Touring, Finishing, & Waiting

This past weekend was filled with adventure and joy for a multitude of reasons…

I had the incredible opportunity to leave Syracuse for the weekend to go to the city of Boston for both personal and professional reasons: to celebrate my girlfriend’s birthday and to tour two of the colleges I have applied to for transfer.

On Thursday I visited Boston University. At first, I found the campus’ size and appearance domineering (not intimidating, mind you, but domineering). In some ways, I felt as if I was just walking through the streets of Downtown Syracuse: a lot of concrete buildings that look depressing in contrast to gray skies and snow on the ground. But as I toured the campus, and had opportunities to walk through the buildings, I began to feel more comfortable and I began to appreciate the campus’ appearance. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to tour their Communications School, but my tour guide was a film major who was going into pre-law so she could pursue entertainment law. She was also a part of several productions on campus, and the prospect of being involved in consistent television and radio productions interested me. However, as I left BU I didn’t feel excited about the prospect of going there. Sure, I’m glad that I applied and I hope that I have it as an option— BU is ranked in the top 15 of the film schools with many successful and well-known alumni— but I still didn’t feel attached to it or excited about the possibility of getting in. Some people told me (my girlfriend included) that sometimes while applying to and touring colleges you won’t necessarily have one school (that’s not a reach) as your dream school or one you’re excited about going to at first. I initially agreed with this statement. But at the end of the day Thursday, I was looking forward to touring the next college and seeing what they had to offer.

Friday was a different story entirely as I toured Emerson College. The campus looked like it was a perfect blend of Los Angeles, Boston, and New York City. Situated in Boston’s theater district, Emerson’s buildings were both old and new and they captured the attention of the storyteller within me. There was also an alley between some of the buildings with an iron gate that looked like the entrance to an old movie studio (there’s that LA look I was talking about) and I thought that was just really perfect for a film school in the middle of Boston. Everything just seemed to fit together, and the campus felt safe yet challenging. I toured their facilities, and was almost interrupted by a phone call coming from a number I vaguely recognized as a Savanah, GA area code and I let it go to voicemail, and needless to say I was stunned by Emerson’s tech and the available resources. The programs astonished me, the clubs caught my interest, and it was very evident that Emerson’s focus is film and media production. All of this among other details (like the dining hall and promises of a free Adobe Creative Cloud subscription) got me excited about the prospect of attending Emerson. I felt as if I immediately disproved the opinions from the day before— Emerson became a dream school for me that isn’t a reach. Statistically speaking, my chances of getting into Emerson aren’t that bad (56% of transfer applicants are accepted, and the average accepted GPA is 3.4), and although I have a dream school in LA, it’s a reach. So Emerson has become my dream school that is actually pretty realistic for me to get into, and that elates me and only drives me to continue to work hard and succeed at the end of this semester.

Once I finished my tour of Emerson, I finally checked my voicemail and discovered that phone call from Savannah was in fact my admissions advisor at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Atlanta… He was notifying me that I got accepted and would be receiving an admission offer in the mail in the next few weeks.

I lost my breath and jumped and spun around as I got news about my first acceptance notification. All of my hard work is starting to pay off and now I have my first option available to me on the table.

On Sunday, I wrote my final application essay & submitted my last college application: Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. It’s somewhat of a reach, statistically speaking, my chances aren’t that bad, but my chances of getting into Emerson are much better. Regardless, I look forward to the outcome of that application.

Today, I was doing my regular application status checks… I opened my application to Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA… And there it was: my second acceptance notification complete with financial aid offer. I always felt confident that I’d get accepted to Drexel, but seeing it there in front of me just felt good.

I am filled with so much joy to have two options available to me for transfer on the table, and I so look forward to hearing from everywhere I applied to. I doubt that I will have all eight schools available to me as choices, but I’m thankful that I have at least tried and I am reassured that my hard work and diligence are paying off and for that I am exceedingly grateful.

So now I just have to wait… The waiting game is going to be tough. Drexel and SCAD do rolling admissions applications for the most part, and I hypothesize that’s why I heard from them so soon. My luck in regards to timing for the remaining six schools will probably not be as good. I just need to remember to be patient and that each admission notification is just another wonderful option for me when I’m done at OCC.