Surviving Senior Year: Getting Personal

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. Read More »


Quickie: American Idol No Fun Without Sanjaya

0_61_011507_idol_czarnecka.jpg Yup. The juggernaut known as American Idol started up again last night, crash landing into the state of Philadelphia and finding more than enough weirdoes to go with the splashes of talent.

The 7th season will undoubtedly bring a whole new crop of talented-yet-strangely-un-marketable contestants (Remember Ruben? Taylor Hicks? Katharine McPhee? All dropped from their label), snide remarks from Simon, and a crapload of unnecessary tears.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it all before, but I could be tempted to watch agan…if someone Sanjaya-esque pops up. He may not have been able to sing or dress himself, but he sure knew how to make those 12-year-olds cry.

Speaking of crying, what about the dude who wrote that creepy stalker song for Paula?! Eesh. Someone get him a hobby