So, I woke up about an hour ago, at three o' clock in the morning. Might as well make this sleeplessness productive.
I visited UT Austin Friday, and I have to say I'm pretty surprised at my reaction. Alison Simerly recently told me about an interdisciplinary program at UT, Plan II Honors, a completely different major than my thoughts of engineering. After countless discussions in Calculus class (to the dismay of Mr. Meyer, I'm sure), I applied to UT with Plan II as one of my top two choices for a major. Friday, I visited both Plan II and Cockrell School of Engineering, and I could have never expected the events which unfolded.
The Plan II meeting was at ten in the morning, and my mother and I were running late due to a little oversleeping. (I was out until at least three that morning due to one amazing little show called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One. This is the time where Warner Bros. slips me a little cash to tell you how wonderful it was. It was fantastic. Go see it.) Upon arrival, we were kindly greeted by two fashionable students, one of which complimented my mother's boots as she led us to the informational meeting. I sat at a grand table with the other prospective students while my mother sat in the back of the moderately-sized room with the rest of the prospective tuition-payers. A slideshow was displayed on the wall, but the presenter seemed oblivious to her bullet points. She discussed what she felt interesting or necessary, even poking fun at my late arrival.
The format of Plan II is... different. They promote double majoring and successful writing and studying abroad and exploring your interests and well-roundedness. Students are required to take "signature classes," courses devoted to random topics taught by experts. (One of the classes focused on captial punishment and was taught by a man who has successfully argued against the issue three times in Supreme Court. Putting political opinions aside, you have to admit that's pretty cool.) Plan II focuses on Renaissance-style learning, where students become knowledgeable in a wide breadth of studies and become incredible problem-solvers and communicators. For a girl who just really likes school and has no idea what she wants to do with the rest of her life, that basically sounds like Heaven.
After about an hour of pure sit-and-talk-about-what-Plan-II-does, prospective students saw what Plan II does. One of the students my mother and I met in our haste to find the meeting led all of the high schoolers to another side of campus where the Plan II World Literature classes met, leaving the parents to discuss the program more intimately with the director. The six applicants were divided into two groups, and my set of three were sent to visit Professor Garrison. After a quick introduction, we took our seats on the side of the classroom on a moderately comfortable couch. As the students filled into the small classroom (all sixteen or so sat at one oversized oak table), a movie began playing, excerpts of a book they have been discussing. The book was Boccaccio's The Decameron, a collection of stories which I knew nothing about. As the movie played, I soon got the gist. The Decameron is about (or at least features) lots of sex. So, for the next hour, my class talked about sex between nuns and gardeners and priests and young girls. Boccaccio had quite a sense of humor.
Despite the shocking nature of the subject, the students all participated in the discussion very maturely. Yes, there were several jokes thrown out, but they were witty and appropriate (given the audience and subject matter). I even heard my own thoughts lending themselves to the discussion--I didn't feel uncomfortable in the least! As they discussed the wit and taboo, I studied the classroom dynamic. Professor Garrison prompted questions, but he only asked two students to share by-name. (In their preparedness, I think they knew they would be called upon, or they're just superb students.) The rest of the students could be as talkative or silent as they pleased. The student closest to me sent a few secret text messages and got up from his seat several times throughout the discussion. One boy seemed very interested in his iPad, while one girl really enjoyed her gourmet coffee. Two of the young men displayed some sort of dislike for one another, a shared competitiveness, an underlying distaste for whatever the other had to say. In spite of all of these distractions, no one showed any disrespect towards one another (even the the two guys fighting for alpha male-status). The class was just a collection of people genuinely interested in everyone's ideas.
In case you couldn't tell, I loved the program. Of course, I still had another meeting that afternoon at Cockrell School of Engineering. We arrived early to this one, determined not to make the same mistake. We were led to a nearby building, my pink shirt ablaze in the pack of awkward teenage boys. Ah, yes, I was one of two girls in attendance (the other one arriving quite a bit late), and nobody looked friendly or charismatic. My mother and I spent another hour in an auditorium, and my mom had to remove herself in the second half of the meeting before she fell asleep.
It was awful. The presenter was boring and monotone. The engineering students just talked about all of their job opportunities, not about the interesting things they were developing or learning or working towards. In comparison to the Plan II meeting only a few hours before, the engineering program just didn't stand a chance. My parents didn't even pretend to hide their enjoyment as I announced UT's prominence in my college choices.
Of course, if I'm not accepted into the Plan II program, I don't know how I'll be happy in Austin. I feel it would be as if I poured my heart out to some guy and he promptly told me he was interested in someone else. I can't continue being lab partners with him! I have to relocate myself halfway across the room, never to let my little heart be trampled on again. (No, that's not some weird, bitter story I'm trying to vent about. It's just a crappy analogy I'm making at five in the morning.)
Once again, college has swarmed my thoughts. Hope your applications are going well, and you're having a great Thanksgiving break. I'm going back to bed. Good morning.
"A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow." --Charlotte Brontë
