Yes, go tell your friends you love them!

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Angela Ye, SEAS, Chemical Engineering, Bay Area CA

Claim to fame: My party trick is turning lobster red and tipsy after half a drink. Literally half.

Where are you going? Back home to hibernate after graduation, then maybe some solo traveling, then back here for a consulting gig!

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2026?

  1. Food. Sleep. Body movement. Socialization. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed– Seriously, these are fundamental to your well-being and (less importantly) your productivity. Take care of yourself.
  1. If you live in a suite, swipe your ID card twice on your room door to unlock it permanently (until you swipe twice again). Never worry about bringing your ID to go pee.
  1. If you love your friends, tell them! 

“Back in my day…”JJs was open most hours of the day. You’d walk in there at 4am ready to drop out, eat some astoundingly mediocre chicken tenders, and realize everything’s gonna be okay. Also RIP to Orgo Night.

Favorite Columbia controversy? When we got the vaguest Public Safety texts telling us to evacuate because of an anime pfp tweet. I still call that building “Bomb Threat Lerner.”

What was your favorite class at Columbia?

  • PE: Beginner Strength. I am now, at my core (haha), a weightlifting jock.
  • Intro to Asian American Literature with Professor Cruz. Denise Cruz’s earnestness inspires me to be a better person.
  • Intensive Organic Chemistry Lecture with Professors Leighton and Nuckolls, and Intensive Organic Chemistry Lab with Professor Ng. Respectively, thanks for teaching us how to synthesize drugs, and sorry for constantly announcing my desire to drink the lab solutions.
  • Atmospheric Aerosols with Professor McNeill. Learning about the aerosol spread of COVID helped me be safe but not paranoid. Also McNeill carries the ChemE department and deserves every praise.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? My favorite cheese is Marin French Cheese’s Petite Truffle, described as a “rich, smooth, award-winning Triple Crème Brie specked with Black Truffles for the irresistibly earthy aroma of mushrooms balanced with sweet cream.” Doesn’t that sound so… sensual?

Whom would you like to thank? In no particular order: The ChemEs who got me through it (especially Sajan, Naz, Emily, Sarah, and Julie). My Hogan suitemates Kay, Kristoff, Zoe, and Elyse, and my Nuss roomie Eelia. The CPS therapists I’ve seen. My parents, my cousins. Everyone I ever dated. High school friends who I still talk to: Vedika, Kevin, Kimberly, Krystal, and Eunice. “seaz kidz learn 2 read” book club. Everyone at the Out for Undergrad Engineering conferences. All the friends I made here.

One thing to do before graduating: Wander around the tunnels again?

Any regrets? My only regret is not taking more from Ferris. The oat milks and armfuls of tangerines and cholula green sauce and soy sauce and ketchups and tupperwares and dishes and silverware (pre-COVID!) weren’t enough.

Portrait via Angela