Glad I could provide a distraction for you.

I think when I was 8 I might have had a good idea of what I wanted to do with my life and where I wanted to go. Thankfully both of those got fuzzier as I grew up. I used to say that I wanted to be an architect (a long while back) and I was hugely into Legos, too. My friends and I had a fun afternoon this summer playing with all the Legos, actually… timeless fun.

As long as you’re thinking about your sister, I’ll share with you an insight into my little brother. If you ask him what he’d like to do with his life, he’ll tell you that he wants to be an engineer (oh, if you could see the masterpieces he’s done with Lego’s). If you ask him where he’d like to go to college, he’ll tell that he wants to go to Stanford.

The kicker? He’s eight years old.

I am really worried when I look at the juniors behind me, who will be starting their process in just a few weeks… (http://www.samjackson.org/college/2006/01/15/more-about-me/ )

Looking farther behind them my sister will be applying to schools in a few years, too. I believe in learning for the sake of learning and all these pressures can get in the way of that, even if we try to pretend otherwise. It’s really, really unfortunate.

The important thing is to stay honest to yourself. If you compromise who you are, who you want to be, and what you do for the sake of others it can only end in regret!

Now, reading about college admissions within the first two hours of the new year… give yourself a bit of a break, Jen! You’ll have to pace yourself for the months ahead, anyways. Keep it real.

Now I’m an on-the-fence prospective Yalie. Of course, I’m also a Stanford hopeful (Asian, Californian - does 2 2=4?). As a result, I have set myself some high standards.

Reading your post, though, bothers me - it’s not you, it’s just the post.

It makes me question myself. Have I really chosen my path? Have I chosen to “enlighten” myself? Have I chosen my classes and extracurriculars to better myself? Have I molded my high school career into the perfect stepping stone towards college and a better life than the ones my parents left in Vietnam? Are the 4 AP classes I’m taking the source of my stress? Is being on the publications staff the source of my stress?

Or do I just live in a society where it’s been burned into me that the only way to live is to take 8 AP classes? Do I live in a society where it’s wrong to not study every night until well past midnight? Did society mold my high school career? Did I choose my path? Did I choose to “enlighten” myself?

The musings of a junior - I apologize, but your post nagged me.

Have fun at Yale.

While I am not in college yet (I’m applying to Skidmore or Vassar ED2, I still need to decide), I just want to say that I enjoyed a stress-free time at Exeter because I knew from the start of my freshman year that I didn’t want to go to a Yale, Brown, or Harvard. I truly feel bad for some kids (not you, you didn’t sell your soul to the GPA/Ivy League gods) that really missed out on the whole Exeter experience sitting in their rooms writing papers. (I’m talking about some of those four-years on the ECL list). Too bad, four years of their life down the drain.
But I’m not in yet, so maybe I could have learned something from those kids, we’ll see…

And speaking of ECL, I was in a particularly high-powered English class last year with two of the ECL kids (the class was smart all around); it was obvious that they worked their respective butts off, but one of them was a complete idiot in class. He probably received an A because he could write fairly well (but he was not exceptional by even the standards of the class), but his comments were not intelligent nor constructive, and they always disrupted the flow of the class. He induced more awkward silences than anyone I had ever been in class with…he was a very poor Harkness student in general. The Exeter teachers preach class participation, and in English class 90% of your work consists of reading to prepare for discussions. Yet I would have given this kid a D for his participation, and unless he wrote a novel for each paper assignment I wouldn’t have given him higher than a B for the term.

On a happier note, I am currently enjoying Billy Joel’s album, “An Innocent Man”, and before that I enjoyed “Countdown to Ecstasy” by The Greatest Band of All Time, Steely Dan.