schedule

So, my schedule for Senior year goes as follows:

0 - Jazz band (Robertson)
1 - Adv. video (Wistrand)
2 - AP Physics (Ramsey)
3 - AP English (Grey-Hatton)
4 - AP Calculus (Brands)
5 - AP Comp Gov (Powers)
6 - Band (Robertson)

There's a chance I may switch video to something like Art History, we'll see.


Band camp is over. No more standing around at Kiggins in the rain!

Band and such

Before you read this post, you have to watch this election video. (Good choice, Jesse!) I challenge anyone to find a better one this election season. If you do... I'll post it here and acknowledge your greatness, how's that? I'm cheap, sorry.

One week of band camp down, one week left. It hasn't been all that bad, none of the freshmen are any more annoying than some of the returning band members. I've got a chance to work out and work on my tan for several hours a day, always a plus. I am now a deep shade of light reddish-white-tan, better than my usual shade of... white. Highlights of the past week include seeing all my "band family" again, lunch and dinner breaks are always fun. BBQ with the low brass on Friday was good, got to eat brats and sit around in the shade... watched Kimber eat 5 ants for $5. Good times.

This next week is going to suck, being outside for 12 hours at Kiggins, in the rain, but meh... nothing I can do about that. At least we have some decent competitions this year (Pasco, OSU, UofO), plus Hawaii next spring. Lucky you, Dan, you quit the year we finally do something fun!

Went out for an evening with Kyrie, David and Pat last night. Driving in the rain took a bit of getting used to, especially with all the oil bubbling up from the roads, it was like driving on a river of foam. Stopped at Chevron station on 99th Street around midnight to fill up. The creepy guy in the truck behind me started to hit on me, but fortunately the lady at the next pump over decided to drive away with the gas pump still in her car, causing a great distraction. I don't think I'd ever seen anyone do that before, the breakaway system the use seems to work well though, she didn't spill any fuel.

My mom hit a truck with the Audi backing out of a parking lot a few days ago, so now theres a gash in the back bumper. I guess she didn't see it and ran into the wheel, so there wasn't any damage to the truck. Just glad it wasn't me, that brings the total of things hit by my parents to 4 (2 each, in the Sequoia and the Audi... a flowerpot and a cement column by my dad in the Sequoia and the garage and a truck by mom in the Audi.) Still nothing for me, which is surprising since I park at Skyview, one of the most dangerous places around.

That's about it for me, seems like I've been updating weekly. I'd update more if I felt like typing when I get home, but usually I just stick a movie in the laptop and just lay there when I get home, I don't usually feel like moving and thinking.

Where'd summer go?

Well, Blogger finally decided to let me sign on. It's been a bad week with electronics and technology for many, with cars breaking down and my phone not working, although today may be the turning point there. Whats that? It's Sunday. New week. Maybe T-Mobile will work this week... haha. I'm switching to Verizon as soon as my service is up in January.

In the time since my last post, I've been hanging out with Kyrie and David and others, going to the fair twice, watching movies, fun stuff like that. I'm really going to miss all that starting tomorrow, when band camp starts. Guess that means summer is pretty much over, I have a few weekends and a free week and a half afterwards and then school.

I had more stuff I wanted to say, but I forgot what it was. I may post a few times in the next few weeks, but don't hold your breath. Actually, I'm not going to stop you from turning blue and passing out if you feel like it, have someone send me pictures!

Stanford

Stanford University
www.stanford.edu

General
· Overseas study stressed, nearly 1/3 of all students study overseas
· Undergraduate study doesn’t require a declared major until sophomore year
· “breadth and depth” involves various courses with a strong focus
· all classes taught by qualified professors
· TA’s help with sections for review, not teaching
· Campus is at the heart of 8,000 acres of Stanford-owned land
· Departments are more open to outsiders, don’t require separate admissions like a ‘school’
· Housing guaranteed for four years, required freshman year
· Dorm stay requires meal plan

Admissions
· Goal of admissions is to bring in a diverse class
· 19,000 applicants, 2,400 admitted, 1,640 attend
o less than 1/8 accepted, less than 12%
· Application selected based on subjective components, no formula
· Location, lifestyle, influences, experiences are taken into account
· Focus on “individual intellectual vitality”
· Single-choice early action
o Due NOVEMBER 1
o Non-binding
o Only apply early-action to one university!
o Admission will be offered or rejected
· Regular review
o Due DECEMBER 15
o Admission decision, very few waitlisted
§ Waitlisted students rarely gain admission
· Need-blind admission, numerous financial aid programs

Application
· Transcript
o Primary focus of selection
o Sophomore and Junior grades key
o AP classes help
· Essay
o 3 short answer essays
§ 1 paragraph each, answer the question
o 1 page-long essay
§ read question carefully, answer thoughtfully
· Awards/Activities
o Senior year coursework
o Honors, awards
o Research
o Extracurricular
§ Commitment to activities
o Work & volunteer experience
· References
o Guidance counselor reference
§ Coursework, personality, class rank
§ Role of guidance counselor in individual school
o 2 teacher references
§ Junior and Senior year teachers
§ How you work with others
§ How you interact with class
· Testing
o SAT/ACT required, average SAT at least 1400
o SAT II recommended in Writing, Math (preferably IIC) and other
· Fine Arts
o Auditions according to set procedures can add additional strengthening component to application


Overall Impression:

The only possible problem here is admissions: I’m qualified, but that still means I only have roughly one chance in ten of being admitted. The campus is beautiful and the programs look good, the music department offers minors in a lot of fields, including music technology. The marching band “does not encourage traditional marching skills” which is never the sign of a good program, but the other band programs look strong. There are few schools that would beat Stanford for engineering and computer science… I’ll apply and see if I get lucky.

Stanford & travel

After another solid night of sleep, I woke up to the alarm at 7:00. We checked out of the hotel and put our bags into storage, then we took “Marguerite,” the free Palo-Alto to Stanford shuttle. The campus itself is much larger than it looks on the map, and the campus extends far beyond the region shown on the map, more than 8,000 acres. We got off in the central campus area near the main quad and spent a little while walking through the main quad and the central campus area.

We found the bookstore, which was quite possibly the only building on campus with any significant activity at 8:15. There was a café inside, so we stopped for breakfast. I bought my customary college shirt there. We headed outside to walk around the campus a bit more, and found ourselves outside the music building, just as we were beginning to wonder where it was. The lady at the administration desk was very helpful and gave an overview of the programs and a tour of the facilities. The music department (not a school, just a department, which makes it easier to take classes or a minor without the need for a special application, only an audition) seemed very organized. It even offered work in music technology, a good mix of engineering, computer science, and music.

After our tour of the music building, we walked across the pathway to the Tresidder Union building where our tour of campus started. Our tour guide “Mike” was very helpful. Like many university tour guides, he walked backward for much of the tour. We walked around the center of campus because the full campus tour would take all day. The tour focused on academics, residential life, and extracurricular activities on campus. The campus is like a small city, it seems to be the center of student life.

When the tour was over, we went back to the Union building for an information session. Like all other information sessions, the presenter covered general information, and then focused on the admission and application process and financial aid. At $43,000, Stanford is just a bit pricy. Most of the information can be found a bit later in my Stanford-info post.

By the time we were done, it was 11:30 and time for lunch. We ate at a restaurant on the lower floor of the Union, I had nachos. Because I didn’t want to fight my way back inside to get a fork, I ate them with chopsticks. It worked surprisingly well. I think we would have enjoyed lunch better had we eaten on the other side of the building, in the shade and away from the bees.

We went up the Herbert Hoover tower to get an aerial view of campus. Hoover was a graduate of Stanford and a major donor, as well as a rather unpopular President of the United States because of his image as a scapegoat for the depression. From the 14th floor observation deck, we were able to see all the way into Oakland and San Francisco, as well as the entire 8,000 acre campus, including the radio telescope and all the central campus buildings. Next, we went inside the ornate chapel located on the main quad, dedicated to Leland Stanford and the Stanford family for their contributions to the university.

We had a bit more time to kill before the transfer to the airport, so we took the shuttle back to the transfer station and walked a few blocks into downtown Palo Alto. We walked a few blocks around the town before stopping for ice cream and heading back to the hotel. The shuttle driver was nice enough to call and tell us he would be 15 minutes late… and then to call and tell us he was going to be another 5 minutes… combined with some backwards driving on the freeway yesterday, he may notice a decrease in tip.

The Oakland airport really isn’t all that big, we bought a few things at the gift shop then went through security. The terminal we were in had a few shops and some small food places, so we waited for an hour and a half (the flight was delayed for 40 minutes, fortunately we’re not in a big hurry.) Every couple of minutes there was an announcement over the intercom, either a security announcement or something like “the rental car shuttle goes to the rental car area.” Really? I always thought the rental car shuttle went to the Wall-Mart parking lot… do people really need these kinds of announcements?

The flight itself was decent, we were about 20 rows back again and the people in front of us were kind of annoying, reclining seats and moving around a lot. Someone brought a ghetto-blaster as their “personal item.” Sound like a Jeff Foxworthy joke, anyone? The flight ended with a request for the transfer passengers to get off first, but nobody really paid attention to that, or hurried off the plane. We got a town-car to take us to the University Inn for about $40.
After checking in to the hotel and calling home, we walked a few blocks to IHOP for dinner. The service was slow and the food was warm… in places… but I guess it hasn’t changed in the 25 years since my mom went to school there. After dinner we walked around the block and then went back to the hotel. One more day to go!

USC

USC University of Southern California
www.usc.edu

General
26 students average per class
200 students for large freshman lectures
All classes are taught by professors
Undergraduate research opportunities
Mix and match programs, courses, and degrees
Competitive club / intramural sports
Top 3 for international students (7-9%)

Housing
No tours, due to security and construction
Residence halls on corners of campus, North Campus areas
Housing not required, guaranteed freshman year only
Meal plans available, required freshman year
Lottery for on-campus housing for upperclassmen
Most upperclassmen rent houses or apartments
Several cafeterias
Debit system on student ID card
See public safety office online for security

Application
No early decision option
2 Part application
Part I DUE OCTOBER 15
1 page, basic information and statement of interest
Part II DUE DECEMBER 10
Application, scholarships, major-specific additions
· Essay
o WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT???
o 3 main questions, choose 1
o Short answer section, 3, 1-paragraph questions
o Quick takes section, several-word answers
· Activities
o School and outside activities
o Clubs, service, what you do, traveling, hobbies, awards
· Transcript
o 9th – 12th grade (including senior year grades)
o Academic courses
o Grades
o AP courses – 3, 4, 5 counts for credits, 4, and 5 can count for placement
· Recommendations
o Enhance the application through outside views
o At least once academic recommendation, several others
· SAT
o Best verbal and math scores
o SAT II recommended, not required

· Merit scholarships for the top of application pool, highly competitive


Engineering
Vitterbi School of Engineering

Undeclared Engineering program
Allows choice of engineering majors while gaining admission to the School of Engineering
AP credits count for some elective credits


Music
Thornton School of Music

· Apply to the school of music if a major is a possibility
· Choose between classical and jazz studies
o Trojan Marching Band available to different majors, many engineering majors
· Decide on a minor after enrollment at USC


Overall Impression:
Although the campus is small, the programs are exactly what I am looking for. The surrounding area is definitely urban, but it isn’t overwhelming because there is a central campus, unlike NYU. It seems like off-campus housing is plentiful enough, the only possible issue is transportation anywhere beyond safe biking distance.

USC & travel

Woke up to the alarm in the morning after a night of solid sleep in the hotel room. It was overcast outside, but there were already patches where the sun was beginning to burn through. We went to Starbucks in University Village just north of campus for breakfast, it was reasonably crowded. Campus looked a lot more alive today, possibly in part because Wednesdays are tour days.

We arrived at the admissions office 15 minute early and filled out the usual assortment of forms along with several dozen other prospective students and their families. Many people were from California, but there were a few from Oregon and Washington, several from Texas, and one from Alabama. The “Meet USC” program started with the oh-so-familiar admissions presentation in the auditorium of the humanities building. General questions about the university as a whole were answered here, a list of all this is included after this entry.

The second part of the program was a campus tour. We were broken up into smaller groups, maybe 30 people total, and led around campus. Our tour guide was an engineering major and an Ultimate Frisbee aficionado. The campus itself is not large, less than 200 acres, and you can stand in the middle and see the northern and southern borders in the distance. There are several grassy quads, numerous residence halls (mostly for freshmen, the lack of on-campus housing has led at times to the use of the Radisson hotel for emergency housing), plenty of trees, and all the other features of any college campus. Many students drive and bring their cars, since public transportation in Los Angeles may as well be non-existent.

The final part of the program was a meeting with the engineering department. We talked with the engineering school’s director of admissions for an hour along with 6 other students. The program seems perfect, there is an “undeclared engineering” program that allows people to enter the college of engineering without deciding on a specific field. They encourage double majoring and major – minor studies between engineering and unrelated fields, which is perfect for engineering and music. Admissions to the engineering program are competitive; maybe 400 students are accepted each year.

After the engineering visit, we stopped by the commons area for a sandwich for lunch. A visit to the ATM outside turned interesting when the receipt came out and promptly fell into a small crack in the molding. Hmm… interesting. We then went through a series of buildings looking for the music department, which has been relocated to a church across the street during construction. The church was a maze of different hallways and stairways, and judging by the giant trap on the 5th floor, home to at least one rat. The music admissions office was staffed by a graduate student who was also a trombone player in the marching band. She was happy to give out information on the music programs, and even mentioned that her sister would be coming into the band the same year I would be.

We returned to the hotel around 1:30, a bit late for check-out, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. We took another shuttle van to the airport for out flight to Oakland. This driver was Hispanic, probably Mexican since it is Southern California. Traffic was rather “Los Angeles” again, but we had plenty of time.

At the airport, my bag full of clothes (not the bag with the CD player and electronics, the bag of clothes) was searched at security. Ahh, well. Ate a quick snack at TCBY and got online at the T-Mobile hotspot. I’ve figured out how to get the laptop online at those now, although the one I was at wasn’t working very well. The flight to Oakland was uneventful yet again, although I got a good view of the USC campus and the X-Games location from the air.

In Oakland, we experienced the same strange looks when we told people we were heading to Stanford. It’s definitely not the closest airport, but the airfare still makes up the difference in shuttle fare. It was another 70 dollars to get from the airport to the Westin Hotel in Palo Alto, across from the Stanford campus. The driver of this shuttle was Islamic, judging by the sticker saying “Allah is the divine provider” and several Arabic-looking items around the dash. He drove fast and wasn’t afraid to back up on the shoulder of the off ramp when he missed the initial turn. Ehhh… scary.

The hotel is very nice, slightly larger room than last time and much farther from the elevator. Mom was having stomach problems, so she was too distracted to notice the AC control that she walked by no less than 4 times. To be honest, I didn’t see it either, but I wasn’t the one looking for it. We went several blocks along the road to the Stanford Shopping Center just off campus where we got her some meds, and then we went to find the ice cream place near Bloomindales that Kyrie recommended. Yummy, good ice cream and good burgers.

The walk back to the hotel was interesting. People kept asking me directions, apparently assuming that I knew anything about the area. I showed them on the map; hope I pointed them in the right direction. The path along the road was poorly lit, but there was just enough light for us to see the skunk crossing the path ahead of us. Mom freaked out, so we crossed the street to find yet another skunk. This time I just kept walking, it was off the side of the path in the bushes. She was pretty happy when we came to the lit path again and maybe just a bit jumpy. I grabbed her and said “skunk” and she got really scared, then the sprinklers came on nearby and she jumped again. Now we’re back in the hotel, I think she’ll sleep well tonight. I probably will too, it’s been a busy day and there are two more ahead.

Los Angeles & Hollywood

Left home around 8:00, we were almost onto SR-14 when we started hearing noises from the bottom of the BMW. I guess the skid plate is loose again, we stopped and checked it, but there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it right now. The flight from Portland to the Orange County John Wayne Airport was uneventful, I managed to bust out the colored pencils and finish up some more of my Washington State History worksheets.

When we got into the airport, we realized that it was farther away from USC than it looked on the map. We found a shuttle van that would take us to our hotel, the Radisson Midtown Los Angeles, across the street from the USC campus and the admissions building, for $65. Not cheap, but its still $35 better than a taxi. The driver was Iranian, he moved to the United States to finish school when he was 19 and never moved back. Now he has 2 kids at UCSD.

After checking into the hotel and making arrangements for a transfer to the airport tomorrow afternoon, we walked around the USC campus. I’ll describe it in more detail tomorrow after the info session and formal tour, but I think it is going to be hard to get a good feel for it since it’s so empty right now. I must admit this wasn’t unexpected; I visited the East Coast schools during our Spring Break, while they were in school, but this is the middle of summer for everyone.

We walked all over campus, and then we returned to our hotel for a break. My phone works very well here (well, as well as it does anywhere) but mom’s phone can only find AT&T and Cingular signals, so I guess it really doesn’t matter that her battery is almost dead. Still, I think it’s weird that my phone works better than hers for finding signal, even with my loose antenna.

We took a taxi up to Universal Studios and walked around the City Walk. The driver almost ran out of gas on the freeway when we got stuck in LA rush-hour traffic (aggravated by an accident where a semi-truck hit a small car and ran into the median) but we made it. It was just closing time for the park itself, so we just looked in the gates and got a picture by the fountains at the entrance. They had the Delorean on display that was used in “Back to the Future” and other cool stuff. After we finished there, we walked a few blocks to the Metro station and rode down a stop into West Hollywood and Hollywood Boulevard. We saw the walk of fame and the prints outside the Chinese theater and all the touristy sites along there before heading back to the hotel for the night.