Hello readers!
So I know you’ve heard from me recently about my shenanigans, so you’re pretty much up-to-date :). Research research research AH-I-haven’t-done-any-homework-AH research research research… my class list pretty much looks like this in terms of time:
9.66 Computational Cognitive Science (1 class)
9.71 Functional MRI in Humans (1 class)
Neuro 300: Capstone Neuroscience Seminar (1 class)
CS 230: Data Structures (… heavy 1 class)
Neuro 350: Independent research study (… heavy 2 classes!)
It’s a good life—everything’s always very interesting and focused on problem solving. It also makes it kind of fun when I get to read the occasional section out of a textbook. I sit down with my computer, pull up the .pdf file, and tell myself: “hey, I don’t have to think about how I’m going to apply this, or where I’m going to search next if it doesn’t help, or which sections I should focus on!” All I have to do is read the assigned passage. Ah, brings me back to… well, any Wellesley year previous to this one, actually. I can’t believe how applied my coursework is right now. I was filling out a survey recently about “how I’ve changed since arriving as a first-year,” and apart from all the requisite personal growth, I have skills now. Specifically, an ability to read research papers and problem-solve, and search independently for answers and generate scientific ideas. Who knew?
My friends and I were looking up Myers-Briggs personality tests on Friday night, and I got INTJ again—aka “The Scientist.” The odd thing is that I fit the profile more and more as I grow older. You’d think that with all this time to “find yourself,” and all the effort you put forth in college to understand yourself as a person, you would grow less similar to some online profile you were categorized into when you were fifteen. This relates to Prof. Wilmer’s Psych 328 class—Genes, Brains, and Human Variation—in which we discussed the relative importance of nature over nurture. Paradoxically, twins separated at birth tend to become more similar when they’re older compared to when they were younger, after many more years of diverging life experiences! I’ve always been a fan of the “growth mindset” idea: that we can change our mindsets and to some degree our personalities over time. But I wonder about how much is inborn, or at least how accessible personality traits are at an early age.
Speaking of Friday nights, I had a great weekend :). My weekends tend to be pretty tame in general, because I’ve arranged my schedule so that I’m maxed out on academics, but I spent some time in groups this weekend rather than my usual one-on-ones! Friday night six of us attempted to cram onto a bed to watch “Once Upon a Time”—either watch it, narrate it for those of us who don’t follow the show, or make weird faces at each other because we don’t follow the show. Then Tiffany sent out the Myers-Brigg personality test to everyone on the swim team, and we had to decide which personality everyone was and read them out loud for a few hours. I love personality tests, though I’ve impressively refrained from looking them up for a few years, and it was wonderful to spend so much time with swim team members. Friday nights at Wellesley: the best :).
Can’t take credit for this photo– it belongs to Wellesley Recreation. But here’s everyone who participated in the Outdoor Tri, pre-race!
Sunday morning I participated in Wellesley’s first Outdoor Triathlon! We biked 6 miles on the stationary bikes, ran a 5k around Wellesley, and then canoed/kayaked partway across Lake Waban and back. Five of us did it as individuals, and there were five teams of four also competing. There was even prize money for the first group and individual finishers! I am so sore today, but had such a blast. When I think back to my first two years on the Wellesley Varsity Swim and Dive team, I most fondly recall my friends and the team. But competing on occasion is so much fun! I’ve been working out by myself on the elliptical for so long I forgot what it was like be in a race, trying to catch the person in front of you or stay ahead of the person behind you. The mind game of determining how hard you can push and how hard you will push. We had a beautiful day and I had a great time… I’m excited for when this happens again in the spring!
That evening I went out to dinner with Rachel, my aunt who lives in Holliston, MA. She has been taking care of me since I arrived at Wellesley, but this time she got to meet my sister, Leslie, who is a new first-year here :). The food was great at Lemon Thai—that’s one of the local restaurants around Wellesley, and it soon becomes a household name because they deliver to the dorms—at night :P. It was great to see her, and also Leslie, who can be surprisingly difficult to track down given she lives all of five minutes away from my room.
Leslie seems to be adjusting to Wellesley life better than I did, and I’d say I adjusted well! She’s in the largest triple in Claflin (one of the dorms in the Tower Complex), and there’s two other triples on the hall. Triples at Wellesley are almost always for first-years, as sophomores and most first-years end up in doubles, and juniors and seniors are in singles. Leslie’s room seems to be a hub-spot, with people from all of the triples going there to hang out and do homework, and she tells me they all head down to dinner together every night. It’s so nice to hear that she’s building a great community with her floormates. I never really participated in “floor life,” but many of my friends did or do, and House Council and floor events hosted by the RAs (Residential Advisors) are popular here.
From what I can see, the new “shadow grading” policy at Wellesley seems to be working out well for the first-years. This is a policy that was just instituted this year, and it means that fall grades for the first-years aren’t reported on their transcripts. It gives them much more breathing room for their first semester, as they can adjust to college life without having to obsess over academics. The academic transition here is always hard for everyone regardless—suddenly you’re in a classroom where everyone was at the top of their class—and anything that can keep people more relaxed and happy to explore opportunities here is an excellent addition :).
My friends are also doing well! Several of my friends have finished or are close to finished with applying to medical school—Tiffany, Emily, and Alice have been finishing up their “secondaries,” or the second round of applications specific to each school, rather than the general applications. Several also are applying for fellowships—Gabby applied for the Fulbright, to teach high school students in Taiwan, and Tiffany applied for the Watson to study the intersection of music and healing. Suman is preparing for her spring semester in Aix-en-Provence, France—I’m sad because this is the last semester I’m going to spend with her. I can’t believe we’re all graduating, and disappearing to who-knows-where. Yesterday I started out a sentence with “I hope they had this next year—” before realizing it wouldn’t apply to me anymore. Nooooooo….
In short, it’s shaping up a quiet week here, busy as always but so engaging :). Questions and comments welcome, and I look forward to seeing you next week!
Monica
ps– we’ve removed the comment button because of all the spam the blog receives. However, all of the bloggers would love to hear from you, and you can send any messages to admission@wellesley.edu, after which they’ll be filtered through to us!
So, Gabby came back from being abroad in China this fall :). And she made us a powerpoint to show us some of her adventures, and being Gabby, it was laugh-out-loud hilarious. Selected slides are included! (Gabby spent most of her time in school during the spring and working in Beijing over the summer, but most of her pictures are from the trips she took around the countryside. :))
