Why do you want to attend Columbia?

Why do you want to attend Columbia?

My tour of Columbia began at Low Library. The student guide spoke of how Low was actually an administrative building famous for none other than the steps my Converse-clad feet stood on, and I couldn’t help but imagine myself sitting on said steps with two friends from my literature humanities class in a heated debate over whether Achilles had free will in The Iliad or if fate determined his actions. As we moved over to the Amsterdam Avenue overlook, the guide joked about how every Columbia student took LinkedIn photos in front of the bustling traffic prior to posting job resumes to LionSHARE. Suddenly I saw myself reluctantly posing for photos there in my finest button-up in hopes of landing that internship at Mount Sinai Hospital over the summer. Finally, when we approached Havemeyer Hall, our guide discussed science at Columbia. I daydreamt about researching the effects of radio waves on human cells for my paper I was writing on using electronic implants for the reversal of partial paralysis with Dr. Oliver Hobert. Whether I’d be studying vigorously for my “Jazz of Chemistry” midterm or using my student ID to explore the Met, I already saw my future at Columbia.