Why Columbia? 'I felt at home. I felt part of the community'

Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why. (1500 Character limit)

As soon as I stepped through the gates at Morningside Heights, I felt at home. I felt part of the community at Columbia, but Columbia's community is not just Morningside Heights or New York City, it's the world. Columbia's environment is a place that champions diversity and innovation. Columbia provides its students with the opportunity to work with distinction. From the environment and opportunities Columbia provides have come some of the most significant leaps forward in history, such as the laser and the FM radio. Albert Einstein, who was a part of the Manhattan Project at Columbia, said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity," and Columbia seizes those opportunities. While some attribute adversity to dissimilarity among people, Columbia uses that difference and diversity to its advantage. While I walked around the campus, I knew that any student there could be anyone from a concert pianist to an Olympic athlete, but everyone was a Columbian. In all the diversity and distinction is unity; Columbia is a family, a home.

Yours is very well written, and concise. There is just one mistake of repetition in the last paragraph that you could fix:

While I walked around the campus, I knew that any student there could be anyone from a concert pianist to an Olympic athlete, but everyone was a Columbian. In all the diversity and distinction is unity; Columbia is a family, a home.

Very well done.

I knew that any student there could be anyone from a concert pianist to an Olympic athlete, but everyone was a Columbian. Within the diversity and distinction is unity; Columbia is a family, a home.

I feel like that seems better because the first time I read that last sentence, I was a bit confused. See if this change sounds right to you.