Leaves in their autumn colors are strewn about the path, the lawn—beat and browning—is roped off for the cold weather, and the gray waters of the East River are lapping rhythmically against the pier. I’m alone, walking along the path in my jogging gear. I pause where the path meets the peak of a hill, and stare across the field and the East River to Manhattan. There are a few clouds in the sky ringed around the...

One of the most attractive things about Columbia, for me, is the prevalence of structure. Probably the most obvious source of structure in Columbia is its Core Curriculum. Without a Core, I’d probably be more likely to explore only the courses I'd expect to be interesting. As a mainly math-and-science oriented student, this would mean shying away from many humanities courses that I could possibly have enjoyed. By requiring me to be immersed in all disciplines, not only would...

CAS captures the essence of why I choose BU. Enclosed within its walls is a globally-conscious, diverse, intellectual and passionate community. My school’s community is, in many ways, analogous to that of BU. It has taught me a lot about the importance of being open, and I think continuing this experience can help me grow. My passion also lies under the roof of CAS. I’ve long been interested in Neuroscience, and the fact that BU offers it as...

Of the neuroscience courses I took at Yale Splash last spring, one stood out, “Building a Brain.” Sitting in the small room behind Yalie, David Bruns-Smith, who was scribbling formulae and code on the board, I prepared myself for a monotonous hour of esoteric math. Boy was I wrong. I found the class so fascinating and David so engaging that I’ve started teaching myself HTML. I hope to soon progress to types of code used for computational neurology. I...