Through WCCUSD’s Ivy League Connection program, Hercules High School Students Justine Betschart, Stacy Chan, Ramiah Davis-Shephard, Louisa Man, Julia Maniquiz, and Yueming Wang will be attending Cornell University to either study Freedom and Justice or Hotel Operations Management during the summer of 2009.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Guest Lecturer: PART 2

Highlight of the Day

Today Ms. Heather Fortenberry, the admissions counselor here at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, swung back to give all the Hotelies some insight. Even though she wanted to lean toward the hospitality aspect, she did answer all the other questions in relation to admissions, in general.

Among some of the key facts that were brought upon in our conversation included the fact that Cornell had over 800 school clubs, and that pupils could obtain their master's degree from the Hotel College in one year. Impressive, right?

After hearing the presentation, it dawned on me that college applications were right around the corner. It was about time to generate a list, comprising of the many prospective colleges I plan to apply to this fall. As marvelous as it had been, in terms of staying at Cornell, I felt like it didn't whet my curiosity enough for me to clearly distinguish this particular institution as "The One." I understood that I still had some time to discuss my college options with Ms. Kim over the summer. Since the Ivy League Connection consistently stressed the importance of culling a college that "fits," I had always been determined to find the best overall institution that I felt best suited my needs or wants or both.

Having college presentations held at Hercules High, or as a matter-of-factly, at areas around the school district, proved to be beneficial. From the many schools that I had been exposed to, I had already cherry-picked my favorite ones: Northwestern, University of Chicago, and Columbia. Of course, I would also love to apply to California schools, simply because some of them had always been the cream of the crop in the West Coast.

3 comments:

  1. Stacy,

    One of the biggest problems you’re going to face when applying to a college is that you won’t be able to pay them a visit to see things first hand and check them out.

    Even with the schools you’ve seen this summer, it’s better than nothing but you’re seeing most of them san students and classes.

    Most of the schools you’ll put high on your list will be ones that you will never be able to see until the last minute or when you actually start school.

    You’ve been at Cornell now for a while and if it hasn’t grown on you yet, then maybe it isn’t a good fit.

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  2. Stacy,

    I appreciate all of your hard work and do know that you have worked hard to create these opportunities. Now is the time for you to return to Hercules and really sit down and examine where you want to finalize your choice of colleges. You will have that chance with Sue Kim and I am sure that she will work with you to develop a list of schools that possibly are a "fit"

    Don, is correct in that it is virtually impossible to visit every school that you will apply to. I would however strongly suggest that you limit your application process to no more than six colleges. You do not need the stress and headache of trying to apply to twenty schools. I sae first hand how many students went crazy feeling out all the essays and paperwork. I scratched my head and said "man this is absurd". In the end, many students got a lot more rejection letters than acceptance letters and it was clear that they had wished they had limited their college application search.

    I wish you luck, but one thing that they can never take from you is your Cornell college credits. This is a great example to them that you can handle their curriculum and hopefully will be something that you keep in mind when you are looking at college. Sometimes, the best match is the one that you are already with. You will have the chance to find this out by next Spring when your college application decisions will come in the mail.

    Keep up the good work and I do hope that you will continue to explore what is a match for Stacy Chan.

    Good luck with your final project.

    Charles T. Ramsey, Esq.
    School Board Member
    West Contra Costa
    Unified School District

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  3. Stacy,

    Another reason to limit your applications is that unless you have a big box of cash sitting around devoted to application fees, this process can drain the wallet pretty fast.

    You need to be selective for a lot of different reasons. There's a time to use a shotgun and a time to use a sniper's rifle, A shotgun hits anyone who happens to be in front of it while a sniper's rifle hits only what it's aimed at. Sometimes we need to be selective and aim for a specific target rather than just anything that happens to be in front of us.

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