These past few weeks, as I sat in committee discussing applications, I began to truly appreciate what my time in school has taught me (I know, Dad, took me long enough, right?) The revelation hit me as we were seven days in. I was sitting next to Dan, who had been stealing my Goldfish all day, and Laura, who had been with me so long that we had begun to finish each other’s… (“sentences,” says Laura). As we made our way from Massachusetts to South Carolina to Tanzania to Singapore, I slowly accumulated piles upon piles of notes. Yes, notes!
Apparently, 16 years of lectures, presentations, and class discussions have taught me more than just history, English, science, and math (well, not math, who are we kidding?) In the classroom I learned that to listen, I must write. And over the past couple of weeks, we covered so many students that taking notes wasn’t just helpful, it was necessary!
Now, reflecting on these notes leaves me feeling a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I’m so excited for all the students represented in them who will make up the class of 2016! On the other, I’m obviously very sad about all those students who didn’t end up in the class. They are certainly in these notes too, because I loved their applications, and they had as many endearing, compelling, and laugh-out-loud moments as any. This is certainly a bittersweet time of year, because each application that I read or discussed in committee was great in its own way, no matter the outcome. I would like to use this blog post to celebrate all the applications we saw, and so I’ve included a small sample of the notes I took in committee. Sometimes it seems odd, the things I picked up on, but these little tidbits helped me remember who you were. I can no longer explain what everything means (what is a sassy infomercial, for example?) but I promise that at the time, everything made perfect sense to me. Oh, and anything that you see that isn’t separated by ellipses did, in fact, appear in the same application, so try really hard not to think about Regina George dancing to Gaelic folk music. Enjoy!
Regular Decision Committee 3/8 - 3/19
Shalom y’all … Tai Kwon Do, ballet, and a rap about Beowulf … tested the elasticity of rubber bands … a vegetarian who shoots a rifle … intensely interested in Classics … she keeps calm like Kung Fu Panda … cakes, calculus equations & tennis shoes … agnostic in a family of devout Catholics … she hit a girl with a lunch box in kindergarten … teachers call him a feisty journalist … ABBA and Frank Sinatra … has a fear of paint … carries a honking monstrosity of an instrument … crazy runs in the family … loves alternate worlds + thin mints … they named the Prius Pearl … Confucius in a dry cleaner … wears lucky test pants … wants Tufts for its craziness & love… indulges in studying Arabic… loves African drum music and built his own flute … provided condoms and sunglasses for migrant workers … pumpkins and solar cookers … Mexican rock band and electronic dance music … raccoon hunting, How I Met Your Mother, and traffic lights … “they call me snake girl” … sassy infomercial … she’s the only girl in her JAVA class (go girl!)… a mentor for kids with Tourette Syndrome … the Homecoming Queen in Ohio… she used to send herself to her room! Hilarious! … pierced his left nipple… writes a daily to-do list on an ancient type-writer … teaching herself Peter Paul & Mary on the harp … Flash mob, cliff-jumping, Gossip Girl, and marble cake … jock culture and the Degas exhibit … Dan Brown + Cheese … article on gay marriage … Mayan god buys an ice sculpture for an end-of-the-world party … Tufts = Alexander McQueen … Regina George + Gaelic folk music ... Birds have dialects … made a guitar from a tennis racquet, then turned it around and played a round robin … watched the Egyptian revolution from a small balcony… Dubai, Kuwait, socks, and the Zombie apocalypse… painted an orphanage fuschia… knowledge weaves humanity into a beautiful fabric … (are we still talking about Isaac Newton? Why is he wearing a tutu?)... this grandma sounds badass... SUPER vegetarian… she cut the head off a bullfrog... pee in a trash can… Dr. Who + My Chemical Romance...Catholicism, not soft drinks… mummify a chicken… (oh my goodness Dan WON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT PARADES.)
Are you overwhelmed yet? That's just a tiny sample! Now you understand my need to take notes! I want to thank you all for letting me get to know you, and for teaching me things. That’s right, I have in fact learned something from my scribbling, just as I would from my class notes. Next time there’s a Zombie apocalypse, for example, I’ll remember to bring my socks, Tufts will from now on bring Alexander McQueen to mind, and I’m quite sure I’ll never again read a Dan Brown novel without craving some cheese. So thanks… I think!