Leaving India for the Ivy League After receiving a dream acceptance, I have chosen to enroll at Cornell University. It offered me an excellent financial aid package and has a highly reputed computer science department. In the second week of April, Cornell hosted a celebratory luncheon for Tata Scholars at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. My parents and I flew down to Mumbai to meet the other Tata Scholars and Lee Melvin, the associate vice provost for enrollment at Cornell. On the evening we arrived, we were treated to dinner at an expensive restaurant. The next afternoon, the formal luncheon took place. It was informative and enjoyable. On the flight back home, I could not help but calculate the cost of the weekend. Although it was very generous of Cornell and the Tata program to host the all-expenses-paid luncheon, I cringed a little when I realized that this one weekend cost as much as I will need to earn from my on-campus job during freshman year. When I shared this thought with my parents and friends, they were quick to rebuke me for overthinking college finances. I must give them some credit for doing so. I chose to enroll at Cornell over Bryn Mawr and Carnegie Mellon primarily because Cornell's financial aid package is transparent, comprehensive and free of loans. So I don't have much to worry about financially. However, I am concerned about how I'll manage to balance all my plans for college. A strong academic record is an obvious requisite; add writing opportunities, research work, involvement in athletics at whichever level I qualify for, student groups, volunteer activities, mastering Spanish and salsa dancing and a part-time job to the list. I also need time for social activities in between! As overwhelming as my own plans sound to me right now, that is exactly what I asked for: a college experience that will push me to reach my goals. To quell my worries, I'm working on my academic writing and programming skills in the hopes that this will ease my transition to college. Several of my friends plan to take Advanced Placement exams in May to gain college credits. But I am averse to the AP exams. The Indian curriculum (of the Central Board of Secondary Education) for math and computer science is at least as rigorous as its International Baccalaureate counterpart, but it is not recognized internationally. So I've decided to take placement tests offered by my college instead of AP exams, which seem only to reward the College Board's fervent promotional activities in the international student market. This summer, I am looking forward to starting an initiative to introduce middle school students in my community to computer science and programming. I want to make the most of this last summer before college.