California Mountain Snake

Those are all excellent schools. Standford would be absolutely amazing for you, it's got a beautiful campus, and needless to say it's one of the best universities around. I was very torn when I visited there, but it's more of a math and science school and I'm a humanities and social sciences guy, so that's eventually what helped me make my decision. Still, all of its programs are excellent. Any other of those schools would also be great. Good thing you applied to both U Chicago and Northwestern, as they tend to have very different scopes of what they want from students, and often you only get into on (I didn't get into U Chicago). They're also both excellent. Applying to nine was a good idea. As long as your willing to do the work, you can never apply to too many, especially if your looking for one to give you the best financial aid (if you need it). I can only guess what your secret weapon is. I can only guess it involved checking off a certain box :P Anyways, I wish you good luck in April, and good luck dealing with your senioritis.

Damn, you better be applying to some good schools Yokai. Those scores could get you in anywhere if the rest of your application is strong. I got in with a CR720, M700, W670 (ouch), and considering where I ended up, there are no options closed to you. EDIT: just read the rest of the topic: you better be aiming high too, _____.

Now I understand.

Absolutely no facial hair or chest hair. Being nineteen and a couple months, I wonder if I ever will have any. Not that I really care, its one less chore I have to do as it stands now. My arms and legs are as hairy as all get out though.

Was that English?

I'm not sure if that works... It does in this state. I still don't understand how this makes sense. The only reason to take the SAT is during the admissions process. The SAT just provides colleges with a universal set of test scores which they can use to compare students from across the nation when deciding who to admit or not (although in most cases the SAT just acts as a first hurdle, making sure you at least fall in the realm of qualification; it's the rest of your materials that get you in). Taking the SAT once you get into college just doesn't make sense. If you do poorly, are they going to retroactively revoke your admission and take you out of school? The American system is unique among almost all other countries on Earth, and frankly I think it is superior, or at least less restrictive. Many countries like France have you take tests as young as 12 to determine if you will be placed in an Arts and Sciences prep school or straight to technical school. When I was 12 the only thing I had to worry about was getting decent grades in middle school; not about taking exams which would determine the course of my entire life. High stakes tests lead too tremendous amounts of stress, and in countries where high stakes testing is the norm (France and Japan), teen suicide rates are significantly higher. Certain states like New York have exit exams (called regencies) that you have to pass, but this is no where on the same scale as other countries. Similarly, the SAT is just one among many qualifications they look at for college, others which include several essays you write, a list of all your extracurricular activities over the years, community service, etc. I got into my school with scores that were well below the median average. In Japan the only thing you submit to a university are your test scores, and nothing else enters the equation. Liberal arts school also receive prominence in America, granting more general degrees in general fields of study, rather than teaching the technical skills needed for a job (most careers have on-the-job training). Pursuing knowledge for the sake of knowledge is encouraged, and most liberal arts colleges don't require you to pick a major until one or two years in. In stark contrast, when I applied to McGill in Montreal, Canada, I actually had to apply twice, one application for each major I wanted, and they would admit me based on my qualifications for each. In other words, I could have gotten accepted on one path of study but rejected for another, and even if I got in on one I could never hope to change that; I would be stuck studying one thing my entire college career (In the end I got both, but as much as people like to tout "free education" in Canada, it isn't free for international students, and the financial aid they offered was appalling). The one draw back is that American schools are expensive and competitive. This is to be expected, as outside of the state university system most colleges are privately run (which is why their curriculum can be so autonomous rather than having state-like objectives, and why they can be selective in their choice of admittances). Paying for college is perhaps the most significant problem students encounter, but the availability of need-based aid (rather than merit-based) is on the rise, moving college into affordability for most Americans. At many top tier-universities (read: rich), need-based aid has now risen to the point where anyone can afford to go to an Ivy League school (among other top universities), and their only challenge is working hard and getting in.

There's a neurosis for that you know.

In a moral argument, justifying something as wrong simply because it is illegal holds quite thin. There are laws in certain states in the US which prohibit same-sex marriages, sodomy, and in some counties even the right to live there if you are gay. Does that mean that people from these areas should accept homosexuality as immoral and wrong, just because it is illegal? Public protest to a law through its willing abandonment is one form of social change, and one which has been used many times successfully within the United States. There are arguments out there for why piracy is wrong, but saying "because it's illegal" isn't one.

I'm not sure if that works...

If "Mexican" is a race, then so is "American". Mexican people are a mix of European and "native" ethnicities, just like everyone else in North America. And considering all peoples can trace their heritage back to someplace else (IE "native" Americans were really from northern Asia and moved to the Americas in a mass migration several thousand years ago), talking about any sort of "heritage" is fuzy business anyways. Cultural bias is the only reason why some people draw the line at their European ancestors rather than their ancient African ones or their recent American ones. There's no rational reason why I would say my heritage is German rather than Ethiopean. So yeah, I was born here, my parents have lived here for a while. I'm pure American.

Well I take it back, it really picked up right after I made that post. But in the morning it was just small amounts of snow that wasn't accumulating (a flurry) that looked more foreboding just because the wind was blowing it horizantally and in your face.

Well, it's "snowing" in boston right now :P. Mostly just a very blustery flurry.

If you actually take the time to read the post you will see there is nothing there about people being pussies for thinking that things could be better. However, there is an accusation that self-effacing Americans are pussies, and for that matter self-effacing anythings are pussies, because the term describes people who bitch about how imperfect everything is, but do nothing to correct it. Take some responsibility; either man up, or shut the fuck up.

Minus "kids".

According to PETA "research", all evil in the world comes from the human enslavement of animals, and if people would just stop eating meat, there would be peace on Earth. I enjoy meat, and outside of environmental concerns there is no reason why not to.

This is sort of a "you are the demons" situation.

I've had three posts deleted on this website, and no mod has ever posted to tell me they deleted my post. Do I detect post inflation, Ms. Board's-top-poster?

General. I hope it lived a long life.

Drunk driving related incidents are higher in rural area because of a higher incidence of alcoholism in less densely populated areas. Firearm related incidents have the greatest number and greatest per capita incidence in cities.

I disagree.

If you let me be your derivative, I'll lie tangent to your curves.

My brother and I use it occassionally. According to the ticker our account is 8 years and 9 months old.

It all makes sense now.