the Sam Jackson College Experience

What would college be without participation in random psych experiments?

I won’t be able to personally answer that question because I’m going to have to be a guinea pig in some experiments in order to meet the pretty easy lab requirement for my intro psych course, taught by the excellent Marvin Chun. Signing up for the ‘experiments server’ there is a one hour intro survey which counts for a credit of participation. Some of the questions were normal, but some were pretty weirdly specific. The first two big sets were about spiders and snakes, which questions like:

If I came across a spider now, I would get help from someone else to remove it. T/F

Although it may not be so, I think of snakes as slimy. T/F

I am terrified by the thought of touching a harmless snake. T/F

I would be somewhat afraid to enter a room now, where I have seen a spider before. T/F

And I’m just thinking to myself… are most of the studies the psych department is doing this fall about spiders and snakes? Maybe this is the norm for such things; I have no idea. Some of the sociological questions were pretty creepy, too: “Its OK if some groups have more of a chance in life than others.” (1-7) or “Some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups.” Scary.

Lastly, I kept finding the phrasings really funny as the later sections used the term ‘close others’ to describe some weird friend-romantic-family-amalgam with whom one might share secrets, turn to for support, etc.

Anyway I didn’t sign up for any of the first few studies because of timing, but hopefully I’ll have some fun ones to report back about. I can’t get any money for anything I do for credit, but some could be fun on their own. Hopefully.

Some of you may be familiar with the concept of naked parties popular at college campuses across the nation but perhaps especially Yale; in any event, I thought I would attach a relevant email sent to the freshman class about something its anonymous author purports to be the first Pundit-sponsored prankish naked party of the year. I was out all afternoon participating in a fun Trumbull-freshmen-only scavenger hunt across campus, and came back to find this:

Dear Freshmen,

Some of you were visited several nights ago by upperclassmen who delivered to your suites invitations to “The Masquerade.” The invitations read:

“You and one guest are cordially invited by a distinguished group of peers to attend the Masquerade on Saturday, the Fifteenth of September. Please arrive in formal attire at the gates to the Hall of Graduate Studies at nine thirty post merediem. Tell no one and do not be late. Non Ducor, Duco.”

An image of the invitation, for your reference, is attached. Some of you may be under the impression that you have been tapped for something, or invited to a gathering hosted by a secret society, such as the Yale Society for the Exploration of Campus Secrets (YSECS).

Sadly, this is not the case. Your ‘hosts’ are the Pundits, the infamous Senior pranking society.

Should you choose to go to the gates of the HGS this evening, here is what will happen:

1) You will be led to an off-campus location by the Pundits.

2) There will be a party there.

3) Before very long, and at a certain cue, the Pundits will take off all of their clothes.

4) You will feel rather awkward, unless you’re into that sort of thing.

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Here’s me at the Kyle Sampson hearings that I went to while I was in Washington D.C. interning–front page of theBoston Globe, March 30, 2007! I never got around to scanning it until I was just cleaning my room today.

Wait, what do you mean you don’t see me? Oh… well, you see, we had these really great seats but I was with my friend and occasional troublemaker Adam Kelly, who through a series of wacky misadventures and the intervention of a not very friendly or intern-loving Judiciary Committee staffer lost us said good seats. So we’re way in the back. Photo below, with me at left (circled) and Adam on my left as we strain to see the swearing in. The security people that day were very cool, as most of the Capitol Police were. We had fun chats with them whenever we got stuck in the back. : )

Anyhow, yeah… we were in newspaper and media photos all the time since we all went to lots of cool hearings like this one! Lots and lots of really great times down in D.C., I can’t wait to go back.

I’ve been playing a game of Diplomacy by e-mail with a group of Yale 2011 admits, and it’s been pretty fun–thanks to Matt Kremer for organizing it! We were drafted and organized initially through the Facebook 2011 group, which as I’ve said before, has been quite the valuable tool. Now, whether such games are the best to play with strangers is still a point of some contention, as I may never again trust my former ally in the game after he mercilessly backstabbed me in the black sea in Fall 1903. Robert Tunney, I won’t forget! But I might forgive. We’ll see.

This Diplomacy game ties in perfectly with a story I snipped from the Yale Daily News a few weeks ago about a campus Risk game between the residential colleges on Old Campus, which sounded intensely awesome. I love to hear about stories like ‘real-life large scale campus simulation of Risk!’ but I’m especially happy to hear about such outpourings of cool creativity when it’s at my future school!

Students hazard all in campus Risk game
YDN: Zachary Abrahamson, January 23, 2007

Durfee never saw it coming. Under cover of darkness Sunday night, Saybrugian and Piersonite forces stole out of L-Dub and mounted a frontal assault on Post Office territory, overwhelming the unsuspecting Morsel defenders. Across Old Campus, Davenport College turned on Ezra Stiles, and the combined forces of Berkeley and Branford seized South High Street from Saybrook and Pierson.

Is this a scenario from “Studies in Grand Strategy?” Not quite. The clash of collegiate forces Sunday night marked the beginning of Old Campus Tree Risk. In the uniquely Eli adaptation of the classic board game, every tree on Old Campus is a potential territory to conquer. The YaleStation-based game allows any Yale student to place and command armies in territories controlled by his or her residential college.

Quirky but extremely fun? Sounds like it. Hopefully the game will have evolved into something even cooler by the time I arrive, if it’s still around. I’ve always dreamt of such a large-scale game, though I suppose my idea was never quite as novel as I might have imagined. All the same… very neat.

I updated my ‘About’ page to be more accurate and less numbingly extensive. Including here in post-form because, well, I know by my crazy-intense statistics gathering that not that many people have actually gone to the ‘About‘ page despite its very prominent placement.

Why I have this blog: I started this blog describing it as “an organic derivation of my own college process” which is probably still accurate. I also said that “The reason I have done this painfully extensive research on various college admissions related topics, and the reason I analyze the marketing as thoroughly as I can, is because I am being marketed to and it pays to be savvy.” Plus, it’s a good way for me to hone my writing skills!

Well, my college application process is done, though there may be a little more paperwork here and there. I applied early action to and was accepted at Yale University and will be matriculating there into the class of 2011. I did not apply to any of the other 12 schools I had had on my list. However, there is still much to write about, and I think I will keep blogging once I get to New Haven in the fall. [I will probably be taking a break this spring trimester, however, as I will be interning in Washington, D.C. in John Kerry's office and won't have as much time to blog about college.]

About me: My name is Sam Jackson, and I’m currently a high school senior at Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in Exeter, NH. I don’t go there because my parents don’t love me (they do) but rather because it’s a better educational experience than the one I could get at public school back home. At least, I’m hoping that’s the case; I’m pretty sure after 3 years. “Back Home” means “a bit outside Boston.” If you’d like to stalk me further, you’re going to have to do a little legwork yourself. For the most part I like my time here, though I wish it wasn’t in Exeter. The most important thing Exeter has taught me is: don’t go to a small, rural liberal arts college.

I like to write and read, and the humanities are generally my favorite subjects. Feel free to forward book suggestions; I’m always on the hunt for new material. I value knowledge because my experience has shown that there is inevitably a use for even the most esoteric sorts of information. I’m told that I have a good memory.

I try to keep busy at school with lots of extracurriculars but can’t ever seem to do enough to alleviate the frequent boredom that Exeter’s remoteness induces. I enjoy some humor in my life which is why I count authors like Terry Pratchett among my favorites; Al Franken is a personal hero of mine.

I try to learn important life lessons from my golden retriever, Cozmo. Autumn is my favorite season, because I love the New England foliage and the pleasant weather. Halloween is, of course, the best holiday of the year.

<– How about a picture? These were the envelopes for teacher recommendations for one teacher (the other was in the rainforest and wrote hers last year). Luckily for Ms. Schwartz, only one ever had to be sent!