Wednesday Sept.

6, 2010 Features Page 3

DEMYSTIFYING

the
Cornell legacy
COLLEGE A and m
pressures, inspires senior
T
he small crunch of gravel on shoe broke the pristine silence
surrounding her. It was balmy, and the sun shone brightly,
highlighting the carefully manicured lawn that she now stepped onto
carefully. She walked on, the grass cushioning her feet. Occasionally, another
wide eyed teenager would pass her as she gazed upon the ivy-encrusted walls
on what seemed like a summer day straight out of the viewbook of Cornell
University.
Tips for your essay(s)
• Don’t underestimate the importance of quadruple
Huge. That was the only word she could think of to describe the school. checking your grammar.
She felt suddenly smaller, insignificant. Everything hit her at once: this was
her dream school, the school she had wanted to attend for as long as she could •Ask other people for revision but don’t let them write
remember and most frighteningly, the school everyone was expecting her to go your essay for you, that’s plagarism.
to. The buildings and the hilly campus felt so enormous at that moment that she
could barely believe that if everything went well, she would grow big enough to • Stay away from cliches. E
fit in here.
• When you’re done with yoru first draft, let it sit for a
Her father and her brother had both attended Cornell, and even though few days before you revise, your eyes will be fresher.
she has the grades and the scores to get in, the legacy that should have been
heartening feels like a weight on her back. An invisible pressure that she can
not ignore, can not push away, can not pretend she doesn’t care about, is
balanced perfectly on top of her head and one misstep and it will all come
tumbling down. Sometimes it seems too much to keep the dream alive until the
application is sent, but she knows she would regret it forever if she gave up.

NEED HELP? Aug. 1

Oct. 1
Have your first drafts of
Here’s where to go
Common Applica- your essays done
tion availible online Oct. 17
Have your es
Mrs. Lewis
Counseling finalized
September
Start asking for letters
of recommendation

Mrs. Walsh-Sahutske
Counseling
PAULA FRIEDRICH

Now and forever, televised spelling bees

beat Jersey Shore, and classical CDs beat Kanye
DAN DOU

West. Why would I ever follow my peers in

Mr. Glasser
Counseling
Perfect ACT score result of fine
Asian science, engineering
Mrs. Mabley A common urban legend is that getting
Counseling
a perfect 36 on the ACT requires ironclad
resolve, mind numbing practice and a healthy
ration of talent. But it’s all lies. Take it from
me: it was easy, because I’m Asian. Being
Asian got me a 36, and being Asian will alone
get me into my dream schools.
Mr. Burson Like most Asians, I was genetically
Counseling
engineered in an illegal Central American
laboratory. My particular embryo recipe
included the highest quality genes from
Chinese, Irish, Native American, Norwegian
and Antarctican donors. For good measure,
my sponsors (faceless overlords in an evil
corporate empire) paid for rare genes from bat
Mrs. Bennett and corn species to be included as well.
CRC Following my test-tube decanting in 1993,
I was the perfect Asian, rejecting all attempts
by the feeble American school system to
incorporate me into normal society.
gleefully gunning down my best friends with
an assault rifle in Call of Duty—then waiting
for them to respawn to do it all over again?
Locking myself in my basement with my
favorite four-function calculator and “playing
math” is far more amusing.
And this whole “having friends” thing Bilingual he
is something that I will never understand.
From a true outsider’s perspective, it seems college decis
the sole purpose of a social life is as a horribly
roundabout path to fraternizing with the
This column sh
opposite sex. The way I see it, if my machine- and complains ab
like mind and body ever find it useful to have.” So you have
engage in intergender relations, a fake ID and When I was sti
some one-dollar bills can get me a warm body in Germany, slept
that sits on my lap and tells me she loves me. in the United State
So now you see: acing the ACT was merely job as an assistant
a matter of combining photographic memory jumped at the opp
and complex probability calculations with dad expected to m
some mindreading and voodoo to come up two to four years.
with the perfect sequence of multiple choice Obviously, they
answers. Little did they
My scholarly success has had nothing change their lives
to do with hard work. Nothing to do with It’s left me with a
reluctantly turning down fun to keep my past two years –
studies up. Nothing even to do with talent college in the US co
or supportive family. Being Asian is the only college in German
path to the Ivy Leagues, and don’t let anyone euros a semester.
tell you otherwise. It seems like a
dollars and cents. B
 Wednesday Sept. 6, 2010
and EXPLAINING
APPLICATION
more!
Nov. 1
Early Action
Deadline
ssays
d • Fill out the FAFSA form, so
Dec. 3
Early Action decisions
start arriving
eritage makes
sion harder
hould be titled “Paula whines
bout a choice she is lucky to
e been warned.
ill a two-year old, I fell asleep
through the night and awoke
es. My dad had been offered a
professor at Cal-tech and he
portunity. Both my mom and
move back to Germany within
y didn’t.
know that not only did this
drastically, but mine as well.
raging internal battle for the
that is, since I realized that
osts like a bajillion dollars and
ny costs about two hundred
simple decision, in terms of
But at the same time, choosing
Features
Feb. 1
U of M/MSU Fall
Term Deadline
After you’ve
applied...
•Check your school’s website
constantly.
• Apply to Baker, just in case.
that you can actually pay for
college.
•Try not to be too nervous
every time you check the
website or your mailbox.
what country to go to college in binds me to that
nation, at least for a while. I’m deciding between
MIKE ESSE
two places that I love, each containing people
and places that I love. Do I continue seeing my
cousins annually? Or do I leave behind my loved
ones to forge a my own path?
I’m fluent in German, although I might
occasionally say the equivalent of “I walks to
the store.” I was schooled and raised here in
America, but a kind of porous language barrier
exists and when it comes to formulating eloquent
sentences for things like papers, I would not even
be able to create a college level thesis sentence.
Which is kind of a big problem if I were to go to
Germany, since I’m debating between going in a
linguistic, creative direction, or taking a leap of
faith and going into medicine.
My parents continually tell me that it’ll all
come back to me, claiming that using proper
grammar and vocabulary is exactly like riding
a bike, or something.
Every time I screw up speaking German,
visions of failing German Composition 101 flash
before my eyes. If I decide to go in the medical
direction, being asked a simple question, but
failing to come up with the words for “coronary
embolism.” Admittedly, I don’t know what that
refers to in the English language, but I know
that it has to do with the heart.
I’m learning to cherish the luck that is my
bilingual upbringing, but this gift has created
unique challenges that are making my decision
harder than most.
After you’ve been
accepted...
• Relax and leave your backpack at home.
•Apply for housing and find a roommate at room-
matesurf.com.
• Send your apologies to Baker, since you won’t be
attending after all!
• Fill out the FAFSA form!
April
Regular deadline
decisions start
arriving
Diehard Michigan fan finds
love for Syracuse after visit
I bleed maize and blue. It may sound cliché
and cheesy, but those five words are true.
Ever since I was young, my Saturday
mornings from August to January have
been devoted to Michigan football and the
University of Michigan.
I have always wanted to have the “best
four years of my life” in Ann Arbor. The
tradition, environment and academics were
unbelievable to me as a child. There was
nothing else I wanted in the world more than
being a part of the “Maize Rage” (name of
Michigan’s world famous student section), the
campus life and other parts of the university.
However, with less than a month left before
I start my senior year, reality has set in. It is
clear now that while having fun and enjoying
high school, my self-satisfying grades may be
below the standards of my dream school.
Knowing that there was a chance that
Page 3
June 30
FAFSA
deadline
I would not be going to school at the same
place as numerous members of my family was
tough at first, but then I realized that it may
open some life changing opportunities.
This epiphany showed me that I have the
potential to break the mold. Instead of just
breezing through the application process and
applying to Michigan and Michigan State, I
have opened my eyes to other universities
around the country. It has given me a great
opportunity to “leave the bubble” that is
Grosse Pointe and have a change in scenery.
After surfing the Internet and researching
numerous schools, I found my out-of-
state version of my dream school: Syracuse
University.
Everything I wanted, I saw in Syracuse.
It has an exemplary academic program,
tradition and campus. When I visited in early
July, I immediately fell in love with the school
upon my arrival.
The traditions of Michigan are second to
none. Syracuse displayed the characteristics
of Michigan in a different way. Everything
was tight-knit, the campus was centralized
and the student groups and activities were
amazing.
Although I am confident that I will find
success and appreciate the unique aspects of
Syracuse or where ever I end up, there were
always be maize and blue inside me.