I am so excited! We will be leaving for Cornell the day after tomorrow. I have begun setting out all of my clothes and making the final decisions on what I will be taking with me. One of my aunts is taking me to breakfast in the morning so we can spend time together before I embark on this great journey. I will also be stopping to visit my grandmother tomorrow. I have never before been away from home for three weeks, but I know that I will be fine. I know that my family will be okay too; they are all very excited for me as well.
I also attended a group meeting with college counselor, Ms. Sue Kim today. It was primarily a personal essay workshop. We did some different writing exercises. She went over the college application essay prompts with us and emphasized how important it is to address every part of the question. She provided us with examples of both good and bad essays, and taught us how important it is "to show" what you mean in your essay rather than "to tell" it. Ms. Kim also spent some time discussing the college specific "why us" essay. All who attended are to email her a first draft of what will probably be the most important writing of our entire lives. Since I am leaving on Friday, mine is not due until July 16th. I am very grateful to be receiving the services of Ms. Kim, I would feel so lost without her. College applications was one thing I was very worried about, and although it is still a major concern, I do not feel that my parents and I are left feeling around in the dark. Ms. Kim, and the ILC for that matter, is a great guiding light. Thank you all!
*Ramiah
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Ramiah,
ReplyDeleteHere’s the big difference between a guy and a gal:
Here it is two days before your departure and you’re packing your bags. By all accounts, that’s the way to go. Set everything out on your bed, go over your checklist to make sure you have everything and then check it again later.
I don’t want to indict all males here but most of us guys just get up ten minutes early on the day of departure, walk out to the clothes dryer or the floor of our closet and just start stuffing things into a bag. Sometime mid way to our destination we start going over that mental checklist to see what we may have forgotten.
I’m pleased to read that your time with Ms. Kim has been fruitful. I’ve tried to attend a few of the sessions to see what kinds of things she’s telling you but also to see how much is being absorbed by you all. Some of you are soaking it all in while others have Scotchguarded their brains so nothing new will soak in.
One thing I found amusing is the exercise where she had you all pick three adjectives from a list to describe yourself. Even though I may know some of you only superficially, I know most of you well enough to agree with your adjective selections. With a couple of the kids, though, their descriptions kind of shocked me. It was as though they were describing someone else. I may be having a discussion or two with some of them.
I also appreciated how Ms. Kim suggested that you all work on your essays while you’re back east. I chuckled at that one because I know just how much free time you’ll have for such things. I can’t speak for all of the classes but I know that our Yalies have been advised that they’ll be given reading assignments of 5-800 pages per week on top of their regular studies. Yeah, you’ll have plenty of time for your essays.