Postby Mangafanatic » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:03 pm
UPDATE'D!!
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Okay, first, let me tell you about the scholarships and the interview. This college has a scholarship program which students with a 3.6 GPA and a 26 on the ACT can apply for. Through a series of essays and questions, they select from the applicant 120 people whom they invited to attend what's call "Presidential Weekend." Every applicant select is guaranteed $4,000-$6,000 in the forms of a Dean's Scholarship, with the possibility of recieving more aid if they win a Presidential scholarship. In each major, one presidential scholarship is awarded. Some majors, such as English, had as few as 6 people competing, but more popular majors, such as business (That's me!) and communications had as many as 15 applicants. Each applicant talks with two professors in their field for twenty minutes, and the decision concerning the amount of your scholarhips is made based upon your responses.
I was amazingly calm this morning when I went in. I attribute that almost entirely to everyone's prayers for me. Unfortunately, it seems no one was praying that my dad wouldn't be nervous. He was pacing up and down the halls while I was in the waiting room and when he tried to pray for me, he called me by my sister's name. XD In the interview, I was dealt the most boring and terrible selection of questions imaginable. Having asked numerous people what kind of questions I would be asked, I was fully prepared to answer questions such as "Why our college instead of any other college?", "What do you think your strengths are?", "What would you consider your greatest weakness to be?", "When was a time you showed leadership?", ect.
Instead, I was asked to briefly describe my high school experience and relate a few classes I enjoyed. Being home schooled, my academic high school background is ridiculously monotone. I tried my best to make it interesting, but there are so few perils and challenges involved in walking down the stairs from my bed room to the den where I do school. Basically, I struck out on that question. Next, I was asked to describe my spiritual life and the process of it's formation. My answer for this question was pretty standard. Yeah, no brownie points there. The final question they asked me was one that I hadn't even thought about answering: "So many people think that business is monotonous. Why would you want to enter this field when it seems you have so many other interests?" My initial reaction was as follows: o___O. I tried by best to formulate a good response, but I generally regard that response as a dismal failure as well. Why I hadn't thought through my response to this question, I can't say. It was a perfectly reasonable question.
Overall, I thought my interview was mediocre at best.
After the interview, I was instructed to go down to the financial aid office to talk about the state grants I qualified to recieve. When I got into the office, they sat me down and started pulling up all the grants I was eligible for. Astonished, I watched as grant after grant was added to my guaranteed Dean's scholarship of $4,000. Tuition and room and board at this college is a staggering $19,990 (Perhaps it's not that staggering to most people, but it certainly made me a little light headed). When all my grants were added together-- I had $20,000.
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So, basically, it doesn't even matter what decision is made concerning my interview. Does that rock or what? XD
Every year in Uganda, innumerable children simply. . . disappear. These children all stolen under the cover of darkness from their homes and impressed into the guerilla armies of the LRA [Lord's Resistance Army]. In the deserts of Uganda, they are forced to witness the mindless slaughter of other children until they themselves can do nothing but kill.
Kill. These children, generally ranging from ages 5-12, are brainwashed into murdering in the name of the resistance and into stealing other children from their beds to suffer the same fate.
Because of this genocide of innocence, hundred and hundreds of children live every night sleeping in public places miles from their homes, because they know that if the do not-- they will disappear. They will become just another number in this genocide to which the international community has chosen to turn a blind eye. They will become, in affect, invisible-- Invisible Children.
But there are those who are trying to fight against this slaughter of Uganda's children. They fight to protect these "invisible children." Please, help them help a country full of children who know nothing by fear. Help save the innocence. For more information concerning how you can help and how you can get an incredible video about this horrific reality,
visit the Invisible Children home page.
Keep us updated, of course.
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