Diversity is a term that Americans are proud to be associated with. However, on college applications and job résumés, diversity is limited to your sex and the color of your skin. Being the product of a poor, Catholic, Midwestern farmer’s daughter with fourteen siblings and a middle class Brooklyn Jew makes me who I am today. Being raised by parents who come from opposite ends of America’s spectrum has made me grateful for being able to...

Each of the four times I have visited Columbia’s campus I immediately felt empowered and alive. No, it’s not because of New York City or the actual aesthetics of the campus, it’s the passion of the students and faculty. I believe that college is a place where youth should feel like they can make a difference in this world and Columbia University students have that drive and motivation. It is important to me to be proactive in...

Books read for pleasure in the past year Strategic Intuition, Twilight, Harry Potter, Eat Pray Love, My Sister’s Keeper, A Time for Dancing, Night, Diary of Anne Frank, The Bielski Brothers Required reading most enjoyed in last year The Things We Carried, The House of the Spirits, Dom Casmurro, Chronical of a Death Foretold, the Metamorphosis, July’s People, Master Harold and the boys, Dancing at Lughnasa, Like Water for Chocolate, Othello, Macbeth Print or Electronic Publications read regularly...