“Womp womp” moments in college admissions
Often when people think of admissions officers, they envision a grumpy old man with a red pen, ruthlessly slashing through admissions files with one goal…
“OK, now it’s the time,” I thought as I reached my trembling hand to the mouse and clicked “View Application Update” in my Tufts account home page. I still remember that mid-December morning when I know that I was admitted by Tufts through Early Decision. So, the application season officially ended. But what should we do after that? Bury our heads into League of Legends? Start to hold infinite numbers of parties? NO, definitely not. Here are several things that I think are meaningful in post application season.
Reach out to your future friends at Tufts (or other universities):
As was suggested in the acceptance letter, I started to build connections with future Jumbos. I joined the Tufts Facebook group almost immediately after I viewed the result. I posted pictures of a pair of Jumbo colour basketball shoes I designed on NIKE ID. Through that, I got to know people who also like basketball and chatted about the basketball team at Tufts. Other than social networks, I also contacted local (which for me means Beijing) Tufts 2020ers. We held a meet-and-greet dinner with two local alumni. This is not only a chance to share our academic interests and favorite facts about Tufts, but also a chance to gain experience of what “to-do and not-to-do” from alumni. It’s always fantastic to have friends before arriving to campus.
Develop your interests:
Good news is, we have a great deal of time to develop our interests in post application season. For me, I have always been fascinated by magic tricks. I had started to practice card tricks in grade 9, but in order to concentrate on the important transition to high school, I temporarily stopped. Now, it’s the time to restart! I dig out my fancy decks from piles of books. And there they are, ready for me to amaze others. Besides, I also can continue developing my academic interests. I loooooove Psychology. Since being admitted, I started reading Norton Psychology Reader which presents me with all those famous experiments and theories in the history of Psychology. I also finished my Psychology survey about the relationship between team sports and confidence level. Sounds good right? We can all become “experts” on our interest if we use the post season wisely.
Learn to be independent
For nearly two decades, our families and relatives have helped us a lot in our lives. Now we are about to leave home for college. This is probably the first time for some of us. For me as an international student from China, 7000 miles is not a short distance. So I’m totally on my own in America. Learning to be a self-reliable person will be essential. I started to learn some simple and delicious Chinese dishes from my mum. It’s a good choice not only to fill our stomachs but also to impress our friends. Cooking is only a small portion. We should start taking over all the responsibilities that our parents have taken for us in 17 years, like money, laundry and so on.
Other than those three suggestions, there are many other ways that we can have a meaningful post application season. But just remember the rule of thumb: Do not waste, use this time to prepare for Jumbo life in the future.
Often when people think of admissions officers, they envision a grumpy old man with a red pen, ruthlessly slashing through admissions files with one goal…
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