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University Applications

Dannichu said:
Having a single room isn't like living on an island; last year, my friend who lived in the room next door spent most of her days in my room, especially when we had work to do (we'd stop the other from getting distracted) and every night another friend would come over and the three of us would watch DVDs together. It was very social, but because they went back to their own rooms sometimes, I had alone-time, I had privacy and, most importantly, nobody stopped me from keeping my wacky sleeping patterns.
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Yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to. A highly social atmosphere with the ability to retreat to my own, personal space is a must for me. I get lonely, yeah, but too much social contact can overwhelm anyone.

Not sharing a room but sharing a house, flat or hallway is the best scenario for me. Plus, if you and your room mate have very, very different habits (work, tidiness etc) that could lead to disaster.

Here's hoping I get to university to experience this.
 
Single rooms are sometimes an option in American colleges, but most of the time they're for special circumstances or you have to pay extra for them or something. They usually let you switch roommates if there's a problem, and most of the time you take this personality survey thing so they try not to put you in a room with someone you'll end up killing. And they often have options like co-ed or not, a special 'wellness dorm' for people who don't want to be around drugs and alcohol, and so on.

I'm kind of iffy about this roommate thing though. I need a lot of privacy and don't get along with enough people to the point where I'd want them around me 24/7.
 
I don't get along with anyone enough to spend time with them 24-7. Anyone who knows me knows how well my sister and I get along, but whenever we go on family holidays and have to share a room, we each want the other dead by the end of the first week.

I'm amused by the idea of a "wellness" dorm. One guy on our corridor last year (who I really got along with) used to smoke vast amounts of weed what seemed like every night, and it'd make everything smell really weird, especially if someone else had been cooking at the time. Weed + microwaved popcorn = a very interesting smell that makes you really hungry.

I love my house and my housemates to bits, but I think I like living on a corridor best, because there's a degree of seperation (particularly financially) that I like.
For example, in my house, the people I live with are all richer than me, and I don't want to cause annoyance by constantly telling them to not turn the heating up and wear a jumper instead or not to use the tumble dryer because it uses masses of electricity and we have a perfectly good clothes horse, or to try and have quick showers instead of deep baths... but when the bill comes, we split it four ways and I often have trouble affording it, and it's especially annoying when I know I used less water/gas/electricity than anyone else.

...but I swear, if one of my housemates turns the oven for like 45 minutes on to cook one potato because it "tastes better" than if she just put it in the microwave for two minutes, I think I'll flip.
 
if i'm applying to a school with one major/minor - we'll say english - and under the essay topic for my application, i write about something other than a piece of literature that has affected me, is that okay? the essay topic asks me to elaborate on a "work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged [me]" and in what ways; i'm thinking about writing it on a piece of music. but then writing it about one of my favorite albums seems juvenile.. i don't think they'd want that. as much as i love lolita and naked lunch, i just can't talk about them as passionately as i can about my favorite rock band.
 
if i'm applying to a school with one major/minor - we'll say english - and under the essay topic for my application, i write about something other than a piece of literature that has affected me, is that okay? the essay topic asks me to elaborate on a "work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged [me]" and in what ways; i'm thinking about writing it on a piece of music. but then writing it about one of my favorite albums seems juvenile.. i don't think they'd want that. as much as i love lolita and naked lunch, i just can't talk about them as passionately as i can about my favorite rock band.
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Absolutely write about your favorite rock band. Your essay will be much more genuine, and I doubt that the committee will consider a submission about a rock song "juvenile," provided that the way you write about it is sophisticated.

Don't worry about what the admission committee wants. It's pitifully easy to tell when most people are writing just to tell someone what they want to hear/appear something other than they are. If you write something that really represents you and you get rejected, it's probably for the best--the institution probably isn't one that would really cater to you as a person.

For people freaking out about roommates--having one's really not that bad. I had a roommate for both of my first two years of college, and while I do love the single room I have now, I didn't have any serious issues rooming with others. I'm an intensely secretive person and generally a hermit who prefers to have a lot of alone time, not to mention easily annoyed, but I put up with my roommates just fine. First of all, remember that you're not going to be around them 24/7. You're both going to have classes, you're both going to have extracurriculars (I assume), and provided you both attend them with some degree of regularity, you won't be seeing each other for most of the day, and then only for relatively short periods. If you really don't like your roommate, you can reduce room-time even more by hanging around the library or whatever. Most people aren't totally unreasonable roommates, anyway--as long as you try a little bit to see things from their point of view and respect them and their belongings, you'll probably get along fine. It's not like being trapped in a little box with somebody for months on end; a university's a big place, and unless you and your roommate become close friends, you'll sort of just ending up living your own lives.

Can the roommate thing go horribly awry? Yeah, but for the most part it's no big deal. If you have serious roommate problems, there's almost always the option of switching, too.
 
Stop stressing about your essays, people. The admissions staff really aren't as picky about them as you think, and you'll be fine as long as you're genuine and don't spell like a five-year-old. If I remember correctly my essay compared my personality to that of a dragon, and it didn't seem to bother the Ivy League university and top-ranked college that accepted me. Write about the rock band--you feel better about it, you're more motivated to write about it (and if you haven't started yet and are on a deadline then I suggest you go along with that motivation while it lasts), and there's no reason a prospective English major can't find inspiration or something insightful in a song or album.

I personally didn't enjoy having roommates while I was up at Cornell, and it didn't help that there were three of us crammed into a dorm that was intended to house two, but they were pretty decent kids and we'd either hang out or leave ourselves to ourselves with no problems. The band geek was never around anyway, and I found it surprisingly easy to ignore the one who kept dragging her new boyfriend in and insisting that we play beer pong with them. I applied for a single, I most definitely would have preferred a single for more or less the reasons Negrek mentioned, but I survived and you guys can, too.
 
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It's irrelevant for me because I'm going to have a single room anyway! Go UK.

My tutor gave me a sheet on "interview etiquette" today. It's pretty standard stuff, really. "Don't use slang", "express yourself articulately", "instead of saying 'I'm bad at chemistry' say 'I find the chemistry course challenging and complex'". I was like "lol, I don't find chemistry challenging and complex. It's death in a classroom."
 
Harlequin said:
"instead of saying 'I'm bad at chemistry' say 'I find the chemistry course challenging and complex'".
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That just sounds like you're trying to seem all intelligent in an attempt to impress them. :| I can't imagine carrying an interview like that.

I figured that honesty would be the thing to set my essay apart from all the "Ever since I was little I've wanted to be an artist~~~!" people, and my essays for school always turn out a lot better when I'm able to use my real voice. I'm just afraid of coming across as "unprofessional" or some BS (although that really wouldn't be far from the truth). I know the essay doesn't matter a whole lot when weighted against everything else, but eh.
 
Well, I mean. I speak like that anyway so it's not too much of a stretch for me to say something like that. Obviously it's not saying "REPRODUCE THIS >:(" but rather "don't say 'I suck at this' but 'I find this challenging'" or some shit idk.

My personal statement is one big clusterfuck of I'M AWESOME ACCEPT ME PLEASE ; ; but I fear it's not enough.

When I see my offers I'll be much more motivated to actually succeed. ONWARD to education or something idk.
 
i'm not really stressing over my essays.. if there's any stress at all, it's that i waited until now to write them. (i'm not applying early decision anywhere, but it's still not wise to wait until mid-december to do it all.) now that i'm making myself do it, i really don't have problems writing them. i may be a little apprehensive, but all i can be is honest. nothing more, nothing less.
 
Man. British universities do all single rooms, AND you've got low tuition.
So pampered, it's not even funny. It's ridiculous.
But really, stop making a big deal about rooming with someone. It's not a big deal. And you never spend all of your time with anyone. People go out from time to time. Living with a roommate is quite comparable to living with your family, except that you're not related by blood. Really otherwise the same.


Also yes I've gone on college visits. Miami (of Ohio), Oberlin, Hiram, and ONU. That's all the places I'm planning on applying, too.
 
Honalululand said:
Living with a roommate is quite comparable to living with your family, except that you're not related by blood. Really otherwise the same.
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God, I hope not. I'm trying to get far, far away from homophobic pretending-not-to-be-racist Fox News-viewing religious conservatives who keep me up at night with their loud bitching in the next room about the current president.

Although considering that, there aren't many ways it can be worse than my current situation. I'm just really going to miss having a door that I can keep closed all the time. I think I could probably handle it; the one thing I draw the line at is sharing beds (because if I can't even have privacy in my sleep, we have problems), but thankfully I'm not going to have to do that. :v
 
Man. British universities do all single rooms, AND you've got low tuition.
So pampered, it's not even funny. It's ridiculous.
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no, only people north of the border get low tuition. :(

Living with a roommate is quite comparable to living with your family, except that you're not related by blood.
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but this is precisely the thing I'd want to get away from.
 
so i'm applying to...

-american university in washington, d.c.
-elon university in elon, nc
-new york university in new york city, ny
-northwestern university in evanston, il
-pennsylvania state university in university park (?), pa
-university of richmond in richmond, va
-university of virginia in charlottesville, va
-vassar university in ploughkeepsie, ny

i wonder if i'm overshooting. it's been recommended that i apply to six schools - two that are stretches, two that i meet requirements for, and two that i more than meet. i'm sure that most of the six i'm applying to are stretches, though.. hm. :/

by early next week, i should have most of these supplements down pat. i may start sending them my future early next month! i'm actually really excited to hear what they have to say. i'm not that nervous anymore, now that i've been writing essays.
 
opaltiger said:
tuition fee, US universities: $40,000
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Knda depends; if you're a citizen and you go to an in-state public college you could easily get there for about $8,000 a year (and that's if you don't get a scholarship; some states like mine will even give you full-ride scholarships to in-state schools if you have good grades and test scores.)

If you're wanting an out-of-state school or a private school, then that's when it gets up over $20,000 and sometimes even to $40,000.

All of the schools I'm applying to are under $30,000 a year tuition-wise, which is pretty decent for out-of-state private schools, but unless I win the Scholastic award or something I'm still going to have crazy debt. My parents would rather remodel the house than pay for my college. :c
 
my parents will just say, "baby, all you need to do is apply for a scholarship." i am applying for those once my apps get sent; they never got me the scholarship compendium they told me they would get, so that's happening after my applications are done.
 
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