Wednesday afternoon I found out that I along with nine of my fellow classmates was nominated to receive a Posse Scholarship award. Now just what the Posse scholarship is as follows:
The Posse Foundation has some kind of partnership with certain colleges across America that allows them to send certain children that they feel exhibit leadership qualities to attend the schools. From what I understand the tuition of those kids are all paid for, so all they have to worry about are other expenses. Each high school that participates in the program has its teachers nominate a number of students they feel have the best chance of winning the scholarship and from their they take part in this three round test that Posse uses to cut the number of applicants down. Only if you win do they decide which of your selected schools to send you to.
Now that sounds really great. Matter of fact, it sounds amazing. Yet, the number of catches that comes along with it makes this nomination one of, if not the largest double-edged swords I’ve ever been handed.
If you have been following this blog for some time or just know me really well, you will know that I’m planning out which colleges I’m going to shoot for. You will also know that my biggest picks include Columbia and New York University. I was fairly adamant about these colleges and I thought nothing was going to stop me from getting to my goal, lest the colleges themselves turn me away. This whole nomination throws a giant kink in my intentions. You see, should I get to round three and pass, I MUST go to the school they send me to. It's an early admissions process, thus I would have to withdraw my applications from any other school I put my name down for. Not to mention that all of these schools were schools that I’ve hardly heard anything about. And if that's not bad enough, my counselor would like to know by this Monday if the ten of us selected to go up for it are really committed to all of this. If we aren’t, then she would give our spot to someone else on the list (we are the ten with the most nominations from our teachers, so there are about five other people to pass it on to).
So I went home with one very basic yet scary thought. Do I let this chance go and take my chances with the schools that I’ve already looked into. Plus, pay all that money. Or do I take part, possibly win and be trapped in a school I don’t know much about? This is not the worst of it. All of the possible schools are NOWHERE NEAR NEW YORK CITY. So I’ll be trapped in a place MILES away from home, mad as god knows what.
After taking these past two days to think it over, I think I’m going to go for it. Even though none of the schools on the list were schools I was interested, but after looking at some, I have three I would not mind. Not only that, but if I do win, I can have more money to take more advantage of study abroad programs and the like. Not to mention, I hear that Posse provides a lot of support to their winners on campus (I have a general idea about what pertains to. Things like tutors and whatnot..)
As I was thinking about all of this, I went around asking a few of my teachers why they brought me into this. One of them told me that they knew I would be able to sell myself in the proper light when Posse interviews me and the majority of their answers was basically they felt I could do it. I asked my counselor which of the schools she thought I would fit best in and she told me that the thing with me was that she thinks I could be great in each of those schools. She continued on to say that it was up to me to pick my top three schools and talk to her move about later on. At this point, I have two out of the three selected and I plan to find her once the weekend is over.
Of course, I will continue to strive for my original goal. There is no guarantee that I’m going to win this at all. Its not logical to go on as if I’ve won anything yet. But now, I really should make arrangements to visit some of those schools to see if I like the feel or not.
Anyways, wish me luck everyone. I’m going to need it.
damn....good luck with that one man. to be forced to go to a school by someone other than ur parents sounds so awful haha. then again im very persnickety, and you're smart so u'll fair well anywhere. hope you get it, and if you do you get into one of the 3 decent schools!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a tough choice, but you seem like someone who should do a study abroad program and probably graduate school as well, so if you can get through the domestic undergrad stuff with no debt you'll be in a strong position to choose the path you want.
ReplyDeleteEven if you're stuck in a cow-town where there's nothing to do on weekends, I think you'll find some other smart students there and do cool things.
Plus there are a few advantages to rural and suburban schools, such as fresh air, nature, and sometimes more opportunities to form close contacts with professors.
Thanks Tigger for the words of support. But do remember, I'm technically also going up against Brandon so don't forget to cheer him on as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Opps, I guess I was just bugging out when I wrote this. I've just never planned to really leave New York state, let alone the actual city itself. But after asking my teachers and whatnot, it seems like most of these small towns and cities are fairly ok. The next problem lies within getting my Mom on board with all of this as well.
Ryan - this sounds like a great opportunity and Posse would be lucky to count you among their ranks. FWIW, I did my undergraduate work at a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. I flourished in that learning environment--the combination of small class sizes, amazing teachers and fun social activities really worked for me. I also spent my entire junior year off campus--a semester in Washington DC, and then a semester in Germany (followed by a summer working in Prague.) Everything transferred back. For grad school, I went to a much larger institution. It has a great name, and I took some great classes, but the quality of the experience wasn't as uniform as my undergrad.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck Ryan :) I'm sure you'll do just fine. After all you know yourself the best!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. I do think that this would be good for me and all, but there is that part of me that just can't let the thought of the other colleges go. Anyways, the process of all of this starts in september, so I'll keep you all posted.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Posse Scholar. I felt your pain. But because I didn't care as much where I went as much as that I got a scholarship. I hope you made the right decision for you
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