Deadlines Are So Much Fun

My four month absence from posting was caused not by lack of subject matter, but quite the opposite. I have been to busy to post. I shall remedy this fault now.

Around the time I left off posting, deadline season set in. For example, my immunization records were due before I could register for classes. This posed a problem in the extreme because I had already registered for classes. Oops. “I shouldn’t have too much trouble with the forms,” I told myself. “You’re not in the state system,” the records lady told me. “Umm, no, I’m a homeschooler,” I replied. “Ah, actually, the doctor should have put you into the system when you were born.” What? Wait. This is sounding suspiciously like the I-don’t-exist fiasco. “Well, we have records, anyway.” Poke, poke. “Yes, Mom.” “Actually, the old medical office trashed most of the records when they went out of business.” “Is that even legal? Seriously?”

To top things off, it turns out that our family doctor advised my mom not to get shots against AIDS because they wore off at just the time one would be most susceptible. Guess what shots the university required? Guess who lost all blood pressure to her head and nearly fainted when she stood up afterwards? (On the plus side, I got to ride in a wheelchair.) Guess which shots were to be given in a series? It was only after I got through it all that I found out that they didn’t really need my forms until the beginning of class. Go figure.

Next up was the deadline for my final transcript. Much hurried reading and speed writing took place for me to finish World Literature. Unfortunately, we had misplaced on of the required plays, and the library did not have it. Thus, I wrote my essay from what I could glean from a variety of sources. I read the burden of a play from an online preview of an anthology and commentary containing the play. The end, which was not part of the preview of the anthology, I picked up by reading the Wikipedia article, searching quotes from the end of the book, and getting a summary from my mom. Some might say that this wasn’t strictly “legal”. I, however, maintain that since we own the book anyway, and I doubt my mother would have bought another copy, this qualified as fair use.

“How’s your senior paper going?” You mean the one I’ve been avoiding writing for the past month because the books are really complicated and intimidating? The one due in a week? The one of which only three pages out of twenty are completed? “Pretty well, but slowly.” Speed researching ensued. As a result, eleven of the eventual twenty-one were written in the space of two days. Once these were paragraphed, edited, foot notated, and given an introduction and a conclusion, they expanded rather dramatically. Whew. Then he told me he wanted me to come back later and edit some more. Ahhh! I thought I was done!

A suspicious letter arrived in the mail. I bet it’s my roommate assignment. Cue excitement. My mom impatiently watched me try to get that envelop open for two minutes before she lent a hand. Thanks, Mom. It was not my housing assignment. As per missing yet another deadline, I was not eligible for any of the freshmen scholarships. Undeterred, the letter offered me one anyway–with the stipulation, however, that I somehow kept amazing grades while being a tour guide and trying to convince people to send children and money to feed the flames of West Georgia. Do they think I have no scruples, that I would accept money to lure students into–err…ooohhh shiny. Needless to say, I ignored my scruples.

Ok, ok, now they’ll assign me my roommate. It’s July 1, the deadline! Anyone? Anyone? Ok, now it’s July 2! I’ve totally got my roommate…or not. I give up. I won’t get my assignment until the 6th, probably. Poke, poke. “Hi! I’m your roommate.” Yay! Wait, how on earth did they manage to find someone so identical to me, yet extremely awesome and from India? (Hi Alisha!) This is going to be a lot of fun.

And now I plan for my graduation party. It will be great. If the burn ban is off, I might even be able to get rid of some college brochures…

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The Great College Count

After my siblings went off to college, we entered their rooms and cleared out living-space. The rooms were swamped in college solicitations. So I decided to conduct an experiment. I kept every single piece of college (E)mail I received. At the end of my own college search I would count them, announce the results, and have a big bonfire. Last week I completed orientation at the college of my choice. Two days before that (3/11/10) I counted what I had and took note. Unfortunately, the bonfire does not appear to be forthcoming.

I recently learned how to input information into graphs (Oh, Boy!) The results have very slight margin of error (to accommodate losing things) The results for phone calls had to be scrapped, mainly because people kept calling my dad Sunday evenings while I was out, and I wasn’t particularly good at remembering to take note. My experiment wasn’t particularly scientific, because I gave my address to a few colleges and several more attained it through College Board Student Search. Being a girl who is interested in majoring in chemistry and got descent scores on the SAT may have also bumped things up a bit. As such, the numbers say more about the funding for the admissions offices of some of these colleges than anything else.

Snail Mail

Ah! I knew I was special. Letourneau University sent me something only my freshman year! Wait half a second, wasn’t that where Frem went…So…maybe they got my info off him. I actually went to one of their preview days and I loved it. That was when they chose to reveal to me that one of their three chemistry professors was retiring. Oh. Moving on. Then, during a First Robotics Event, Kettering University promised me that they would give me a pen that no one would ever steal if I signed onto their mailing list. Said pen was blue with a truly hideous yet ecstatic bobblehead face on it. And wouldn’t you know it, my younger siblings have already tried to purloin it. Ah, yes. They also promised that I wouldn’t receive much from them my sophomore year. Senior year is free game, however.

A number of the solicitations I received already had my personal information pre-inserted. How convenient! A number of the letters were also almost identical. Upon further scrutiny, I now believe that these institutions have either employed the same letter-writing firm, or gotten ahold of an offer from American Express. It was sad.

I would like to note that I find tasteful letters and postcards most compelling. Kettering had a nice cartoon of a ninja on half their mailings. The University of Montana appeared to be marketing their local tourism; they didn’t mention much about academics, but they have great hiking and trout-fishing (and photographers)! The Navy, Embry-Riddle University, and Letourneau University informed me that I could now put my “hours of video-game playing experience” to good use. Right.

The threshold for independent insertion into this chart was 5. Everything else got lumped togethe
And now for the chart. Kettering did not disappoint (20). Nor did Embry-Riddle University, who also persuaded me to join their mailing list (10), followed by Letourneau (9), Auburn, which I rather liked (7), and Wesleyan who proclaims large amounts of girl power (and from which I just got another postcard)(6). All mail I received came to a grand total of 158.

I also received mailings from the West Point, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Instituted, National Society of High School Scholars. This made me very happy until I realized that A. They probably wouldn’t accept me once they learned I was homeschooled, and B. All they wanted was large amounts of money that I don’t have.

Email

Email does lower the barrier for entry into society. It is comparatively cheap to send several emails a day. Oh Boy!

Again, the emails sounded like credit card offers. The “Golden Application,” the “Exclusive Application,” and the “VIP Application”. Uhuh. Stetson (still) emails me to tell me that I “only have one day left to apply!”, “It’s not too late!” and that “For you, Joanna, we’ll wait one more day.” I know the economy is tight, but it doesn’t look good, guys.

The barrier for individual entry into this chart was 20.
Wesleyan wins the day at (41), followed by Brewton-Parker College (34), Agnes Scott College (33), Brenau University (31), Oglethorp University (30), St. John’s College (30), Rensselaer Polytechnic Istitute (29), Stetson University (24), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (23), Case Western (22). The grand total came to 550. Whoo!

Hmm. What is interesting to note is that most of these colleges don’t even offer a certified program in my major. I used the ACS website to obtain a list of certified programs.

Telephone Calls

These are not part of the “official” tally but let’s think about them, shall we. First off, a call from a certain paper -wasting university was the basis of this post. The first rule of thumb is to try calling on different nights if I’m not available Sunday night. Its not that hard. What? “I’m sorry, she’s not available, right now, may I take a message?” “No thanks, we’ll call back next week.” (No, this didn’t happen.) Also, when I make a statement, don’t try to find ways around it. “No, I don’t really know my schedule.” “What about August 15th?” Another sad pitfall comes when I explain that I’m interested in drug development/biochemistry/medicinal chemistry. I do not mean that I’m a bioengineering or pre-med major! Another hint. Hire people who know that of which they speak. If you want me to ask questions, you should know the answers.

Final Decision

Well, using my nifty new skills, I combined the information of the previous charts into a single chart. Wesleyan College wins the award for having the busiest admissions staff. Congratulations. Congratulations also to Agnes Scott, Brewton-Parker, Oglethorpe, and Brenau for trying so hard. You might have checked to see if some of you even offered my major. I can now say that college solicitations did very little to make my final decision. They’re right, you know, when they ask you to visit. Explanation follows.

Alright, as should be pretty obvious by the locality of some of these colleges, I live in Georgia. I sent out one application to a college I found through the ACS website and which had not solicited me before I applied. I toured the campus and found that they had an excellent Chemistry program, had a low tuition, would accept me into their honors program, and possessed the only hand-painted replica of the Bayeux Tapestry in existence. Despite a few inconveniences, such as dorm rooms the size of my closet, floor bathrooms, and the danger in being outside after dark, I found it acceptable, and will attend the University of West Georgia in the Fall. Hooray!

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What’s in a Name?

Greetings all and Merry Christmas!

Now that all that the cheer has been dispensed with, I will proceed to write a potentially discouraging post, though I suppose it’s really up to the reader to decide whether what I’m implicating is depressing or not.

By this point, everyone (excluding those who haven’t seen me in a while) have pretty much given up asking me where I’m going to college. Previously, the default answer went something like, “I suppose, *sigh* wherever they will let me in.” I’m rather a good one for cheerful conversations. My modified response when talking to people who actually wanted to know and weren’t just making conversation was to throw out my list of names of six possible universities. If I was talking to someone who worked at an educational institution that wasn’t on the list, I’d throw in that name too, in the hopes that they might be able to offer me something. On one memorable occasion, a recruiter for a college (which I’d just explained didn’t really have my major) asked me who else I was considering. Now, however, I actually have to decide. Both colleges and the inquisitors are terribly preemptive. For example, the deadline for priority admission with the possibility of a scholarship into one likely college was October 15th. The deadline at another fine institution is some time in April or May of the senior year. No I’m not kidding.

So I decided to ignore the ratings as much as humanly possible.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Who makes these ratings anyhow? The quality of the instruction is measured mainly by the quality of the student who comes out. Wait. The ratings determine the kind of student who goes in. Only the elite get into Harvard and the big Ivies right? So generally they tend to crank out elite students. Obviously, this isn’t going to be true in the extreme. Ivies can afford to be picky about their professors. A community college probably isn’t going to be as good. But there is a general threshold, and past it, where you go doesn’t really matter. Harvard isn’t going to turn you into a good student unless you’re already a good student.

Not everyone knows this. As a result, the big university still have comfortably padded programs even during a recession. So yes. There are more grants, the salaries for graduate researchers is higher than average (one would hope). So money talks. Big universities have more money. Money also speaks to universities. Will you be paying a high tuition to support their level of excellence? Will you be bringing in the big bucks to keep their program afloat after you graduate? Unless you will, offering a scholarship might not be worth it. Unless you happen to be independently wealthy, willing to work of loans, or just very smart, most people need not apply.

Most universities boast that x percentage of graduates get jobs or go on to grad school. Yes. It’s true. But if someone’s really good at what they do, being at a humble university isn’t going to stop them–so long as the university really is legit.

Money may speak to the professors, but will they speak to students? Seriously, will you mind if there’s no way the professor is going to recognize you? On the other hand, some students may find it just a bit freaky if the professor knows all about them. In my experience, most big name schools tend to skew toward the big side. And honestly, at a lot of places there isn’t any help.

So it all boils down to atmosphere. That’s what the brochures are full of anyway. “Look at our iconic clock tower/bell tower/record breaking self-supported concrete dome.” The thing is, I’ve gotten enough solicitations that I’m almost positive the brochures, emails, and applications are all done up by the same firm. Who cares about a clock tower? Are the faculty bearable? Visiting your top picks is really what makes the final decision.

What I’m saying is that prestige doesn’t matter. I want to be happy whether I’ve got prestigious credentials or not. Do what you love at a place you love. People tend to be good at what what they love anyway.

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