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Film School Confidential [Revised and Updated] by Tom Edgar and Karin Kelly

So, you know how this blog is supposed to be about me trying to navigate the wild jungle of high school and figure out where I want to get into school and what I want to be when I grow up? Well...let's start here...

I'm a junior. I go to a regular, normal public school. Nothing fancy or special about it. Except that it's an AP school, an IB school, and a PRISM school. AP, advanced placement, the basic advanced courses, yadda yadda. PRISM is for the gifted students [aka the brainiacs that, I'm sorry to say, make everyone else feel inferior]. And then IB. If you don't know what it is, you are very lucky. Here's what IB has to say about itself:

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation,
motivated by its mission, focused on the student. Our three programmes for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Founded in 1968, we currently work with 2,825 schools in 138 countries to develop and offer three challenging programmes to over 778,000 students aged 3 to 19 years.

So, yeah.

For one, I don't like that my school is IB, AP, and PRISM. My school isn't very big (about 1,500 students total) and even though we live in a really good school district [we make Newsweek's top 20 schools in the U.S., which really says nothing except that we take a lot of AP tests...] my school is not large enough and does not have the resources to try to be all three, all at once. My school really pushed to have the PRISM program held at our school. Silly school district.



So anyway, I'm full IB (meaning I'm going for the diploma). It's a two year program that is very rigorous and stressful. I'm taking 7 out of 7 IB/AP classes this year and next year. I have to do 150 hours for CAS (which stands for creativity, action, and service) in which all 150 hours must be completed Junior and Senior year (like I don't already have enough to do). I have to worry about passing all 6 IB exams (if you don't pass one, you don't get the diploma) in all six subject areas (math, science, English, second language, art, and history). I have to work on extended essays and historical investigations and worry about my individual oral presentations and BLAH BLAH BLAH.



So, as you can see. I have a lot on my plate as a Junior. Not to mention being in band and National Honors Society and Green Team and my own service club that I started. I had to even quit The Team in order to juggle it all. Plus I babysit twice a week (okay, a petty complaint. But still).



Basically everything I do is for college. I know that if I work hard now and take the hard classes, I'll be more prepared for college (not to mention that it helps me get INTO college. Yeah, I said it. Everyone joins clubs to look good for college, right?). But it's gettin' a little crazy over here in Haewon Land.



My new thing to calm me down and make me say, "it will all be worth it one day" is to research colleges. It's weird. I know. But it helps me look forward to what's to come after these four (mostly) horrible high school years.



After a stop by the library today (not to mention the past four months that I've been addicted to collegeboard.com), here's my rough, general, probably very hopeful, list:

• Chapman University
• Syracuse University
• New York University
• Columbia University
• Boston University
• American University
• Stanford University
• University of Southern California

Can you tell what major I'm interested in?

No, seriously. Can you?

It's not a set list by any means. I just like to flush out my ideas, roll them around in my head, and feel them on my tongue to help me digest the information. It helps me get a better sense of what I want. If I can be obsessed with anything for more than 6 months, then I know that it's not just an obsession, it's something I should pursue.



Dear College,


I can't wait to meet you. I think we will be good friends. I'm not sure how much we have in common, and I don't know if you will like me, but I hope you will. It's pretty lonely watching the rain pound down on top of Pike Place. Maybe meeting you will be a healthy change of pace for me. Maybe I'll get homesick and cry. But that doesn't scare me. The crying, that is. Because I cry a lot. But also because I know that change is always scary. I just hope that you can be both my friend and my teacher, and that you won't judge me for being a bit extremely awkward and clumsy. I hope that you aren't vain and that the weather is nice where you live. I hope you like to do all the same things I like to do but that you also teach me about your interests.





College, I hope that you will sit with me at lunch and that you will teach me to be confident. I hope you make a difference in my life. And even though you are probably stronger than I am and most definitely older, I hope that I can make a difference in your life too.


Sincerely,

Haewon