Like many first-year students, Raina Levin is still figuring out what she wants to do after graduating from college. In the meantime, she wants to be somewhere that encourages exploration—both of her own interests and of the world at large—so Northeastern is a natural fit.

Levin, S’21, comes to Northeastern from Miami and though she deliberately applied to schools far from her home state of Florida, she was drawn to the university for its even broader reach.

“The other schools I was looking at were mostly rural,” she said, “and I really wanted to be in a place that’s integrated with the world and offers so many opportunities to go out into it and explore.”

Levin is currently studying psychology, and is excited to explore just where her education will lead her. She said that she plans to take advantage of the opportunity to do several different kinds of co-ops to help in that process.

“The idea of being able to try out things is very nice,” she said, “and it’s comforting to know that even though I don’t know what I want to do yet, I can figure out what I don’t want to do and then narrow it down from there.”

I really wanted to be in a place that’s integrated with the world and offers so many opportunities to go out into it and explore.
—Raina Levin, S’21

While the specifics may not be clear yet, Levin has been guided throughout her life by a curiosity about how things work. From her interest in the mechanics of the brain to the mechanics of good writing—Levin was editor of her high school’s award-winning literary magazine—she said her choices thus far can be traced back to a curiosity about “the why and the how.”

As a ballerina, she performed in The Nutcracker for nine years, finding fulfillment in each new physical accomplishment, each the result of tireless practice in the mechanics of movement.

As a learner of American Sign Language, Levin is engrossed by the way delicate shifts in facial or body expression can change the whole meaning of a signed sentence.

This curiosity, she said with a laugh, “makes it a little difficult because it extends to a lot of different subjects.” She added: “I want to try all these things; I think I’ve always been really curious about the why and the how, and I don’t think that’s going to go away anytime soon.”