I still haven’t written my personal statement yet.

You know, the one that more or less says “explain yourself in 700 words or less.” The one that asks you to take the last four yours of your life and make them fit in an essay. The one that asks you to be creative, and witty, and unique, while also demonstrating your intelligence and artfully adding in all of your accomplishments. The one required for college admissions, scholarships and awards, and, in my case, the one required for grad school applications.

Yep, that one.
I just can’t seem to write it.

The truth is, I’ve never been a big fan of personal statement essays, or as grad schools like to call them, statements of purpose. (Because changing the name will differentiate them from the nightmare that was applying to college.) They all sound exactly the same, and everyone says what they think the admissions board wants to hear, and everyone talks about family history or motivation or their many deep and meaningful reasons for pursuing the career path they’ve chosen. And basically, what it comes down to is one giant cliché. And I hate clichés. And so do the admissions boards, or at least, that’s what they claim.

The personal statement is important, they tell you. We want to know more about you that what appears on your transcripts, they say. Be creative. Be unique. Be yourself. But also include all of your accomplishments in the past four years, any significant events you may have been a part of you, why you want to go to this school, what you can bring to this school, and why we should even bother to consider your application. Yes, that leaves lots of room for me to be unique, doesn’t  it? The questions are cliché, so the answers are going to be cliché. And as I’ve mentioned, I hate clichés.

But that’s exactly what I end up sounding like every try time I try to tell these people who I am and what I want to do with my life. Because the thing is, I have absolutely no clue who I am or what I want to do. Sure, I’m a college senior. Yes, I have things I’d like to accomplish. But those goals are more along the lines of “make it through 18^th Century Literature,” “improve my beer pong playing abilities,” and “stop watching Private Practice.”  They don’t exactly detail my grand post college plans, and that’s mostly because I don’t have post college plans.

So I should probably focus on the “who am I” part of the essay, right? That would be a great idea, except I just can’t seem to figure out how to go about doing that either. I’ve never been a big fan of labels, because I like to think that people are a bit more complex than that, and I don’t think the admissions board wants my age/height/weight/hair and eye color stats chart. So what are my opinions? Childhood memory that changed my life or distant relatives that have inspired me to become the person I am today?  No on those counts too. I just don’t believe it’s possible for someone to understand who I am based on a 700 word statement, or any statement for that matter. People just don’t work that way.

So what exactly is a girl to do?

Maybe I should just link them to this post instead? I mean, it’s honest and real and so full of such flattering compliments for the entire application process and everyone it involves that I’ll be admitted immediately.

OK, so maybe that’s not my best bet, but what is?

Click here to follow Jenn’s other ups and downs of senior year.

It’s no secret that getting admission to a college (especially big names like the Ivy League) is kind of a crap shoot. Sure, you need the grades, the activities, the involvement; but we all also know that sometimes you can give your application a little nudge that has nothing to do with academics. Your parents worked two jobs each to help take care of you and your three siblings and it taught you the value of responsibility and family — admissions gold. Or you spent half of your childhood in another country and had to learn the wonder and struggles of adapting your proud cultural heritage to life in the Midwest — brilliant. These kinds of things have been a leg-up in the admissions process for years and now, it turns out, there’s a brand new one that schools are actively seeking out — LGBT.

That’s right, when just a couple of decades ago many people couldn’t RISK coming out in college, now schools are trying to recruit applicants from the LGBT community and while I have no qualms about that, I gotta wonder if it’s fair.

I have a long-standing record on this column of being pro gay rights, and that’s not a streak I plan on breaking, but this is one area where I have some serious mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s great that schools are being active with the gay community and embracing their students’ sexualities as a part of who they are. It’s wonderful that they’re going to an effort to show students that they can be open, active and comfortable in their school and embracing that the challenges faced by many LGBT students are character shaping  and meaningful. Good job, colleges! It’s also not really affirmative action, so it’s not as though schools are trying to fill a certain quota; it’s just that if a good applicant comes along with the added twist of being LGBT, then it might give him or her a little boost.

No, the problem I have with this idea isn’t really about gay students getting a leg-up on the competition because of their sexuality or maybe taking a slot away from someone else based on that – though it is possible – my real problem is the implications for the gay communities within these schools. First of all, while I hate to think it, it would be a hell of a lot easier to fake a traumatic coming out story than something like, coming from a low-income family. It’s not really something admissions officers can check up on and there probably are dishonest students who would fake it or play up their own less dramatic experiences just to edge out the competition. There’s also the issue of creating an archetype for the gay student. Schools aren’t  just going around asking recruits if they’re LGBT, they see activism on transcripts with a certain expectation that it will continue – that an LGBT recruit won’t just be a student, but an involved, gay student. And while getting involved in the community is great, it puts a pressure on the student to be a certain kind of gay student – to be out and active and “gay.” There’s a lot more to an individual than their sexuality and to fit them into one little box, to put so much emphasis on who you are sexually, is kind of discrimination in reverse.

So what do you think? Should school’s look at something like sexuality when choosing students? Is being LGBT suddenly an unfair admissions advantage over straight students? Is it good or bad for the LGBT community? Duke it out!

In the mood for a good fight? Sound off in Lauren’s other battles.

[We're following one post-grad as she grabs that diploma, packs up her college life and heads on out to the big, bad world. There's a lot of change comin' her way and one big challenge: The LSAT.]

So, it’s crunch time. From this point on until October 9^th, my life is really about one thing and one thing only – the LSAT. Of course, I will still have everyday life to live, but from this point on my post-grad life really is going to be dictated by what I am convinced to be as one of the most evil tests in all of existence.

And I’ll be the first to admit – I am terrified. I’m absolutely shaking in my Rainbow flip flops at the thought of one test having so much power over my life.

You gotta do what you gotta do though, right? And what I have to do is do well enough on the test in October, so I don’t have to take it again in December, and come out with a score that satisfies me enough to get into a good law school for Fall 2011 admissions.

A lot is riding upon this exam. If you aren’t familiar with the whole “getting into law school business of admissions,” the LSAT is the end-all-be-all factor in admissions. According to Top Law Schools.com, “Your undergraduate GPA and LSAT score are the two most significant factors that admissions committees look at. The fact that a four hour standardized test carries as much, if not more, weight than four years of classes should tell you how important the LSAT is.” Yikes!

I realize the importance though, so as my dad likes to say during business calls when he’s serious about taking something to the next level: “It’s time to bring out the big guns.” First things first, I have enrolled in a Kaplan LSAT Prep class that meets one to two times a week for three and a half hour sessions – taking me through every single question that I could face on the wicked test. It is going to be intense, with hours of homework and test prep, but Kaplan promises that with their help and a lot of hard work, students will be successful with their program (in fact, they guarantee it or you can get your money back or take the class again for free).

With my faith in Kaplan, I have come to realize that I need a lot of faith in myself too. Since a lot of my practice and studying will be outside of class, I need to rely on myself a lot. Taking the LSAT and going to law school was my decision, and I want to be successful in it, but I can’t help but be a little intimidated. That’s normal, right?

Although I may be a little scared (OK – a lot, but it’s kind of like first-day-of-school jitters … I’m sure it will cool off after I attend my first class tonight and actually take a full exam), I am very happy that I decided to commit myself to this. A lot of post-grads are so unsure of what they want to do, so knowing what I want to do and knowing how hard I have to work makes me feel grounded in a situation that has had me feeling like I’ve been dangling six feet off the ground. But even though I feel like this experience will keep me focused and grounded, it doesn’t mean it won’t be hard. In fact, I think this is going to be one of the hardest and trying things of my life.

With that said, it’s time for me to face my biggest fears on the post-grad journey: Ready or not, here I come!

Just do something.

I know some of you are probably wondering what kind of impact you can make–you’re just a college student, after all.  While you may not think that just one person makes a difference, think about it on a larger scale.

For starters, think about all the paper you go through in just one semester: you have a syllabus for every class (which is sometimes multiple pages), countless handouts from professors, and all the papers and assignments you have to print out and hand in.  I know students at my school whose professors make them print out PowerPoint Presentations from the web and bring them into class, which sometimes are more than 20 or 30 pages per chapter! 

That’s a lot of paper. All together, it’s estimated that each U.S. college student produces about 640 pounds of solid waste each year, which includes 320 pounds of paper and 500 paper drinking cups! All those Starbucks runs do more than just empty your wallet!

And it’s not just the students at your college creating so much waste–admissions offices around the country receive nearly 600,000 pieces of paper during each admissions cycle, and much of that is photocopied for records, which only creates more paper waste!

When you look at things on a larger scale, you can see how much impact college students can have on the environment.  If each of us only made a few small changes–like recycling paper  or investing in a reuseable coffee travel mug–we can start to cut down on the negative effects that we have on this planet.

If all that isn’t enough to get you changing, perhaps thinking about an end to these will. Awww.

Just thinking about it brings on the chills.

Imagine if you didn’t have to deal with that.  Imagine if you could have just stayed in your nice comfortable house, flicked on your computer, and had a friendly chat with the admissions counselor from your chair. Well, it seems like that’s what a whole lot of college prospective students are going to be doing soon.

Wake Forest University did it and other schools are catching on.  The process is pretty simple, it seems.  Take your usual IM client with webcam add-ons, like Skype; turn on your webcam;  hook up your microphone; and there you have it. Continue with your regularly scheduled admissions interview.

Now, this is pretty cool.  Usually it’s the student body’s job to be tech savvy and the school is the one who has to catch up.  The fact that schools are willing to use this manner of communication is pretty awesome on their part. Not only does it eliminate the “Oh my God, can the interviewer smell my fear?!” but it is great for students who want to apply to lots of schools and don’t have the money to get to all of them.

Still, it feels kind of strange, doesn’t it?  Part of the whole admissions interview period is that you get a feel for every part of the school that’s going to become your life: the drive, the faculty, the campus, and the students.  Sure, there’s the tour for that, but even Carrie Marcinkevage, MBA director of admissions at Pennsylvania State’s Smeal College of Business, admits that the webcam interview should never replace an on-campus visit.

This is a pretty useful tool to have available, especially for people who need it.  The concern lies in the fact that convenience may eventually override tradition, as is usually the case with technology related things.  So, like anything, there are pros and cons to this entire situation.  Will this help or hurt the admissions process? Could being too comfortable be a bad thing?  Only time will tell.  (But hey, in fifty years, they’ll probably have hologram interview, anyway.)

I know all about the stress of transferring and adjusting to a new school. When I began my undergraduate career, I wasn’t content with attending the state university that 83% of my classmates were enrolling in. Oh, no – I had to get away. So I enrolled in a small private school in London, England.

My freshman year was a blast– I was in a major city, surrounded by hot men with hotter accents, and I didn’t even need a fake ID. But eventually, reality sank in, and I opted to transfer back to the same state school that I’d once adamantly rejected in order to prevent graduating with student loans up the wazoo.

My first semester at the state university was miserable. I’d missed out on all of the freshman year bonding, got stuck with a lame random roommate, and when I did go out, it was because one of my high school friends was kind enough to let me tag along with her group. It was so bad that I took a semester off to figure out if I wanted to go through the transfer process again. I ended up going back to the state school, and – thankfully – things got better. In fact, college kicked some major ass.

So, having been on the Maybe-I-Should-Transfer fence and a member of the Transfer Students Association, I thought I’d share some pro’s and cons with anyone who isn’t quite sure that they are attending the right school.

Pro’s of Transferring:

You’ve already gotten a taste of college, so you might be able to make a better choice for yourself. Maybe you thought a big campus meant 10,000 new friends, but after failing a Stats lab where the TA didn’t even know you’re name, you’re opting for a smaller institution.

You might save money. I think more often than not, transfer students end up at a school that is more in their price range, rather than deciding to switch universities and take out a massive student loan. Maybe you started at a private, out-of-state school, but realize you can get just as good an education as an in-state student for a fraction of the cost.

You might end up closer to your friends and family. I’ve seen homesickness play a part in the big T many a time. I was definitely homesick when I first arrived in London, and there was no way to take a weekend trip home from across the pond. If you thought you were ready to spread your wings, only to realize you miss your hometown, there’s nothing wrong with applying to a closer school, whether it’s a mile from your parents’ house, or a reasonable drive.

You can start fresh. If your first semester was a disaster, You can make up for it. Sure, if you’re on academic probation, you probably won’t be invited into Harvard’s incoming class, but you can transfer to a community college and bring up your GPA while you look for a four-year school that will better suit you and your academic needs. Besides, a lot of transfer essays detail the reasons you did poorly, so your chances of admittance to a new school haven’t necessarily been shot. Once you’ve gotten a change of scenery, you can kick your old bad study habits (or whatever other bad habits you got into your first semester on your own) and focus on restarting your academic career.

Cons of Transferring:

You might lose credits…or more. I think only one of my 10 courses from England replaced the gen eds I needed at the state school. I took a junior/senior-level Shakespeare class a few blocks from the freakin’ Globe Theatre, and had to retake Shakespeare I. I was not happy. I also couldn’t transfer directly into my major, so I had to choose a new plan of study. While this worked out in the end, at the time, I was more than slightly pissed.

You’re the new kid. My high school friends had already made their own new college friends, so I was stuck living with a random roommate. Not only did our personalities clash, but the floor was full of her thirteen best friends, so even if I had wanted to hang out with her, she always had plans. Even after I (finally) made friends, I couldn’t participate in the “remember freshman year when…” stories.

You might get a culture shock. I went from living in a city where I could go clubbing every night or buy my own six pack and stay in to a small college town where packy runs had to be planned days in advance. The first time I borrowed a fake ID to go to the campus bar, I was stunned that this was a popular hangout.

Whether or not transferring is the right decision depends on the person. If you are miserable every day and cry yourself to sleep, it might be worth it to lose a few credits and start over. However, if you just broke up with your first college boyfriend and can’t bear to see him in lecture every Monday,Wednesday, and Friday for the rest of the semester, you can probably find it in yourself to stick it out. Though transferring schools is fairly common these days, in some ways it’s a bigger decision than choosing a “first” university.

Looking back, I don’t know how I did it all without serious drugs; I was crazy. But, at the time, I knew exactly what I had to do to set myself apart from everyone else in my class in order to get into my first choice college.

I know I wasn’t alone alone. I’m sure there are many people reading this right now and thinking, “Yup. Same story for me…except I was also on the tennis and softball teams!” We all did what we had to do. With more kids applying to college than ever before, the competition was fierce; what other choice did we have?

Then there were the unfortunate ladies (and I know there are lots of you) that are reading this and thinking to themselves, “That is all you did? I was also class president and helped the starving children in Somalia and still didn’t get into my #1!”

I feel for you guys, I really do. And if you happen to be one of those bitter students who did all that work and was forced to go to your second choice school, stop reading now because you are going to get pissed.

Statisticians are now saying that, because the number of high school graduates is set to peak in the next year or two, there will be less kids applying to colleges in the coming years. Fewer applicants means less demand. Less demand means less selectivity, which means that the major competition to get into colleges is about to end.

Too bad we are already here, eh?

At first glance, this seems totally unfair – especially for those top notch students who didn’t get in where they would have liked – but it is quite the opposite. Knowing these statistics, many Ivy League schools and other popular schools are turning their attention (and financial aid money) to the students they have historically ignored: low income students, minority students, and those who normally wouldn’t aim for such esteemed institutions. This shift will present opportunities to those who never had them before, in addition to the many students who will benefit from the added diversity on campus and in the classroom.

This is also good for those of you currently enrolled in two year Community College programs; many schools are teaming up with community colleges to offer spaces to graduates to finish their last two years at a top tier institution. This is an opportunity that was non-existent until now and one that will mean a high quality education for many more promising students.

Sure, it sorta sucks for those of us who had to give up sleep, eating, and excessive TV watching in high school in order to be a part of every last activity, but all that stuff built your character and made you the person you are today! (So says my mother.) Not to mention the fact that no matter what school you ended up at, you are most likely having the best time ever. If all of that doesn’t make you feel any better, consider the possibility of this trend spreading to grad schools;

Harvard, here I come!

I mean, I knew I was Harvard-caliber, I just didn’t have the grades– I was above grades! I could have totally gone Ivy-League if I had wanted to, but I chose the route of a small school with a philosophy, a mission (and a respectable ranking).

My freshman year, I ended up at a small liberal arts school that was ranked #30. Not bad, considering it was ranked #25 in terms of selectivity. I figured its teeny endowment brought the main ranking down. I was satisfied, my family was satisfied, my peers were satisfied. I had landed.

But when I got to college, of course, I realized that these rankings meant absolutely nothing. What did I care about my college’s freshman retention or alumni – giving rate? And the insidiously low student to faculty ratio was moot if you were in a crappy class in which none of the other six students talked. I found myself pining for large, anonymous lecture classes. Did I wanted a lower – ranked education?

The old, corny adage rings true over and over again: college is what you make of it. Seriously. All campuses have pretty trees and old buildings. All student bodies have geniuses and idiots. Yale has a dining hall. Podunk University in Mississippi has a dining hall.

And they both have horrible food. It’s all the same.

Therefore, I totally support the abolition of college rankings, and it looks as if the movement is picking up some deserved speed. The notoriously antiestablishment Reed College in Oregon (which has been called the most cerebral college in the country) has always shirked the ratings, and more colleges are jumping on its ship. As today’s Chicago Tribune stated: in a letter to colleges across the country, 12 college presidents have announced that they will abstain from filling out U.S. News’s annual survey and risk a fallen rating for the betterment of the college admissions process.

I don’t think too much about prestige or the name-brand of my college now that I’m actually here. Truth be told, the tiny, #30 ranked college I went to is not a whole lot different than Texas, which bears the scar of a different ranking (#1 Party School! yeahhh…). Just goes to show: the important is not where you go, but where you’re going (and, um, graduating).

Three students at Bard College were arrested earlier this month for toting around a portable drug den.

Apparently, 2 freshmen, along with a sophomore buddy, were moving a bunch of drug paraphernalia in suitcases across campus when they were “spooked” by campus police and freaked out, one of them evidently diving into a bunch of bushes.

After the students were expelled from school, police searched their room and found quite a stash. “Nearly a pound of marijuana, half a kilogram of a partially refined but yet-unidentified hallucinogenic drug, hashish, hashish oil” and the remnants of “a portable drug-processing lab” were confiscated at the scene, causing all three students to rack up felony drug charges.

While I’m not surprised that something like this happened (1st of all, there are college drug dealers everywhere, and 2nd of all, this is Bard College. Smart hippies + campus in the middle of the woods = drug paradise), you gotta shake your head at the stupidity of ruining your life after being at an expensive private college for only two months.

With college acceptance rates lowering daily, admissions making it almost impossible to get in anywhere, and tuition forcing most of us to pay student loans until we’re 50, blowing a perfectly good college career (and future) after only 2 months of moving out of your parents home is redonkulous.

At least give yourself time to learn something before turning into a drug lord. Take a midterm. Go to a party. Befriend a professor. Realize where you are.

Anyone who would throw away such an expensive, once-in-a-life opportunity deserves to get caught.

…Especially if you’re dumb enough to carry your LSD lab across campus in a suitcase.

According to the article a few universities across the country have begun to change their admittance policies and consider socio-economic status when accepting applicants. Sort of like Affirmative Action but with yearly income instead of racial heritage.

The article tells a story about one student who was given the opportunity to attend a college that he never could have afforded on his own. In addition to covering his tuition (which, by the way, he did work for through a work study program), the university also included money for other items and activities that would allow him to “fit in” with the rest of the student population.

He went on to be one of the top students in his class and has even stuck around post graduation to mentor other students.

It seems almost impossible to find fault with programs like this one. I may get a lot of hate mail for saying this, but I always thought that Affirmative Action should have been based on socio economic status instead of race. Personally, I think that students coming from poor neighborhoods or inner city schools deserve it more than minority students in the upper middle class of society.

We may not notice it, but a college education is completely awarded to the more fortunate people in our society. We have more money to join clubs, take unpaid internships and get private tutors for the SATs. We have better facilities, books and class variety. No matter what color our skin is, college is in close reach.

And because of all that, we have an easier time getting into/paying for/succeeding in college. Why should we get an edge over other equally deserving students? America needs all the brain power it can get, so doesn’t it make sense to make college accessible to as many bright students as possible? Money should never be an issue.

More schools around this country should follow the lead set by Amherst, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton. Every student in this country deserves a chance to succeed and do great things; it is the duty of our universities and educators to keep a little thing like money from getting in the way.