints
got yelled at by a girl for holding a door for her
prospect of graduating side by side with
friends

going through the judicial process

bachannal is great and romantic poetry


was a great class

I hated the dynamics of CC and the students


in the class often got too personal or intense
about advocating their perspectives

I really liked living in Carman where I met I hate how columbia is very elitist if they
my best friend freshman dorms were
could just be more empathetic to people who
conducive to meeting and making friends don't share the same views
I made a lot of friends through the social
clubs that I joined

the administration is hard to navigate from the


standpoint of a board member at a club
planning events

I love the last two days before the end of


the semester when everyone is done with The beauracracy particularly as the president
finals and everyone is so relieved and
of a club even just reserving a room! And
happy and relaxed.
performance space is so hard to get access to!
Not a lot of information about how the school
system works is online. I also hate the culture
of finance. People just try to do jobs that pay
It's beautiful to come back first few days highly and don't do what they love. People in
after summer or after winter when
finance are also really cut-throat and
everyone is so excited to see their friends. competitive. People are obsessed with
I also love Bachannal!
internships and names.
The men on campus are immature and
I met really awesome people. I came from disrespectful. They need to take relationships
a really homogenous city in Ohio where
and respect more seriously. The guys think the
everyone had similar views.
girls are crazy.

The people around me

The stress is really overwhelming.

-Bachannal and other student events


(freshman year was really good)

drama between friends but that happens


everywhere not just Columbia
Get rid of the student contribution to the tuition
fee for low income students

late night debates

poorly designed problem sets / bad teachers


(inexcusable for a school as good as
columbia)

late night discussions and the professors. drama


I really liked the social clubs such as
Liondance.

A lot of my peers don't care about and aren't


passionate about their classes/learning.

Some of the professors don't care about the


students and ignore the teaching part of their
I really like to hang out in the coffee shops responsibility. Honor code is sometimes
around Columbia and I really like the
transgressed. As a TA I saw a lot of students
libraries.
copying homework.

The first two years I didn't find my right group


and wasted a lot of time hanging with the
wrong crowd. I had a lot of anxiety and
For the first time I met people who were
uncertainties about myself that made me
very passionate about ideas (not just
unhappy in social situation, and I don't think
because they wanted to be professors or Columbia helped. Maybe it's the result of being
not just because something was useful for NYC and this city is very impersonal... it rubs
their careers). I went to a very small high off a little bit on the campus atmosphere. I
school and never met people with so
wish my academic advisor didn't leave after a
much intellectual passion for the sake of few years. She really helped me with mental
knowledge itself.
health the first few years.
I think Columbia is run inefficiently in the
administration and eventually that financial
burden does rest on the students. I would
suggest there is a lot of unnecesary positions
campus layout and location (I think it's a and expenses (for instance this is primarily an
brilliantly designed campus and new york academic institution and other aspects should
is brilliant the transportation system
be completely left to the students such as
gives easy access to many places and
PE... It shouldn't be that all students have to
opportunities)
pay to support this)

Bachannal

Everyone is so stressed! It makes me stressed


even when I'm not stressed.

I love the small campus because I could


see people easily, and also I loved CC!

The fact that we're in the city is a doubleedged sword. The negtive part is that because
we have the entire city to take advantage of,
people are often doing their own thing. People
at Amherst for instance don't have a second
option to socialize elsewhere.

Sometimes I feel like I don't have enough


friends. I have a group of really close friends
but sometimes I feel like there are barriers and
I think Barnard really gave me a
its not very easy to meet people on campus. I
perspective of who I am as a woman. I
feel like people often only meet each other
never thought being a woman would be
through drinking and I don't go to drinking
such a prominent attriubute to my identity. parties.

All my memories with my first year


roommate.

I think Columbia needs to be more diverse or


encouraging of diversity. I wish there were
more events that encouraged me to meet
peers of different backgrounds and cultures.

I like how everyone has something to say


about sociopolitical matters. I like that it's
in NYC. A lot of people are also very
culturally aware here. There's a desire for
people to be sensitive to politics here.

Social disconnection and school spirit. I feel


like if you didn't meet people freshman year,
you kind of missed your chance. It's hard to
make friends afterwards.

The relationships with friends, mentors,


and advisors

The campus culture: this high stress


environment where we value the number of
cups of coffee as if we measure our worth this
way. Also, the student protests and op-eds that
point out problems but provide NO
SOLUTIONS!

All of the people. For instance one of my


best friens I met at 1020 freshman year.

Having to take a class on the 7th floor of


Hamilton at 10 AM, lol. But in seriousness, the
coldness, like some times you want to say hi
to someone and they don't even smile back.
Also the stress culture just makes everyone
feel stressed out (Domino effect).

some of the core such as music hum and the quality of the core classes is not very
art hum are fun
consistent

Pineapple Man (a grafiti stencil) in Butler


Stacks (7th floor)

If you don't have a background in a particular


subject it's very very hard to break in and do
well in a particular academic field. I came from
an art and design magnet school, and coming
here, I had to study so much by myself to
catch up. There was always an expectation
that I should have known things beforehand.

The people are from all over and all


different walks of life.

The "humble brag" especially when people


post and broadcast how hard they're working,
as if stress and being type A is a badge of
pride, but it's actually quite poisonous.

I like being in NY, and being able to take


advantage of the opportunities.

Overhead a conversastion that embodied so


many of my memories and feelings about
Columbia: "I took a shower yesterday and felt
guilty about wasting time." I hate that I feel like
the professors and administration don't care
about me. I've worked really hard but I feel like
people only care about the rockstars in my
major who came in already innately good at
the subject. I feel like I'm trading a quarter of a
million dollars for a sheet of paper. I'm grateful
for the opportunities that Columbia gives me
but it gets in the way of my learning optimally
sometimes. For instance I hate that once I had
4 midterms in 25 hours. I wish I didn't have to
waste my time with busy work in classes.

Any messages for


Pres Bo?

The WORKLOAD!

Pres Bo, go see the


varsity show! I wish
you would take more
involvement in student
life! It shows how we
feel about Columbia
on a humorous level

We need more
performance spaces
and rehearsal spaces!
Lerner 555 is the only
room available.

Thank you for


everything that you've
done. Thank you for
doing the right thing
and being objective in
the face of hard
decisions.

no

I really liked my time at


columbia overall

I don't feel like


anything I say can
result in any problems
being fixed or any
changes being made.

I really liked columbia

Pay more attention to


the international
student body.
Sometimes I didn't feel
equipped to participate
in the political debates
on campus. For
instance during the
Hong Kong protests,
other people who
didn't have
perspectives were
unfairly influenced by
specific biased groups.

CompSci should be
added into the Core.

What do you want for


or from Columbia
students?
Try to spread out
events in which you
meet with students (at
least for the senior
class this should be
done) throughout the
year.
You don't have a
personal connection
with the
undergraduate body
on campus. You
cultivate an air of
mystery and power
and then you are very
distant.

spend more money on


student life (it doesnt
feel like we're using
the endowment for
student life and this is
one of the most
important aspects of
our experience here)

The mental health


department here
needs a lot of
improvement. The
academic advising and
career counseling also
need to be bolstered.

Show the little people


that you care. Every
person here works
ridiculously hard.
People may have
different work ethics
and habits but
everyone works super
hard and we dont get
recognition here.

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