Author Archives: Sara Bell

The Dreaded Cold-Email

So you need to cold-email a professor. Perhaps it’s someone you’ve had a large lecture with but never spoken to one-on-one, or someone you’ve been directed to by another professor—or maybe it’s someone you’ve truly never met. I’ve sent a … Continue reading

Posted in courses, Faculty Mentors, STEM research, Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Dreaded Cold-Email

The P3 in University Writing

One of my favorite icebreaker questions at Columbia is “What’d you write your P3 on?” The P3, for those uninitiated, is the Phase 3 essay in University Writing, a Core course required for all Columbia College and Engineering students. The … Continue reading

Posted in The Core, Uncategorized, University Writing | Comments Off on The P3 in University Writing

The Core and the Libraries

My previous post betrays it: at risk of being nerdy even for a Columbia student, I’m a big fan of the Butler Library sixth floor reading rooms, the Avery Library folio shelves, the stacks in the Burke Library at Union … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, The Core | Comments Off on The Core and the Libraries

Research and the Polis

Last autumn, I was about to fall off of the stepping stool in the Avery Library stacks when I found the report. Titled Morningside Heights: A Sketch Plan, the slim volume from 1958 detailed the then-confidential neighborhood strategy of Morningside … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, The Core | Comments Off on Research and the Polis

Novelty in Undergraduate Research

“As a woman I have no country,” Virginia Woolf wrote in Three Guineas, and also in the Passage Identification section of my spring Contemporary Civilizations final exam. She continued: “As a woman I want no country. As a woman, my … Continue reading

Posted in Study Abroad, The Core | Comments Off on Novelty in Undergraduate Research