@frazzledazzle My parents have lived in CT all of their lives, and they think New Haven is incredibly unsafe. We have been to the nicer areas a few times to get pizza and walk around Yale, and nothing drastic has happened, but generally the city isn’t that great.
In a similar vein, they basically told me not to consider Trinity College just because it’s in Hartford. Its too bad some of the best schools in CT are in bad areas. :\
@LushLillies I toured Harvard! It was really nice, and their admissions session stood out. They had our tour guides talk about life as a Harvard student for a decent amount of time, and the man leading the admissions session was very knowledgeable. The tour was nice too. It was really busy. The only downside of Harvard is that there are a lot of tourists. If you do visit, you should check out the food trucks, they’re really good
also I forgot to reply but @Wolfgangbread
thank you 
I am a huge Impressionist art and music fan…Renoir, Degas, Monet…plus musicians such as Debussy and Ravel (although they claimed to not be impressionists…)!
If you ever visit France, in the Musee d’Orsay, there’s an entire exhibit dedicated to Waterlillies!
sorry everyone for this art spam
:))
@Lisa M I heard Harvard gets a lot of Chinese tourists. Do you know if it’s the same thing with all the other Ivy Leagues, or even just top US colleges in general?
@acomfysofa Whenever I visit New Haven, there’s always Chinese tours around Yale.
@LushLillies I love Ravel and Debussy! Also love Satie and Saint-Saens…their music is so vibrant. Lol, just realized that my top 5 composers are all French.
How was UPenn? I won’t be able to visit, but I’m interested in applying. What vibe did you get there? How were the students? How is Philly?
Anyone have any tips for asking a teacher for a LOR. I need one for the College Prep Scholars program. We have a good relation but idk feels weird going outside of class to ask for a LOR. Mainly because it’s my first one.
@frazzledazzle @LushLillies I always feel like people exaggerate safety concerns. Many of the kids who go to Yale aren’t familiar with the non-affluent parts of larger cities, but keeping yourself safe should be common sense. Don’t go out by yourself, stay attentive, keep larger valuables hidden, etc. UChicago and Rice(but eww Houston…I kid, l kid…Just doing my duty as a Dallasite) are the same way. If your school is at odds with the surrounding community, experiences off campus will be limited.
@kassh4 Pick someone who knows you outside of school if possible. A teacher that you didn’t entirely annoy. Some of mine make it known that if you ****ed them off, they’ll secretly write you a bad rec. Be sure to thank them after they write it because they might be writing a couple for you next year and it’s just courteous.
I’ll be visiting a few if the Ivy’s in April. Hopefully it won’t be a waste of time
Thank you @LushLillies @LeopardFire and @Hamlon. That’s very insightful. I’m from a “big city” in Maine (it’s actually pretty small - only 35,000 people), so I don’t have much experience with large cities. The only big city I’ve been to is Boston. I like what you said, @LushLillies, about it being like Hogwarts. I LOVE the Harry Potter series. I’m not a big philosophy nut, but Yale has good astronomy and music programs.
SAT tomorrow. :-SS
I just went to a math/science specific information session at Georgia Tech yesterday. I loved it - I met a bunch of professors and students, toured some of their labs, and got to sit in on a biology class. If you have the time to do something like that, I would totally recommend it. I found it a lot more useful than the general information session.
what are you guys doing over the summer? I officially got a summer job today and I volunteer over the summer at a local cat shelter. If needed, I’ll do some SAT studying, but that’s about it. What about you guys?
Just went through KhanAcademy’s SAT prep, and apparently, I’m good at everything in the Reading and Writing portion except “Reading: Literature” and “Writing: Narrative”, which are basically just stories. I have Level 2 in those, but Level 4 (and almost consistent 100% in those questions) on everything else. Looks like I’ll need to work on those two topics the most!
ugh school has been so hectic recently and it doesn’t look like it is going to slow down anytime soon as all the teachers are trying to shove everything in before spring break. welp.
I got 3 hours of sleep for the SAT because of a thunderstorm + anxiety. May or may not be crying.
@neptuna At least you can relax now and buy yourself lots and lots of frozen yogurt.
Turned in my application for YSPA! Now to finish the prompts for SSP to turn in my application before 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday! I sure am cutting this close… :-SS
@Hamlon Thanks. It went better than expected. I don’t think I got any higher than a 1450, but I’m pretty confident I pulled off a 1400.