- 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.
(upbeat music)
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.
(soulful music)
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.
♪ You're so very special ♪
♪ Oh you touched my life ♪
♪ You're so very special ♪
♪ Oh my love, you're very special to me ♪
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