Applicants and applications

Yesterday I volunteered for Macaulay interviewing students who applied this fall. We had some really interesting kids come in, who had interesting things to say about themselves and their aspirations and seemed to be very engage in life. We also had a ton of pre-meds - not that those two classifications are mutually exclusive, but it's always amazing to me how many people come here wanting to go to med school (although many don't leave here with the same intentions).

The main thing that struck me about these applicants was how incredibly stressful the whole experience was for them. Each current student was paired with a Hunter alum, which was a good idea but came out a little strange I think. And my alum was asking really tough questions, like "if there were 10 people here and 1 spot, why should I give it to you?" That's the question I always hate on applications, and in person it's even worse. How are you supposed to answer that without sounding pompous? It's terribly awkward, and it's always seemed to me that a strong application has a "show rather than tell" quality - as you read it or talk to the person, you get an idea of why (or why not) they should get that spot. But being asked point blank is so stressful!

The other funny thing is how little anything matters once you get to the next step: once you're in college no one cares what you got on your SAT (I know people who barely studied for it at all and are doing amazingly well now), and once your in grad school undergrad seems to fade away similarly. The recent PhD's I've talked to agree that no one cares about their Master's at all any more. And yet we get so engrossed in each little detail at the time....