Tuesday, July 7, 2009

College selections and our visit to NYU

Hello!

Today I started looking more in-depth on Ivy League schools. It's true that at first I was only thinking of applying to schools in California, but that was only until I joined of the Ivy League Connection. The Ivy League Connection has really opened my eyes to show me there are more options available for me. We haven't gone to the University of Pennsylvania yet, but I look forward to seeing the campus and city environment along with the different buildings and departments that UPenn has. Since I have no idea what the cities are like in the East Coast, I actually don't know how big Philadelphia is and what the city is like.

Anyways, back to the Ivy Leagues. I checked out all of them and narrowed the list down to the schools that had programs I'm interested in. The Ivies that I think match me are Columbia University, Harvard College, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, and maybe Brown. I'm actually looking at it now and it's a pretty big stretch; I ended up narrowing it down to the most selective Ivy League Schools. But I still need to study more on them. I also haven't been looking at private schools outside of the Ivy Leagues. The only ones I've thought of are Caltech and MIT but I don't know of any others. The list I have from my College MatchMaker has Carnegie Mellon, Rice University, Stanford University, Yonsei University (in Korea!), and others.

As for class today, our lab was a simple titration of a weak acid with a strong base. We also derived the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and did had a brief introduction on equilibrium problems. I found the lab simple because it's a concept that is covered in AP Chemistry. Actually, everything we did today was something that I had done already in AP Chemistry (except for the lecture, of course). I wouldn't say that this is a bad thing because it's a nice review and how the idea was approached was different than in class. Also since the titration was part 1 of 3 in the lab, there's still 2 parts of the lab that I haven't done yet and probably have never done before. I will tell more about the lab tomorrow as we finish it then.

After class, we visited New York University. The campus is really not a campus as all the buildings are separated on different streets. It's a really interesting experience as it's different from most universities where there is a one big campus and all the buildings reside on it and there's a central quad. However, NYU isn't very science based (although there's many business options!) as I'd want in a college. I'll have better luck when we go visit UPenn.




On another note, I'm up with my roommate who's doing Collaborative Theatre. That class has to write scripts, edit, direct, and act it out. Her class sounds more stressful than mine! I noticed that she has to rely on other people as well since it's a collaborative effort. It's structured very differently from the Chemistry class as we haven't really had the need to meet anyone outside the class to finish a project yet whereas she has to stay up late at night waiting on someone else to finish editing a script and send it to her.

Julie

2 comments:

Charles Tillman Ramsey said...

Finally, you have brought music to my ears. I am thrilled that you have taken the time to explore colleges east of Lake Tahoe. Your post captured my attention and showed that you are truly listening to your mentors in the Ivy League Connection Program.

Julie, you have way too much talent to restrict your search to schools located just ten minutes away. This is what the best and brightest want you to do-take yourself out of the running. Yes, many people want a monopoly on the highly selective slots. No way, this is your time and you have the opportunity to make the most out of your connections.

Carnegie Mellon, Rice and The University of Pennsylvania are top notch!!! I mean these schools have great professors and a boat load of resources. Now is the time for you to embrace all that they have to offer and to make yourself available to meet their college admission officers. You will obviously have that chance this weekend when you visit UPENN and you are at Columbia. So you are having an opportunity that many students would feel grateful to have.

You are doing fine with the Chemistry class and if your roommate has more to do, so be it. You handle your responsibilities and take the time to get ahead.

I loved the pictures. It shows what is in New York and its urban setting. Keep up the good work Julie, you have a lot going for you.

Take care.

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

Don Gosney said...

Julie,

You really seem to be headed in the right direction as far as narrowing your search parameters for the perfect fit for a college. It’s encouraging to read of your progress.

I hope you continue your research and talk to people who can give you good sound advice and point you in the right direction.

I can’t imagine myself putting any grade of mine in the hands of anyone outside of myself. There’s merits in collaborative efforts but not when a grade is at stake. I just can’t bring myself to trust anyone else and I have no faith in anyone else to do as good a job as I think I can do myself. [maybe some of the ILC kids taking psych can analyze that and figure out just how paranoid I really am.]

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