Rejected at Stanford.
I write to notify you that we are, regrettably, unable to offer you admission to Stanford University for fall 2007. I appreciate the thought and effort you put into your application and into selecting Stanford as one of your college choices. The overall strength of our applicant pool and relatively small size of our freshman class means that we disappoint the majority of our applicants each year. I am personally sorry to share this disappointment with you.
Well, I guess this means...
Santa Clara University Class of 2011, here I come!
Computer Science? Not for me…
I'm sitting in the Point Break Cafe at Point Loma right now writing some Python.
After talking to the CS Professors here at Point Loma today, I don't think I am going to major in CS. Why? They force everyone to learn one of the worst languages ever created: Java. I don't mind learning C++, I could probably learn both languages in about 2 months if I really wanted. But I don't want to spend 4 years getting my mind destroyed with all this Java, C++ crap. I feel like a prisoner every time I try to write Java; on the other hand, in Python and ActionScript I feel like I am completely free to do whatever I want. It's a beautiful thing. I completely understand why Paul Graham says that college can be the worst thing to a hacker.
I'm now thinking I should just get a degree in Engineering, probably Mechanical. Will I ever use it? Probably not. But who cares, no one really uses their undergrad degrees anymore. It's the mindset that I want to get from the engineering degree, or whatever field I choose. Shoot, maybe I should just get a degree in Philosophy. I applied for the Engineering department at Santa Clara, so I am totally good with majoring in that there. I think I am going to shoot myself if I listen to another professor tell me how much Java and C++ I'm going to learn in their classes.
What a load of garbage.
I find out about Stanford in 22 hours and 30 minutes. Let the countdown begin :)
YouTube
I am generating random codes for a certain part of Classowl, and I decided to do the little algorithm that YouTube does to generate their random codes. According to the compiler, there are:
5.20365606838e+019
Different possibilities. Chances of a duplication, even if there are billions of random codes in the database, are next to nothing.
Down at Point Loma right now, this school is gorgeous. Too bad it's not in Silicon Valley.
Stanford… 4 days until I find out
I got an email this afternoon telling me to go online at 3pm on Friday to see if I get into Stanford University. Yes, the "Harvard of the West Coast"... I'm shaking in anticipation... I think if I get rejected, I'll handle it pretty well since I already got into my #2 choice.
Also, flying down to Pt. Loma on Wednesday night to see if they'll give me a scholarship.
Been away from blogging because... I've been working! Yeah, that's what people do when they're not wasting their time blogging. :)
Accepted! 1 down, 2 to go
I am freaking out, I just got my acceptance letter to Santa Clara University. To be honest, I really didn't think I was going to get accepted to any of the three I applied to, but so far, I'm 1 for 1 ;). I think it was because of my essays, Uncle Brent helped me out a lot on them. I'll post them as soon as I hear back from Stanford and Point Loma.
AAAAAHHH!!! WHY AM I SO LUCKY!?
The worst case of Writer’s Block ever.
It's been about 13 hours (started at 10am today) since I sat down to write this essay. And I still only have 4 sentences. I have never had this happen in my life, this has got to be a Writer's Block record for me.
Does this happen to anyone else?
Applying to colleges takes soo much time
I've redefined writer's block: for the last three days, I have been trying to think of what to write for the Stanford 2007 Long Essay. It finally came to me tonight, so I am in the middle of writing a [hopefully] compelling enough piece of writing that an admissions officer who reads it will get tricked into thinking I'm smart and let me in :p. I don't deserve to get into Stanford based off of my scholastic achievements, so my essays are extra important.
Ah, yes, the title of my post: not that the actualy applying to college takes a lot of time, but the psychological trauma of the fear of not getting into any of the colleges I apply to is weighing heavily on my productivity these days.
Do they have therapy for post-application-depression? I'm going to need a good dose of it if they do... :D
I caught up on a ton of reading in Tahoe: I finished Built to Last, and read Freakonomics in two days. Freakonomics is one of the funnest books I've ever read, I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to kill some time -- it's not that long, about 200 pages, and can be read through really fast.