Melissa Kravitz

You’ve been waiting and asking (and asking and asking…) and it’s finally here. Our first Senior Wisdom of the year: Melissa Kravitz, who may or may not have a Barnard ID, doesn’t need CU Admirers to express her feelings, and puts your “commute” from Woodbridge to shame. 

Name, Hometown, School: Melissa Kravitz. Highland Park, IL GS/JTS (Creative Writing & Modern Jewish Studies)

Claim to fame? I’m that girl who lives in the East Village. I’ve also managed Inside New York for the past 2 years and I’ve been told that I’m pretty good at twitter (@melissabethk)

Where are you going? Back to bed. It’s been a long four years of sleep deprivation. Afterwards, I have a few writing jobs lined up, and I’m hoping to spend time writing young adult novels and making significant progress on my Netflix queue. I’ll also be managing NeuralPop, a new website that combines media, PR, and NYC with unique voices and clever perspectives.

3 things you learned at Columbia:

1. “Make new friends but keep the old.” Actually, I learned this in Girl Scouts (Shout out to Troop 3091!). But some of my best friends I made last semester while others are from NSOP. There are so many amazing people on this campus, never be afraid to reach out and make plans with that cool person in your class or someone reading your favorite book on College Walk.

2. Patience. Good things come to those who wait. I’m not sure how many Columbia Cottage fortune cookies it took to teach me this, but it’s true. (I also learned that the wine at Columbia Cottage is watered down and don’t even think of splitting a check three ways there).

3. Persistence. If you really want a seminar/date/bubble tea, bug the hell out of anyone you need to get there. Be polite and be grateful, and don’t underestimate the power of freshly baked cookies or cute pictures of your dog.

“Back in my day….”

• You could order fried zucchini ala carte at JJ’s Place. It was also open at hours when you would want fried zucchini ala carte.
• I was less hesitant about getting diseases from M2M udon.
• Amigos was called Campo and they had a pretty great lunch special.
• GrubHub was called Campus Foods. They delivered equally delicious things to campus and you could pay with Flex.
• Snapchat was called Bored@Butler. And I didn’t understand how to use it.
• I didn’t know that Columbia had a wrestling team. Now I do. They’re okay, I guess.
• No one knew what List College was. Now we have T-shirts and Facebook groups and stuff, and people still don’t really understand the double BA thing.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I don’t go to Barnard, but everyone thinks that I do. I may or may not have a fake Barnard ID. I also really love pasta.

Write a CU admirers post to anyone or anything at Columbia: What’s CU Admirers? I admire all my friends, for giving me a reason to stay campus after class and sometimes on the weekends. Ya’ll are worth being stuck on the L train for, any hour and any day of the week.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? All of my grandparents are still alive, so I’m going to say oral sex to make them feel more comfortable trying to email this to all their friends.

One thing to do before graduating: Get off campus! I don’t care if you came to Columbia for the academics/athletics/awesome pasta with half-alfredo, half-marinara sauce at Café 212, but you’re in New York City. Inside New York has a great website and book full of suggestions for cheap and fun things to do (self-promotion, what?) or just swipe your Metrocard and see where it takes you. Live off campus for the summer or for a semester. You have a completely different experience and learn so much from your surroundings!

Also, study abroad. Get way off campus, and you’ll appreciate it more. Studying at Reid Hall, in Paris, was easily one of the best experiences of my time at Columbia. I also went on an alternative winter break to Ecuador, where I worked on an organic farm and a forty-ounce bottle of beer was only a dollar.

Any regrets? I took 18-21 credits every semester, and I still wish I took more classes. I regret being so nerdy.