application process [was Re: How many geniuses. . .]


Subject: application process [was Re: How many geniuses. . .]
From: Robbie (shok@netcom.com)
Date: Sun Feb 20 2000 - 18:30:10 EST


Jim asked:
<< How's the application process coming? >>

Well, to give you more information than you probably want:

I applied to Saint John's, Reed, Oberlin, UC Berkeley, and UCLA.

I only applied to UCLA because my godfather and his wife went there, and
they really expected me to at least apply. There is no chance in hell
I'll actually go (to steal and modify a line: if I owned Los Angeles and
Hell, I'd rent out Los Angeles and live in Hell).

I only applied to Berkely out of some vague sense of local obligation.
I practically live a stone's throw away (just on the other side of the
tunnel), I know tons of people who go there, and I know multitudes who
graduated from there. It's more or less expected for everyone with
decent grades around here to apply to Berkeley, even if they have
absolutely no interest in going. I love the Bay Area, but I really
don't like Berkeley (I'm an Oakland guy) and the school doesn't interest
me. I'd be bumping into the same people I bump into now and I may as
well just continue living at home and I'd hardly feel like I was Going
Off to College. Berkeley is my absolute last resort.

Oberlin sounds really great and I've heard only good things and I'd
really like to go there. But it's in Ohio. That's *REALLY* in The
Middle. I am so hopelessly bound to the ocean that I have no idea how
I'd survive so far away in every direction. Excepting a pretty
miserable four-day trip to Tennesse when I was about six, I've never
been more than a couple hundred miles away from the Pacific Ocean. I
think I'd be able to settle for the Atlantic Ocean (at least
temporarily), but Ohio might just kill me. I like the school, and I'm
not entirely ruling it out, but its geography is working against it.

Reed is looking much better. Based on everything I've read and heard, I
really love the school and I also really love the Pacific North West. I
would love to go there.

Saint John's is my ideal. When I first read about this school, I
thought I was dreaming. It was just too perfect. I've never been to
the east coast, but at least it has an ocean (even if it's not *THE*
ocean as far as I'm concerned). Saint John's is by far my first choice.

The only school I've heard back from so far is Saint John's, where I've
been accepted. I was really impressed when they sent me a new letter
(which seemed to be slightly different each time, and not some generic
printout) notifying me of the arrival of each piece of my application.
And then I was blown away when I found out that they even sent letters
to the people who wrote my recommendations notifying them that I was
accepted. My English teacher was shocked; she said that in ten years
and untold scores of recommendations, she had never heard back from a
school until Saint John's.

Unfortunately, they offered me a bit less financial aid than I was
really hoping for. I /might/ be able to pull it off, but it'd be a
stretch and I'd be deeply in debt for a long time. My guidance
counselor told me to write them a letter explaining the situation,
because, according to her, in recent years many private schools have
begun the practice of offering applicants a bit less financial aid than
they were willing to give in order to allow room for increases that they
have been getting more and more requests for. I'll write them a letter
and cross my fingers.

So, short of a miracle in that arena, I'll probably end up waiting for
financial aid offers from other schools to take a look at the big
picture. I'm willing to make sacrifices to attend Saint John's, but I
think it might come down to deciding between Saint John's and Reed, with
Oberlin tailing just behind.

-robbie

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