Formalities and School Facilities

Hello, my name is Oluwatomi Balogun, though, honestly, I prefer to just go by "Tomi". I am 15 and a Sophomore at Middle College High School, located in San Pablo, California. This summer, I will be taking the course of Constitutional Law at Columbia University as a member of the Ivy League Connection.

This is my first year both applying and being accepted into the Ivy League Connection program, and I'm very excited for what it entails, as everything is an entirely new experience for me. Prior to this school year, I had no idea that such a program existed until my counselor told me that I was eligible for application. I soon came to know about the Ivy League Connection, also known simply as the ILC--a local organization that allows capable students to attend summer classes at an Ivy League College, with absolutely no expenses payed on the applicant's part.

I applied for the ILC program as it seemed like wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about both the course I shall be attending and about myself. Through this experience, I hope to decide what kind of college I would like to go to as well as what sort of majors I would be interested in. I also plan on sharing what I learn with my fellow classmates. I hope by doing so they'll also be able to decide on what sort of college is right for them.

I expect the ILC program to be a very informative and interesting. As I said before, this is an entirely new experience for me, from the interviews and fancy dinners to New York City itself. My unfamiliarity with it all makes it both terrific and terrifying, and I hope that as the events pass by that fear and anticipation will subside into familiarity and adventure.

The course that I shall be taking, Constitutional Law, is a Monday - Friday class taught by professors Jeffrey Lenowitz and Luke MacInnis. While I class, I'll be partaking in many debates, discussions, and lectures that go over controversial laws, ideas, and issues, as well as how the Constitution that can either support or deter these ideas, depending on the interpretation used as evidence.

While in New York, I will not only be attending Columbia University, but I will also be visiting a number of other Universities within New York City, with one of them being New York University.

Located in Manhattan's Washington Square in Greenwich Village, New York University--also known as NYU--was founded on April 18th, 1831 by Albert Gallatin, the treasurer of President Thomas Jefferson. Gallatin and his fellow founders, envisioned a school where only a person's desire for knowledge, and not their personal background, was all that mattered. In a little over a year, Gallatin's dream became a reality when in 1832, 158 students reported to the first classes of NYU on Clinton Hill, located in lower Manhattan.

Now over 180 years later, NYU has grown to become the country's largest privately-owned research university with over a dozen divisions scattered across Manhattan and extensive abroad programs in over 25 different countries. Due to NYU's monumental success, it is one of sixty-two universities admitted into the Association of American Universities. As of now, NYU's student body has multiplied by over 300 time and has awarded nearly 12,000 degrees to its deserving graduates.

NYU happens to be a fairly large university with over 50,000 students currently attending the school as of this year. But with it's large student body, NYU comes accommodated with an equally large array of faculty and resources. As the school's staff reaches over 16,000, most, if not all, of the college's facilities stay fully equipped and staffed 24/7. Classes tend to average about 30 students, with an overall staff to student ratio of about 1:12.

NYU itself is divided into many smaller campuses that allows its Graduate and Undergraduate students access to major specific programs, institutions, and research centers--resulting in unique learning experiences that vary campus to campus. The only common factor between these factions' courses is that all students, no matter what major, is required to study liberal arts on some level. Some well known examples of NYU's specialized campuses, include the Washington Square Center, which houses over 10 different institute that offer courses ranging from business to science, the New York University Midtown Center, a continuing school, and the NYU School of Medicine, which as it's names suggests focuses on the medical field.

Incoming Undergraduates are presented with a 11 basic programs that branch off into course-specific majors, such as economics, public health, and individual study. While all students are required to take at least basic liberal arts courses, students are encouraged to engage in fields that gauge their interests, whether it be liberal arts or not.

NYU offers over 200 courses in fields such as business, science, art, foreign language, history, health, social work, liberal arts, communication and much more. An extensive list of NYU's programs can be found here. NYU provides its students with the best available resources, no matter what major or minor they decide to pursue. This along side their wide range of programs, creates an effective, unique learning environment that ensures that students are getting the best out of their studies. Personally, I think that I would enjoy studying their English, Psychology, and Dramatic Literature courses.

NYU is supported by over 350,000 alumni worldwide. NYU's nobel laureates include Robert F. Engle III and Thomas J. Sargent, who had both received a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2003 and 2011 respectively, as well as Severo Ochoa, who studied at NYU's College of Medicine and received a Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine in 1959.