Villanova

I went to Villanova yesterday for a hyped up school tour. More specifically, the visit was for anyone accepted via Early Action. So there were maybe, I don't know, 500 or so kids there. But I suck at estimating, so take that with a grain of salt.

The intro was a little bit of what you'd expect from just about any college. Except for the fact that their DVD was made by "Aurora Imaging Copmpany." I really am curious if none of the adults actually caught that. The talking was a little boring, but luckily Brett and Laura were there, so we just made wise cracks to make the time pass. One of the speakers was a woman engineer who is currently at MIT. Damn, that's impressive. The best speaker was a guy from Zimbabwe. He was really funny, really humble, and really cool. He made up for all the other stereotypical, white, middle class speakers (yes, I realize I am one of the stereotyical, white, middle class students, but I don't have much of a choice in that, now do I?).

Then we went on a little tour. Not like I haven't already been on one. But I was happy to learn that my tour guide was born to Buddhist parents and is herself an agnostic and felt perfectly at home at Villanova. That helps me to feel like I won't be suffocated by the Catholicism. Not that I don't like Catholicism, it's just not where I'm at right now.

Another cool thing about Villanova is the focus on community service. CS is something I haven't really done much of over my 18 years on earth, but it is something I'd like to do. Villanova has a Campus Ministry, which apparently has little to do with Christianity, that helps one find volunteer gigs throughout the community and the world. I'm going to take ample advantage of that oppurtunity because I really need to get over this whole "I like humanity but not humans" complex.

After a brief lunch, Laura, Brett, and I all went to a meeting for just the kids. I don't really know if the meeting was supposed to be about the honors school or the College of Arts and Sciences, but they sure focused on the honors school, which looks awesome. Most of the student speakers were bio majors, a lot of them going into pre-med. The one person I could connect with the most was an astrophysics major, but even he seemed a little out of touch with what I'd like to go into. I don't think any of the speakers were Chem majors. All in all, the students seemed really excited about being there and about what they do. (Admittedly, I realize they choose the kids that are going to speak, and therefore they'll choose kids that will speak most highly about Villanova. But I figure those are the kids that are getting the most out of their college experiences anyway, so they're the ones I should model my career after.)

Finally, there was the departmental meetings. I applied to the physics department, so that's where I went. The physics department at Villanova seems really cozy. There are only typically 40 majors throughout all four years, so really only 10 per class. And what made me the most happy was the fact that they talked a lot about interdisciplinary science because honestly, that's where all the science is at.

On an interesting side note, the head of the physics department talked to the 6 or so of us there about how science has lost interest in schools and how everyone wants to be a English/History major. I guess in the microcosm of Chi, that's not really true. The majority of my friends are going into some form of science, with some noticeable exceptions, of course. But honestly, we have people that want to be chemists, biologists, biochemists, meteorologists, engineers, physicists, and astronauts. That doesn't seem like a dirth of interest in science. But I guess I'm ignoring the other 90% of my class that I don't know. On the other hand, I'm sure at least some of them want to go into science. Maybe there is hope for science in the United States.

All in all, yesterday's "Early Action Day" was pleasant, minus the rain. But of course, it still leaves me with numerous decisions to make. First, financially. Second, major wise. And third, I don't know, but I'm sure there is something I'm missing.

But choices are a blessing and a curse. I'll see it as a blessing.

Namaste.