Thursday, June 23, 2011

Maroon 8

I must admit I am dreading applying to colleges. I guess you could say I am a pessimist when it comes to selecting my college and here is why: I can’t give you a real number for how many colleges there are but I can tell you there are more colleges than I could every visit and thus I feel there is no way I can choose the right school. In my mind I can think choosing a college is like choosing a significant other, so I wish I could date each school to utilize each college for its benefits that they all have to offer.

At the University of Chicago (UC) I found myself falling in love with the students Ms. Callie Brown invited to our luncheon. College tours give you the opportunity to have a casual chitchat but tours do not give you the chance to take that chat to a deeper level, which is what the luncheon allowed us to do. We ate with Elin Meliska who is a rising senior (or 4th year), Lucy Peterson who is a rising junior (or 3rd year), and Cullen Seaton who is also a rising junior (or 3rd year). All of them were very inspirational and helped me realize that the stress I went through last year (my junior year) will all be worth it. They touched on their personal reasons for attending UC and then gave general reasons for why they thought UC was a great school.

To top off our wonderfully insightful luncheon; we had an incredible dinner with Ms. Brown. To start off the wonderful dinner we met Mr. Jesse Jackson outside our restaurant. And once we got inside and ordered the food was great! I have never had such wonderful mashed potatoes.

Callie was a great help; she taught us more about the college application process. For me (as I mentioned beforehand) the college process is a daunting cloud that I know is hanging over my senior year, but thanks to Callie that cloud got a little bit less daunting.

Until tomorrow, over and out blog readers.

2 comments:

  1. Taylor,

    There are slightly more than 3600 colleges and universities here in the US. I know you're resourceful but a site visit to each of them may be difficult before your application deadline approaches. I wish you luck, Taylor.

    Finding that right fit is critical to the process. Not only will you be spending four years of your life there but it will help decide the direction you take afterwards. Even your family life could be affected. What happens when you find the "love of your life" at the loser university you chose (because you weren't as thorough as you could/should have been)? Wouldn't you question the quality of that partner always wondering if the best choice in a small arena wasn't really just "settling"?

    Start the process now, Taylor, so when you start the process in earnest you will have whittled down that list to maybe the better 3500 schools--thus making the process so much simpler. Your children will appreciate it.

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  2. I agree with Don - start now. Take it from someone who just went through the dreaded Admissions Process (TM).

    This is how I did it:
    1. With Sue Kim or your ECHS counselor, try to get suggestions for schools that would fit you.

    2. Read about those schools and related schools in the famous Fiske Guide.

    3. Browse the websites of the schools you're interested in.

    4. Talk to alumni and current students.

    5. Narrow it down! Don't do 14 like me, that was way too much! I suggest 8 or so. Don't do too many backups (2 or 3, probably). Ask yourself if you would REALLY be happy going to those schools.
    6. Get started on your essays early (both personal statements/UC prompts AND supplement essays). By "get started" I mean actually sit down and write a whole draft out. Don't get up until you're done. Pretend that the deadline for submitting is midnight.

    7. Filling out the Common App and the UC (U. California, not Chicago) app takes a really long time (longer than you want to spend), especially if you have tons of extracurricular activities. Do that busy work ahead of time too. It's not something you can just do superquick and check off.

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