I'm done with college applications!

I remember joking back in December how Hofstra University had sent me an email everyday reminding me of their application deadline, and then on the date of the deadline when I rejoiced at never again receiving an email from them, they sent me notification that they'd extend the deadline by 4 days for me. Four days later when I still had not applied to this school, I assumed that that would be the last I'd see of that college. And how wrong I was because four months past their "application deadline" I received an email:

"Hofstra deadline extension granted"

Most of you are probably wondering why I haven't just unsubscribed to their emails. It's because I foolishly kept believing that their deadline was actually going to be over and that at that time, naturally I'd stop receiving emails from them. Little did I think that over four months after their supposed deadline I'd still be receiving spam from them. Well, no more because I have officially unsubscribed from Hofstra University!

Yet another demon in my life that needs to get the message is Collegeboard. Yesterday, they had the audacity to send me an email reminding me to apply for the next SAT testing date. Uhm, I don't think so!

"Anna, whatever you want to be, college can help!"

After years of having been tormented by this website and their "Questions of the Day" which I had redirected to a separate email address, I have at last unsubscribed from Collegeboard, and good riddance! Few moments in my life have been more satisfying. Through seemingly small measures such as these and regaining my identity on Facebook, I feel as though I am reclaiming my life. At long last,

I'm done with college applications!

Rutgers 2015?

So, today was interesting, to say the least...
*warning: today's blog is going to be in that long-winded narrative style I occasionally do

I got up this morning and drove to Amy's house, whereupon we went to the high school to turn in our absence notes. Afterwards, we drove down to Rutgers to attend the SAS Honors Program Open House. There was lots of food there, so Amy and I proceeded to eat our feelings. jk. sort of.

Don't judge! There were so many options, so instead of choosing, I just tried a bit of everything :P

The apple juice that they had there was good, but somewhat impossible to open, or so we thought until Indraneel showed up and owned us.

The left one shows off my skills and in the right one, Amy is demonstrating the proper technique for stabbing open cardboard containers filled with liquefied fruit. In all honesty though, it was good apple juice. Just ask Amy; she had three :)

After a bit, the other got there. Others as in Amalan, Greg, Sue, and Tony. Anvita, Srishti, and Holly were also there, but they opted not to share a table with us miscreants. Interesting fact: us East Brunswick students were the only people there who went without our parents. Weird eh? Anyhow, we tried to listen for a while, but it just didn't work out.

Greg and Amalan playing tic tac toe. Tony er....

In the end, we were left with no choice but to sneak out during break mysteriously appear at the Menlo Park Mall. While there perusing different stores and considering the purchase of a rabbit, we ran into guess who? Steph and Stanley of course! I almost convinced the nine of us to take pictures with the Easter Bunny, if not for Sue's irrational fear of the costumed creature. *sigh*

Deciding that we had been absent for a while now, we decided to return to Rutgers. It was only through sheer coincidence that we happened to be there when they began serving lunch. The food was nice, and we talked with lots of people, including this one man by the name of Dean Nazario; he was really cool. He actually managed to pull off spectacles and an ear piercing, and gave us quite a thorough background of the Philosophy program at RU.

It was snowing today!

As the luncheon came to an end, people began to leave for a tour of Jamieson Hall, one of the dorms on Douglas. However, we decided that visiting David Kolchmeyer's dorm would be a more accurate representation of our potential future dorming situations, so we drove up to Busch instead. Let me just say that his dorm almost convinced me to go to Rutgers. Their rooms are mad nice! There was however, the peculiar presence of a Lady Speedstick in their living room :O That was more than compensated by the comfiness of their couches though.

Wow, this post is really getting long, so I'm going to just give a bare bones description of the rest of our afternoon: Amy, Brooke, and I went to Easton Ave for Boba (isn't it BaBao in Chinese?) Tea where we ran into Bridget and Tesia in a parking lot. After that we went to Loews and watched The King's Speech. We would have stayed and watched The Adjustment Bureau too were it not for a Science Olympiad party I had to attend. The party ended up being crazy fun! Neil was super awesome by lending his house and cooking crazy tasty food, and I ended a night of poker with a final winning hand of a Royal straight! I'm really going to miss all my Olympians and may even consider visiting them next year <3

Somewhere mixed into my day, I cried for the first time in a long time. All in all, I hadn't laughed so hard or cried so much in quite some time; it was honestly a great day in the life of Anna Dai (note: to appease Kevin Sun, I have corrected my name on Facebook). Today was a really nice reminder of all the people I've been blessed to have met during the past year. It also completely confused me in that I have no clue where I want to go to college. Actually, you know what? Let's just bypass this whole college dilemma:

Rutgers 2015?

Reader Response

It's never occurred to me to have a Reader Response, but I received a comment today that kind of demands a response.

Comment:

Anonymous said...

One question: What if the school you know you will have a better time at is extremely expensive, while the other school that will also get you where you need to be is extremely cheap (say you got a full ride)? Does this change things? I know it's hypothetical but you will probably have to make this choice (just as I have). 

Hi Anonymous!


Just for you, I'm going to be open about my options. As of now, I've gotten into Georgetown (McDonough), NYU (Stern), and Rutgers. I've also been waitlisted at Washington University and Duke. At this point, it should probably be relatively obvious to you that I'm considering an undergraduate major in business. Without any financial aid, Georgetown is (rounded sums) $58000, NYU $60000, and Rutgers...I'm not sure, but I got a full ride. In the field of business, Stern is one of the best schools there is, and will provide me with access to great internships and career opportunities. However, I think I'd have a better time at Georgetown, which seemed more laid back when I visited this weekend - and I loved Washington D.C. As for Rutgers, while I recognize that McDonough might not be as intense as Stern (and who knows, it might even be better...must do a little more research), the gap between McDonough and Stern is much less significant than that between Rutgers and Stern. On the other hand, while McDonough and Stern are of comparable prices, Rutgers is significantly less, or non-existent.


At the moment, I'm favoring Georgetown, for the reasons I mentioned in my previous entry, but who knows, that might change. Before making any decision, I'll have to visit Stern, see where else I get in, and have a serious discussion about how I'm going to finance college with my parents. I did receive a scholarship from all my colleges so far, but even then, they're still very heavy financial burdens, and I may very well choose Rutgers in the end.


I'm pretty sure I didn't answer your question, but I hope that at the very least, you now know that someone else is in a similar predicament. I'm curious though, what decision did you come to? Whatever the case may be, I hope you're happy :)

To a Bright Future

Like many, I've had college fore in my thoughts of late. Now that we're actually starting to hear back from certain places, I've reached a few conclusions and since this is my blog, I thought I'd share.

For a long time, I saw college as a stepping stone to something else - a springboard to the future. However, I've recently begun to recognize that college is a step in life, in and of itself. It's four entire years of my life. Rather than choose the college I go to for a certain program that will be beneficial to a future career or salary, I'm going to choose where I go based on if it's somewhere I'd like to spend the next few years of my life. 

You've probably already reached this conclusion, but this is a new concept to me. I think what made high school less than enjoyable for me at times, was that I saw it too much as a platform to college rather than as a unique period of my life that I'll never experience again. Of the choices I'm currently faced with, I've decided to favor the college that I think I'll have a better time at, rather than the one that'll guarantee me that future career that to be honest, I don't even really know is the one I want.

To a Bright Future

Congradulations Kathy!

My little baby is all grown up! and headed straight for success. Now, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but my Kathy got into Cornell!!!

If that face doesn't look like it has success written all over it, I don't know whose does.

Congradulations Kathy!

1 word: Senioritis

On the subject of English essays...

2nd Semester Senior: I'll probably be late

well

you can't be late forever

so you'll have to write this eventually

and it's not that late tonight

might as well write it now

also

the grade doesn't matter anymore

so i figure

might as well turn in completely poopy work on time

than quality writing late

unless you were referring to sleeping late

in which case disregard this rant

2nd Semester Senior: Arriving late =]

1 word: Senioritis

Conclusion: he's going to school late and avoiding turning in this essay altogether :P 

My TV list

I like lists. I make many many lists, usually on Sticky Notes. I have a list for blog brainstorm ideas, a list for important dates (graduation, citizenship, etc), a list of college fees, a list for TV series I'd like to follow, a list for TV series I am currently following, and more.

I knocked two items off one of my lists today. While doing so, I thought, why not share my list of TV series I follow. Feel free to recommend other shows I should watch.

Shows I let fall by the wayside -> I watched it, and then I didn't:
- Royal Pains
- Outlaw
- Desperate Housewives
- Heroes (nearly finished it; summer goal to watch entire last season)
- Lost (I wussed out in the last season, but I hear the ending is kind of wtf)
- Gossip Girls
- Vampire Diaries
- Baker King
- Parenthood
- Survivor
- Pretty Little Liars
- Skins (UK)

Shows I just finished this week -&gt:
- Dream High
- My Princess

Shows I'm currently watching -> mostly watch online or On Demand after they air:
- V (watch it!)
- Outsourced
- Storage Wars
- Being Human (BBC; Syfy)
- Face Off

Shows I intend on watching at some point in life but just never get around to watching:
- Law and Order
- Breakout Kings (airs on the 6th)
- SNL
- Glee
- House
- IRIS
- Dexter

That's all I have for now on

My TV list