I Did It Y'all

writing a cover letter for a research position be like

meirl

study moods by subject

chemistry: a seat in the first row, diligent note taking, falling asleep in a textbook, color coded sticky notes but with no real system, fingers running across old ink

literature: studying in bed, a cat snoozing on the pillow, orchestral movie soundtracks playing softly, rereading passages that were absentmindedly passed through

math: strong cups of coffee, graph paper planners, crowded lecture halls, a furrowed brow, warm sweaters, that one special spot in the library

history: clicking pens, stacks and stacks of books, annotations in the margins, study sessions spread out on the floor, flickering candles, working in complete silence

biology: colorful illustrations, well worn flashcards, reusable water bottles, always breaking pencil lead, carefully drafting important emails

art: getting lost in readings, pastry and a coffee, receipts repurposed as bookmarks, love for rainy days, in class hand raising anxiety, a whirlwind of a backpack

world languages: early mornings, a deep seated quizlet addiction, studying with friends, practicing presentations aloud in an empty room, fidgeting in chairs, detailed study guides

engineering: hands running through hair, cups of tea either drank while they’re too hot or entirely forgotten, typing quickly, the sound as hallways fill in between classes

music: stretching fingers after long periods of writing, 11:59 submission for a 12:00 deadline, celebrating the completion of a task with something sweet, deep respect for teachers

Half chillin, half stressin

july 8, 2020 - I’m taking a free Harvard course on Beethon’s 9th and it’s made me realize how much I genuinely enjoy and have missed note-taking.

The worst part about graduating is that the years after you never will understand AP Lang, AP Lit, or SAT memes ever again…

so me

what did you write your college essays about?

all sorts of things!

common app: prompt about background/identity/interest/talent - a book my mom bought me in third grade called why do men have nipples? and how that initiated my lifelong curiosity and questioning of the things in this world and how i use poetry to answer those questions

stanford: extracurricular - feminism club (i used this essay for any college asking about an extracurricular)

stanford: intellectual vitality - my obsession with japanese pens and how it reflects my experimental/sciencey mind that i use in research

stanford: roommate -  i basically kindly asked that my roommate make room for my muse, because she takes up a lot of space, and then i just talked about my muse/writing process

stanford: what matters to you and why - memes and how one particular tumblr meme reflects the importance of languages/communication

brown: why the major you chose - languages/growing up learning languages and psychology/research and its implications

brown: why brown - open curriculum, comp lit department not so eurocentric

brown: where have you lived - suburbia is boring but also grateful for good support system

brown: community - school lit mag

columbia: why columbia - columbia shp and psychology, comp lit department

columbia: why the major you chose - creative writing and psychology

cornell: why cornell - passion for languages, comp lit department, psychology, personality attachment and control lab, cornell traditions

dartmouth: When you meet someone for the first time, what do you want them to know about you, but generally don’t tell them? - this one is kinda hard to explain bc of its format but basically i wrote about creative writing, psychology, and social activism

harvard: your choice - being biracial, feeling excluded from both cultural communities, and the process of learning that i am not half of each, i am both

princeton: the prompt about culture - biracial (same as harv essay)

uchicago: how are apples and oranges supposed to be compared? - i basically just bashed wallace stevens for being pretentious, then wrote a parody of his poem “study of two pears” titled “study of not two pears, but of one apple and one orange,” then analyzed the “meaning” behind my parody poem, and continued to bash wallace stevens during the “analysis” lol

uchicago: why uchicago - i wrote about how when i visited uchicago over the summer with a friend, instead of listening to our tour guide, we spent the majority of the time running away from bees. then i wrote about how despite the bees, uchicago’s numerous redeeming qualities far outweigh the prospect of living in a beehive for the next four years. and i like talked about the comp lit department, traditions like scav, kuvia, and the latke/hamantash debate, and concluded that uchicago is hella weird and nothing like what it seems on the surface. i actually had sooo much fun with this essay hahhaha

uchicago: favorite things - i wrote about how my favorite food is ice cream and how everyone i’ve told this to always claims that ice cream is not a food and so this was a defense of “my beloved ice cream”

penn: why penn - comp lit department, kelly writers house, penn traditions

yale: why yale - ok this essay is really really bad and basically i thought i was being ~bold~ and ~gutsy~ but honestly in hindsight it just came off really rude and i don’t blame yale at all for rejecting me LOL (i took up 70 out of the 100 words talking about how the best part about yale was the singing in its music video “that’s why i chose yale,” and then i said i was kidding, and then i wrote one sentence about a literature class and a psych lab specific to yale lol rip)

yale: your choice - biracial (same as prince and harv)

macaulay honors college: of which activity do you derive the most joy - my obsession with writing and the brain and research

macaulay honors college: overcoming an obstacle - biracial essay (same as prince and yale and harv)

mit: cultural background and identity - biracial essay

mit: hobby - tumblr

mit: which program - writing department

mit: betterment of community - feminism club extracurricular essay

mit: world you come from - suburbia and how it’s boring and how at mit i will experience a new, innovative environment that’s entirely different and whatnot

mit: significant challenge - learning to love myself

i think that about covers all of my essays lol lmk if you want me to post any of them :)

60 Tips for IB - from a 45 pointer

A lot of people have been asking me about general tips for surviving IB and how I got 45 points. If I’m honest I think the difference between 40 and 45 points is just pure, dumb luck, but at least here are some tips to getting up to the 40 -points level :D

This is a list of tips my friend and I wrote right after our IB exams. We were feeling quite high at the moment, so I had to edit some of the tips so you could actually take the advice seriously…

1. HAPPINESS FIRST DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO KEEP YOURSELF HAPPY

2. Don’t do “homework” at home!!!

3. Find a study buddy

4. Proceed to ignore everyone but your study buddy

5. Not your dog though

6. Escape from your family / responsibilities (e.g. do your homework abroad, in someone else’s basement, coffee shops, libraries, group rooms at school, sneak into university study halls etcetc. The possibilities are endless)

7. Set yourself a time limit for doing the TOK Essay. (Don’t do it two weekends in a row, you will go crazy)

8. Don’t attempt to finish the EE in one day

9. Remind your science teacher about the IA. It’s for your own good.

10. Whether it’s 5am or 2am, figure out when you work best and stick to it.

11. Don’t think you’ll learn stuff in class. Seriously. Read the books instead, and use classes as revision / sleep time / relaxing time.

12. Mark schemes will be your best teacher. 

13. Write syllabus notes FROM THE VERY START.

14. You won’t understand TOK but at least try to have fun with it.

15. Don’t forget about CAS, but don’t spend too much time on it either.

16. Install “StayFocusd” but don’t go nuclear option for a week

17. Memorize the opening hours of the public study areas in your vicinity 

18. Listen to Christmas music if you’re sad

19. Get a whiteboard for revision

20. Physics students: buy the Tsokos revision guide

21. Chemistry students: YouTube Richard Thornley 

22. Biology students: YouTube Alex Lee

23. Read the language books during the summer

24. Don’t give a fuck about English B…but TAKE ENGLISH B IF YOU CAN

25. Don’t choose science as your EE subject (unless you have a super smart and helpful and amazing supervisor)

26. Love your teachers, see them as your friend. They’re adorable.

27. Love yourself too

28. Making a plan (without necessarily following it) will help calm you down

29. 8tracks have amazing playlists

30. Dictionaries are cool

31. Thesaurus.com is cooler

32. Watch TV shows all year round to get your mind off things, just not season finales right before the exams

33. Cry it out

34. Shout it out

35. Drink it out

36. Just don’t get too drunk or violent that’s bad

37. Your nerdy classmates are your friends and teachers

38. Bring coffee / tea to school, if you make it to school

39. It’s OK to skip school for school

40. Waste money on school shit, you’ll earn it back in the future

41. If you can afford it, go to Lanterna summer course. You might get friends from other countries who’ll be able to help you throughout the year, by exchanging resources etc.

42. Make puns about nerdy stuff (like, about life, the universe and everything)

43. Be proud of being a nerd, everyone knows it already

44. EAT

45. SLEEP (sometimes it’s worth skipping school for)

46. Some teachers are nice about students sleeping in class

47. Concentrate when doing IA experiments though, take notes, or even better: film it

48. By the way, FILMING can reduce a lot of errors in science experiments. Write that as an improvement in your evaluation part!!

49. Question banks can be found, if you know where to look

50. Don’t care about other people’s grades

51. Don’t care too much about your own grades either. You’ll survive either way. Calm down. “Chillax”. 

52. Don’t do TOK presentation alone.

53. WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER (uni will be a piece of cake for you. also u can puke out a 4-paged-essay, proof-read and everything, in less than an hour, handwritten. amazing)

54. IB therefore I BS

55. Decorate your wall with IB gems

56. You’ll learn a lot from teaching others / making up games / doing past papers. Don’t just read books and highlight. Don’t just listen to the teachers. You won’t remember shit that way.

57. I repeat, DON’T JUST TRUST THE CLASSES, READ THE EFFING BOOKS

58. You’re allowed to protest sometimes

59. Don’t think too much about TOK / the uncertainty principle / relativity / astrophysics / DNA / nihilist bullshit from the language books. Stick to your reality and be happy. Have fun. Enjoy life. Stop giving so much fucks. Lower your expectations. (I honestly spent IB preparing to fail and start a bakery or something. Life is full of pleasant surprises that way)

60. Your Non-IB friends will laugh at you. Your siblings will laugh at you. Your teachers will laugh at you. You will laugh at you. But it’s okay, 2 years will be over in a flash ^^