February 27, 2004
Maybe Prestigious
News! News! News!
For the most part, watching the dog and cat went very well. It took a little while for the cat to get used to me, but once she did she was crawling all over my math homework and generally begging for attention. Picking up dog poop was less than fun but the whole experience taught me what I value and all of that.
And I am much richer personally and financially as a result. Much. It is a very good thing.
But what is far more important is that I received something from Syracuse UPS the other day. I am not officially into the college yet but I made the first round for the Coronat Scholars program. Syracuse invited me and 14 other finalists to come visit March 15-17th on their dime to be interviewed by their committee, meet professors (maybe mine?), attend classes, and at the end ten of us approximately will be offered the Coronat Scholarship. For the can-you-believe-this? factor, let's recap what this scholarship means:
-Full tuition and fees
-Full room and board, and transportation to campus
-A grant to spend at least one semester in study abroad
-Funds for undergraduate research, where applicable; and other *special* opportunities throughout my four years at Syracuse
-Summer funding for approved research or volunteer work
-An invitation to join the Renee Crown University Honors Program
-Mentoring for prestigious national scholarships: Rhodes, Marshall, and others
Interesting tidbit that I did not know until I read my European history book last night: the Rhodes scholarship is named for Cecil B. Rhodes (this is all off the top of my head, so if I am wrong about something I apologize) in about 1902 to keep essentially Arayan nations well-educated and all of that at Oxford.
Chances look relatively good that I will get the scholarship since I interview well, but it may not be meant to happen. I have done everything I can, I can just hope that things go well. If I do not get the scholarship and I get into Smith I will probably go to Smith, but if I do get the scholarship I do not think I can turn it down in good conscience, especially since I really like the school and it is my number two choice.
But the money, the prestige, and the amazing opportunities are not what is really important here. What is really important is that I will not have to go to Ohio University next year. I can leave this state behind and only remember it for my evil literary purposes, unless for some reason I should desire to come back. If I want to I can be in the intellectual environment I crave for at least four years, I can learn more than I ever thought I would learn and come into contact will all kinds of other great minds.
Though I have worked pretty hard in high school, I am not sure if I really deserve all of this. I am intelligent, but as flattering and nice as it is to day dream about being a Rhodes scholar, I am simply not that kind of mind. And it is ok, I will provide some service to others in some other capacity while someone else cures cancer and sends us to Mars.
My hope is also that by going to Syracuse it will not be a situation of big fish in a little pond. There are extremely intelligent people in my class here, but in a lot of my classes my figurative fins seemed to be blocking my gills. More accurately some days were like something we learned about in Biology yesterday, where I felt like I was swimming backwards so I could not get the oxygen I needed to flow against my blood.
Enough of my negative thinking. Everything will work out for the best, I am just a little too anxious to get a sneak preview of the locale for the best.
Love,
Mandy