Name, Hometown, School, Major: Alex Frouman, Larchmont NY, Columbia College, math major, econ concentration

Claim to Fame? I might have been your RA, your TA, or your senator

Where are you going? I’m volunteering at a school for troubled teens this summer and then going to Oxford for an MPhil in economics on a scholarship—i.e. for free.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

  1. Just how much smarter other people are than me—especially in the math department, where some of my peers are super geniuses and intellectually way, way out of my league.
  2. Halal cart white sauce is just mayonnaise plus vinegar.
  3. At each successive stage in my life, I’ve stopped caring so much about the things I did in the previous one. I used to think that what I did in high school made me cool and now I could give a shit. I’ve only really found meaning by keeping my sights forward and trying harder and harder to do things right.

“Back in my day…” I thought being a senior would be cool

Justify your existence in 30 words or less: I’ll try…

Is the War on Fun over? Who won? Any war stories? I’m an RA so either way I won, right? I think there are some hyper-risk averse administrators in student affairs (and other offices) who try to solve problems by shutting things down. They don’t really understand students, or they think that saying “I understand students want to get wasted” means they understand. I hope these people can become more understanding and try to remember what it was like when they were students…and yeah we all know it was different then.

Since I am an RA most of my war stories involve someone else as the drunk one…but I got called in when I was seen at 40s on 40. Res programs probably should have done it since one of the grad assistants did see me there and the talk was reasonable. Other than that I’ve been on my best behavior.

But I must disclaim: I speak for myself and not for res programs–not one little bit.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I’ll defer my answer until I’ve had the second of the two

Advice for the class of 2016:

  • Go to office hours when you don’t have questions, just to talk. My best relationships with professors were made that way.
  • If you’ll be able to teach and not just grade, become a TA. Teaching is the best way to learn, and the job is extremely rewarding.
  • Being an RA can suck because students here sometimes are pretty awful to you, but on the whole it’s an amazing experience and one of the best and most overlooked parts is the staff you’ll work with. I’ve made amazing friendships with my residents and other RAs alike.
  • Play intramural sports.
  • Ask people out/go on dates, they make you feel like a grown up.
  • Major in math, it’ll make you smarter.
  • Be a tour guide if you want some great public speaking experience.

Any regrets? Working too hard, not working hard enough, going out when I shouldn’t have, staying in too much, not making more friends, not spending enough time with the people who really matter…etc

I don’t think there’s one way to do this place right, so I regret not doing all the things I could have. I also can’t change a thing, and probably wouldn’t if I could. I tried my best and that’s all I’d ask of myself or anyone else. I was able to find my way and my happiness at Columbia. I really love it here. Nothing’s fucked dude, nothing is fucked.