The Academy of Knowledge

Ah, Sweet Rejection

admin — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:04:32 +0000

Well, I can’t say it’s any real surprise; what I can say is that it does work as a form of sobriety. Today I received a letter from U of I - the University of Illinois - saying I wasn’t accepted into their business program. This is my home state, so that doesn’t help one bit, though I can’t say it came as any surprise since I did apply a few days late. It does, however, scare me a little. If a very good yet modest school such as the University of Illinois rejects me, what about the schools I really want to go to such as NYU or Boston University. While I’ve been accepted ty Bradley, my fallback, I fear I’ll be devastated if I don’t get accepted.

I was a little suspicious about how I was rejected though. I wsa mailed a short letter. It was very blunt. “You were not accepted to our buisness program. We wish you luck…” - it went something like that.

Honestly, I never wanted to go to U of I. But if a school I don’t want to go to rejects me, what about the ones I’m dying to attend?

FAFSA: Filed

admin — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:18:33 +0000

Tonight I filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It was rather easy. Fill in name, personal info, income, savings, create a PIN, bam. That’s all there is too it. I know at least one school I’m applying to request additional information that may increase one’s federal aid awarded, so that’s something to keep in mind - don’t be afraid to email or call the colleges. I’ll be waiting to see the amount awarded by each college. Hopefully I’ll hear back within a week.

Financial Aid Workshops

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:15:36 +0000

Recently I attended a group session at a local college about receiving financial aid. While I didn’t have high expectations about the information I was going to learn, I did hope I would learn at least something. Funny thing is, I didn’t learn a thing. I wasted about two and a half hours filling out a mock FAFSA. There’s nothing wrong with this, except, for the most part, anyone could have done this on their own. It’s almost self explanatory unless you own an excessive amount of investments, which most people don’t.

I don’t really have a good reason for writing this, but I thought I’d give everyone a warning - make sure you know what you’re going to before you devote your entire evening to it. The college called it a “financial aid workshop,” What it really was a FAFSA tutorial.

When we had a Question & Answer time, most of the questions I asked they weren’t able to answer since they weren’t directly related to the school.

So, in short, find out what the actual content of the session will be before you attend.

My College Applications

admin — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:36:20 +0000

The deadline for applying to many colleges is already passed, and for those that aren’t over yet, they’re approaching fast. I thought with this post I’d share some of the colleges I’ve applied to and a little about each school and why I want to go there.

New York University - NYU is my dream school, and also the hardest on my list to get into. Only about 21% get into the Stern School of Business.With 21,000 undergraduates, NYU is ranked 34th in the nation; their business school is in the top 5. Because it’s so competitive to get in I’m trying to remain realistic, though I do hope I’ll make it. My GPA is below their typical, but my ACT of 29 average should help. We’ll see. Still waiting for word back.

Boston University - Boston University is ranked 57th nationally, and their business college is ranked 41st. They have nearly 16,000 undergraduates and have a very impressive list of alumni. I absolutely love this school from everything I’ve seen and heard about it. Boston has a very active and professional student body which is exactly what I’m looking for.

Northeastern University - Northeastern University is located in Boston Massachusetts and has over 15,000 undergraduates. Northeastern is rated 96th nationally by U.S. News and World Report. In 2003, the only year U.S. News and World Report ranked for Co-ops, Northeastern came out #1. Their business school ranked 26th nationwide. I like many things about Northeastern University, especially their city, internship programs, and student life.

Pennsylvania State University - Penn State is one of the largest and most well known universities in the U.S., with nearly 43,000 undergraduates at their University Park Campus. Their deadline is February 1st as well; I haven’t applied yet, but will in the next day or two.

University of Illinois - U of I is ranked 38th by U.S. News and World Report and is also ranked 8th among national public universities. The U of I College of Business was ranked #11 in the nation. The school also has the largest greek system in the world. I originally didn’t want to attend this university because I don’t really like the city of Champaign, but I’ve decided to give it a chance. I applied late to U of I, but I still think I have a realistic shot at getting in.

University of Iowa - I haven’t applied here yet, but I will - the deadline is the 1st of February. This is a public university and is ranked 64th by U.S. News and World Report. They have nearly 21,000 undergraduates.

Drexel University - This university is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The LeBow College of Business at Drexel university is ranked as #99 by the U.S. News and World Report. It has over 20,000 undergraduates and is the 16th largest private university. I was originally more enthused about this college. The city of brotherly love, and their work study program were both things I looked forward too - until I found out their Co-op program ran in the fall, making classes mandatory in the summer. I’m accepted to Drexel, but right now they’re ranking about average with Bradley as far as my desire to attend.

Bradley University - Bradley University, located in Peoria Illinois, is in my home city. It enrolls about 6,000 undergraduates and is ranked #6 by U.S. News and World Report for the best midwest universities giving Master degrees. It also ranked #2 for their school of engineering that doesn’t grant PhDs. I’ve visited the college a few times, but it’s a bit smaller than I’d like; their dorms are also horrible. However, I wouldn’t mind this college as my safety school. I applied in November and have already been accepted.

These are just a few of the universities I would like to attend. They’re ranked in order. In addition to these, I would have liked to apply to the University of Pennsylvania, but their GPA and standardized tests were so high it was unrealistic.

Applying Late

admin — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:26:31 +0000

This week’s been a rush in regards to applying to college. Several colleges I wanted to apply to - the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and University of Illinois - all had deadlines January 3rd or earlier. By the time I realized this, it was January 5th. Not good. Fortunately, I was able to apply to 2 of the 3, though I ended up only applying to one. University of Michigan I didn’t apply to because of the already limited admissions into their business school - they also didn’t say I could apply late. University of Pennsylvania I could apply to late because their admissions was still open, though their website said differently. I didn’t apply because with an epidemically high GPA, SAT, ACT, and class rank average, I didn’t stand much of a chance of admissions even without being late. University of Illinois, on the other hand, is my home state. They said I could go ahead and apply, but that I should explain why my application was late - which I did.

If you miss the deadline to apply to college, life’s not over.

My recommendations for applying late:

Don’t do it. Know the deadlines.
If you are late, email them or call them first.
Send an explanation note to apologize/thank and explain.
Get all materials postmarked ASAP.
Rush your ACT or SAT scores - this saves about 2 weeks.
Follow up with an email or phone call.

If you do this, you still have a realistic chance of being accepted.

Senioritis

admin — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:23:49 +0000

It’s winter, with spring just around the corner. with warmer weather comes the promise of graduation. I’ve been accepted to a few colleges, though I am still waiting to hear back from my top choices. I did get some college scholarships, at least some; my GPA of 3.28 isn’t stellar, so I’m assuming my college ACT score of 29 must have helped a little. I’m getting about 1/4 of the tuition cost paid through college scholarships so far and haven’t filed for the FAFSA yet. My fall classes at high school were hard, so this semester is much easier - at least so far. I might as well slack (some more) right? Right?

The definition of Senioritis, as described by Wikipedia, is as follows:

Senioritis is a colloquial term used in the United States and Canada to describe the decreased motivation toward studies displayed by students who are nearing the end of their high school careers. By definition, Senioritis is not due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition such as hypothyroidism or insomnia but is typically said to include: slowness, procrastination, apathy regarding school work, a feeling of entitlement or privilege and a tendency toward truancy, malingering or feigning illness in order to avoid presence in a school setting, cognitive impairments, and changes in sleep patterns. Many high school students find themselves in a type of lame duck situation: their plans are made and a new chapter in their life is about to begin, so finishing the current chapter (the current term separating them from graduation) becomes just a formality or “holding pattern.” Even though high school seniors tend to be the bulk of the victims, high school juniors and sophomores are also known to have it.

Ugh. I have senioritis, there is no doubt about it. It isn’t that bad yet, but I fear it will get much worse in the coming weeks as my work load builds. Easier classes and other non-academic commitments aren’t helping this disease. It’s hard to see the point in putting in the extra effort when you’ll be gone in a few months. And to be honest, I cannot wait.

I know I need to fight back - I know I should - but I’m not sure I will.