<p>I’m starting to feel like a participant in a psychological experiment. Them: Here’s this wonderful school, we’ll be glad to tell you all about it, we’ll even come to your school and extol its unparalleled virtues. It’s phenomenal, it’s unique, it’s for lovers of knowledge and learning and those of you who live in your mind (you know who I mean). And it’s beautiful, there is an abundance of bookstores, for crying out loud. Me: It’s perfect for me. Absolutely perfect. So I visit, I interview, I fill out forms, get others to fill out forms that say I’m wonderful, I take tests and do well so they know I’m qualified, I agonize over essays, writing and rewriting until they are as perfect as UChicago is for me. Then I get everything there early…or so I think…there’s something missing…that I know was sent! OK, I’ll resend it. Oh, wait, they don’t want me to. They want me to wait…how long? How can this be happening? Can I email my counselor? Nope. Can I call someone? Nope. Can I resubmit what’s missing? Nope. Just wait. We might find it. But now…maybe it’s a ploy to see who is really serious about attending. If you REALLY want to go there you might ignore their admonitions. Maybe that’s the true test of an applicant’s interest…No, they wouldn’t do that…or would they?</p>