A: You can give yourself a brain hemorrhage if you try, or you can arrange things so that you can coast. On average, it's rigorous.

A: Organic Chemistry. It's like playing Tinkertoys, except that if you do it wrong, you could blow up the lab. I also liked my freshman seminar, Origins of Modern Science. It was all about how the philosophy of modern science, like empiricism, came about, taught via the story of how we figured out how to account for the movement of the planets.

A: ...people in the seat behind you on the bus start having an argument about Nietzsche.

A: If it's -20º F outside, WEAR GLOVES. Even if it's just from your dorm room to the library. Your hands will thank you.

A: For a linguistics class I got to do a talk on discourse markers. Those are words like "like" and "um" that don't seem to have any linguistic function in a sentence. It involved analyzing actual utterances by Valley girls that I found on You Tube.

A: The buildings here have airlocks. I think they are actually called lobbies, but they look like airlocks. Instead of keeping air in, they're designed to keep cold out, which was a new concept for me. People on the street will make eye contact with you. The administration here actually works. I can ask Student Financial Services a question about a scholarship and get a detailed, relevant answer from a human being. It's refreshingly different from a public high school.

A: I wouldn't have been able to attend Carleton if it hadn't been for a generous financial aid package. Of the private schools where I got accepted, it was actually the one that would have cost me the least to attend. I could have gotten virtually a free ride from the UCs, but I really wanted to attend here.

A: Macalester, Pomona, Williams, Haverford, the University of California system.

A: www.margarettayorwriting.blogspot.com

A: I'm still no social butterfly, but I think I'm much more at ease talking with people now than before. Being surrounded by like-minded nerds for two years is quite therapeutic that way. I've also grown up a lot.

A: Think about what kind of school you want to go to. Big? Small? Are they particularly good at teaching the subject you want to major in? Ask everybody you know for college recommendations. Listen to their advice, but don't necessarily take it. Seriously, check out the Princeton Review. You can survive the winter in Minnesota; it's not as bad as it's cracked up to be.

A: I help out with Arb restoration. It's quite cathartic to rip out buckthorn when I'm frustrated about homework.

A: My favorite tradition is the "Primal Scream." At 10:00pm the night before finals starts, everybody is supposed to stick their heads out the windows and scream at the top of their lungs. It's quite bone-chilling. Froshies, remember to scream the night before finals! Keep the dream alive!

A: You have to be smart, and not just SAT-score smart, either. You'll fit in if you build your own robots at home, or if you speak Esperanto, or you're passionate about the political situation between India and Pakistan. There's a niche for everybody. Well, there is a darker side. If you're of conservative bent, you will find a lot of students disagreeing with you. But they won't make you an outcast.

A: All things fantasy and sci-fi, writing, humor, blogging, cooking, ballroom dance, the Arboretum, lichen.