C's 2nd Open House was just incredible. And to think that I almost went back to sleep yesterday morning.
Of course, it was a very long day as was the 1st Open House at C; but all of the info that had been given during the 2day-long 1st was condensed and presented to admits yesterday. The extras were trimmed off. The result was that all of us arrived excited, and left so electrified and jazzed about what's ahead at C that we could barely stop grinning at each other. Oh yeah, we also left with a little buzz after the reception. Most of the people I saw yesterday weren't at the 1st, so it was great to get to know these new faces. Most decided to head to Eden for a few drinkie-poos after the reception. 12 hours just didn’t feel like enough.
Maswan, the debonair Vice Dean and professor gave what I thought was sound advice to take into bschool. (He apologized for not being dressed as he had just jumped off a 'plane, but really, even in his jeans, he was easily the best-dressed person in that room. Well, except for Michael in his sharp-as-a-tack suit.) I think he got everyone's attention when he cooed, "Your natural instinct will be to gravitate to others who have the same interests and background as you...those who look like you even. Here, that's considered boring; you must do the opposite to maximize your learning here. Spend most of your time with people who have nothing or little in common with you. Those are the people who will teach you more than we can and they will be in your circle of friends for your 50 years as an alum."
Most interesting, personally, was Feldberg's statement that the AdComm determines the makeup of the incoming class before the 1st application is handled. Now THAT I didn't know! Hey, maybe I'm the only one who was in the dark about that.
All in all, it was a day really well spent.
C's made it really easy to figure out what the necessary steps are for admits. The "to-do" list that I can use to check off items on the Admits website is great. I got my two (2), yes two (2) e-mail addresses from Columbia. Having both was a little confusing so I decided to investigate a little, see if they were s'posed to be different.
Turns out 2's normal. One's my Columbia University e-mail account -- which is basically my old University ID plus "@columbia.edu". The other's my lifetime forwarding address from the Bschool, which consists of my first initial + last name + 06 + "@gsb.columbia.edu"...this makes for a really long address in my case. But, there you have it. (Btw, my university ID is old because I created it when I did a course at C years ago)
There's still a lot left on my convenient Columbia "to-do" list: apply for private loans, purchase laptop, submit facebook pics, complete MMR & vaccination forms, etc etc etc. None of it's high priority right now and thank goodness. I'm occupied with waiting anyway! Waiting to hear from financial aid so I know how much I'll need to borrow. I decided to do it that way because I'm in the process of buying a home and would like to complete that before I apply for private loans. Some people prefer to apply for private loans at the same time they apply for federal dollars, then reduce (or increase) the loan amount.
I should be hearing from FinAid by the 15th. I know there aren't many Marketing fellowships, but I'm hoping. I'll keep y'all posted.