Four Dual BA Grads Reflect on Their Columbia GS Journeys

Ashley Cullina 

Where are you from?

Virginia

Major: 

English

Tell us about your path to GS!

I spent the summer before my senior year of high school studying aquaculture in Cork, Ireland, the experience of which endeared me to Irish university education. The Dual BA then afforded me the ability to continue studying in Ireland without sacrificing the U.S. college experience.

What has been your proudest Columbia moment?

Placing my first book review in a recognized literary magazine!

Who are some people who have contributed the most to your Columbia experience?

I really admire Dr. Victoria Rosner as GS’ Dean of Academic Affairs, but also as a teacher and a scholar. She's been incredibly supportive of my studies, and I have her advice to thank for not a few of my decisions, academic or otherwise. I also believe I owe my degree almost entirely to Dean Sara Ede, without whose dedication I'm not sure that the Trinity Dual BA would still exist.

What advice would you give to a Columbia student starting their GS journey?

Befriend your teachers!

Jess Hobbs Pifer

Where are you from?

Philadelphia

Major: 

Religion, Middle Eastern and European language and cultures

Tell us about your path to GS!

I caught the travel bug pretty young after studying abroad in Scotland in 8th grade. After that, I took every opportunity I could to learn about other places, people, and cultures. This led me to study Arabic in Morocco in 2016 through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program, and eventually to the Dual BA Program where I continued my Arabic studies in addition to Russian and Hebrew.

What has been your proudest Columbia moment?

I moved to New York City in August 2020, which was still a pretty scary time because of COVID. I'm definitely most proud of the life I managed to build for myself here despite the pandemic. I worked at the Hungarian Pastry Shop during the summer of 2021 where I built relationships with many different people in the broader Morningside community and began to really feel connected to the community here. Before that, I developed really fabulous friendships with people across GS and Barnard. I'm really proud of how I managed to safely integrate myself in the community while balancing major transitions in COVID policies, school on and off of Zoom, and moving to a new city and school halfway through my undergraduate education.

Who are some people who have contributed the most to your Columbia experience?

Professor Courtney Bender, who in addition to being the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the religion department is a fabulous person and professor, has been instrumental to me during my time at GS. I met Professor Bender at a Zoom conversation on "The Question of Presence" hosted by the department back in July of 2020. I had no idea what I wanted to study at Columbia and was feeling nervous about my impending move to NYC. I remember feeling excited by the discussion that happened over Zoom and the excitement people in the department expressed at seeing one another again. Since then, Professor Bender has been a huge help in figuring out how classes transfer from Trinity, and I've loved every class I've taken with her. Most recently, she was incredibly supportive throughout the thesis process—even when a computer crash erased my whole thesis file on my final draft!

What advice would you give to a Columbia student starting their GS journey?

Just really immerse yourself in Columbia life: really try to build those relationships with your professors, find study buddies in your classes, and dive into social events, clubs, performances, and sporting events.

Jane Loughman

Where are you from?

Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Major: 

English

Tell us about your path to GS!

I found out about the Dual BA Program between Trinity College Dublin and Columbia quite late into the application process. Despite the short time span, and my Irish Leaving Certificate mock examinations looming, I went for it. I knew the program would be the perfect opportunity for me to study English literature in two cities with rich literary histories. 

I joined the inaugural cohort in 2018 and, although attending two different universities across four years is already an untraditional college experience, the pandemic interrupting my first year at Columbia GS made it even more so! While I enjoyed taking my classes online and at home in Ireland during my junior year, I couldn’t wait to get to New York. I finally made it in the summer of 2021, and it’s been the most fantastic year.

What has been your proudest Columbia moment?

One of my proudest moments at Columbia was being inducted into the GS Honor Society in Fall 2021. I was very grateful to be recognized for my academic work along with my ambitious peers. I was also delighted to complete my Senior Essay, a 10,000-word dissertation on Joyce Carol Oates’s retellings of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. After all the hard work, it was rewarding to see it come to fruition.

At both Trinity and Columbia, I’ve been involved in theater and in journalism: I produced and acted in plays with DU Players at Trinity and then with CU Players at Columbia, and I was a staff writer with Trinity News and then with the Columbia Daily Spectator. I have enjoyed documenting my unique college experience on my YouTube channel, Queen of Quirk, and I know I’ll cherish looking back on my time at Trinity and Columbia; it really has been the most exciting, intellectually stimulating, and inspiring four years.

Who are some people who have contributed the most to your Columbia experience?

The English department at Columbia was instrumental to me. My classes and my work with many of the professors motivated and encouraged me in my decision to apply to postgraduate study. In particular, my thesis advisor Professor Aaron Ritzenberg was not only an ideal mentor, but he also helped me to further develop and enhance my academic writing skills this past year. I also would like to give a shout out to the wonderful friends I’ve made in my short time at Columbia, especially my GS peers; I’ll miss hanging out in the lounge with them!

What are your plans for after graduation?

After spending some more time in the city and at home in Ireland this summer, I will be moving to the U.K. in October to begin a master’s in modern and contemporary literature at Oxford University! I am very excited to continue my academic journey at Wolfson College, Oxford, beginning by researching the literary afterlives of texts, genres, and authors, and hope to pursue a career in academic research and teaching. 

What advice would you give to a Columbia student starting their GS journey?

I would give two pieces of advice. The first is to make the most of your time here; relish the classes, join clubs that (or find people who) both fulfill your passions and your social life, and take advantage of what GS has to offer. 

Because there are so many amazing things to do at Columbia, my second piece of advice is to prioritize: you can’t do it all! I have to remind myself of this sometimes. It can be hard to achieve a balance, so the key to this is to prioritize what is important to you.

Christian Rodriguez

Major: 

Hispanic studies and European studies

Tell us about your path to GS!

I attended a magnet high school 10 miles outside New York City and participated in the International Baccalaureate program, which exposed me to foreign affairs through world literature and global history. I was fortunate to have access to a varied curriculum that allowed me to study Spanish, Arabic, Russian history, the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War, contemporary art, and world cinema in addition to my regular coursework. I was also heavily involved in speech and debate activities like Model UN, policy debate, and student journalism, which allowed me to explore the many different aspects of world politics I found interesting. Having the opportunity to travel across the United States and abroad to debate international security and humanitarian issues with peers from around the world sparked my interest in living overseas in the future.

Before GS, I also spent a year studying in the pre-college division at the Cooper Union School of Art and interning in asset management. After immersing myself in some of the scenes—galleries, museums, finance—that make NYC a capital of the world, I knew it was where I wanted to be. The Dual BA was a natural extension of these interests and goals because it gave me the chance to study my favorite subjects in Europe and New York.

What has been your proudest Columbia moment?

Writing two senior essays: I wrote a senior thesis for my Columbia BA on the origins of magical realism in Hispanic-Caribbean literature, and another for my Trinity BA on the diplomatic history of governments in exile during World War II. My Columbia thesis was awarded an Honors Prize from the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures.

Who are some people who have contributed the most to your Columbia experience?

Professor George Chauncey; I took his class “U.S. Lesbian and Gay History” as an elective, but it has easily been one of the most serendipitous aspects of my Columbia experience. It challenged me to think about the ways identity and hostility are both socially produced and reproduced through culture as well as politics. It reshaped the way I look at civil rights, the law, and American history as well as my place in it. After that class, I had the opportunity to work with Professor Chauncey as a research assistant.

What are your plans for after graduation?

I will be joining Goldman Sachs as an analyst working on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder advisory, and activism defense.

What advice would you give to a Columbia student starting their GS journey?

Live off-campus if you can! So many students move to NYC from far-away places, but get swept up in the Columbia bubble and never leave Morningside Heights. If you ever have the opportunity to live in another neighborhood for a semester or a year, take it! It will make your experience so much richer.