Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A New Blog

Well, this blog has served me well over the past 2 years as an applicant, but as I continue my transition to a student I thought I'd start a new blog. Please come visit me at existentialnudge.wordpress.com.

Friday, May 8, 2009

So many KWEST trips, so little time

A little while ago, Kellogg posted the list of KWEST trips on the website, and announced that signups would be May 20. From the KWEST fair at DAK, I had an idea of a few trips that I could be interested in. Now since the trips went up on the web I've been spending time going through all the descriptions and that list got even longer. For signups, we have to rank our top 10 choices and while I've been able to pick my top 10, ranking them has been hard. I think I've gotten at least my top 5 picked out of the top 10, but the order changes almost every day. Right now I'm focused on Egypt or Morocco, but some of the trips to Mexico and the Carribean look incredible too. In talking with other admitted students, they're also having a hard time picking trips. In the end, I know that any of the trips would be an incredible time, but I'll have to give some more thought over these next two weeks.

In hockey news, my team had its second game last night and this time we won 5-4 in overtime, after giving up the tying goal in the last minute of the game. I got an assist for my first point of the season, and it felt good to contribute on the scoreboard. It's a shame this will be my only season since I move to Evanston shortly after the season ends.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Good news from Kellogg

That was the subject of the email from Beth Flye I saw sitting in my inbox. I had just come from a happy hour with other Kellogg admits (which was a lot of fun) and one of the things we talked about was that we thought Kellogg didn't send as many emails to its admitted students as other schools. So when I saw the email from Beth I thought the timing was ironic, and thought it would be some sort of update on something the school had done.

I was wrong, but in a good way. Beth's email was to let me know I had been selected to receive a named scholarship! I was shocked, I didn't think scholarships were still being awarded at this point so it definitely came out of the blue. It's funny how things work out some times. When I was deciding Duke vs. Kellogg, the main driving force for Duke quickly became the half tuition scholarship they had offerred me. Now, between this named scholarship and the merit/need scholarship Kellogg offerred me as part of my financial aid package, the difference between Kellogg and Duke's scholarship offers would be about $4,000 over the two years.

Friday, May 1, 2009

TGIF

Ah, spring. The weather is warmer, the days longer, and I move one season closer to school. Nothing too much school-related to report, though. Someone described this process like a car trip, where you do a lot of activity to pack the car but then have to wait a while until you actually leave. I think that's pretty accurate to describe my current feeling of waiting to quit my job and start school.

Still not a lot of progress on selling my apartment. A few weeks back I got an email from a former coworker, who had heard I was selling and said his sister was looking to buy in this area. So, hoping to avoid paying the 6% realtor commission I held off hiring a realtor and focused on this opportunity. Unfortunately, that now fell through and so I'm going the traditional route. My new realtor tells me that similar apartments in my area typically only are staying on the market 3-4 months, even with the current market conditions, so there's still a good chance it'll be sold either before or soon after I move to Evanston.

In other news, I joined a Dek hockey league, and our first game was last night. Unfortunately we lost 5-2, but the score was close until the end of the game and the team we played has gone undefeated each of the last two seasons so I don't feel too bad about the loss. Definitely a lot of fun, but also definitely a wake-up call that I need to get back to the gym more regularly.