How do you reflect the best? Where are you? Some people like my mom or dad think best when they are sitting on their desk, that is where they get things done. Some friends of mine get creative while walking, they get their ideas together and they are all ready to work just by walking around back and forth. You know where I think the best? The shower. That’s right, for some weird reason, when I need to get work done and get inspired, taking a shower is what gets the ideas flowing.
"If you get into a good university, half of the job is done". That is what my sister said about 2 months ago.
However, not everyone can get into these universities, only "Super People" like quoted in the book "Excellent Sheep the Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life" by William Deresiexicz. In this book, William describes "The stereotypical ultra-high-achieving elite college students of today" as Excellent Sheep. These are the students that dream(if they get any sleep), eat, breath, and live just to get into an IVY league. The ones who pull all-nighters to ace a test, the ones who take 9 AP exams, the ones that are class presidents, have 11 extracurricular activities, and somehow manage to become the president of an organization in school that helps people in need, all at once. Do ANYTHING to get more credit and try to get into a prestige university.
Something surprised me while being here in Penn. One afternoon, the Dean of Admissions, Eric J. Furda, came and did presentations to all of the pre-college students and said something that made me think about the book. "If you live with only those eight flags (the IVY universities' emblem) in your mind, you are close minded and are doing it wrong". The dean of admission of one of the most prestigious universities IN THE WORLD just said that if you only live to get into those universities, you are doing it wrong. You don't need to kill yourself studying so you can get into that university. "It has to do with what you like" he added. Nevertheless, "Very few were passionate about ideas, Very few saw college as part of a larger project of intellectual discovery and development, one that they directed by themselves and for themselves," says William.
William talks and describes them as something negative. How they are "Both, in other words, are forms of infantilization" as if they are both negative. But, aren't those the only types of parenting there are? The way I understand William explains it, is that they are both bad. So what is the right way to raise your kids without implementing this idea of fulfilling oneself dreams?As I read this book, my eyes have opened to something that was hidden from me. A reality that I was not aware of, but the doors for the world that values one's self more than the University they attended to, are still closed. Reading this book has not changed the world, it is still the same and it will not change. A sophomore student at the University of Pennsylvania worked at one of the local restaurants near where I lived. He worked there after studying for his biomedical classes the whole day so he could earn some money for his apartment. He said, "If you graduate from Penn you are almost certain to get a good job, if you graduate from Harvard, you are guaranteed to have a job of your choice." I am sure that stays true. Society sees that good university equals good job. The owner of that company you are trying to get hired for will most certainly look at the university you go to because it matters. If it didn't then why do you need to put in your resume that you attended to X college or university? I will still try to go to a good university, in my applications there will be an IVY league or two.
I bet you do! Who wouldn’t?? Doesn’t the ability to read a 300 page book in under 20 minutes sound amazing? It does! It's like being a member of the X-Men with the ability to read that fast. Well, now I have the chance to do this, but it's too late.
Ceviche is a plate from the Peruvian coast area. It is one of the most famous plates in Peru and if you come here the first thing native people will say to you is “have you tried ceviche yet? Lets go!”
“Good, you know the sequence…now play it…”
“They sank our ship man”
So, like everyone “on Earth” my school does something for Earth day. Now, I will be honest, I think it is great that my school tries to get involved in this event and attempts to get students interested. In fact, I love that my school is able to do this because not all schools have the budget or time to do this with their students. However, there is something that my school didn’t do well when planning this “Earth Day,” and that is actually doing something for the Earth on Earth Day.
The chance for any of us to choose a topic or work that we are interested in. We pick the area we want to focus and create a project of our own, guiding our own learning. Last year, the IBG that I chose was to continue with my personal project. What was this? To create an artificial tree that with the use of solar panels it could clean the air. I used 12 solar panels to power 2 fans that will pull in the air through filters and purify the air. Last year I was able to continue my passion and improve my Personal Project.
The time has come where I need to find a summer program for me to attend in this Jully. The past 3 years I have attended summer camps in UCLA (twice) and in Georgetown University. I went to the Junior Discovery and Summer Discovery programs, where they organize activities and summer camps in several universities.
But, I am having a huge problem now because I can't decide on which summer camp to attend this year. I need to present my grades, medications, recommendation letter, and a doctors note saying I am healthy enough to attend the summer camp. And all of that by the end of this week!! Now, here is the even bigger problem. In Cornell there are three programs that I am incredibly interested in: Architecture, Engineering, and “Green Cities” (Renewable energy) and I can only choose one. The dilemma between an interest, my career, and my passion. Some stuff you do not know about me is that well, my Dad wants me to study Architecture. He is constantly saying that I have talent designing stuff and that I am really good at mathematics. Now, do I see it as a possible future career? Yeah, I find it interesting and I do have fun designing stuff but it isn't my first choice. Nevertheless after reading what will be going on in the program I am incredibly interested because it will be crazy fun. What's my first choice? Environmental Engineering. That's what I want to do when I grow up. I want to find and create solutions to environmental problems and be able to prevent or at least make it less harmful to the environment. I think that doing the Engineering program will give me a good introduction to my future career and show me what it would be like at the University level. Now the final blow to this hard decision is that there is another program called "Green Cities" where in summary they will look at renewable energy and almost anything to do with the environment. MY PASSION!!!! Ever since I was 10 I LOVED the idea of renewable energy and especially solar power! My Personal project and my first IBG project had everything to do with solar panels!! SO HOW CAN I CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE 3 PROGRAMS?! I only have a week before I meet the final deadline and I just can't decide! I think that in the end all I'll do is toss a coin to be able to decide. I just can't bring myself to choose one. |