My day began before 5 AM with Potatoe waking me up for a snuggle. When I let him outside, Pumpkine came inside. She too was looking for snuggles. Pumpkine is becoming more independent. She used always run with one of the other fur kids. Now, she seems to go more on her own. She also is becoming more and more affectionate.
The local news report is on, and the 45 is a mess. I happy to not be commuting. I do miss going to the office, and I miss seeing my coworker. I do not miss having to get up at 4 in the morning to get ahead of traffic. I do not miss sitting in traffic.
Today is a big day for Brainy Bird. He should find out today if he is a semi-finalist for one of the major scholarships that he has applied for. Nearly everything from application deadlines to responses to applications and scholarships has been delayed. My friends tell me that this is not normal, so I guess that it is driven by COVID. I hope we hear about the scholarship today, but I am quite prepared for this notification to also be delayed.
By the end of this month, Brainy Bird will know the outcome of this major scholarship as well as the outcome of his application status for two universities, and the outcome of his major decision for Texas. If he could one of these things be a yes, it would be the major scholarship. The major scholarship is to one of his top 3 college choices.
For those not involved in a college application process in the last decade, let me explain what a “major decision” is. Applicants no longer just apply to a university, they apply to a college/specific major within the university. Brainy Bird was automatically accepted into Texas because of his class rank. He knew this as soon as he completed his application. He has been waiting to find out if he got into the computer science program.
Universities do not publish their acceptance rates into a specific major/college. However, it is known that an extremely low percentage of applicants are directly accepted into Texas’ computer science major. This is true for all of the highly ranked computer science programs in the nation. It is harder to get into the computer science program at many of the universities that Brainy Bird has applied to than it is to get into some ivy league schools as a liberal arts major.
Brainy Bird is well prepared for rejection. All he needs is one college to direct accept him into their computer science program and offer him a substantial scholarship. All he needs is one. Everyone else can reject him, and he will still have what he needs. I feel that the highs and lows of the application process are a great life lesson. If one hasn’t been rejected for admission to at least one university and at least a few scholarships then they have not fully optimized their college search.
The days ahead will be eventful. Stay tuned!