Thursday, October 23, 2003
It was good to complain and get that out of my system. I did end up tabling for a couple hours total, as did Ryan and Lucy. A lot of people stopped by for a few minutes, but that's not as good as handing over responsibility to someone else for a time slot. When I set up in the morning it was raining, windy, and about 35 degrees. No other organizations were ridiculous enough to be tabling in those conditions, so it was a lonely Ho Plaza. In the 20 minutes before Susan arrived, I sold one donut. I was getting pretty scared that the day would be a flop. Fortunately the rain stopped and although it was pretty cold, we managed to sell 40 of our 60 dozen. The rest are either being sold to brothers or will end up being me and Liz's breakfast for the coming month.
I met with the Fellowship Coordinator for a half hour this morning, and she's extended the deadline for the Churchill app until Monday. Which is a relief since I have to write my 7-10 page nutrition paper tonight (although it's pass/fail and I actually have 2 pages done already). But I should really try to get most of that done soon or else it'll be looming over my head all weekend. Oh, and turns out there are 6 applicants at Cornell, from which the selection committee will choose 2 to be endorsed to the national competition. That has me nervous- that I have done all this work and could very well not make it to the next stage. I'm quite confident in my personal statement- I had the Coordinator and my two advisors read it and they thought it was excellent. My recommendations are all from professors in my department, and three of them know me well, so they should be solid. My grades are pretty damn good, but you never know if the other applicants are geniuses with 4.25's. My research experience is also pretty solid, and one of my selling points is that this experience would round out the parts I'm lacking, but there are definitely people out there who've done more than I have. I still have to write my little research proposal and fill out the actual Cambridge application, which is mostly factual but includes a few sections like activities and awards. So, what really has me concerned is the GRE's. It's assumed that applicants will have scores in the top 10th percent. I shouldn't have a problem on the math, but I took a diagnostic test and my verbal sucked. Granted I was sort of rushing through it, but I hadn't heard of a lot of the words. Really, I've immersed myself so much in biology that I really haven't improved my non-biological vocabulary much in the past 3 years.
In high school, scoring high on standardized tests was not a problem. I was a National Merit Finalist, and I'm pretty sure that the only reason I didn't get one was my essay. I didn't know how to write a good personal statement, so it turned out to be this generic thing detailing how busy yet dedicated to school and activities I was. It didn't explain my motivation or who I was, just pretty much listed the things I'd done. I didn't realize that, although I stood above others at my school in time management and dedication, there were thousands of other overachievers across the country. Four years later, I'm much better at introspection and have a better idea of what makes me different from everyone else, and I think my personal statement reflects that. I've just lost my knack for standardized tests. It won't be such a problem that it'll keep me out of the grad schools I want, but in a competition as competitive as the Churchill, it might be the decisive factor against me. :/
I met with the Fellowship Coordinator for a half hour this morning, and she's extended the deadline for the Churchill app until Monday. Which is a relief since I have to write my 7-10 page nutrition paper tonight (although it's pass/fail and I actually have 2 pages done already). But I should really try to get most of that done soon or else it'll be looming over my head all weekend. Oh, and turns out there are 6 applicants at Cornell, from which the selection committee will choose 2 to be endorsed to the national competition. That has me nervous- that I have done all this work and could very well not make it to the next stage. I'm quite confident in my personal statement- I had the Coordinator and my two advisors read it and they thought it was excellent. My recommendations are all from professors in my department, and three of them know me well, so they should be solid. My grades are pretty damn good, but you never know if the other applicants are geniuses with 4.25's. My research experience is also pretty solid, and one of my selling points is that this experience would round out the parts I'm lacking, but there are definitely people out there who've done more than I have. I still have to write my little research proposal and fill out the actual Cambridge application, which is mostly factual but includes a few sections like activities and awards. So, what really has me concerned is the GRE's. It's assumed that applicants will have scores in the top 10th percent. I shouldn't have a problem on the math, but I took a diagnostic test and my verbal sucked. Granted I was sort of rushing through it, but I hadn't heard of a lot of the words. Really, I've immersed myself so much in biology that I really haven't improved my non-biological vocabulary much in the past 3 years.
In high school, scoring high on standardized tests was not a problem. I was a National Merit Finalist, and I'm pretty sure that the only reason I didn't get one was my essay. I didn't know how to write a good personal statement, so it turned out to be this generic thing detailing how busy yet dedicated to school and activities I was. It didn't explain my motivation or who I was, just pretty much listed the things I'd done. I didn't realize that, although I stood above others at my school in time management and dedication, there were thousands of other overachievers across the country. Four years later, I'm much better at introspection and have a better idea of what makes me different from everyone else, and I think my personal statement reflects that. I've just lost my knack for standardized tests. It won't be such a problem that it'll keep me out of the grad schools I want, but in a competition as competitive as the Churchill, it might be the decisive factor against me. :/
