Monday, June 2, 2008

Open Space

A place for you APES (that's AP English Students, not anything simian in nature) to get to know each other...to talk about college, about other books you're reading, to ask questions. Keep it at least reasonably academic, if you please.

19 comments:

Katie said...

Ok, so senior year is coming at us pretty quickly. And you all know what that means: college applications. The easy part is filling out your name and address etc. It's the essay I'm worried about.

Have any of you started writing it yet? How did you pick a topic?

And The Benefactor Is... Dario said...

Haven't started but am planning to finish it before the summer is finished. Though I haven't started, I think the best way to pick a topic would be something that you geniunely care about and that shows who you are to a college. On that note, I have no idea what kind of topic you (or I) could write on that would do that yet. Enjoy!

Unknown said...

Hello Everyone.
Just curious, are there any more deadlines for blog entries?
Thanks.

Katie said...

Marrissa,I'm not sure if there are any more deadlines rather than the first day of school, but I'm sure if there was, Ms. Clapp would tell us.

But I have another question. In posting comments to a third of the book, are we going on page numbers, chapters, or parts? Because in Things Fall Apart, there are three "Parts" but they are not proportional as to pages (125 in one, 42 in another). On the first thread, I responded to 1/3 of the pages. What are we supposed to do?

Kristen W. said...

Well Katie I'm not really sure how we were supposed to split that up either, but I just did it by the actual parts in the novel. (even though they were disproportional)

For Marrisa, the only deadline that I knew of was that we had to have at least 3 blogs by July 16. Other than that, I think everything else just has to be done by the first day of school.

Steve said...

Yep. We were supposed to post on the blogs 3 time by...today(?)...is it July 15th already?!?

I'm reading Obama's The Audacity of Hope...pretty good book. I'm trying to fit in time to read it, but, as always, I'm swamped.

Ms. Clapp said...

So a little college advice...

Spend as much time choosing your safety schools as your top choices...you want to only apply to colleges you are excited to go to! Check out Loren Pope's college books, Looking Beyond the Ivy League and 40 Colleges That Change Live, for some really cool colleges you might not have heard of.

If you're looking for some college essay ideas, check out the suggested topics on the Common Application (I think it's www.commapp.org) as a starting place. It doesn't have to be about anything huge, it just needs to be personal, individual, and well-written.

Kristen W. said...

Okay so i was wondering, how many colleges do a normal student on average apply too?

I just want to know what I should limit my colleges to.

Katie said...

Well, when I was talking to my guidance counselor, she suggested two in each section. There are three sections, safety schools (schools you are certain you will get into), reachable (schools you are pretty confident in getting into, but not completely sure) and dream schools (for most, Harvard). So , ideally 6, but you can move them around a bit.

Kristen W. said...

Okay, thanks katie!

=)

valleygirl 09 said...

Hi everyone its Annie. I went to a college application prep program at Boston University for the day. To comment on Katie's question about the essay, the admissions office said that they are trying to find as much about you as possible, your personality, interests etc. So when writing your essay be sure to put your own personality in it. Make sure you grab them early, becasue they read thousands of essays each year. So be sure you know your topic completely well and it is something that will show who you are. Unfortunately I must agree with Dario im struggling in that department!

I do have a question of my own though, how many people are looking at schools close to home.

And The Benefactor Is... Dario said...

Well, to respond to Annie, I think I am looking at schools close to home but not because of that reason. I like certain schools in and near the MA area but not because of their locations. I remember talking to Ms. Pettit about this (who advises getting far away from home and experiencing college that way) and she was telling me that it is easier to get into a college if you are from out of the state that college is in. So, for example, if you are applying to Pepperdine(I'll just continue to use Ms. Pettit as an example since she went to Pepperdine), you are more likely to get accepted than a girl with the same grades, sports, etc. that lives in CA. That is always an alluring aspect of applying to a college out of state. Hope that helps with your list making process! :D

Katie said...

Hey guys!

I thought I had it pretty set that I was going to a college somewhere in Massachusetts. But I'm in Oxford right now, and my uncle works at Oxford Brookes University, and both are amazing! Like, the city charms you and it seems like such a great place to not only study but live. So I think I'll be adding this one international university to my list.

Unknown said...

Answering Annie's question: I'm thinking about staying around the area. Though at first I wanted to go out of state, but I looked into BU and fell in love with it. I'm probably going to play ED there, like 70% sure I'm going to. I hope I get in. You had a class there? How was BU, did you like the atmosphere? I'm going to visit the campus in the next week or two.

valleygirl 09 said...

The BU campus is beautiful. All there buildings are incredible and the location is perfect. They have so much to offer you there to. The resources available to you are just endless basically. It seems like such a great school.My tour guide and other people I met there were so friendly as well. My cousin actually went there and she loved it. I think that you'd really like it alot .

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hello.
How's everyone doing?
Okay, so I have a question--not relating to colleges--for "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" we are supposed to have 27 pages of notes, not 47 as is said on the sheet?
Thanks:)

Unknown said...

Yup, Marrisa, you are correct. Just 27 pages. not 47 as Ms. Clapp had exaggerately wrote. Just kidding. It was a typo.

=]

keVien said...

It was a pretty good typo. Would've made me start earlier and not have me slacking until now.

On Annie's college location question, I want to get out. Ideally, I would live far, but not too far so that I'd have to suffer airplane security. I would definitely live in a dorm. So far, I haven't set my sights on anything yet though. Any people beat me to it?