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After weeks of deliberation, I have made my final decision. Over the weekend, I informed the University of Pennsylvania that I plan on accepting a position in the Wharton School’s Class of 2013.

For more information about the decision, please consult “Steve’s College Decision” tab.

April 22nd, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (4)

So we have reached my final day of traveling – my official visit to Northwestern.

My mother and I got to the student union building bright and early and were greeted by the traditional continental breakfast along with current Northwestern students – a nice touch – which allowed me to interrogate the current student body. Everyone seems to love it there, as they should – it really is unbelievable. Following the breakfast, we, feeling rather ambitious, went on an organized tour of the campus, which was nice, but as a friend had warned me, did not go on north campus at all (don’t worry, we wandered north on Sunday)… still begs the question… why ignore half the campus? It’s all beautiful? Oh well.

We arrived back at the student union in time to attend a presentation for the Medill School of Journalism. The program opened with a discussion from the much controversial Dean Lavine. His talk was surprisingly frank and honest – he realizes the difficulty in new age journalism and seems concerned about how his program treats it. After his brief chat, the presentation continued with four senior students discussing their time at the school and what the school had done for them. Each focused in a different area in journalism, whether it be print, broadcast, web design, or photography. It was interesting, but it’s tough to get a good sense of everything when you are looking at a small and likely unrealistic microcosm of the student population – nonetheless, quite impressive.

We then, had a break for lunch – where I chased down and, for lack of better euphemism, interrogated the kid who was interested in photography. He was very interesting and, of course, knowledgeable. He answered all of my questions, took me on a quick tour of the Daily Northwestern’s headquarters, and showed me the photography center on campus; yet, the most important part of our interaction was likely his candor concerning a Medill education. He explained that while the degree opened many doors for him in journalism, the program had done little to expand his photography skill (other than allowing him free reign), and done little to prepare him for any other career other than journalism. To paraphrase, “If you are truly passionate about journalism and you know that you want to be a journalist, there is no better place in the world to start. Here, all the doors are open, and your opportunities in the field of journalism are endless. But, if you aren’t sure whether journalism is going to be your career, this may not be the place for you.” This may have been the most important discussion I had at either school in both days.

Following lunch, there was a brief presentation of the Medill curriculum and we were then dismissed to other programs. One program we ventured into was “Roads to Business” at Northwestern. While most of the presentation was fairly stock, one program that was discussed was interesting, not necessarily because of my interest in completing the program, but because of its approach to synthesizing math and social sciences. The program, which is called Mathematical Methods in Social Science (MMSS), is very competitive and very rigorous – but very interesting.

Our next presentation was on essentially housing and student life – where we ran into the most comical person of our few days. The director of housing seemed like he has been to one too many of these prospective student days and was in rare, sarcastic form. While some may not have appreciated his humor, I thought he was flat out hilarious… some examples…

Student question: “What is the policy with cigarettes in dorms?” (dumb, I know)
Him: “Well, besides the fact that cigarettes can kill you, they will also cause you to be kicked out of your dorm if you smoke them within 50 feet of the building.”
Student question: “How do you receive preference so you can get your first choice dorm?”
Him: “Write your admission deposit out to me, instead of the school.”
Parent question: “Are their coed bathrooms?”
Him: “No. But if there are, I’d like to see them.”

There was more, but again, I think you get the point.

That was about it for my Northwestern visit. We left and took the purple line (which runs express to downtown – very nice perk) to the loop. At the loop, I had a 45 second conversation with a stranger that re-affirms my position that good people are everywhere. We got off the train, lugging our bags, and we had to wait for the next train to Midway. A middle-aged guy, who clearly could see we were airport bound, volunteered that we were on the right platform and inquired to where we were headed. We had a good short talk and he wished us safe travels. Literally, only 45 seconds, but it’s things like that which really can make someone’s day.

Our plane ride back was rather uneventful – not much to be said really. We got back late, and with school the next day, you can imagine – especially after that five day escapade – I was quite tired.

Sorry this post was lengthy, but a diary is a diary right?

Tomorrow – Wednesday - as promised, will be the widely publicized decision.

April 21st, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Saturday for the most part was mainly a travel day. The most notable occurrence took place on my plane ride from New York to Chicago between myself and a Long Island mother; however, this story requires oral presentation for the full effect….as we know that Long Island accents can be quite entertaining.

This brings us to Sunday, where I made a walking tour of Northwestern with my older sister (who, in case someone didn’t know, went to Northwestern for graduate work). Some quick notes from the walking tour…

1. Campus elections are coming up and just about every available piece of sidewalk is utilized for chalk campaigning… one person seemed to be more represented than anyone else… (Safdari)… but I must admit that this person’s little insignia put me off… all I could think of was the McCain/Palin “Country First” poster (not a fantastic lasting impression.)
2. Frat House escapades… we walked by a tree that was teepeed (sp?). I thought that type of stuff was for 10 year olds… we can pull off better pranks than that surely. Not only that, but these are some really nice buildings…not exactly worth teepeeing.
3. In the Shakespeare Garden (a small garden between some of the larger academic buildings) we found two deer… now for those of you who don’t know… Northwestern is on the outskirts of Chicago and you wouldn’t expect to find deer in Evanston at all. This was heartwarming…it’s nice to know I can find some North East charm in the middle of Northwestern…this was a nice change from the wild unhired investment bankers that were lounging in Penn’s gardens.
4. SPAC or the Sports and Aquatic Center was impressive… it is right on the lake and provides lake views from about all of the exercise machines. The sightline is great until you are there in the winter constantly staring at the cold/frigid lake in the winter. Then you realize that you have to walk from SPAC back to your dorm…. Brr.
5. The library is maybe the strangest looking structure I have ever seen. It was later explained to me that it tries to create the illusion of books coming off of a shelf.

One more day, and then I will post my official decision……

April 21st, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

My second day began way too early. At about 4:45 AM (no misprint!), I was aroused from my beauty sleep in order to begin one crazy day. After getting ready, we (as in my brother and I) made our way to the PATH station in Hoboken to catch the 5:26 departure to Penn Station. Surprisingly, or I guess when you’re in the city unsurprisingly, there was a decent amount of people making their way into the city. At Penn Station, I had my first encounter with the Penn Station Amtrak arrangement. In order to ensure that stairwells do not get flooded by people, they don’t announce the track from where your train is leaving until 5 minutes before boarding time, hence, you stand somewhat dumbfoundedly looking at a large board with several hundred others, awaiting to see which track you are meant to take – of course, creating a flood of people toward that track, and yes, stairwell (D’oh!). Our train left promptly at 6:05 AM to Philadelphia, and as I looked around, there were a total of 4 people in our entire car – how in the world does Amtrak make money off of offering this train service? Anywho, we left and arrived at Philadelphia’s rather overbearing train station at about 7:45. Running a tad late for a breakfast date, we decided to take a cab from the train station to the hotel, a short but interesting ride. Apparently a new law in Philly mandates that cabs must accept credit cards – and apparently cab drivers don’t like it. Inside tip – try not to use a credit card, apparently it can piss a cab driver off.

Following our odd taxi situation, we met up with a close friend of mine who is also considering UPenn (side note: North East went 2/2 for UPenn, and pretty impressive stat for a small school). After breakfast we made our way over to Irvine Auditorium for opening remarks. Following the brief and uninspiring remarks, my brother and I made our way around Penn’s campus visiting a few select locals – most notably the Kelly Writers House. I had set up to meet someone at the house for a tour and the place was excellent and seemed to be a campus intellectual center of the highest order. (Check out the link provided!). After our brief campus tour, we continued to a luncheon at Huntsman Hall for prospective freshman. The luncheon found me sitting at a table of about 7 other students (they separated students and parents for the presentation – my poor brother). With brief and frankly awkward introductions, I discovered that I was the only public school kid at my table – pretty surprising as I don’t think that this is the norm. The presentation was of the curriculum at Wharton itself and while they strongly pushed the Wharton brand and business side of the school, they emphatically made points about the importance of interdisciplinary learning and hence, getting a great liberal arts background and education – a very important factor in my deciding between schools. Overall, the presentation was very impressive, though I felt it was ruined by this odd closing movie. Weird…. Whether I choose Penn or not, the campus is incredible (again, I love Locust Walk), the Wharton program is second to none, and with on-campus places like the Kelly Writers House, it is apparent that this place takes intellectual pursuit seriously.

After the luncheon, we explored the campus some more, made a trip to the library, the student bookstore, and other small visits. Then, we met my brother’s freshman roommate in downtown Philly to discuss the ever complex nature of life as we know it (hopefully you don’t believe that). We got on a train at 6 to go back to New York, had a quick, but very tasty Indian dinner in the city and made our way back to Hoboken….where we promptly passed out. Seriously, what a long day!

To be continued…

April 16th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (3)

With my recent, and frankly surprising, admittances to Northwestern and Penn, I decided to go on one last college journey in order to identify my place of study for the next four years. Both programs, Medill and Wharton, are world class and I never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to choose between them. That being said, I feel very lucky and fortunate to have the choice. This trip was meant for me to probe the programs further in order to identify which school, and program, is “right” for me.

I must note that the main objective of the trip was to discover more about the academic and intellectual culture at each university. In terms of how I felt, and do feel, about each campus/student life, both schools provide a great/beautiful campus with a city not too far away (albeit Penn is much closer to downtown Philly then NW to Chicago). Also, in terms of student life, I felt that each school provides similar opportunities (as do most colleges). Your college experience, beyond the academic programs, is what you make of it (or at least in my limited knowledge).

Without further ado, my trip…

I left Thursday (the 9th) morning with a ride from a good friend to the Buffalo airport. When she (yes, she!) picked me up and popped the trunk to her car, I discovered an issue – her trunk would not close! Though we left plenty of time in order to rule out any possible chance of me missing my flight, this issue could have been interesting. However, with the help of my astute North East “handyman” education, we were able to use a bungee cord to securely keep the trunk down, and almost fastened – I wonder how many of my admitted constituents could have done this!

Fast forward to landing in New York (JFK)… Originally the plan was to meet my brother in mid-town Manhattan at his place of his employment; however, plans changed and I had to find my way to Hoboken, which, if you have ever flown into a New York area airport, is about as far from JFK as you can get within the NYC area. Oh well. Luckily, with the help of a superior NYC public transit system, I was able to navigate my way to Penn Station, where I discovered that the PATH train (for those who do not know – it is a train that runs from mid-town Manhattan, under the Hudson River, to Jersey) does not utilize Penn Station (I knew this, but didn’t remember this). This required me to travel one avenue east in order to get to the PATH station. Though this walk was short, it was a bit interesting. There was a lot of construction on the road and one store was overflowing with people….a specialty wig shop? Surprising, but for a mid-afternoon on a Thursday, this place was doing some darn good business. I guess I just speculate if it was all “wig” business. Oh well.

After successfully navigating my way to Hoboken and then later meeting up with my brother, the rest of the evening was rather laid back – in preparation for an early morning start.

To be continued…

April 14th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

After a long and unfortunate absence, it is time that the blog returns. The past few months have been overwhelming and though there are plenty of places and activities to blame for the blog’s near death, the fault falls on me. Regrettably, the blog took a back seat to other parts in my life. However, new life looms, and I feel confident that I will begin to update the blog on a more frequent basis.

Some notes:

In case you haven’t heard/seen, my college decision page has been updated due to recent events.

My next several posts will be a diary/story telling of my spring/Easter break trip to my final two college choices. It is meant to be mainly entertaining – not informative. Though I may touch on aspects of specific presentations, my diary will mainly focus on some less significant, yet at times more entertaining, parts of my trip.

Glad to be back,
Steve

April 14th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Leave a comment

Ehh, I feel obligated to post. I have plenty on my mind, but I’m not sure how much I’d really like to post on the internet, but for the sake of posting…

I’d like to post some of my favorite movies (they all have some wikilinks). In no particular order…

12 Angry Men – this movie takes place in one room, almost all nameless characters, no props, just an hour and a half conversation and human interaction….and it is remarkably simple, yet profound, in its theme

Vertigo – perhaps one of Hitchcock’s most famous films, it plays on not so unreasonable fears – do you know who you love, guilt, and obsession. The film is a psychological thriller that literally left me with the chills.

Citizen Kane – perhaps the best film of all time, it tells the fractured story of Charles Kane and hits on so many themes of life – concluding with a simple message of innocence and unadulterated contentment. The film’s success for me is in the anecdotal presentation and the epiphany of the journalist at the end.

Life is Beautiful – a more recent movie concerned with the Holocaust, tells the story of love, both marital and paternal, and the tragedy of the era.

To Kill a Mockingbird – honestly, I thought the movie could have been a better production from certain aspect of the novel itself; however, this is the finest acting performance I’ve ever seen with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch

Philadelphia – the story is compelling and seems all too real. The theme of justice goes far beyond the courtroom. Denzel Washington fits his role very well. The court scenes are well done and I feel as if I want to jump in each time.

The Graduate – sometimes you need a laugh, sometimes you need a fling, sometimes you don’t know what you want. I think I can relate to these things and I think Dennis Hoffman plays the awkward post-collegian perfectly. Anne Bancroft is incredible as well.

…. There are more, but for now, I think this is a good start. Please comment with your thoughts on these selections or some movies that you particularly enjoy.

February 4th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (4)

Well, a heck of a day for sports. The Super Bowl was fantastic – good mix of offense and defense – but for me the sports moment of the day came early this morning about 10,000 miles away.

For anyone who cares, Roger Federer, the world’s most prolific and number two ranked tennis player, played Rafael Nadal, the world’s best and number one ranked player, in the Australian Open finals. The two have become nemesis for each other, meeting each other in three of the last four grand slam tournaments (which is crazy to even think about) with Nadal being victorious each time. Today’s match was another show of masterful tennis – they are head and shoulders above their contemporaries – a five-set mellow-drama in the wee hours of a Sunday morning in the United States, trading shot for shot until Federer finally faltered in the fifth set. The match itself was great, but the trophy presentation epitomizes sportsmanship. Check out the video if you have the time.

February 1st, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (1)

Alright, so I live in western Pennsylvania and everyone (well, at least Steelers fans) is excited for the Super Bowl. My question – besides Steelers fans and Cardinal fans… does anyone care at all? I know I don’t.

This may be one of the least interesting match-ups I can remember. The story lines are decent I guess – with the idea that the Cardinals could be in the Super Bowl. But, in terms of overall fan interest, there is much left to desire. Admittedly, the Steelers have a very strong fan base not only in Western PA, but across the nation and as everyone knows, they travel very well. But on the other hand, the Cardinals may have one of, if not the, smallest fan base in the NFL. There aren’t many native “Arizonans” or any long history that would give them a strong geographical fan base – in fact, I think there as many Cowboy fans in Arizona as there are Cardinal fans. They aren’t a “clique” team like the Raiders or Cowboys. So, I’m guessing that the majority of people rooting for the Cardinals tomorrow will be rooting against Pittsburgh more than for Arizona.

So, I just completely bashed the game and the one team in it. I’ll tell you what I do like.

1. Pittsburgh wins the right way – there simply isn’t anything “cheap” about the team and although Hines Ward may more closely resemble a deranged hobbit version of the joker, no one is questioning his toughness.
2. I like the idea of Kurt Warner – his story is incredible though he personally drives me crazy with his on-the-field swagger.
3. Larry Fitzgerald – he’s a good wide receiver who doesn’t want to change his name to a number, cry at press conferences, or dress/act like a dork
4. Ken Whisenhunt backdrop story – so you may say there is no “bad” blood. But puhlease, don’t tell me this guy doesn’t love the fact that he has the chance to beat the guy who beat him for the job – and maybe prove something to the Steeler organization.
5. Al Micheals – I love when this guy calls games – he is simply the best in the business (though lately it has been tough with Captain Obvious Madden as his wingman).

All that said, this Super Bowl bores me. I will watch for a bit, but I have no emotional attachment to either team – I just want to see a good game where there is a clear cut winner (aka no team has any excuses in terms of officiating).

January 31st, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Comments (3)