Contrary to Chevy, I had a great weekend. I stayed with some friends at Harvard, and I'm currently on a bus back to NYC.
Since I brought up Harvard, I think its important to note some things for prospective/incoming freshman. I talked about this a bit last week with some accepted Macaulay Hunter students, and after visiting my friends in Cambridge, I'm sure what I said was true: I believe that the academic education I'm getting at Macaulay Hunter is just as good as the one I would've gotten at an ivy league school (like Harvard). There are really only two differences between Harvard and Macaulay Hunter: the names, and the atmosphere.
The name "Macaulay Hunter" doesn't quite carry the same prestige that "Harvard" does (although I think it should!). Picking a school because of the prestige factor of it's name is, in my opinion, not a good idea. Some people like to argue that going to Harvard opens up more opportunities because of this factor, networking with Harvard alumni and other ivy leagues, etc. but I think Macaulay does this as well (we have alumni working to give Macaulay kids expanded opportunities, and just look at the list of Macaulay events to see some of the big names that Macaulay kids have the chance to meet).
The other difference is the atmosphere. Harvard and other ivy league schools have self-contained campuses, and even if they are in/near a big city, this is much different from Macaulay/Hunter, which are spread all over NYC, along with the rest of CUNY. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but personally, after spending three days ONLY on the Harvard campus, I'm thrilled to be heading back to the city. I was starting to feel a little cooped up!
Sorry for the long serious discussion, but I think it's really important. Last year, when I was rejected from the ivy league schools I applied to, I was crushed. But over the weekend, listening to some of my friends and their classmates talk about their struggle to keep a budget and worry about their mounting debt, I realized even though I go to Hunter and they go to Harvard, in many ways, I'm better off.
Time to face that mountain of spring break work in my bag...
-Kaitlyn (kt.ohagan@gmail.com)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Cold Days, Cold Nights
Thus far, spring break has sprung nothing but horrid weather to its dearest lovers. I was excited to enjoy the time off and splurge this break, but it has come to my attention that the first few days have not been enjoyable at all. And to testify to this matter, I stayed in all day today, too annoyed by the frigid weather to go out. Not to mention, being so bored that I fell asleep late afternoon - this is the reason I am up blogging/ranting away at the moment.
Now, according to the weather man, the terrible conditions are scheduled (sheduled?) to improve come Wednesday, but that is just an awful while away! I am certainly not enjoying the time off as of now, but who knows? Perhaps, I will win the lottery tomorrow, in spite of losing the battle for good weather... too bad I never bought a ticket.
On that note, I will rest my rant and engage in CSI: Miami... because when the weather fails, David Caruso does not.
Now, according to the weather man, the terrible conditions are scheduled (sheduled?) to improve come Wednesday, but that is just an awful while away! I am certainly not enjoying the time off as of now, but who knows? Perhaps, I will win the lottery tomorrow, in spite of losing the battle for good weather... too bad I never bought a ticket.
On that note, I will rest my rant and engage in CSI: Miami... because when the weather fails, David Caruso does not.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Spring Break! ...kinda
So somehow the first three days of my Spring Break entail my getting up at 7:00 AM. Which is actually not bad, except for the actual getting-up part. Yesterday I had to get up early to go spend the day with family, and with friends I haven't seen in ages, so that was good; today it was to spend most of the day dogsitting for a friend, which entails spending all day in a very nice apartment in the Village, with a very nice, sweet old terrier. And tomorrow is my usual Monday at Legal Aid. My attorneys are doing arraignments today, so they've promised to have lots for me to do tomorrow (as opposed to this past Wednesday, where I spent 8 hours in the intern room catching up on Pol Sci homework... of course, I'd stayed till 7:00 last Monday, and run an extra errand for one attorney the week before, so it all balances out).
Last month, incidentally, I started serving as one of the Senior Senators in the Undergraduate Student Government. I'll only serve a quarter of a term--half a semester--so I don't expect to formulate and push through any grand paradigm-shifting policies, but it's interesting work. USG's main functions are planning events, governing the official clubs, and liaising between the students and the people who run the school. It's a good way to develop a mastery of the more esoteric areas of CUNY's byzantine bureaucracy. I also get to feel that I'm giving a little bit back to the school. Not a whole lot, but I will make a few things run a little bit more smoothly than they might have otherwise.
On an utterly unrelated note, last night I saw a really cool theater thingy by the New York Neo-Futurists. It's in a nice little artsy theater in the East Village. Interesting work structured around controlled randomness. The tickets cost $10 plus the amount you roll on a 6-sided die; the show lasts 60 minutes, and they try to get through 30 short plays, in whatever order the audience calls them out; and every week they roll 2 6-sided dice to decide how many plays to replace for next week's rotation. The plays I saw last night ranged from topical commentary ("Health Care Symphony") to sheer hilarity ("When Abstract Impressionists Attack") to frankly disturbing ("Meryl Streep Will Drink Your Blood Now"). Good stuff.
Last month, incidentally, I started serving as one of the Senior Senators in the Undergraduate Student Government. I'll only serve a quarter of a term--half a semester--so I don't expect to formulate and push through any grand paradigm-shifting policies, but it's interesting work. USG's main functions are planning events, governing the official clubs, and liaising between the students and the people who run the school. It's a good way to develop a mastery of the more esoteric areas of CUNY's byzantine bureaucracy. I also get to feel that I'm giving a little bit back to the school. Not a whole lot, but I will make a few things run a little bit more smoothly than they might have otherwise.
On an utterly unrelated note, last night I saw a really cool theater thingy by the New York Neo-Futurists. It's in a nice little artsy theater in the East Village. Interesting work structured around controlled randomness. The tickets cost $10 plus the amount you roll on a 6-sided die; the show lasts 60 minutes, and they try to get through 30 short plays, in whatever order the audience calls them out; and every week they roll 2 6-sided dice to decide how many plays to replace for next week's rotation. The plays I saw last night ranged from topical commentary ("Health Care Symphony") to sheer hilarity ("When Abstract Impressionists Attack") to frankly disturbing ("Meryl Streep Will Drink Your Blood Now"). Good stuff.
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