Graduating next week!!!

I have learned a lot since coming to Columbia, but the vast majority of what I have learned has not been taught in classrooms or textbooks. I have learned more about the way the world works through discovery and trial & error. I feel that since I have been able to navigate my way through the ridiculousness that is this school, I can figure out how to navigate through anything. This school, for whatever reason, likes to make it as difficult as possible to get anything done and the bureaucracy is maddening.

For example, the Financial Aid Office is one of the most inefficient departments in the entire college. At the beginning of the semester, rules were changed as to how to deal with loans and unpaid balances. Instead of telling students about the change before they returned for the new term, students were met with half truths and vague details about why they were unable to register during the first few weeks of the semester. My experience with the Financial Aid Office has been, to put it nicely, unpleasant. But if there is one piece of advice that I can share with the rest of you who will be continuing your studies here it would be this: BE PERSISTENT and ASK QUESTIONS REPEATEDLY UNTIL YOU GET AN ACTUAL ANSWER!!! These two techniques have proven themselves to work and that is what I intend to take away from my experience here.

On a much less bitter note, I have gotten some of the most amazing opportunities here at Columbia. Opportunities like performing with Earth, Wind, & Fire, recording in high-class professional recording studios, and performing at some of the most prestigious venues in town, have all allowed me to continue to dream big. I appreciate that what this school lacks in infrastructure, is made up for with heart. Students here are encouraged to experiment and create and are allowed to chart their own paths; that's what I love about Columbia and what I expect others will too.

With all of the ups and downs that I have encountered here, I wouldn't trade it for anything. The decisions that you make, especially the wrong ones, allow you to emerge stronger and more resilient in the end. Remembering that will serve you well in life.