As a published author, novelist and poet, I hope to teach students the art of poetry writing and essays that will enable admission into prestigious Ivy League universities.
The single session course aims to facilitate an interdisciplinary conversation in which various forms of literature will be explored and ultimately familiarize students with the college admission process.
This class also aims to help students develop their close reading, analytic writing, and critical thinking skills as well as to introduce them to methods that will enhance their strengths and build confidence in academia and particularly pave a path to admission into Ivy League universities.
NOTE: No previous knowledge of English Literature is required.

Netflix and Chill is overrated—we're all about Reality TV and Discourse. Reality TV is a reflection of modern life in every way, and we feel comfortable putting our deepest, darkest secrets on display for primetime or consuming them with a mix of shock, disgust, schadenfreude, and pity. And if reality television is a mirror, we should listen to the Godmother of it all, Paris Hilton, when she says, "never pass a mirror without looking in it." What is reality and what is real life? In this class we'll explore concepts of post-modernism, particularly Jean Baudrillard's Simulation and Simulacra, analyze how reality TV tackles taboo, and reflect on our own engagement and consumption. Fair Warning: many of the shows we'll discuss are rated TV-MA and deal with challenging topics. We think Jean Baudrillard should also come with a TV-MA rating.


Prerequisites
Three episodes of excellent reality television (all on Netflix): Bling Empire: Episode 2 Yummy Mummies: Season 1, Episode 4 Cheer: TBD (we will send out an email ASAP)

Want to learn about the history of South Asian Dance forms? Join Columbia University Taal, Columbia's South Asian Classical Fusion Dance team, to learn more about various Indian dance styles! Come to listen, engage with other students, and dance a little too!


Prerequisites
No pre-requisites! We just ask that you wear comfortable clothes that you can stretch in!

Come learn about space exploration with Columbia Space Initiative! We will specifically be talking about research being conducted on the international space station!


Prerequisites
Basic math and science.

Did you know that a mass shooting in the United States is followed by other mass shootings? Or that there was an increase in suicides after "13 Reasons Why" aired? In this seminar, we will learn about the copycat phenomenon and discuss copycat suicides, copycat crimes, and copycat mass shootings. We will also learn about antisocial personality disorder.

Content Warning: We will discuss mass shootings & suicides

The history of the Black celebrity is a polarizing, multifaceted, and complicated history. In a country as unequal as America, and in a planet as unequal as the one we live within, celebrity culture has always been a strange manifestation – but the experiences of Black celebrities are particularly strange given the conditions of racist, capitalist, and gendered oppression faced by most Black people around the world. Fueled by capitalism, individualism, and more, what does Black celebrity culture mean for the majority of Black people today? What should it mean? Are celebrities even important? Is celebrity culture useful in global struggles for Black freedom from oppression?

Together during this class session, we will explore some of the many models of Black celebrity and individual success throughout history, with a focus on modern celebrities, entertainers, and celebrity culture. Additionally, we will think about the role of “wealthy” and prominent Black people throughout history. Can there be “good celebrities”? “Good” billionaires? Have there been instances where a celebrity figure used their prominence for large amounts of Black people? Do we need celebrities, at all? What is the utility of Black celebrity? What are Black celebrities obligated to do (if anything at all) for the majority? If the goal of Black liberation is collective struggle against oppression, do we need to develop strategies that combat individualism? These are some of the questions we will wade through – together, carefully and critically – in this class session.

Although this class will focus on Black celebrities, we will also analyze celebrities of color more generally, and think through how marginalized identities are represented in celebrities today.

Introduction to the LaTeX programming language. Learn the markup language that is used in Maths and Sciences to write up mathematical equations in a nice font. It can go from as simple as $$A=\pi r^2$$ to $$Z(A,B)=\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2 \beta}} \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2 \beta}} \frac{1}{4 \pi ^2} e^{2 i \hbar} \int dx dy e^{-\beta \frac{a}{2} x^2 +Ax} e^{-\beta \frac{b}{2} y^2+By}$$ and can even handle large papers and automatically create bibliographies!

A quick overview of advanced mathematics techniques that are useful in solving advanced physical problems. This course will cover techniques to simplify classes of problems.We will look at change of coordinates and symmetry, Gaussian integrals/ Normal distributions, and if time allows a bit of complex integration techniques


Prerequisites
Some familiarity with Calculus, and complex numbers.

An introduction to the theory underlying the numbers we use in everyday life. Ever wonder why addition works the way it does, or why certain things, like the symmetries of a triangle almost work like addition or multiplication? Come learn group theory then!


Prerequisites
Ability to do addition and multiplication

This course will review some of the basics of neuroscience. Then we'll cover some of the more modern findings and techniques in neuroscience, including: optogenetics, mouse genetic engineering and fluorescent proteins, fMRI. We'll then look at some normal functions of the brain: memory, senses, etc.


Prerequisites
Basic (non-AP) biology, including genetics, any neuroscience is a bonus.

This course will cover some basic neuroscience and modern techniques in neuroscience research. Then we'll discuss what happens when the brain isn't working normally (using some neurological and psychiatric disorders as examples), and some treatments for these conditions.

This is Part 2 in a series. It is recommended but not required that students take Part 1. There may be some overlap depending on how many students took Part 1.


Prerequisites
Basic (non-AP) biology, including genetics, any neuroscience is a bonus.

Curious about scientific discoveries? Confused about how to understand them? If you answered yes to any of the questions, join our course! You will learn how to read and understand all aspects of scientific paper, from the abstract to the conclusions. We will also cover how to interpret data commonly seen in papers.

For those who are interested in pursing a career in medicine and/or research such as MD, PhD, pharmaceutical sciences, etc.
Topics include: Pharmaceutical products and drug action, common medication methods of action (aspirin, penicillin, opiates, antiviral medication), pH regulation in the stomach, Taxol, and nuclear medicine.


Prerequisites
Recommended: High school chemistry (including AP/IB coursework) as an introduction

Are you interested in knowing more about recent developments in the varied subfields of astrophysics? Do you want to know more about exciting astrophysics experiments, projects or open questions? In "The Frontiers of Astrophysics", we will cover current experiments and recent developments in subfields ranging from radio astronomy to gravitational wave astrophysics and multi-messenger astronomy! We will also simultaneously go over some of the major theoretical developments in astrophysics over the past century.

A brief introduction to Feynman diagrams for particle physics. Learn how to use Feynman diagrams and their purpose in Particle physics. Learn how, by using fairly simple pictures we can reduce a problem of the form
$$ \int e^{-p_x^2-p_y^2-x^2-y^2 + \Sigma \lambda x^n y^n} dy dx $$
to a few diagrams and a vertex counting schema.


Prerequisites
Don't freak out when you see math, don't worry we wont be doing anything harder than addition

In this class, we will discuss the diagnosis, causes, and treatments of post-traumatic stress disorder & dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder).

This course is a brief introduction to computer-aided drug design (CADD) which uses the tools of computational chemistry and data science to aid the process of drug discovery and how almost everything you learned about the lock and key model of protein-ligand binding is wrong. Concepts include, but are not limited to, the drug discovery pipeline and associated costs, Lipinski's rule of five, structure-function relationships, hit Identification, lead optimization, ligand-based vs. structure-based design, high-throughput virtual screening, agonist vs. antagonist, decoys, selectivity and side effects, allosteric interactions, assays, and more advanced computational methods.


Prerequisites
Regents level chemistry and biology (AP level preferred)

Computational chemistry is the branch of chemistry that uses computers to solve equations from quantum mechanics to solve problems in chemistry such as predicting the structure, properties, and patterns of reactivity of molecules. This course will be a very math-lite survey of what computational chemistry is about and the fundamental balance of computational expediency and accuracy.


Prerequisites
Regents level chemistry and physics (AP level preferred)

After hurling through space for 7 months, NASA's Perseverance rover landed on the Martian surface less than a month ago. Now what? In this class, we will uncover why scientists believe that Mars potentially had life and how the rovers Perseverance and Curiosity help further the search for life by collecting and analyzing biosignatures. We will also delve into the implications of these missions in terms of future space exploration and our understanding of the world.


Prerequisites
Any background in astronomy, biology, geology, and/or chemistry is welcome but not necessary!

A course built for students who are interested in studying the Japanese language, but for whatever reason have not started yet. In Beginners' Japanese, students will get a taste of what Japanese study requires, including learning the Hiragana alphabet, 4 very short units of vocabulary, and some lessons on basic grammar structure. Each lesson will be split into a Hiragana character lesson, a themed vocabulary unit section, and a grammar section. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions about extracurricular grammar points, vocabulary, and characters each class. If you're looking for a quick introduction to Japanese language, please join!

To be a successful college student you need to navigate the gap between the structure of high school and the freedoms & responsibility of college. Step one of this navigation is understanding what the differences between high school and college are. COLLEGE IS NOT A HARDER VERSION OF HIGH SCHOOL.
Join me to get your navigation journey started.


Prerequisites
It would help if you're familiar with one college

Making friends is a skill and a talent. Just like being a "good" roommate in college you really become successful once you take away the drama and focus on what the word "friend" means, and how making friends is successful for you.
Come learn the skill (5 steps) and leave knowing how to use your talent.


Prerequisites
Write down a paragraph describing how you've had a successful friendship or unsuccessful friendship.

How do you keep track of your daily life?
Maybe you've never forgotten anything, or stayed up half the night doing tomorrow's homework just to find out it was actually due next week. And I know you've never forgotten your grandmother's birthday, or national donut day!

This class sets you up to find and use a planner that's relevant for you.

There is a gap between the structure of high school, and the independence and often shocking responsibility of college.

In my 5 Differences Between HS and College course I visit Location, Fellow Students, Academic Work, Social Life, and Responsibility.

In Navigating the Gap I'm focusing on the difference in Academic Work and the balance between Independence and Responsibility.

This course isn't a lecture--it requires some participation through discussion in the larger group and breakout rooms.


Prerequisites
1. Either know or have an idea of where you're going to college. 2. Complete the pre-work before class.

Taught by members of Columbia University Colloquia, this class will be a practice of their signature Steelman style of debate. Steelmanning involves making an argument through presenting your side's strongest possible views. We hope that by the end of this class, students will be able to approach debate and argument in a more respectful manner.

American political culture has been characterized by endless scandal and intrigue, so much so that we've added a uniquely American suffix to the english language, -gate. From duelling to romantic affairs to illicit whiskey rings, scandal has graced American headlines since the inception of the republic. Something about American political culture, particularly our expectations around Presidents, is particularly puritanical—we expect saints and heroes. But why then do they so often escape justice? Join us and we'll explore the juiciest secrets of American Presidential history, but also reflect on the impulses that create such a scandal-obsessed and dominated culture.


Prerequisites
None