New Jersey Scholars Program 2018

hihelloheyhi
Mon, 09 Apr 2018 09:17:23 +0000

hey guys. congrats to all that got in. thankfully I was accepted too. Also, to all those waitlisted/rejected, there’s a kid from my school exponentially more impressive than I am on paper who didn’t end up getting into even the interview round. Be proud of yourselves nonetheless. these processes are so weird that you can’t take it too personally. I’m sure you’ll all do something wonderful this summer regardless.

I was just wondering if anyone would have insight into this mini dilemma I’m having. I now have what I call a happy problem (yes I can stress out about it but I gotta remind myself I’m luck to even be in this situation). I now have to choose between NJSP and the Iowa young writers studio. Iowa is only 2 weeks, and plus tuition based, but I’d be getting a scholarship to attend. At first I was automatically gonna go for NJSP (because 5 weeks exploring what it means to be human just sounds like literal intellectual PARADISE), but then I started thinking of it in terms of college apps (I know, I know, it sounds bad but it nevertheless is a factor).

I know NJSP is prestigious and all, but through all of high school I’ve built myself up as a writer. (most of my ECs are all based around creativity/storytelling through film and creative writing). Would it look better to have Iowa on my transcript since it fits my “story” on my college apps more (this is what my guidance counselor told me)? My guidance counselor thinks that NJSP won’t really help fuel my college app “spike” of being a writer/storyteller. My guidance counselor also said the program isn’t as prestigious as I had thought. I had gotten the impression that it’s on par w/ gov school, but my guidance counselor thinks it’s not nearly as valued (is this true? my guidance counselor has a tendency to have no idea what he is talking about which is why I am here now).

Personally I’d rather go to NJSP. I think I’d learn a lot about myself through the program. And plus, I honestly think the things we’re gonna be discussing would be more of a source of inspiration for my writing than Iowa would even be (I can already imagine all the story ideas/themes running through my head from our seminar discussions at NJSP). I’m also worried that Iowa would be sorta same old same old since I did a similar (but slightly less prestigious) writing program through the Kenyon Review last summer.

I APOLOGIZE! I’ll stop blabbering. I know I should just do what I think I’d enjoy most but I wanna know if what my guidance counselor is saying is actually valid. I guess my question really is: does NJSP truly help as much as people say in terms of annoying college stuff? Is it as prestigious as the program tour guides during interviews made it out to be? Or would Iowa young writers help out my chances more?

What do you guys think I should do? If I did Iowa for only 2 weeks, I’d also probably do an internship at NBC for a month (which I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy nearly as much as NJSP-- filing papers and making coffee runs doesn’t necessarily sound intellectually stimulating LOL). Plus, it seems every single 17 year old has an internship nowadays. They seem to be of minimal personal value (outside of networking) and only for college app show. Don’t colleges realize most people who get these merely just KNOW someone who got the internship for them???

ALSO: sorry if someone else already asked this question. I haven’t been following this thread at all and haven’t ever used college confidential before. If I’m just reiterating what some else may have already asked, I apologize. I also realized that I asked like a million questions and my post is sorta all over the place and probably has a bunch of typos, but bear with me. Its 5 am and I haven’t slept bc I decided to push all of my spring break HW to tonight.