Interviews & More Applications

Hey folks! It’s been a while [yeah… sorry about skipping an entry last month; I’ve been busy]. At least now I have more to talk about 😛

Two major things in my college application process happened in November: interviews and more applications.

I had two interviews in November: one in person and the other over the phone. And to all the people out there looking for hints about what is asked in the interview, don’t ask. All schools are different. Some schools put more weight on the interview while others just consider the interview a chance for you to ask questions about the school. Even the formality of the interview depends on the school. I’ve heard of people being invited to the interviewer’s home for the interview while mine was held in a semi-formal restaurant. The first interview I did was for a safety school– and I treated it as a practice run type interview. Overall it was very chill…. we talked about my interests and why I chose the major I wanted. What I liked about interviews that can do more for me than an essay would is the fact that it is easier to give a style and personality to myself when you can see my behavior and speech rather than trying to express myself through formal writing. With speech comes tone and attitude, which is beneficial, especially with schools that do actually value the interview process. However, my second interview was much different. It actually came with a bit of surprise; I didn’t know the school varied between phone and in person interviews, so I was caught off guard when I received a phone call after dinner one night asking if I was available to chat. This one happened to be more for me to ask questions rather than for the school to get to know me. I had to definitely take control of the conversation for this particular interview, and I felt it was particularly difficult to bond with someone who graduated in ’62 as an engineer major. If I had the choice, I much prefer younger interviewers as age difference really affects the ability to connect with the interviewer. However I did manage to find common interests exploring the workings of dreaming with my interviewer.

Then came trying to finish UC apps and my Carnegie Mellon app. By trying, I mean, being slightly lazy and preoccupied with the possible result of my ED school. The joys of having one school already done includes the ability to copy past sentences if not paragraphs of past college essays. And so November came and went… then came December.

When students become desperate, there’s one place most people turn to to share their panic with others: College Confidential. Despite having the discipline to refrain from looking through their forums years ago, I finally gave in. And that was probably a mistake. I’d spend hours looking at last year’s acceptances, trying to speculate and compare and speculate some more only to come to no conclusion. Yeah. Probably wasted afternoons for two weeks on that thing. I wish I had my friend’s “what’s done is done” attitude. Really useful to keep yourself productive. And then… CAME MY FRIST REJECTION LETTER YEAH! XD It’s ok. It’s not the end of the world. The school was a reach anyways. Plus, now I might have even more options come March/April. To be honest, the rejection was more of a relief on my part than sadness. My productivity was put at a standstill until I got an answer. So now comes winter break, and I’m rushing to finish applications for 6 schools! 😛

Despite my posts, senior year isn’t as “all business and no play” as it sounds. Every year at my school at least, seniors get to participate in learning a routine for the annual Holiday Rally. Basically you have an Elf Dance partner and spend your lunches twice a week for the month of December learning a routine to a mix of Christmas songs and perform it dressed in silly costumes! Definitely one of the best memories of senior year… I actually had a friend of mine record it on my camera so if you actually want to watch it for some strange reason:

Winter break is here presently, filled with extra credit assignments, Netflix [I just started watching The Addams Family :P], visiting with family members, movies, and skiing! Yeah! Hopefully I do have the time to complete everything with quality…

Have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year! Any New Year’s Resolutions out there yet? I think I may try daily video blogging… I just think it’d be nice to have something I do everyday–a challenge. And since no one wants to document something boring, it will be incentive to make my life a bit more exciting. I had a wonderful 2011, and I hope 2012 is much better!

I hope you all will have a wonderful year,

Ashley