California Video!

To vlog or not to vlog...

I have not made a video in a while! For a while, I was working on my "How to Apply to College" series - the new, shiny one that may not be published. (See why here.) I want to get back into making regular videos. I'm thinking about making a "College Countdown" series since I will be leaving for college soon!

This morning I spent quite a bit of time converting video projects to Quicktime files and transferring those files onto my external harddrive. I also discovered that I had not uploaded a video from my California trip. You can view it below. It contains some footage from prom!

Yesterday, my good friend "L" and I went to the mall. We walked around, browsed stores, ate lunch, and talked. L is going into her third year at college. I appreciate all of the wisdom and advice she shares with me. 

xxOlivexx

The Big Decision - Goals for College

One lesson I learned from high school is that you should always have goals to give you direction. In high school, I floundered. I didn't know what I wanted and I felt to burning desire to work hard and make my dreams come true. I don't blame myself for this lack of motivation. Being young, I needed time to develop and grow.

But now I have grown and I'm ready to take things seriously. When I listen or read about people who are successful, I never hear them say "Oh, I didn't know what I wanted to do... so I just kinda did everything half-baked and this ended up working out." I have never heard that. Successful people know what they want and they figure out how to get it.

Over the past few weeks, I developed a clear sense of what I want and a basic outline of how I will achieve my goals. These goals are not set in stone. I'm willing to change them. But I need to enter college with a sense of what I am working toward.

So here are my goals for college.

1. Earn straight As.
2. Do research.
3. Be a leader, in community service projects and/or research.
4. Earn a score in the upper 700s on the GMAT.
5. Get into business school - Stanford's program is my dream school right now.
6. Write and publish a book about my time in college.

I'll break these goals down.

Earn straight As.

This one is fairly obvious. My GPA burned me during the undergrad admissions process. This will not happen again.

Do research.

For the field I am interested in (cognitive science), research is a must. I already have a potential "in" with a professor at college. I plan on meeting her and introducing myself with the intention of working in her lab.

Be a leader.

I am always trying to lead and not follow. I would like to take this a step further, through community service projects and/or research. This is also key for getting into business school.

Earn a high GMAT score.

While I did relatively well on the standardized testing for undergrad, I want to do even better for grad school. I purchased a GMAT prep book and I'll be preparing for the next few years until I take the test. 

Get into a top business school.

My dream is to start my own company. Going to business school would help in my preparation. Right now, I want to go to Stanford's MBA program. They recently revised their curriculum to make it more international and it's a good program for entrepreneurs. Also, after being on the East Coast for undergrad, I would like to branch out and go to the West Coast for grad school.

I plan on appying as a graduating senior. Stanford's program includes the option of deffering for one to three years (as long as you work during that time). I may take some time off to work. This all depends on how things pan out during undergrad.

Write a book about my college experience.


This one will be tons of fun. The book will be about my experience in college. I keep a journal (and this blog, obviously) from which I will craft a coherent narrative. Hopefully I will publish the book as well!

xxOlivexx

The Opportunity

I'm not going to comment about how long it has been since I last posted, because I don't want to sound like one of those pretentious bloggers that is "OH SO GUILTY" about not posting. That's not me. Nope. Not at all.

I'm won't make up any lame excuses, either. Like how I got my wisdom teeth extracted and how I have been packing for college etc, etc, etc. Lame, lame, lame llama.

Instead, I'll be a good blogger and just WRITE about what has happend to me the past month.

First, I have been trying to figure out what I will do with this blog and vlog. There is an amazing opportunity ("The Opportunity") that will probably work out and if it does, I will not be posting a series on how to apply to college. I apologize to my viewers who were looking forward to this, but unfortunately that's how it goes. However, The Opportunity involves college applications, so as soon as I'm able to divulge, I will.

I decided that I want to make my channel/blog fun, exciting, and helpful, but at the same time it needs to be professional. I need to keep long term investments in mind, and having a channel that divulges information about zits, sexy fruits, and silly stuff probably won't help me.

The past month I worked up to a major decision. I want this major decision to have a post of it's own, so bear with me...

More to come!

xxOlivexx

Advising Fellow, Choosing Classes

More updates!

On July 1st, my fellow (an older student who advises younger students) emailed me to introduce himself! He is going into business, which is perfect because I'm considering going to business school after college. I peppered him with questions about registering for classes, languages, and best places to study.

The past few days (mostly today, though) I have been corresponding with various professors and academic advisors. Choosing classes is daunting, but I finally decided to stick with my cognitive science/philosophy bent. I emailed a philosophy teacher and got the prerequisite for an ethics course waived because of my unusually large high school philosophy background. YAY! Also, I emailed the instructor for honors chemistry labs to figure out if there is an advantage to doing the lab on a specific weekday. There isn't. So I'll probably sign up for the Tuesday lab, since most of my classes are on a MWTh schedule.

I'm currently reading the book 300 A+ Students, which contains compiled tips on how to conduct your academic life in order to receive an A+. Some students recommend talking to the professor about if it is possible to earn an A+, how to earn it, etc. I emailed the chemistry professor with a bunch of questions to get more information. I will probably do the same for all my other teachers.

So, this upcoming semester I will take a philosophy course, chemistry, a university writing seminar, and a language. I'm still trying to decide between Hebrew and Chinese...

Hope your summer is going well!
xxOlivexx

Academic Advising Services

The past couple weeks has been exciting. I'm beginning to receive the specifics of what my life college will be like.

I know who my academic advisor is - he sent numerous emails (though not from his personal address, which I find a bit odd) regarding various topics, such as AP credit, balancing classes, etc. In the email is a hotline number for academic advising services. I called this past week to ask about whether I should take Chemistry 11a or 15a (regular or honors). In the past, I took chemistry two times - once in middle school and once in high school. I also took calculus through AP Calc C. So I felt I'm pretty well-equipped to handle honors chemistry, but I wanted to clarify and also find out if I need to take a placement test.

The person who answered the phone told me to sign up for 11a because that is what most students do. Also, the guidelines for placements tests are confusing. It ends up I don't need to take a placement test. After I was done with the phone call, I decided to email one of the chemistry professors and ask for his opinion. I don't completely trust the advising hotline, because I read that there is a mixture of professors and students who answer calls. My guess is more students than professors. So, the chemistry professor recommended that I sign up for honors chemistry. Also, there are about 30 students in honors, versus 200 in regular chemistry, so that's a nice bonus.

I also found out who is my faculty advisor. I have yet to contact this person, who is in the psychology department, but I should soon.

Finally, I discovered that I made it into my first choice for the Writing Seminar. I will be taking a comedy class!

More to come!

xxOlivexx

I'M GRADUATING!!

Past few days have been CRAZY. Packing like a mad dog, filming, in general getting-ready-ness for graduation. I will be blogging and vlogging a ton during my graduation, so stay tuned for many posts. There may be a slight delay since this weekend will be crazy busy, but I want to let everyone know that lots of fun is arriving!

xxOlivexx

Guess who has two thumbs and a driver's license?

 THIS GIRL!!

So much has unfolded the past week and a half. I finished high school. Can you believe it? This pipsqueak, done with HIGH SCHOOL??!! Well, it is true. I took my last final on Monday.

I also went through yet another right of passage - my driver's test. I'm surprised I passed, to be honest. My instructor basically parallel parked for me. I hit the curb, but I wasn't too worried because I knew how to straighten out, but then he started saying "Go forward a little, turn your wheel to the left, go back ok keep going" etc. I think he gave me full marks for parallel parking, too! He said it's because I was driving a truck (it was my mom's SUV), but I think it's because I charmed him. It was 103 degrees. He asked if I had air conditioning, which I do, and he said, "I have to wear long pants and heavy boots... oh the things I do for my job."

I said, "Well, I appreciate it!"

He said, "I like you. You're respectful. I like respectful, responsible young adults. Thank you for that."

There you go, folks. How to pass your driver's test. ;)

Originally, I was going to get my wisdom teeth extracted (all four) on Friday, but the more my mom and I thought about it, the more we realized it was a bad idea since graduation is next weekend. If I have complications, let's just say it won't be pretty. So we're rescheduling for July. YAY!

I'm giving a speech at grad, which I'm currently writing. I'm trying not to make it too preachy. I've got some funny jokes, but also a good, heartfelt important message. I'll get my dad to record it and I'll post a video.

xxOlivexx