Wednesday, March 11, 2009

An Institute Of Higher Education That Happens To Be Located in Southern California

Last March, I went out to Los Angeles with my mom to visit colleges. My mom's company has headquarters out there, and I was on Spring Break, so it seemed like a good time to visit some colleges (especially since I knew I would prefer a warm climate). We planned to visit that awesome liberal arts college whose mascot is the sagehen, that engineering-focused college that is technically a liberal arts college where my cousin attends, that college where the movie "Fired Up!" was filmed (we were there while they were filming it), and that insitute of technology that just rejected me.

The day we got there, I was pretty exhausted (I had to wake up at like 5am NJ time). I went to my mom's LA office with her, and she worked while I read (or something). We went out to lunch with some of the people from the office, and it turns out that one of her coworkers went to the University of Southern California, and knows someone who's a student there now. The student at USC showed us around, and it was pretty cool. Originally, I said that I definitely wanted a small(er) college, but I liked USC, because, in the words of my tour guide, "Pretty much anything you want to do, you can do it at USC." It was my first college visit (not the first time I had ever been to a college, but the first time I had actually visited for the purpose of knowing that I might apply). USC's campus is really nice (though, the surrounding area isn't great). When I was there, I picked up a copy of the school paper, and one of the front page articles was about a physics professor who went skydiving, and I was immediately like, "USC is cool."

So I applied to USC. USC, it turns out, has these awesome merit scholarships that will cover 1/2 or full tuition. I didn't expect to qualify for any of those, so when I got the letter in the mail saying I didn't qualify, I didn't really care.

This week, I received some email and snail mail from USC regarding (need-based) financial aid ("make sure you submit your FAFSA!" etc.), so I made sure to tell my dad. I heard that some people had already received their decisions from USC, and I hadn't. I was worried it might mean that I was rejected.

Then, today, I was watching television, when I heard my dog bark like a psycho, which meant the mail had arrived. My dad told me to check the mail. I saw a large white envelope from USC, and when I opened it, inside was a folder that looked something like this:

I hope you enjoy my artistic rendering; my camera still isn't working, so I couldn't actually take a photograph. Some day, I WILL get my camera fixed. Maybe.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great,congratulations! Do you know if any other university has already sent the admissons letters?

Thanks!

Molly said...

Anderson- thanks! Lots of universities have sent admissions letters already (but plenty haven't!). Some have the decisions available online. If you go to college board's college search- http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/index.jsp- and type in the name of a college, and click on "Admission", it should show you what date applicants will be notified. You can also check on the website for the individual colleges.

Anonymous said...

Ok, thanks. But, do colleges follow that dates?

Molly said...

You're welcome.

All colleges should release their decisions at the LATEST by the date it says on there (sometimes, they mail the letter on the day stated). Some of them release decisions earlier, however- Carnegie Mellon University says they'll release decisions at the latest by April 15, but most of their decisions will be released earlier than that. It depends on the college in question when you will receive your decision, but all colleges will release decisions at the latest by the day posted.