3.04.2010

Writing: College Applications FAQ

My adviser asked yesterday to have me look over portfolios for some applicants to my major. There are certain things that one keeps seeing over and over again - things that are good, things that are bad. I know I have at least a handful of followers who are younger than me, still in high school, so I figured I'd try and help them out. I mean, I had to get here somehow, right?

Please comment on this entry (or e-mail me, or IM me, or whatever) if you have a question you'd like me to answer. It may take me a little while. Please bookmark this blog, under the "convention faq" tag. I'll add more entries if people ask me more questions.

3 comments:

Sonia, Sonja (Eating Fresh), Sonichka said...

Well I'm a senior and I'e already applied to all my schools (no question on that) so here's one on choosing the place to go:

What was the most important factor in your choosing of UPenn? I, for one, definitely have a dream school, but it is likely that I will end up having to choose based on how much I can pay for each one. How have you been financing your education?

Thanks in advance :)

Tian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tian said...

(Hi there, this is soliloquy in aria from gaia.)

Oh wow, halfway through typing this I realize how much I'm rambling. I apologize in advance- if these questions are too specific or you find that you can't/don't want to answer them, it's fine. XD;;;

After reading through your profile info on dA, I realize a lot of my goals in life match up with what you've already done. * A* I'm a sophomore in high school, but I'm trying to head towards a Computer Science major and maybe some dabbling in fine arts.(CMU has an intercollege Computer Science/Fine Arts degree that interests me very much, though I don't know if I want art to become an obligatory thing rather than something I just do for fun online) It'd be my dream job to have some sort of CS job in the gaming industry, and I'd like to put my art background to use but I'm not sure that I can reach the skill level necessary for art as a career.

I'm not sure what specific questions to ask, so I'll just spew a bunch and you can choose if you want to answer anything, ahaha:

•Is it difficult to find a job involving CS and art? I'm not sure if I have the patience for a job purely coding programs, but from what I've heard it seems like there're more jobs/higher salaries to be found in coding software or databases for banks/businesses/etc than in CGI or gaming. As a second-generation Asian American... my parents expect me to get a high-paying job, one that surpasses what they, as immigrants into America, are earning right now, but it's becoming obvious that I'm never going to go into any of the *high-paying* fields like medicine or law. But is it possible with Computer Science to eventually be able to earn a respectable amount? I want to do something I'll enjoy but I don't want to end up a starving artist on the streets either, ahaha.

•Do colleges really care that much about how many and what APs you take? Our scheduling took place last week, and there was so much angsting over our school's 3-AP limit because people just think that if they don't take 4 or 5 APs junior year, they'll be falling behind and they won't be able to get into a good college. Also, do they look at APES or AP Stat or AP Psych and think, that's an easy AP, and disregard it? And as a result one might as well not take them just because they don't bear much weight to colleges?


Sorry again for all the rambling. XD;