<p>College affected me greatly and I loved my alma mater (Cornell). What is hard to separate is what about my experience was unique to Cornell … and in my case I went to my first choice school that felt like a perfect fit when I visited and was a terrific fit… I think there were 3 affects from my experience.</p>
<p>1) A generic maturing and intellectual growth that would have occured at virtually any college</p>
<p>2) A growth from being at a challenging school with other top students … I was pretty immature and being thrown into the deep end (with no shallow end to retreat to) forced me to grow up … I think was a HUGE factor in my growth during college … but there is a pretty large subset of schools that could have provided this experience.</p>
<p>3) Cornell specific experiences … while I doubt there are many life altering experiences that are totally unique to Cornell I do think it is on a pretty small list of schools that could have provided attributes that were very important to my college experince. I loved being at big school, in a college own, with top students, with a stealth intellectual feel to it (kids are really smart but act pretty typical out of class), and laid-back. That list of schools (including my possible majors) is pretty short … and I do think this environment was perfect for the HUGE growth and change in me that started during college.</p>
<p>When I look at my life I see some wandering but the path has been pretty consistant even as my life has unfolded and eveolved … and Cornell was a HUGE stymilus at the start of the journey … I can not imagine a much better awakening for during my 18-22 years.</p>