Malcolm Carson

Hello Mr. Ramsey and the ILC, My name is Malcolm Carson and I am currently preparing for my senior year at Columbia University. I was part of the original ILC cohort in the summer of 2006 where I attended Brown University. I continued with the program for the next two summers attending Brown once more and Cornell for my final summer. The rigorous nature of those summer programs did a good job preparing me for college by exposing me to the more intense academic environment that exists at the college level. However it was not able to help me prepare for everything that Columbia has thrown at me over the past three years. I decided to attend Columbia for a number of reasons; one of them being the need to challenge myself and Columbia has definitely not disappointed me in this area. To say that Columbia University has been challenging is definitely an understatement. My freshmen year I walked on to the football team and I played for three years. Having to balance my extremely large time commitment to football with an equally hefty academic schedule of a premed/biophysics major has been one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life. Although it was a struggle many days to get up early to attend meetings or workouts before heading to class, I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. My collegiate athletic experience taught me the value of hard work and perseverance in addition to teaching me that you don't always start at the top. I had to fight and scratch my way up from a freshman walk-on to eventually receiving some playing time during my junior year. Even though many days I hated the fact that I was giving so much of my life to football when I knew I had to focus on school, I didn?t realize until now how much I needed those few hours a day away from academia. It helped me become a more balanced individual and allowed me to free myself from the regular stresses of school and life in general. I urge all of my fellow ILC students to find their freedom in some activity that they love. Everyone needs some release every now and then; it is absolutely necessary to be successful in school and in one?s eventual professional career. I addition to finding activities to periodically free yourself, I urge you all to be outgoing and attempt to make as many connections with your classmates as you can. As important as the information you are learning in your respective majors is, the greatest part about any school are its students. Reach out to your classmates and surrounding community as a whole. No matter what your GPA is at the time of your graduation, you will have wasted your college experience if you lock yourself away to study and never give yourself the chance to meet new interesting people to fill your lives with. I wish you good luck with your collegiate experiences and I hope you wish me the same with my final year of school and my preparation for the MCAT. Sincerely, Malcolm Carson