I'm in NY!
“Visiting” Bard College for the weekend—actually, I’m participating in their “Immediate Decision Plan.” It’s like early decision, except it’s different, because Bard is such a different college. Basically, I spend a whole day there (tomorrow) in classes and whatnot, then being interviewed, then sitting before a council and such, and then they’re supposed to decide THAT EVENING whether or not to 1) admit me 2) deny me 3) waitlist me.
I’m unsure of my chances on tomorrow, but on the car ride up I read the selections I was given to read: from Plato’s “The Republic” (the dialectical between Plato and Gre about “the cave” and education and stuff) and Galileo’s “The Starry Messenger” (which describes how Galileo used his telescope and some trigonometry to measure the mountains on the moon, to observe the moons of Jupiter, and to discover a bunch of new stars in the Milky Way).
Wish me luck tomorrow! I really do love Bard…it’s such a beautiful campus, in the middle of nowhere, with such a unique and wacky philosophy…with so many seemingly great students (and professors…Jose Saramego, Chinua Achebe, and Saul Bellow have all taught/currently teach there—it’s well-known for its writing program, which I would love to participate in if I got in) and a crazy campus culture. I think it made it as one of the most “liberal” liberal arts schools in the country on Princeton’s list this year, along with Hampshire—which I’m not sure is a good thing or a bad thing. As long as it wasn’t on the most conservative list, I think I’ll survive at any other college, but Bard is definitely an (extremely) close second choice to Swarthmore for me. Not as “prestigious” academically speaking, but I could care less about that.
P.S. I ordered an “eggplant” sub at some greasy-ass “Italian” “restaurant” tonight, and it was just fried bread. Fuck me.


