A post without any pictures for once, can you imagine? I’m going to start a new section where I basically summarize recent events in my life/what I’ve been up to. Yep, just another narcissistic attempt to document my life.

Lately I’ve…

1. Reformatted the laptop, which caught a virus when I tried to download a math program for a dumb calculus project. At least it was worth it, since there wasn’t even much stuff to back up off the laptop (being old and hopefully an in-between until I can get the HP TouchSmart tx2z). I am much more satisfied with my newly configured (but very old) Dell XP for now, though.
2. Ordered the new 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor prime lens. It was a belated birthday present, and took an amazing amount of work to convince my dad to get it. I even got help from the kid brother on that.
3. Accepted into the 4 UCs I applied to. Now I’m waiting on the last two school, which come out next Tuesday.
4. Been driving! Today was actually only my fourth time driving–I’ve only recently gotten my permit–but I’m having fun trying not to be like all those people who do not understand how to drive smoothly after 20 years of experience! I’m looking at a couple (Asian) parents of a few friends, actually.
5. Been going to Tea Station way too much. We say we’re celebrating admittance, but it’s really just another reason to hang out and not do anything after school.

Yesterday, my Facebook homepage was a down-trodden, somewhat angry, recession-blaming sea of status messages. Yep, UC Davis decisions came out – they were not pretty. Outside of the ELC kids (minus me & S. who’d forgotten to turn in our forms) who’d been guaranteed in months ago, only a handful of more had been accepted. As the word-of-month so eloquently puts it, the undeserving lazy-ass portion of the males got in (exceptions of course) while the more harder-working part of the girls got their actual just deserts.

Nevertheless, there were a scary amount who had not gotten in. Should we blame it on the quickly snowballing recession? I think that’s only a minor part of it. Where will this leave students? Will they start turning towards other forms of education, such as online colleges or universities abroad? It doesn’t help that the honors & AP populace of California see Davis as the universally accepted safety.

This got me thinking–as if I ever really stopped–about my own list of colleges & the near future. These are the schools I applied to, a list of 8 that would probably have been better as 6. They are listed in order of proximity to home, and therefore reverse desirability. I’m only (mostly) kidding.

disclaimer: not my pictures; follow links for credits

UC Berkeley

23.8 mi | Every Asian parent's dream to some extent. Perhaps that's why I always had an aversion to this place. But duty calls. I used to wave the Stanford flag over this place when everyone wanted to go in junior high, but you'll notice that the said school didn't even make it onto schools I cared to apply for.

UC Davis

91.2 mi | Ah, yes - this place. I wish I hadn't applied now, because honestly, I would never attend and someone who actually wanted to get in might have. Unfortunately, the UC system (and college admissions in general) is just one huge numbers game of super lotto.

UCLA

315 mi | If I got into both (or had to choose one), I would take this over Berkeley. Of course, getting in to either remains two huge IFs.

UC San Diego

423 mi | Is the sixth college supposed to be all that bad? Nevertheless, results came in for this before even Davis, so - anticlimactic. But happy-making all the same.

University of Pennsylvania

2,501 mi| Dream school once upon a time. Then I visited it in person sophomore year. Shattered dreams. Then I had to actually fill out application. I did so much research on this place it made me want to go very badly again. Yes, Whorton, we do toe the line of love and hate, don't we? Minuscule percent chance of getting in anyway, so no worries there.

New York University

2,552 mi | Well, I got in; now for the official letter on the moolah. That same visit East that plowed my Penn ideal built up my Manhattan-campus playground replacement. Deary me.

Columbia

2,553 mi | Because it's in New York City.

Fordham

2,556 mi | Fordham needs (and will get) an entire post of its own. For a school I never expected to apply to, it is hovering of the moment as one I may most likely attend. I got in Early Action, meaning honestly - I really shouldn't have applied to Davis. It also happens to be in NYC.

Simply judging from what you’ve heard of these schools or the pictures I’ve helpfully (but somewhat misleadingly) provided, what schools would you choose?