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The CCRA blog is authored by Columbia undergraduate researchers, who are invited to reflect on all aspects of the research process and their own undergraduate research experiences, beginning (but not ending) with the Core.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Making the Most of Meeting Professors
At the end of September I had to choose a “second reader” for my thesis. In the History department, all students writing a thesis attend a year-long thesis seminar course. In addition to the professor for this course, who leads … Continue reading
Posted in Faculty Mentors, Senior Thesis, STEM research, Uncategorized
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On The “STEM/Humanities Divide” And Getting Messy
I spent the longest summer of my adolescence in the company of more fish than people. There were mosquitofish, bass, alewife, three-spined stickleback, guppy, herring; fish that had been preserved since 2013 and fish that were euthanized early that morning; … Continue reading
Posted in STEM research, Summer Research, Uncategorized
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Cold Emails, Warm Conversations
A couple of days ago, I conferenced with my poetry professor. We had met for the first time in class the day before. Despite our near-stranger relationship, we talked for an hour and a half. According to my sister, I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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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
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Researching the Self
Every few months, I will, without warning, run headlong into post-graduation panic. Having just woken up, I’ll meander into the kitchen, pop a slice of bread into the toaster and check my phone to learn my friend has landed an … Continue reading
Posted in postgraduation plans, Uncategorized
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Camaraderie and the Core (on Zoom)
A few weeks ago I started my senior year. Unlike any scenario I could have imagined 3 years ago when I began my journey at Columbia, I find myself seated in front of my laptop, some 2,895 miles from New … Continue reading
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Dancing With, Not Against, Time
I have a playlist called “compost” meant to house all the songs I’ve grown tired of and don’t want to actively listen to anymore but also don’t want to delete and risk losing forever. Someday, I imagine, nostalgia or historical … Continue reading
Posted in COVID-19, The Core, Uncategorized
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REU – What does it mean, and what does it stand for?
So far, all of my posts have focused on historical research. But I started my journey at Columbia with the intention to major in mathematics and no plans to take a single history class. In the spring of my freshman … Continue reading
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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
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Finding the Intersections in All Subjects
The summer before I got to Columbia as a freshman, I decided that I wanted to go to medical school. Looking back, the nine seasons of Grey’s Anatomy I watched that summer played no small part in that decision—Patrick Dempsey’s … Continue reading
Posted in STEM research, The Core, Uncategorized
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