Ommmm...

Hello again,

Week's recap: Wednesday, got a chem test back - improved from last test by 27%! Thursday's chem lab went relatively well, though my partner and I were last out. Ear-training and sight-singing lab (required for music majors, open to all) went well, though I pity those around me who have to hear me sing.

Friday: in-class chem quiz I definitely needed to have studied for more (two quick questions, I got at least one right). Bio exam went well, and Perspectives quiz on Kant was all right. Friday night, silly friends and I built a bed-sheet fort in the study lounge of Keyes, hung out there all night.

Saturday: went to see BC bOp! jazz ensemble perform at biggest show of year - it was phenomenal (they compete and perform internationally). This was followed by two hours of ice skating in the hockey rink in Conte, put on by UGBC - lots of fun!

This is clearly the time of year that Student Admissions starts working overtime. The trees start to shake off the winter with little buds and beginnings of leaves, those all-important letters are being sent to and fro all across the country, and excited and - if at all like me - extremely confused high school seniors start trekking around the globe (or so it seems) to figure out what they want to do next year. For the past weeks and in ever-increasing numbers, BC students get to watch potential fellow Eagles wander around campus wondering what it is that makes our school so great.

Looking back now, I am amazed that it has already been a year since I was doing the same.

I just want to offer what advice I have, being fresh out of the dreaded Common App system: take it easy for a bit. It's always good to sift through data and tour schools and think about pros and cons or however you're trying to make a decision, but your mind and your life can't take too much of that. Take an hour a week or so to just sit back and relax: pray, meditate, write a poem, go for a jog; a general brain de-tox. It will help enormously in the overall process.

One other, more concrete tip: when it comes to choices, reactions can speak louder than anything: put the schools you're considering in a hat, pull them out one-by-one and see how you feel the instant you read it. Relieved? Check it as possible. Very disheartened? Reconsider it. Obviously not a perfect method, but it helped me out.

Good luck, and I can't wait to see any of you around campus, visiting, or perhaps, studying?

Joe