Why Is This the School for Me?

Why is Columbia the School for You? Why is Columbia the school for me? At first glance, this question seemed easy to answer - a simple question – and maybe it is. Perhaps the question is simple and I am complicated, so stubborn and “unique” that I could not accept the more obvious answers: the prestige, the history, the financial opportunities that will come my way if I apply myself there. How proud I would be to have “Columbia Graduate” on my resume! But no, no these reasons are simply not adequate. These reasons are not my reasons. I agree with them, sure, and they are certainly meaningful, but they do not quite capture fully what I expect from a higher education. They are the plain and tangible results, but they are not the ones that will define me as a human being. For those reasons I must dig much deeper; I must shed any doubts I have and be honest with myself, for these reasons lie within. Why do I want to go to Columbia? Well... I have always enjoyed art. I understand that this is tantamount to stating “I like ice-cream”, or “I walk on two feet”, but for me, art is a passion. Creating, admiring and collecting art has always been more than just a hobby to me. I love the idea of expressing the joy, pain, confusion, or any other feelings inside oneself in a beautiful, flowing fashion, something intangible and abstract yet entirely real and moving. Art is magic, and to be educated in an institution that dismisses it as anything less would be perceived as a dismal failure in my mind. That is one of the reasons I so look forward to attending Columbia; Columbia lies within an epicenter of culture and diversity. The city itself holds so many people of every custom and culture, and so many thoughts and ideas share it as a home. Going beyond this, however, the university itself is a haven for thinkers, for open-minded, thought provoking characters with a love for learning. I don’t want to attend a college to get a diploma, (though a diploma is obviously pretty