Meeting the Mentors

On top of a wonderful Brown dinner, it was my birthday. I think it was a great way to spend my birthday, otherwise I would have been on my computer wasting my time. Instead I got to meet people that changed my entire opinion of Brown; I am even considering Brown as one of the colleges I will attend as an undergraduate. 

Unfortunately, more students would not commit enough to come to the dinner and all I can say is that they missed out on a wonderful evening full of stories of Brown and explanations of the deep connections of alums that runs through San Francisco.

Before coming to the dinner my opinion of Brown was a structureless school that is unchallenging and offers students excess freedom in classes. Although I had these skepticisms running through my mind when I talked to some of the alums, my opinion changed like some of the alums’ experiences coming to the Brown campus changed, they were slowly won over, but won over nonetheless.

I also realized that what I was told as a freshman, and was repeated this evening, was true: undergraduate school is were you explore, you do not have to have a structured plan and it won’t kill you to stray from your high school dream. I must have forgotten it along the way.

I also realized that the free core is not a bad decision. For example, I have to take classes where there are people I cannot relate to partly because some students do not have the same interests as I do. In Brown, I can bypass the awkward stage and dive head first into the studies I love and make friends faster in the environment I can thrive in. In this same environment, I can discover my true passion intentionally or unintentionally with each class I take. I can finally see what my friend Beilul Naizghi saw in this school; it is truly amazing.

Yet there is always the counterargument. I am still skeptic of the unstructured core, and I am still interested in technical school, but I am somewhat resolved to have a technical school as my graduate school and leave my time as an undergraduate at the school I like the best. The weather also detracts, but I can always overcome the Indian summers and the Frosty the Snowman winters.

After hearing the testimonies of the alums, I cannot wait to have stories of my own to tell my friends when I get back. I really cannot wait for Tuesday, but I have to admit I am not in any sense ready. I have to organize what I am to bring and coordinate with my cohorts, all in six days.

And as I mentioned, it is my birthday today so I will tell you about my cake. I can’t really compare it with the food we had at the Hyatt, but despite how my cake might look, it was sweet and moist, and I think I prefer it over the cupcakes. However the chocolate cupcake put my upside down pineapple coconut cake to shame. We also had some slider sandwiches that were delicious, but I accidentally put a lot of Dijon mustard on my sandwiches, which I can describe as putting too much wasabi on some sushi. 

I thank all of the Brown alums who came tonight that offered themselves as sources for my cohorts and I to use. I also thank Simon Hong who organized this dinner and for creating the chance for four fortunate students to talk personally to alums. I can't wait for the other activities we organize, and I wish more people took this opportunity.