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Episode Notes | Episode Transcript | AskTheGuest

 Hi Fives (5 Highlights)   3-Minute Listen

Reid Furubayashi is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).

Reid was able to nurture and grow his international interest at Claremont. Through his summer in Mongolia, Fulbright Scholarship to Bulgaria, study abroad.

Mock Trial and his participation in the Student Senate kept him engaged on campus.

Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:

  1. Overall Experience
  2. Why Claremont McKenna?
  3. Profs: “Great”
  4. Summer in Mongolia
  5. Advice for Aspirants

Episode Notes

Episode Title: Reid Furubayashi on Claremont McKenna: PPE, Fulbright Scholar and International Experience.

Episode summary introduction: Reid had a well rounded High School experience. He did mock trial, speech and debate, played soccer, and was a pole vaulter. When time came to look for colleges, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to study. But he knew gaining International experience was important.

Reid Furubayashi is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).

In particular, we discuss the following with him:

  • Choosing Claremont McKenna College
  • Majoring in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
  • International Experience
  • Being a Fulbright Scholar
  • Advice to Aspirants

Topics discussed in this episode:

  • Introduction to Reid Furubayashi, Claremont McKenna College [0:47]
  • Hi Fives - Podcast Highlights [1:47]
  • Overall Experience [4:12]
  • Why Claremont McKenna? [5:58]
  • High School Interests[6:49]
  • Transition to Claremont [8:21]
  • Business-focused Peers [9:45]
  • Profs: “Great” [11:51]
  • Dorms [12:59]
  • Summers [17:42]
  • Majoring in PPE [21:52]
  • A Fulbright Scholar [23:33]
  • How Claremont McKenna prepared you for post-College? [27:07]
  • Claremont Redo [29:10]
  • Advice to Aspirants [31:20]
  • Memories: Birthday Dunk [33:12]

Our Guest: Reid Furubayashi is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Memorable Quote: “I took a lot of politics courses and philosophy courses. And having the diversity of thought in each course actually made the conversation, like, much richer. I think socially, sometimes it was tough to navigate.” Reid on the diversity on campus.

Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.

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Episode Transcript

Transcript of the episode’s audio.

Reid  0:14

It is your birthday there. They will. It is tradition, there are two fountains at the school and you will picked up out of your dorm and thrown into the fountain on your birthday. And just know that when you get there and you see random people getting picked up and thrown into water, it is actually not bullying.

Venkat  0:47  [Introduction to Reid Furubayashi, Claremont McKenna College]

Reid Furubayashi is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).

Reid had a well rounded High School experience.

He did mock trial, speech and debate, played soccer, and was a pole vaulter.

When time came to look for colleges, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to study.

He wanted a liberal arts education in a college with small class sizes. He liked Philosophy and Humanities.

He also felt that gaining International experience was important.

Reid Furubayashi joins us today to talk about his experience at Claremont McKenna College.

Before we jump into the podcast, here are the High-Fives,  Five Highlights from the podcast:

Reid  1:47  [Highlights - Hi Fives]

[Overall Experience]

And then there was also just a big culture of dialogue there. So whether that was participating in classes, and having a small class sizes that facilitate that. But they also were very active and proactive about bringing speakers onto campus and just having and fostering a lot of dialogue

[Why Claremont McKenna?]

Out of at least out of the liberal arts schools that I was looking at Claremont McKenna was very focused on career like college as a career development. So they were thinking long term kind of about your future, and about your career at large.

[Profs: “Great”]

But as I got deeper into my major and deeper and specific topics, I just the classes were smaller, I got way more connected to my professors.

 

[Summer in Mongolia]

And this is part of the reason why I chose Claremont McKenna is because they, they will provide funding for you to have these experiences. If you if you get in or if you get them, they'll subsidize your airfare and also subsidize your accommodation. So essentially, I went to Mongolia, they paid for airfare and they also paid for my apartment there.

[Advice for Aspirants]

So I would just say talk to as many people as you can. And people with like the widest range of backgrounds that you can the rather than just go to the info session.

Venkat Raman  3:18

Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast with Reid. So without further ado, over to Reid Furubayashi!

--------------------

Venkat Raman  3:27  

So Reid. Let me start by welcoming you to our podcast. College Matters. Alma Matters. Thank you so much for making the time here.

Reid  3:36  

Thanks for having me.

Venkat Raman  3:37  

Sure thing I am looking forward to sort of talking about Claremont McKenna. As I think we spoke, we bring these stories for aspiring students. So you know, your experience and anything you have to share would be of great benefit to these folks. So thank you again.

Reid  3:58  

Yeah, happy to.

Venkat Raman  4:00  

Very good. So maybe we should just dive in. And maybe you can start with some overall impressions about your undergraduate experience.

Reid  4:12  [Overall Experience]

Yeah, um, so I went to Claremont McKenna. I graduated 2015. And was there I was there for four years. And I love my experience there. I think. You know, this, the school is obviously small, and it's on the west coast. I'm from Seattle, Claremont McKenna, is in California. So I think they're just, when I think about those factors, there was some logistical things that made it appealing and then also in terms of what the school focused on, which was really, really the intersection of business. I'd say philosophy and humanities was really interesting to me. I didn't exactly know what I wanted to go into when I was coming out of high school. So I wanted a liberal arts Education, I wanted focused class sizes. And I also wanted something that really focused on it, like the importance of international experience, which kinda has a great track record of, of doing with students during their undergrad career. So those were the things that I really liked about it. And then there was also just a big culture of, of dialogue there. So whether that was participating in classes, and having a small class sizes that facilitate that, but they also were very active and proactive about bringing speakers onto campus. And just having and fostering a lot of dialogue on the campus was was also really important to me.

Venkat Raman  5:44  

So you were starting to allude to this, Why did you choose Claremont McKenna? I mean, I think we know the West Coast location, we know the sort of the campus vibe Anything else? What else did you look at?

Reid  5:58  [Why Claremont McKenna?]

Yeah, I mean, I did look at sort of what academically The school was, was kind of known for. But there was also I felt like when I was looking at schools that out of at least out of the liberal arts schools that I was looking at Claremont McKenna was very focused on career like college as a career development. So they were thinking long term kind of about your future, and about your career at large. And we're very focused on that really, from the second you get on the campus. And so that kind of focus and career orientation is what initially drew me and had it kind of stand out in the sea of liberal arts colleges I was looking at.

Venkat Raman  6:43  

Maybe we can talk a little bit about your high school, what were you like in high school? What did you like when you were in high school?

Reid  6:49  [High School Interests]

Yeah, so I went to Seattle Academy, which was a really small, high school, kind of in the, in the, really, the center of kind of Seattle City Life, and it was an urban campus. And, you know, it was really focused on, I would say that the mission was like a culture of performance. So there was a lot of public speaking, there was a lot of, there was a big arts side to the high school. It actually stood previously for Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences. So, but definitely, like a small private school in Seattle, so I think anything bigger than a class of 70 seemed really big to me at the time.

Venkat Raman  7:35  

So what what kind of things did you do there?

Reid  7:38  

Yeah, I am. So I did a lot of like mock trial and speech and debate. On your mind, I think about extracurriculars that kind of tied to some, some more academic things. Then I also did a lot of sports. So I played soccer. I was a pole vaulter and, and played basketball kind of in middle school and early High School. So kind of did sports and then a lot of rhetoric activities.

Venkat Raman  8:10  

Let's talk a little bit about your transition from high school to Claremont. What was that like? Maybe we can start with the academic aspect?

Reid  8:21  [Transition to Claremont]

Yeah. So again, like, for me, Claremont McKenna is probably objectively a small college, I went there, and it felt very big, both in terms of like, obviously, thus, the student body and just the general environment, but also academically, there was just so much to choose from. Whereas coming from high school, you really only got electives, the last couple years of your high school years, and even then, it was pretty limited in terms of what the courses were and what topics were covered. And in college, you get there and you have a core curriculum, but then you have, it feels like the world to choose from, in terms of curriculum, and also Claremont McKenna is interesting because it's on a consortium with four other colleges, Pitzer, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps and you're actually able to take classes at any of them. And so there's just a whole breadth of topics and courses that you're able to choose from that was a little bit overwhelming when I joined academically. Especially for someone like me who didn't really know know what I wanted to do.

Venkat Raman  9:38  

So how were your classmates how how were how were peers or that sort of experience go?

Reid  9:45  [Business-focused Peers]

Yeah, I mean, they were great, I would say like Claremont McKenna, when I joined was very kind of business. It was like the most business focused group I've ever encountered. Like I was coming from School in Seattle Academy that was just liberal arts in the, in the in the most standard way I can think of. And then when I went to college, there was just a lot of very, like business focused individuals who were like doing consulting their senior year and I had no idea what consulting even was. And so it was just a completely different demographic than I had been used to encountering in high school, especially a small High School in Seattle. And, and then also, I think, politically, it was really interesting, like Seattle, in general. And my high school in Seattle was just a very liberal environment and so was Claremont McKenna, but it was definitely a much more mixed bag along the political spectrum than I used to interacting with in classes and and socially as well. Yeah, I think it's actually known to be one of the most politically diverse liberal arts colleges in the US.

Venkat Raman  11:02  

How did you navigate that? Was that an issue or was it...?

Reid  11:08  

No, it was never an issue and I think the reason why I mean, I listen like this is just my experience. Perhaps other people had different ones, but I really appreciate that actually. Like, especially in courses I took a lot of politics courses and philosophy courses. And having the diversity of thought in each course actually made the conversation like much richer. I think socially sometimes it was tough to navigate, but like I wouldn't have traded it for anything I don't think but uh, but it just wasn't something I was necessarily used to.

Venkat Raman  11:48  

What did you think of the professors and the teaching?

Reid  11:51  [Profs: “Great”]

Yeah, I thought the professors, my professors were great. I think when you are a freshman and you're having these you know, you have to do all these core curriculum courses. To me at least the obstruction at that level was a little bit drier and I felt kind of disconnected from professors my first year there I think that's fairly normal for most colleges when you have to go through the core classes. But as I got deeper into my major and deeper and specific topics, I just the classes are smaller I got way more connected to my professors and I still keep in touch with at least like two or three of them to this day. And they're just super involved and very available. And and there's just different styles but I would say for the most part, it's the professors are just very hands on there.

Venkat Raman  12:49  

So maybe we can jump outside the class and take a look at the dorms and the living. How was that?

Reid  12:59  [Dorms]

The dorms were great. So I was actually I was a freshman and if you know if you're looking at sort of any of the dorm write ups about the school there's this there's this region of the campus called North Quad and North Quad is the super social kind of very known to be like a party heavy area of campus and very rarely are freshmen place there. I was a freshman that was placed a lot along with a couple others. So I was a little bit in the minority in terms of like where I was freshman year because most freshmen are in the south part of campus which is where all the freshmen are except for a select few so there was no reason why I was there. It was kind of a random drop. But I was dropped right into the heart of campus life in the most social dorm as a freshman surrounded by surrounded by juniors and sophomores and I actually shared a suite which is four rooms connected with two bathrooms my freshman year with with folks from other grades and other classes and I really liked that actually it I got to meet more people. I felt like I got to go down to the freshmen area when I wanted but then I got to hang out with you know some other juniors and seniors I was living with. So it just gave me kind of like a nice, a nice. I got to like dip my feet into a lot of different friend groups just by virtue of where I was living so that was really good. And then the dorms themselves are the North Quad ones are the oldest dorms and my my references a little bit outdated because they did a huge remodeling of almost all of the dorms in the last couple years and I have been back to visit and they are like incredibly modern and high ceilings like insanely nice like maybe the nicest studio apartment I would ever So they've done a huge upgrade when I was there, I was living in like the oldest dorm on campus. So you know, it wasn't like amazing, but it was definitely big. All the rooms are pretty big.

Venkat Raman  15:12  

Yeah. So how about the general campus activities? The consortium work together. It was this each school was by itself. Yeah,

Reid  15:27  

It's a mix. So there are some clubs that are. We call it the five C's, because it's all the Claremont schools. Yeah. And there are some clubs that are five c span across Harvey Mudd scripts, you know, nor inclusive Ville, all the all the schools, and then there are some CMC specific clubs. But there's like a club fair every year, where essentially there's like boosts of all the clubs, you go around, you sign up for clubs, and then it happens at the start of the year. There are some clubs that are, you know, cultural clubs, like there's, I was part of an Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander club, I was also part of mock trial. And some of the clubs require auditions, you know, like music clubs and mock trial clubs and Speech and Debate clubs, and others are more social and cultural. But it's a pretty wide mix. And and you really get to, it's another way just for meeting people, both at your local school, but also across all the five C's.

Venkat Raman  16:29  

Yeah, so what kind of what kind of things did you do?

Reid  16:31  

I did. So my big extracurricular in college was mock trial, which is something I had done. Previously, I played like club soccer, and I did intramural sports. But the one that took up the most time was definitely mock trial, and I joined as a freshman, you had to audition. And then I was there. All four years. And then senior year, I was the kind of the varsity captain and the in the in the club president at the time. So that was where I dedicated a lot of my time. Hmm. Yeah.

Venkat Raman  17:02  

So what? I think I saw somewhere that you were also in the Student Senate. Were you part of the government?

Reid  17:09  

Yeah, I was a student senator, which wasn't like a huge leadership position. But it was essentially a committee that would meet every I don't know exactly. Remember how maybe once a quarter, just to like vote on, on initiatives across the school that was being passed down by the government. But it wasn't a it wasn't a leadership position.

Venkat Raman  17:35  

So let's segue to the summers. What did you get to do the different summers?

Reid  17:42  [Summers]

Yeah, the first summer, I wanted to come home the first summer to Seattle. And I was so burnt out after my freshman year, not just academically, but like socially. And I just wanted to chill summer. So my first summer I remember I was ice actually sold art at Pike Place Market. So if you've been to Seattle and know, the big public market, I was working there as a vendor. So that was my first college summer. And then the summers after that, I had internships that I got through the Career Services Center at Claremont McKenna. And one of them I was, I was interning at a, like a radio station or a TV station. And then the other two summers, one of them I was studying abroad. And the other one, I was actually working in Mongolia. And I was a business development analyst for like a property development firm there. And a real estate development firm. And that was one that I got through Career Services, and a friend of mine had done it the previous year. And it was just a good opportunity to kind of go international.

Venkat Raman  18:56  

Okay, so let's kind of drill down on those two sounds very interesting. So tell me about the first. First one, you said study abroad. Were you was this summer study abroad? Or is that what you did?

Reid  19:10  

Yeah, I studied abroad for fall semester.

Venkat Raman  19:12  

Fall semester! Okay.

Reid  19:14  

Yeah, I went to Thessaloniki, Greece.

Venkat Raman  19:19  

And, okay, and that was through the school. So fall semester. Yeah. Okay. And And what about the Mongolian gig? What was that?

Reid  19:29  

Yeah. So that one. So that was a an internship for the summer that I got through our Career Services Center. It's one that Claremont McKenna students had gotten gone to before and I applied was fortunate enough to get in but essentially, I went and this is part of the reason why I chose Claremont McKenna is because they, they will provide funding for you to have these experiences. If you If you get in or if you get them, they'll subsidize your airfare and also subsidize your accommodation. So essentially, I went to Mongolia, and they paid for airfare. And they also paid for my apartment there. And I live with two other Claremont McKenna students that were also doing the internship with me. And essentially, we were working for a real estate development firm. So we were kind of writing up strategies for, like, buildings building. Like, yeah, like building centers and shopping centers, and we were looking at doing some, you know, analytics around, no, it doesn't make sense to open something in this area. And so a lot of it was kind of like analysis at the start. And then it moved more into actually pitching these ideas to investors. So we would go around on like, investor road shows with, with the leadership team there and present to to, to potential investors.

Venkat Raman  21:00  

And this was all within Mongolia.

Reid  21:02  

This was all in Mongolia. Yeah.

Venkat Raman  21:05  

Interesting. Yeah. Well, lt must have been some experience.

Reid  21:09  

It was Yeah, I mean, at the time, too, you know, I just, I also just really wanted to travel. And so, you know, I was I was ready to like, 10 to take anything that that would give me that experience. At that age. I wasn't necessarily like, I didn't think I was gonna go into real estate development. But uh, but yeah, I mean, I wouldn't have traded that for the world. It was it was such a good experience.

Venkat Raman  21:38  

You said you came into college, not knowing quite what you wanted to study. And then you majored in PPE. Philosophy, politics and economics. How did you, How did you get there? How did you get to those topics?

Reid  21:52  [Majoring in PPE]

Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, you know, PPE is a program there, it sounds like a triple major, it's not. It is a, it's a program there. And it's actually based off of the Oxford system in the UK, and there are a couple of schools in the US that offer this program. But you start your sophomore year, and you're with actually the same 14 students for the next three years. And that's it, you apply freshman year, and if you get selected, then then you kind of really do this track major for those three years. The first year is philosophy. The second year is politics and the third years economics. And it's a really unique structure. But it's a but yeah, it's just a specially designed program. And for me, you know, I, I still even don't have a clear sense of necessarily what I want to do in 15 years. And back then I certainly didn't know. And so it was just like a broad based major, and I was looking at where people go from there. And people went to law school business school, they were analysts, or they went into tack or, or they went to higher ed. I mean, there was just so many pathways out of this major. And so for me, it was just a chance to learn a lot about a bunch of different topics, and, you know, kind of figure out what I wanted to do through that through that journey.

Venkat Raman  23:18  

Looks like you became a Fulbright Scholar soon after college. So yeah. So tell us about that. Tell us about how you got into that. And, and that experience in Bulgaria, I think, was it?

Reid  23:33  [A Fulbright Scholar]

Yeah, yeah, I was there for two years. And for Fulbright, you apply your senior year, and they let you know, kind of late so you're also doing like applications for jobs as well in parallel. So it was one of these things that I applied for my senior year. And once I put in my application, I kind of didn't think about it. You know, I was doing all these other applications. I was thinking about going into business consulting, and all these other different areas. And then when I got accepted, I thought the chance to go to Bulgaria go to a different country T and also teach that was kind of like a dormant potential career path for me. So I wanted to like think about think about just that experience and what it would be like and also choose an experience that I would probably wouldn't do later in life. And so Fulbright Fulbright, was that for me. I actually, interestingly, did not. I applied for Bulgaria, but I didn't know where I was going to be placed within Bulgaria when I applied. And, and the only reason why I applied to Bulgaria is I studied abroad in Greece. And so I was familiar with sort of Eastern Europe in that part of the world. And there are tons of Fulbright programs in Eastern Europe. So Bulgaria is one of the largest

Venkat Raman  24:57  

Yeah, yeah. So how was that experience?

Reid  25:01  

It was, it was amazing. And to this day, like probably the most formative experience I had in my like, adolescent or young adult years, or however you want to categorize it. But I just thinking back to it, I would do it over again in a heartbeat. I spent my first year teaching English there. So Fulbright, you can either teach English or you can do research. And there are different applications for both. But I applied for the teaching one. So I taught my first year. And it's usually a one year program, but you can apply to stay two years. So I did that application and status second year where I led sort of a nonprofit that focuses on speech and debate for high school students. And I'm still involved today as a board member, but at the time, I was sort of running the organization along with our executive director. So that's what I did my second year on my Fulbright. And yeah, again, just loved it. And still go back to Bulgaria, actually, every once in a while.

Venkat Raman  26:09  

Yeah, made quite an impression, then.

Reid  26:12  

I mean, it made an impression on me, for sure. I'm sure my students like my students, probably, I don't even know if they remember. Because I was teaching students that were in, you know, fourth and fifth grade. And I actually keep in touch with a lot of the students that I taught, because I taught really from fifth and fourth grade up until 11th grade. So it was a pretty wide range. And I also had no teaching experience. It was it was a learning curve. For me probably the hardest job I'll ever do.

Venkat Raman  26:46  

So I think, kind of wanted to check in and see how you think Claremont McKenna has shaped? You know, the few years after college? I mean, it's been, what, five, six years now? Five, six years, right? Yeah. So how do you think Claremont McKenna has shaped that arc?

Reid  27:07  [How Claremont McKenna prepared you for post-College?]

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it ignited this international interest for me, or like, I guess global or cross cultural mindset or whatever. I I attribute a lot of that declare on Canada, not necessarily because the courses were particularly International, but just that there was like, a lot of pressure. And also, honestly, there's a lot of funding to do to facilitate some international experience. And so I credit a lot of my interest in that realm to Claremont McKenna, because it just afforded me the opportunity to even have those experiences. And so between study abroad and Bulgaria, and also Mongolia, I mean, just these are opportunities that I just don't think I would have gotten without support. And then I think also just like, being really career minded, I've always been that way. That kind of reinforced that way. You know, my one critique is that some there was like, it's such a bubble, of like, around business consulting and strategy. There's so much like weird pressure to be in the corporate sector coming out of school, which is not really what you'd expect from a liberal arts school. Yeah. And so at times, that was a little bit frustrating, I will say, just because it felt like such a narrow view of like, what you can do after. And so yeah, I would say that that's the one thing if you're not like, kind of really career driven, or business is completely out of the question that can feel at times alienating. But for the most part, I think I, you know, the International piece Trump that for me.

Venkat Raman  28:59  

So let me ask you the reverse question. Yeah. If you could go back there again, What would you do differently, if any? Or would you kind of keep it the same?

Reid  29:10  [Claremont Redo]

Yeah. I think if you ask me, I'd be curious if other Claremont McKenna folks say me say something different. But one of my biggest regrets is Claremont. McKenna did this incredible thing, where every, every day of the week, like Monday through Friday, they would bring in a speaker that speaks at dinner, what we call the Athenaeum, and then they you would get a free dinner. And it was like a white tablecloth seating and you listen to like an artist, or a politician or an academic or a musician come and talk for an hour, and then they come and sit with you at the table. And it's free, and you can go you get dinner. paid for, you just have to sign up ahead of time. And I did not go to enough of those, I didn't realize how unique that was. And that's something I would have done differently because they did it every single night. And I, you know, I just didn't go that often. But like they brought bondo in from YouTube, they brought Bill Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, they brought in, you know, some, some, like artists and academic I mean, every the whole spectrum was represented, and I just wish I had taken advantage of that more.

Venkat Raman  30:33  

You know, yeah, those are very difficult to get into once you get out of college, that's for sure.

Reid  30:39  

Yeah, I did not realize that. And people tell you that too, you're on. And you're just like, make excuses for how you're too busy, but I wasn't. So I should have, I should have done that. I wish I had done that more.

Venkat Raman  30:57  

So I thought we could spend the next few minutes just talking about, you know, whatever you've learned, you know, during college and beyond that, how you would use that to advise students applying to college today, looking at Claremont McKenna, what do you think that advice to them would be?

Reid  31:20  [Advice to Aspirants]

Yeah. Um, well, first of all, for, for students that are choosing to, to apply to, to college or university, you the first thing I would say is don't stress yourself out. Like I remember I was I would sit down and like, think about the list of schools and I get really granular about why this school over that school, but the truth is, is like on paper, it's so different than the lived experience. So I would just say talk to as many people as you can, and people with like the widest range of backgrounds that you can, the rather than just go to the info session, I think it will just help you. Excuse me, it will help you determine fit better if you get real stories from real students from an array of backgrounds, so don't be shy for reaching out to people and don't feel like you can only reach out to the admissions officer. And then for Claremont McKenna, specifically, you know, it's such a small school and with a school that small it's much easier to kind of get the vibe of the school from a couple of conversations. So I encourage you to Yeah, reach out to a bunch of people and also do the alumni interview. That is an option that is not required but it's encouraged and I think it's really helpful and there's usually alumni interviewers in your region or your state so I would definitely do that if you have time

Venkat Raman  32:57  

Okay, so Reid we are coming to the end of our podcast. So before we sign off, any special memories or traditions or anything else you want to share?

Reid  33:12  [Memories: Birthday Dunk]

Yes, I don't I don't want to give this away for anyone that goes to Claremont McKenna, but if it is your birthday there they will it is tradition there are two fountains at the school and you will picked up out of your dorm and thrown into the fountain on your birthday and just know that when you get there and you see random people getting picked up and thrown into water it is actually not bullying but that is one of my I will never forget that freshman year so that is just one that will stick with me and when it's my birthday now I think I should probably jump into a

Venkat Raman  33:58  

conditioned response

Reid  33:59  

like yeah it's a response to my own

Venkat Raman  34:05  

Did you know it was happening or going to happen or were you surprised Yeah.

Reid  34:10  

No, you kind of expect it but you just like don't you kind of hope it goes under the radar but it never does. Like once someone finds out it's your birthday it's not even your friend just like you will get tossed into a fountain and so that is just I will never forget getting to campus and being like what what is going on? What's happening?

Venkat Raman  34:32  

Yeah, no, that's terrific. So Reid first of all, thank you again for taking the time sharing your story and so much detail and your directness with a different topics so I'm sure the listeners will find this very useful. So thank you again and sorry for the little bit of tech difficulty initially but here we are we Yeah. We've done we've done the thing. So we've successfully concluded.

Reid  35:03  

Yeah, very good. I hope it's helpful. And again, you know, my voice is one voice but but yeah, I hope it's helpful for folks interested.

Venkat Raman  35:12  

Sure. Okay. Very good. Thank you. Be safe, and I will talk to you soon. You too. Thank you.

---------------------

Venkat  45:04

Hi again!

Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Reid Furubayashi about Claremont McKenna College.

Reid was able to nurture and grow his international interest at Claremont.

Thro’ His summer in Mongolia, Fulbright Scholarship to Bulgaria, study abroad.

Mock Trial and his participation in the Student Senate kept him engaged on campus.

Hope Reid’s story inspires you to learn more about Claremont McKenna College.

For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email “podcast at almamatters.io” [podcast@almamatters.io].

Thank you all so much for listening to our podcast today.

Transcripts for this podcast and previous podcasts are on almamatters.io forward slash podcasts [almamatters.io/podcasts].

To stay connected with us, Subscribe to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify or visit anchor.fm forward slash almamatters [anchor.fm/almamatters] to check us out.

Till we meet again, take care and be safe.

Thank you!

Summary Keywords

College Podcast, Claremont McKenna College, Fulbright Scholar, US Colleges, College Admissions, International Interest, Philosophy Politics and Economics, PPE, undergraduate, Mongolia, Bulgaria.


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