Spring semester frenzy

It’s scholarship season at Simon’s Rock. What does this mean? At least for first-years, it means scurrying around like silly mammals, scrounging recommendations, scouring transcripts, and making a conscious effort to sell oneself—all the while seeming 1) earnest, 2) genuine/sincere, 3) humble but well-rounded, and 4) decidedly not desperate. The merit scholarship application questions inquire about ideas that influence you, contributions to the community, and ask you to list any additional accomplishments. I think, perhaps, it might be wise to offer a class on the etiquette of writing a proper cover letter/resume/curriculum vitae. It’s difficult to articulate achievements without sounding boastful, and equally difficult to seem modest without sounding self-deprecating. Personally, I’m applying for generic sophomore class scholarships and one lovely little gem, the Martin Naumann scholarship, awarded annually to a student in the natural sciences. In addition to the student stampede of scholarship season, it is also “Tarnation! My applications are due next week!” season, which conveniently follows Procrastination Season (for more information, read PhD Comics). If procrastination were an Olympic sport…well, I’m sure anyone could finish that sentence. Peer advocate applications are due imminently, causing a flurry of frenzied activity among those who are frantically finishing paperwork and interviews. As Jochai mentioned in an earlier post, the peer advocate position entails planning and executing events that bring students together—to meet/greet new faculty members, to defuse stress around exams, or sometimes just to host an open buffet at midnight. Most everyone I’m acquainted with is applying to transfer schools, summer programs, internships, externships, and study abroad programs, which amounts to an innumerable sum of forms. These forms all have deadlines, and because we are college students, said deadlines were promptly forgotten until they ambushed the people who developed anterograde due date amnesia. I have a measure of sympathy for the professors, who have been dashing out recommendations all over the place, but also empathy for the hordes of students whose professors don’t have time to write them.

Incidentally, this week just happens to be midterm week as well….Midterms are rarely acknowledged in any official capacity—the exams don’t have a separate schedule, there’s no reading period, and they may or may not exist, depending on your class and your professor. They are the Schrodinger’s cat of exams. When does a quantum system stop existing as a mixture of states and become one or the other? Why, when midterms are over, of course.  They are defined more by proximity to the date when midterm grades are due than they are by content or percentage points. For instance: I have a written exam for one class, a paper for another, and a comprehensive project for a third. Since they all occur around the same time (generally within a week of the mid-semester grade-filing deadline), there is a direct correlation between amount of work and number of days until grades are due. In this case, correlation usually does equal causation. When I was in the library today, my friend (a senior) commented on some statistic saying that Simon’s Rock had one of the heaviest workloads in the United States. She went on to describe her experience studying abroad last year, lament the dearth of actual schoolwork at her host university, and become steadily more flustered as she remembered her frustration. She concluded with, “I wanted to tear my hair out all semester. I was taking a 500-level class! With graduate students! And we only had to write two papers. And they wouldn’t let me take any more credits. I couldn’t wait to come back.”  Though the work is challenging, most people came here because they wanted a challenge. Ultimately, at least for me, it’s more rewarding.