Haven’t updated in a bit.
The day after getting deferred by Columbia, I got into UI for the Electrical Engineering major. Seeing as how UI-Urbana is a 4/5th ranked engineering school whereas Columbia is somewhere around 25th or so (in other words, even if you think rankings are BS, it’s an entire world of difference in program quality, and employers know it too) Besides that, UI is ranked very high for EE in particular (#4 I think), so I’m solid. Basically I’m applying to the rest of my schools for the sake of financial security (in the event that UI-Urbana gives less financial-aid/scholarships than my family needs to help support me) and to take a shot at a few reach schools and to protect against the possibility that I really don’t like the campus/environment/people when I visit. (I seriously doubt I’ll hate it since Sas is there, plus a possibility that Sam will go, but still hard to say. Plus, sunny asian-laden California is hard to resist. Caltechberkeleyucsandiego are all in consideration if I get in)
I’m significantly less pissed about the Columbia deferral than I was Thursday/Friday. (I still maintain that they should have accepted me outright considering I completely raped their statistics and basically beat down all of their early acceptees in terms of academics and extracurriculars. I’d be lying if I said that I thought race had nothing to do with it.) It’s sad to see basically all of my friends get deferred/rejected, but I suppose that we can all take solace in the fact that it’s not completely due to individual fault that we were not accepted early; rather, it’s a systematic trend in which colleges are more reluctant to accept too many students early on due to economic hardship (they don’t know how many highly qualified regular applicants will require aid) and strive towards diversity as a prerequisite for their admissions over academic qualifications. Some will say that the pendulum of systematic racism has swung too far in the opposite direction to favor traditionally underpriveliged races (many the people who tend to take advantage of their race in college admissions are often the least underpriveliged.); I would say that the pendulum has changed from swinging purely on the x and y planes to swinging away from the z plane. (Namely, Asians have never enjoyed higher standing in this nation, and are just being further suppressed. On the other hand, classical “minorities” used to be horribly discriminated against, but now enjoy certain advantages in some facets of life, namely college admissions. The majority has basically stagnated, not enjoying further privileges, but certainly not being held back) I don’t have anything against the people that gain from affirmative action because the opportunity is there. They’d be idiots not to take opportunities given to them; rather, I am highly disappointed in the world-renowned institutes of learning that continue to hold onto age-old beliefs that racism of any sort can be justified. You guys love my metaphors, don’t you?
I finally came back to running this Monday after a 2 week hiatus to rest up the legs. The extra core work that I’ve been doing over the break has produced positive effects for me. I feel like I should have a bit more raw speed during races and I won’t break down as much during the middle laps of my 1600. I can’t wait to start the hardcore workouts just so that I can feel like a total BAMF after finishing 18×400m or a 14 mile long run. The 2×3200m is always such a feared workout, but somehow I’ve traditionally done better in those workouts. Track workouts in general tend to project me as a better runner than my races do. 10:49 the 10:46 in a 2×3200m followed by tying my PB in the 800m with a 2:12 this XC season certainly is not indicative of a guy that stagnated through spring track and couldn’t even break a 10:24 soph PB. I received my black/gold Nike Zoom Kennedies from Ebay, so I’ll pretty pumped for my first indoor track race. Also looking forward to the Mambas. I’ve got a solid collection of spikes, so I’m looking to share some of them with a few of the guys on the team. Problem being, hardly anyone else wears size 9. I think Ollie and Tai are 9/9.5ish, so I’ll have to see about lending Ollie a pair of my track spikes so he won’t be racing the mile in Miler XC’s. If just 2 or 3 more of us can come up with a solid track season besides george, we have a shot to qualify for one of the relays for outdoor nationals. Sad to say that I have zero confidence in the track team’s sprinters this year. Unless there’s something that I don’t know about, I’d be willing to bet that the distance team’s 4×400m will be able to beat the sprinting team’s. (Galasso-Tai-Hoffman-anyoneelse should be fast enough to average 54 or 53, which isn’t great and isn’t worth wasting energy to run at big meets, but is worth it for bragging rights as well as shits and giggles.)
Still have to figure out xmas gifts for my immediate family. Outside of the family, I have most of the xmas gifts done. Not expecting anything big, since my dad is letting me get a Pandora (which seems to be eons away from shipping thanks to the freaking bank crisis.)
With a lot of my college pressure relieved by UI (even if I get in nowhere else, I’m totally fine going there because it’s that damn awesome. Getting into the other schools is just cherries on top because then I get a choice. But there are only 2-3 that I would realistically consider going to instead of UI), I think my focus will shift dramatically to running and corn growing. I need to see how things play out in the coming months to change my position though. I predict huge changes in the playing field.
Smash time increase? With a solid college under my belt, I’m only a few more essays away from all the smash time in the world.
