Another restless Friday night...spent the evening (evening= 8:30-11:30) at the favorite cafe. With another GRE book and Frankenstein. Not sure where I'm going with this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this blog could easily spiral into another tirade against standardized testing. Damned bubbles. Damned ETS computer-adaptive test elf. Fiends. All of them!
And what to do after all of this, anyway? After I structure my intellectual life into a tidy little package and send it off to grad. school application committees for evaluation? I think next semester will honestly turn out to be my best semester at Berkeley, no matter what. No more worrying about letters of rec. No more worrying about standardized tests. No more worrying about applications, or personal statements. Personal statements?! I mean...for chrissakes....okay: What does that even mean? A personal statement is not really you, trying to get you down on paper...it's you, trying to get the you that each respective university wants down on paper. I cannot, for example, in good conscience, write something like, " Hi. I'm Kat. I'm pretty friendly. I like books. And really, left to my own devices, I would probably just sleep a lot. Thank you, and hope to see you in the Fall!" It has to have some other ring to it. More like: "My passion for 19th century literature burns as the purest gemlike flame in my soul. Literature is the enjoyment, nay, the guiding beacon of my entire existence. It is for this reason, because I cannot breathe if I cannot but inhale and exhale the written word, that I apply to you, oh Yale. My humblest thanks for deigning to read my feeble application." Hmmm...that's pretty good. I like that "guiding beacon" part. Mmmhmm.
And now, back to reading Frankenstein. (Solace is, after all, a good Gothic novel.)
And what to do after all of this, anyway? After I structure my intellectual life into a tidy little package and send it off to grad. school application committees for evaluation? I think next semester will honestly turn out to be my best semester at Berkeley, no matter what. No more worrying about letters of rec. No more worrying about standardized tests. No more worrying about applications, or personal statements. Personal statements?! I mean...for chrissakes....okay: What does that even mean? A personal statement is not really you, trying to get you down on paper...it's you, trying to get the you that each respective university wants down on paper. I cannot, for example, in good conscience, write something like, " Hi. I'm Kat. I'm pretty friendly. I like books. And really, left to my own devices, I would probably just sleep a lot. Thank you, and hope to see you in the Fall!" It has to have some other ring to it. More like: "My passion for 19th century literature burns as the purest gemlike flame in my soul. Literature is the enjoyment, nay, the guiding beacon of my entire existence. It is for this reason, because I cannot breathe if I cannot but inhale and exhale the written word, that I apply to you, oh Yale. My humblest thanks for deigning to read my feeble application." Hmmm...that's pretty good. I like that "guiding beacon" part. Mmmhmm.
And now, back to reading Frankenstein. (Solace is, after all, a good Gothic novel.)
