“Columbia gives you the opportunity, this platform to be very proactive — it really gives you a self confidence that yes, you are capable.”—Elif Memet CC’19

“Nothing brings people closer together than struggle...if you’re able to overcome things together — this is why family sticks together and how friendships get close. It’s been tested.”—Regine Francois CC’19

“I was kind of an ‘everything’ person but more of a humanities person. [At Columbia] I knew I would have literature, philosophy, art and music alongside whatever major I chose, whether it was physics or political science.” —Olivia Ghosh CC’19

“My growth as a person has been so facilitated by the friends I’ve met here, by the professors I’ve had, by the courses I’ve taken...”—Kara Schechtman CC’19

“There’s a unifying aspect to the Columbia educational experience...whether navigating the lighthearted, informal, warm and welcoming, to conversations that are extremely complex and framed by what they’ve studied, everyone has baseline interest in the world around them.”—Aaron Smithson CC’19

Summer seminar offers local high school students opportunity to study the Classics and get a taste of Columbia College's "Core Curriculum."

Frank A. Guridy never saw himself becoming a professor. Born working-class in Inwood — “a stone’s throw from Baker Field” — and raised in the Bronx, he was in fact the first person in his family to go to college. He started at the College in 2016.

"As I leave Columbia, I will think about how to better create and support the communities I join, and about how to actively reach out to people with experiences and views different than my own."—Will Essilfie CC’18

"Columbia has given me purpose, and the tools to pursue that purpose, simply by providing spaces for me to explore my passions."— Cindy Liu CC’18

“Leaving Columbia College, I take with me a bounding desire to learn across all disciplines, to explore the topics in the areas they originated and question the world around me.”—Rachel Jimenez CC’18

"I have grown the most because of the people I’ve been able to meet and my intellectual curiosity thrives because I am in a place where everyone is just as, if not more, curious than me."—Nicole Valencia Tello CC’18

“I think it’s incredible that the program here at Columbia and the wonderful staff provide students with opportunities to share their work and form a community. I am so thankful for all the work they do to make the department as exemplary as it is.” —Alex Zhang CC’20

“I discovered Prokofiev when I was 14, but really got into him when I came to Columbia.” —Cindy Liu CC’18

“It’s been really special to be involved in such a cool project that not many people get the opportunity to work on.” —Danielle Crosswell CC’17

“I’ve had the most amazing experience in the Core. I feel like it made us grow, not just intellectually and philosophically, but even spiritually.” —Marina Chan CC’17

“I really enjoyed the Core, and it forced me to really broaden my horizons. Just being able to sit together with people from different walks of life in Contemporary Civilization and discuss a lot of the deep philosophical questions, that really was a good educational experience.” —George Liu CC’17

“And even just being able to major in something like human rights as a discipline, it’s new and it’s been such a privilege to be able to focus so narrowly on it. ... It’s been so incredible to be able to study that here and say I’m about to have a human rights degree.” —Jessica Swanson CC’17

“This experience has empowered me, as I have discovered how much I can learn without a textbook or lecture.” —Sarah Ricklan CC’17

“Overall, working on this project taught me how to plan a research project from its inception to its end; conducting research in a foreign environment developed my adaptability while widening my global perspective.” —Karim Nader CC’17

“I believe that I have become better equipped not simply for the working world ... but to go back into the classroom and the so-called ‘real’ world and make both my experiences there more meaningful.” — Matthew Buck CC’17

“So if you were to ask me what class to take next semester, I would answer based on personal experience: take a class that will push you beyond your limits and encourage you to interpret the world you live in through different lenses, like Video as Inquiry quite literally did for me.” – Lauren Swerdloff CC’17

“Every day here, I learned something that forced me to reevaluate – my opinions, my actions, my intentions. The potential for personal growth is far greater, it would seem to me, the less comfortable you are.” —Elise Gout CC’19

“Never in my life have I been as ecstatically calm as when I ate breakfast in a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum after watching the sunrise at the top of a sandstone mountain.” —Katherine Hacthoun CC’19

“It was humbling to be on stage with all those world leaders.” — Karina Jougla CC’16

“How people move tells you a lot about them. From the way people move their shoulders, for example, you can get insight into what they are thinking or feeling.” —Sarah Kellner CC’16

“Jazz has allowed me to make connections with people I would have never met otherwise — people from different backgrounds, cultures and countries, and different ages.” —Benjamin Rosenblum CC’16

“Medicine combines all the things that are important to me — advocacy, education, community service and science.” —Charles Sanky CC’16

“Thanks to Columbia’s Work Exemption Program, I have been able to do groundbreaking work and explore the limits of my intellectual capabilities while researching the boundaries of the known universe.” —Francesca Jarrett CC’19​

“From my archival experience this summer, afforded to me by the various generous grants and fellowships I received, I’ve been given a chance to contribute my voice to the rapidly evolving narrative of my area of study.” —Wallace Teska CC’16

“I was fortunate to be forced into the discomfort and challenge presented by scientific research and to learn lessons that I hope will serve me well in my aspirations for the future.” — Junghoon Kim CC’16

“Studying music here [at Columbia] has granted me the time to contemplate and understand what it is I like to listen to — and from there I can understand what it is I want to compose.” —Daniel Lazour CC’16