GS student, Urban Studies Major, and prominent member of the CUMB Matt Coulson shares wisdom on getting to know those around you and not taking yourself too seriously.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Matt Coulson; General Studies; Urban studies with a special concentration in public health; Fontana, CA

Claim to fame: Wearing a stupid foam lion hat and leading the CUMB in ~provocative~ cheers at home women and men’s basketball game and at home football games.

Where are you going?

I’m staying in the city to work for a year or two, then hopefully going back to school for my Masters in public health.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2024?

It’s so important to not take yourself too seriously. The vast majority of the stuff you do during undergrad isn’t that important, and you’ll have plenty of time to be serious and do serious thing later. Have fun and be weird.

This is specifically for GS folks: talk to people from the other undergraduate schools! My experience here would have been nowhere near as pleasurable without my friends from Barnard, SEAS, and CC. I know MilVets and ballerinas and all those other folks are interesting and neat, but so are your younger colleagues. Meet them! Hang out with them! Tell them about your life in the real world!

You should absolutely go support Columbia sports teams in person whenever you can. You should especially go watch the women’s basketball team, they were great this year, and they’re very likely going to be even better next year. Get on the hype train now!

“Back in my day…”

Mel’s had BOGO beers at happy hour, and that was the only thing that made that place worth visiting.  

Favorite Columbia controversy?

This really had no effect on me at all, but I still laugh when I think about the Barnard administration telling students to eat celery to deal with living in dorms that were a million degrees.

What was your favorite class at Columbia?

“Introduction to Urban Studies” with Aaron Passell or “Fundamentals of Global Health” with Rachel Moresky.

Both of them are super interesting, neither of them super hard, and both will give you a ton more insight about how the world works. And, trust me when I say, you don’t want to miss out on seeing Aaron Passell’s very impressive array of pant colors.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?

I’ve always been interested in giving veganism a shot.

Whom would you like to thank?

The band, of course.

One thing to do before graduating:

You should go to at least one sports event with the CUMB. There’s not very much school spirit at Columbia, and it’s often not very fun, but the CUMB has both spirit and fun in spades.

Any regrets?

So many. 

Image via Matt