University of California, Los Angeles ('06)

Sports. What would UCLA be if it didn't have sports? Yeah, it would still have all of the research and a pretty decent library to boot but I think that anyone who turns a blind eye to sports at UCLA isn't acknowledging its life-blood.

With that said, I'll turn to some academics. There are indeed world-class professors at UCLA (especially in the computer science department). Did you know the internet was invented at UCLA? The very first message sent over the internet was "log" as in login. (At least that is how the story goes.) Unfortunately, the message from UCLA to Stanford kinda crashed in the process. Well, many many iterations later, we have the internet and a whole lot of useful computer technology from UCLA. Here's a list of my personal heros here: Richard Korf, Michael Dyer, Adnan Darwiche and Stefano Soatto. Each of these guys is a giant, I mean G–I–A–N–T in his field. I have felt honored to take their classes.

Vassar College ('02)

Vassar College is the best place ever. I've taken classes at PSU, Dartmouth and UCLA and I have to say that Vassar is the best learning environment that I have experienced. I played two varisity sports, acted as a TA and took part in a lot of clubs and organizations. At Vassar, you have the opportunity to participate in some of the most intellectually challenging courses you will find anywhere and the community is tight-knit enough so that you'll never find yourself struggling to make ties with the community.

There are approximately 2,400 students at Vassar and of those approximately 60% come from public high schools, 40% from private schools (both independent and religious). In recent freshman classes, students of color have comprised up to 27% of matriculants. International students from over 45 countries comprise 8% of the student body.

There are over 250 faculty members and virtually all holding the doctorate or its equivalent. All classes are taught by faculty members. The student-faculty ratio is 9:1, average class size, 17. More than 70% of the faculty live on campus or nearby; one or two faculty families live in each residence hall as house fellows.

Dartmouth College (2000–2001)

Dartmouth College is one of the preeminent institutions in the country. The classes were definitely the best part of my experience there. Classes are taught by professors like Prof. Cormen, author of the one of the most widely read texts in computer science: Introduction to Algorithms.

Also, the weather is great, which gives rise to a great outdoor experience and events such as Tubestock–which is essentially a huge party on the Connecticut River–and The Winter Carnival which includes (or at least used to include) events such as the keg jump and the polar bear swim.

Dartmouth Night is also really fun. It starts as a traditional Homecoming weekend with an evening of speeches, a parade, and a bonfire. Traditionally the freshman class builds the bonfire and then runs circles around it a number of times approximately equal to the last two digits of the classyear, give or take a hundred times.

I entered Dartmouth as a junior to take part in the Dual Degree Program in the Thayer School of Enginnering. I think that it is the oldest engineering program in the country. I decided about a quarter after I got there, that I actually didn't want to be a mechanical engineer so I instead took about every math and computer science course that I could (I guess you can't get away from your true love). After taking course for four straight quarters, I decided to go back to Vassar and I never looked back (except occasionally, to talk with friends).