Deep Springs College

rednegativity · 08-04-2009, 03:50 PM

Let's start a thread for people who plan on applying to Deep Springs who are in the class of 2010 at high school.

Where else do you plan to apply, if you get into Deep Springs which labor position do you most want, where would you want to transfer to, what major do you want in the long run, have you already written your essays? Etc, I am just curious to see the group of people that are going to be applying this year. I read the forums from last year's group last night, and it was a pretty amazing discussion. The applicants bonded even before making it into Round II--let's see if we can start up a discussion for this year.

Good luck to all of you who plan on being among the ~15 chosen to enter into the desert!

higgins · 08-04-2009, 03:55 PM

You don't have to be in high school to apply. There are a few there now with 1-2 years of college under their belts. My son is one who plans to return after his sojourn in the desert.

rednegativity · 08-05-2009, 04:03 AM

Oh, yes, I think that I knew that. My mistake in referencing high school. You wouldn't happen to know how many admitted students (roughly, of course) are straight out of high school, and how many aren't, would you? Do the majority of DS students have a couple extra years under their belt, or do only a few of them?

If I get in this time, I anticipate that, upon graduating from DS, I would have to spend about three years (rather than just two) if I went to the University of Chicago, because, if that is where I end up going after Deep Springs, I want to double major, and in addition to extra classes required to be a double major, Chicago requires that even transfers complete their entire Core Curriculum at Chicago. I wouldn't mind spending more years in college--in fact, I would rather spend as many years earning a quality education as possible, as opposed to some of my friends, who are applying to easy, local public schools in order to get their degree as quickly as possible--but do you think that it would take three years at UChicago after DS to earn a double major?

This second paragraph is not aimed only at higgins, but at any person who knows the answer.

higgins · 08-05-2009, 10:36 AM

Most are straight out of high school. My son has had one year of college. There is one kid who had a couple years in a IB program in a foreign country I think.
Mys on will need to do two years if he returns to that particular college because he got advanced standing due to AP credits. Since there is little additional cost to attend DS, it only costs you time.

I tell my kids that there is no rush to get into the workforce. They're going to have to work forever to pay for my Social security and health care!

desperatechaos · 08-06-2009, 02:00 AM

I'm barely acquainted with the school. Not sure how my parents would react in the unlikely scenario that I want to go there. My parents are Chinese, and Asian parents are typically pretty conservative about this stuff. They want their children to go to a high-ranking, prestigious research university, normally.

But I have to say, I first heard about Deep Springs a few days ago from a college guidebook, and I brushed it off after seeing it was a 2-year college in the middle of nowhere. But somehow, the idea behind it appeals to me. I've always been a sucker for Thoreau's idea of going to the middle of nowhere and living deliberately.

At the same time, this is a really unconventional college... I'm not sure whether it's right for me.

rednegativity · 08-06-2009, 05:54 PM

That was my initial reaction. I actually laughed at first, but first when I saw the caliber of the men there, then the ridiculous classes they take (like quantum mechanics as humanities-focused freshmen?), then that it was free, then that it was basically self-sustaining, and, ultimately, when I saw that more than 90% of the students get accepted into their first choice school for transfer after the two years, the top two being Harvard and University of Chicago--well, it not only fits in with Thoreau, it is something more. You can want to go there for all of the first reasons, and you can sell it to your parents by the transfer stats and the caliber of academics. Despite it being relatively unknown, it is so unique that I cannot imagine even wanting to go to any other school near as much as I do Deep Springs.

desperatechaos, do you plan on applying if you can convince your parents? Or are you still not sure about it?

Who else on CC plans on applying?

rednegativity · 08-06-2009, 05:57 PM

Also, desperatechaos, you could always apply and then, provided you make it past the first round, use the four day interview to decide if you mesh with the approach, the students, the attitude, and the atmosphere, to decide if it really is right for you. If it isn't--well, then nobody is forcing you to go. But, just because of how unique it is, I'd say it seems to deserve a shot.

samuel924 · 08-13-2009, 09:47 PM

Hey guys.
In direct response to the first comment of the thread by rednegativity, I have already written the 3rd essay and started the first. Although it has been said that the essays are the most important part of ones application, how have you guys done in high school in terms of grades?

rednegativity · 08-14-2009, 09:18 PM

In response to samuel924:

Well, I am a bit embarrassed about my grades. My average got to be as low as an 84 in freshman year, and an 85 sophomore year. While I started caring junior year, taking harder classes and getting a 94 average for that year, the fact that admissions officers can see that I have a 94 potential reflects particularly poorly on my first two years of high school. I am taking 3 AP's and, overall, seven classes, senior year, and I anticipate all high A's, but do you guys think that Deep Springs will laugh at me for my initial terrible grades?

What about you, samuel? And everyone else?

So, samuel, in other words, it is something that I also have been worrying about.

Their SAT and ACT scores are ridiculously high--but apparently that's almost a coincidence because of the fact that, based on the essays, they end up admitting the most intelligent students, the most intelligent students being the ones most likely to do well on testing.

Anyway, how'd you all do on your tests?

samuel924 · 08-15-2009, 10:03 PM

Well my grades have mostly been Bs, B+s, and As.. That being said I have taken 4 APs already, and will be taking 6 APs senior year.. As I explained in my essays, and which you should too rednegativity, is your genuine interest in academics and intellectuality, and that is how the app. comm ( hopefully) will base their Round 2 descions on..

rednegativity · 08-16-2009, 02:52 PM

I do indeed plan on basing my essays around that. I have started two of my essays, and already my intellectualism has become one of the major themes that recur. Samuel, for the first question, do you focus more on the events and situations that have influenced you, on their specific influence, or on your way of thought that has grown subsequent to your experiences? I am thinking about the third, focusing on my thought (mostly because it shows a more intellectual mindset), but I am not yet positive if that is the way to go about it, because, though the question asks about "yourself" (and for me, at least, my ideas serve as the greatest example of myself), it has been hard while writing outlines to spend very much time actually discussing the aforementioned events or experiences that the question is essentially based off of.

And does anyone else find it impressive that of the 13 students accepted last year, all 13 decided to attend? Not surprising--these top students undoubtedly were dedicated to Deep Springs at a level that was perhaps above that of any other applicant--but impressive, in that not only can any other school boast such a statistic, but no other school can claim such self-selectivity, which, in the modern world of Harvard's and MIT's, has become all too rare among the schools that really are the very best.