How did actually seeing the universities change things for you?

I guess that by seeing them I could know what my living conditions would be, and what the weather was like, which was very… helpful.

What did you like about the way the tour was arranged?

I liked the way it was arranged mainly because we didn’t always just go to universities. We also kind of got to explore New York a bit, and went to Washington [D.C.], and went to some museums. That was really good.

What school do you want to apply for?

Before I went on the tour, I wanted to go to Princeton. But then, actually, I went there, and I decided not to. It’s kind of stiff, and I prefer the urban community to more of a “country-style”. Now I’ve decided to go to Columbia because I feel like there are more opportunities in New York City.

What are your goals for the next few years?

Well, I’m currently working on a novel because I want to be an English major. So in the next, I think, three or four years I’ll just be working on getting some of my work published and discovering new ways to write.

I guess that makes you pretty interested in Journalism programs right?

Yes!

The Pulitzer Prize is annually administered by Columbia University.

You came with your mom, your little sister, and your grandma and grandpa.  We’ve never actually had a whole family, including grandparents, join us on the tour before. Why did they decide to come?

It was [the grandparents’] first time in Canada, and I think they thought it was just a great way to get to see United States, and go on a brief tour of New York, and, well, the east coast. So they decided to come along.

We ran into some really surprising snowfall at MIT and Harvard this year. What did you think of that?

I think it was pretty helpful because… it allowed us not to get sidetracked by the pretty and sunny and pretty photos universities put on their websites.

We gave you guys a lot of homework—journal writing. What did you think of that?

I didn’t think it was that much homework, but it was good that we got to write a journal at the end of the day because it allowed me to reflect on the schools and really think about what I liked what I didn’t.

Overall, did anything surprise you on the tour?

I was actually really surprised by how open and welcoming the students were at the universities. At Harvard, there were these two girls that were doing presentations for us, and they were especially appealing to me because… they weren’t shy at all and they were really proud of their school and passionate about what they are studying. That was very surprising to me.