ramble ramble

[bedlamsbard]

On a reread of Deathly Hallows, more closely and slowly this time, to be followed by a full reread of the series from Sorceror's Stone to Deathly Hallows.

Have a week before apocalyptothon submissions are due, so have to rewrite the latter part of my story sometime before then.

Have been writing a lot of SW fic -- the sequel to "What is Lost", currently nameless, in much the same style I wrote WiL -- which is to say, with bits and pieces all over the place. I have a vague plot in mind, but I have to figure out what to do with Luke and Leia; I'd thought I'd had it figured out, but apparently not. And also do a little more research into the EU, specifically with Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, and Mace Windu. Possibly Yoda.

As well, I'm halfway through the summer before my senior year, so I'm having to seriously start narrowing down schools, start my essays and applications, look at scholarships, et cetera. I narrowed my list of schools down slightly, but I also added some; I still have the problem that most of the schools I'm looking at are reach schools; I need more safety schools if I want to be able to go somewhere other than the UW if no one on the East Coast takes me. And guys, I really hate Seattle, so I'd rather not go to the UW.

Current list of prospective schools, in no particular order (okay, that's a lie, it's in alphabetical order):

Boston College (Chestnut Hill, MA)
Boston University (Boston, MA)
Brown University (Providence, RI)
Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)
Davidson College (Davidson, NC)
Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA)
Duke University (Durham, NC)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Prescott, AZ/Daytona Beach, FL)
Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)
University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA)
Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)

I'm looking at an anthropology/archaeology major with a possible double major in music/music ed, although my experience at Brown has me looking at a creative writing major or minor -- leaning very, very tentatively, I might add -- except at ERAU, where I'd probably be going for global security and intelligence studies or homeland security, and UNC, where I'd probably go anthropology and peace, war, and defense.

I'm thinking about writing my essays on writing, music (specifically, my experience with symphonic band vs. wind ensemble), or fandom. I'm not sure how that last part would work, but it's unusual, I hope.

I need to start practicing bari again -- I need to have my music memorized for marching band, and I need to have my music down for All-State auditions in the fall. And start practicing flute, so my teacher doesn't kill me.

Don't even get me started on having to do scholarship apps.

Or summer reading. Which isn't technically required, because it's homework for the main school year, but I'd like to do it now so I don't have to do it then.

Also, knitting, because I actually have a commission I need to finish.

I'm going to edit my final project story -- now renamed to "And All the Saints are Sinners" -- a little bit more, then possibly send it out somewhere.

Yes. My life really is this boring. *rolls eyes* I haven't been out of the house in three days, no wonder I was sad to come home.

ETA: Dude, Boston College CREEPS ME OUT. My comp was on the BC website, my mom walks in with the mail including the BC "come here! we rock!" guide and application, I say something about being really uncertain about BC for various reasons, and then BC e-mails me not two seconds later. What the hell, is this school stalking me or what?

Comments

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

I'm giggling really really hard that Boston College is listed as being in Chestnut Hill. (Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood of Newton, they're just separatist).

Also, if you ever looked seriously at a creative writing major, UMaine Farmington has an excellent major and faculty. (+ a fabulous used book store). /pimping

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Did you see my ETA? Boston College is stalking me.

*waves hands* Don't blame me, that's what the website says!.

I would probably not go for a creative writing major just because it's sort of useless, and again, because I'm not sure it would help all that much. Brown was an excellent experience; I'm still dubious.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

BC is creepy shit. Watch out for them.

Oh, not giggling at you, giggling at the college. :) And my city. *facepalm*

Heh; I was a creative writing major there ;) not that my current major is particularly useful, either. Anthropology is a good option; I think BU may also offer a major in International Relations which seems to be similar to some of the things you're looking at.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

IT WAS SERIOUSLY CREEPY.

Also, I don't like BC's core curriculum. That's more than some schools require for a major. *frown* This college thing is hard.

Yeah, international relations is pretty common. I could probably do an interdisciplinary/make up your own major too, to work in defense and international relations, maybe, at a lot of schools.

[mentalhygiene.livejournal.com]

The Jesuits are, one supposes, efficient.

I think at my school, core curriculum is about half of my total credit hours. There are some parts of it I loathe. Well-rounded human being my ass, bring on the experiential learning and the opportunity to get to know my department's people.

The major-oriented courses aren't as hard as they seem because one generally has a passion for the material; the core courses can get obnoxious because lots of people are in them who do not want to be, they are not especially in depth, sometimes very large, and the professors seem to be frustrated by their material and their students. The material might be very easy, but it's hard to get into it sometimes.

Certain schools are more flexible about build-your-own majors than others. Definitely find a department/school with ultra-competent advisors, it makes taking courses much easier.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

My dad is strongly in favor of a core curriculum. I'm dubious on the matter -- Brown doesn't have one, and I kind of agree that it means people will be studying what they're interested in, rather than just taking the classes because they're required to. *shrug* I don't know; it may or may not be a big factor in deciding where to apply/go.

I mostly want to get into college right now. *sigh*

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

I know I don't comment here much, but feel free to let me know if you have questions on that last one- I'm an alum. My experience was mixed (which I think is inevitable) but overall positive.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I may definitely take you up on that, since I live on the other side of the country, don't know anyone who went there (although it was recommended to me by someone else on LJ), and it's the only women's college I'm considering (Scripps and Barnard were on the list, and then got knocked off for various reasons).

I think most of my questions boil down to, "What's the atmosphere like?"

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

Hah. Ask a short question, get a really long answer. I'm trying to be fair to my college experience, which was, after all, four years of my life, so I have an excuse to ramble. Feel free to ask more questions if Wellesley stays on your list of possibilities and there's anything you find you want to know.

1. It is definitely a women's college. A small engineering college, mostly men, was founded nearby my final year, so my last year there were a few guys in a couple of my classes, usually just one (at the time, Olin didn't have any liberal arts classes of its own; I don't know if that's changed), but other than that the only men you see around are (1) someone's boyfriend, (2) someone's brother or father, or (3) a professor/professor's spouse. That said, I found that girls (including me) were more likely to speak up in a single-sex environment. I can't really analyze why but it was just easier to talk when the male presence was minimal. However, this does lead to...

2. Social life. This is a problem. Boston is 40 minutes away and reachable cheaply by both bus and train (1.25 on the bus, $3 on the train); I kind of liked this amount of distance between me and the Big City. However, Boston is the only place you can meet men or people from other colleges, really, and Wellesley is NOT a college town, so if there is no on-campus entertainment, then you have to go into Boston to be entertained (or just hang out with your friends). That said, I think Boston is a great place to be a college student-- there are so many universities around that there are tons of things to do.

3. Wellesley students. This sort of combines with social life, as above. Things I noticed: Wellesley is racially pretty diverse, and there are a lot of students from abroad (for a small liberal arts college). However, pretty much everyone is at least vaguely upper-middle class. If they didn't go to private school, they took AP classes and got As and Bs all through high school. They have several extracurricular interests, they are very smart, and maybe not so street-wise. I was on financial aid and never felt excluded, but there were a lot of very vocal students from blue-collar families who reported feeling isolated at Wellesley and I can definitely understand how that would happen. Wellesley women tend to be high achievers and this means that a lot of students have a lot of confidence issues, which can be either (or both) very frustrating to see and reassuring (to know that you are not the only one who feels ugly and stupid sometimes). I enjoyed being in a group of people who were all more highly-motivated than I was, and in many cases smarter, but it can also cause a feedback loop where you get neurotic because you perceive everyone else as being smarter and more talented and higher-achieving than you are-- I saw that a lot too. There can be a fair amount of naivete among a lot of the student body ("you mean the average US salary isn't six figures?" "you mean there are people working at an NGO that are NOT selflessly dedicated to their work?") but I ran into a fair number of people who got just as cranky about this as I did.

4. The administration takes good care of you but can occasionally be a bit paternalistic. The meal plan has changed somewhat since I was there but I think the "free unlimited food in the dorm dining halls whenever they're open" has not changed. The new student center is supposed to be very nice, but it opened a year after I left. Since most students spend most of their weeknights on campus, the stuff the campus has available is important. Off-campus living options are limited-- Wellesley is the most expensive suburb of Boston, so if you want to live off-campus you would need either a car or a lot of patience (for those long rides on public transportation). Most people live on-campus. The dorms are all fine. The oldest dorms, most of which have been renovated relatively recently, are the nicest, unless you're a freshman (they get the smallest rooms). They house students from every year on every floor of every dorm.

(continued)

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

5. The Wellesley Bubble is a phrase which is commonly employed. A lot of Wellesley girls are from sheltered backgrounds and the administration is overprotective, so entering the real world can come as a shock for a lot of Wellesley girls. I spent a lot of time wanting to slap some of these girls. On the plus side, I was able to befriend a lot of other people who wanted to slap them too. It gives you something to complain about. The other big part of the Wellesley Bubble is that it is weird for men. Rules about friends sleeping over (three day limit) can be ignored in most cases with impunity, but there is sometimes one girl on the floor who is weirdly defensive and will start screeching if she sees your boyfriend more than two days in a row. Guys have to be escorted around the dorms and if they are not, there is ALWAYS one girl who WILL flip out at you for not walking him EVERYWHERE. Students can lose a sense of proportion, and because it's a women's college, that often revolves around men. My favorite was the rape crisis, when there was a sexual assault in a women's restroom (by a man) in an unsecured dormitory at a large university in California, and there was an actual outcry over How The Administration Was Going To Ensure Our Safety. Again, there are usually plenty of people rolling their eyes about this.

In general, that was kind of my Wellesley experience, actually-- I was off doing my own thing and occasionally rolling my eyes at the General Wellesley Populace. What I liked about Wellesley is that it provides a safe and comfortable environment from which to roll your eyes at things. In retrospect, I regret not making more of an effort to date, but Wellesley can be kind of a difficult place to manage that-- you have to put a real effort into going out and meeting men. Most of the girls with serious boyfriends brought them from high school. Otherwise, I think it is probably like most good small liberal arts colleges in similar locales-- kind of insular, a little weird, a little homogenous, but also really kind of awesome.

More specific information: I was friends with several Anthropology majors, all of whom loved the department. I considered an Archaeology major but gave the idea up to spend a year abroad. (A lot of students go abroad junior year but by no means all.) I loved the Archaeology professor. The Classics department is really strong, although Mary Lefkowitz recently retired, so a major in Classical Archaeology would probably be very straightforward. I would have gone for Near Eastern Archaeology which would have been more difficult-- I probably would have ended up taking some classes at Brandeis or MIT, both of which have programs that allow Wellesley students to attend. Part of this would have been poor planning on my part, though. I am not sure about the English department, but there are tons of lit classes in various departments. My sophomore year I knew a girl who was trying to construct a Creative Writing major and not having much luck.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

No, feel free to ramble, really!

I have next to no social life, really, and I think the only times I spoke to boys outside of my class at Brown (just came back from a four-week summer program) were when I ran into them at the laundry room and at the Tealuxe, and I live in a small college town who's biggest social events are the Rodeo and the County Fair (I know. I am a strange, strange wild wild westerner to East Coasters), so the campus itself shouldn't actually be a problem.

One of the things that turned me off of Scripps was that, from the website, the twenty million mailings, and the admissions lady I talked to at the Brown college fair, it seemed like the school was really, really liberally inclined, so much so that when I asked, the admissions lady said that someone more conservative leaning wouldn't be able to fit in at Scripps. Ever. Now, I'm not the most conservative person in the world, but nor am I the most liberal, so is Wellesley the same way? Because that would turn me off, and fast.

On another note, I'm pretty sure you aren't a musician, but do you know anything about the opportunities open for instrumentalists? There's an orchestra, but is the only way to play in band to cross-register at another school?

Thank you very much for your thoughtful response. It is very appreciated.

[tessfawcett.livejournal.com]

Politically, it is very important at Wellesley to be liberal-friendly, but if you are actually a Republican and you don't talk about it, people won't notice. There is a largish lesbian population, although not as much of one as most people think, and socially the tendency is to be pretty progressive (pro-gay marriage, etc.). However, for the most part it tends to be very un-politicized, so much so that when/if someone starts getting up in arms about political stuff, the rest of the campus tends to get wildly uncomfortable. The basic thinking seems to be "keep your mouth shut." That was one of the reasons why I hated Smith College, actually-- the politics seemed wildly liberal, and while I'm pretty liberal, I didn't need to see pamphlets on animal vivisection in the dining halls. That would never, ever happen at Wellesley. There are also a large number of girls from socially conservative families, whether or not they share those beliefs, so there is a fair amount of tolerance. And really, I found that overall a sort of 1950's WASP ethos prevails about politics there... you just don't need to discuss it with people you don't know. There is a small but vocal campus Republican party and for the most part everyone was dreadfully civilized. And I was there in an election year!

I am not a musician, you are correct. I have no idea about band but one thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of musical cross-over between MIT and Wellesley-- there are several choir groups that are joint MIT-Wellesley, I know-- and cross-enrollment at MIT is really, really common for pretty much anything. (There is an hourly, daily shuttle between the Wellesley and MIT campuses.) So checking out the MIT options might also be useful; enrolling in anything MIT is literally simply a matter of filling out a form and then attending.

Don't worry about it, I remember what picking colleges was like. I'm from California and all the places I wanted to go were on the east coast. I ended up applying to places more or less at random... stress-free, it was NOT!

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

That rates a deep sigh of relief. I don't care what people are so long as they don't try and shove it in my face -- although, as I'd be starting in a scary, scary election year -- *shrug* Not that major a factor, hopefully.

Oh, wow, I hadn't considered that MIT would be where the musical crossover occurs because, well, MIT. *waves hands* I'll definitely have to look into that.

I'm from smalltown Washington and desperately want to leave the entire west coast except for my first choice school (Stanford), so my college search mostly seems to consist of waving my hands and trying to convince my grandmother that I won't be raped and lynched for being half-Asian and a brunette if I go down South. Yes. I'm not making that up. Or exaggerating.