SeeTheDusk

This will most likely be my last post. Note that when I refer to seniors, I mean class of 2015. Juniors are class of 2016.

That’s my, SeeTheDawn’s, last post. Auriee and DuhBagel might continue to post, but for me, this is it.

1) I’ve seen Science and Math’s culture about recently-accepted (rising) Juniors. There are some 10-25 (rising) Seniors obsessed with the Junior class, posting like crazy and eager to talk to the Juniors. There are about as many Juniors eagerly trying to talk to seniors. However, there’s still like 30-40% of the class that, although not actively posting, is incredibly excited about getting Juniors. The campus was buzzing on April 4th, after the Juniors got in. There was a minor scandal about developing the facebook page; two were made, and we had to pick one. There were coups and social skirmishes over who got to run the page, and debate over who should be running junior-senior siblings. But it’s mostly cooled down; we’re just waiting for Welcome Day.

Then there’s the rest of the students, the ones who know people who dropped out or decided not to go or weren’t that excited about the school or didn’t care or hate the school or I don’t know what. These seniors don’t care about the juniors, and find everyone’s excitement to be childish and unruly and I don’t even know. If you couldn’t tell, I’m not one of them. But they’re there, and they criticize the excited ones, and they don’t care about the Juniors – until they show up next year. They don’t matter – until they show up next year.

But for the most part, the Juniors are in good hands. Most of the people who added themselves to the Seniors doc on the Facebook page are willing to be contacted, I think, and would be happy to talk to you. And many of us love to talk about Science and Math.

2) So far this month, we have had well over 2,000 views. The same happened last month. Duhbagel got a few emails. I’m guessing that Auriee did too. I got zero. In fact, the last time I got a message was the beginning of February. The last one before that was in December, from one of the NCSSM Journey 2016 writers in response to an email I sent. Additionally, I’m rather certain that Admissions knows who I am, not that it would be that hard to figure out, if they cared. I’m not doing anything wrong, so I’m not too worried, but I feel like my posts about when I was applying were what helped. My explanations of what life is like here are rather general to not outline my specific experience, but… honestly, everyone’s experience is different. It’s different applying, it’s different being accepted or rejected or waitlisted, and it’s different once you get here. I think that the majority of you guys connect with DuhBagel and Auriee more, so… I’m going to leave the posts to them and Dandylion905 and FlamencoAngel at NCSSMJourney2016.

So, this is it.

Good writing for you guys. Feel free to contact me if you ever need anything.

The wait-listing begins

fluffnpuffnpstuff asked:

Hi! I’m sorry, but I have no idea what the appeals essay is like and what the process is like. I’m not sure if it would be too forward to email the admissions committee and if you did, I’m not sure that there would be anyone to respond to it.

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Hi fluff!

Sounds like you didn’t get accepted yesterday. I’m sorry to hear about that. But, not all hope is lost! I was rejected at first but got accepted through the waitlist. You write your appeal essay about why you firmly believe you should go to the school (more like a paragraph, since you’re limited on space) and they’ll announce whether or not you made waitlist finalist a few weeks later.  It isn’t until late May/early June that they start notifying those on the waitlist about being accepted. They fill in the spots immediately from people who decided to decline the residential offer, and slowly fill in the rest as others decide to leave. This continues all the way until the first extended weekend of school.

I didn’t email the admissions committee because personally, I didn’t think pleading to them would really make a good impression. Also, they generally respond quite slowly, and I probably wouldn’t have time to hear a response. Maybe I’m wrong. Nonetheless, I think the test of patience I had to deal with during the waitlist period was something that might have helped me. Maybe.  Even if it wasn’t,  it taught me a lot, like how much the acceptance really meant to me. (oh, the nostalgia.)

I had to publish this publicly because, unfortunately, your email is invalid. If you read through the archives there’s some personal and statistical blog posts about being a waitlist finalist. Feel free to email me for any other questions you might have, and we wish you the best of luck!

Admin Auriee

Dialects

One of the coolest aspects of NCSSM is that it brings kids together from all over the state. Sure, once they get here, they still form cliques based on similarities, but we originally come from all over the state.

And slang is different in different parts of the state, different cities, different parts of cities and towns. People bring their slang with them. So, after a little while, they spread their slang to their friends and you start to hear some strange words like “dran”. And so, what I like to call “dialects” develop.

After a little while, you can tell who hangs out with whom based on what words they use. This also means that sometimes you won’t understand words that other people use, but you recognize that Dick and Bob and Rick all use the word “dran”, so you can reasonably assume that they hang out with each other in some combination. It’s really cool, kind of confusing, and completely useless.

It gets even more confusing when you can’t tell whether it’s a universally new word like yolo or ratchet, or it’s smath-specific, which can become especially problematic when speaking to youth who do not attend smath. You’ll try to define terms EVERYBODY knows, and you’ll leave undefined words that NOBODY knows. But you get used to it.

Why am I not addressing the fact that Sophomores get notified today? I don’t know. Maybe I’m not ready for it. Maybe I’m excited, maybe I’m too tired of being excited. But mostly because we all know that it’s happening, and I don’t need to talk about it. The Sophomores are stressing, the Seniors don’t care about anything (Third Trimester Seniors are experiencing senioritis to the max), and for the Juniors… it’s just test-heave mid-term time and, oh yeah, we’re getting Juniors. Some are excited. Most are preoccupied for other things.

But we’ll get so hype when y’all get here. Welcome day, the day when we move in (Juniors move in first to give them time to get acquainted to campus and each other), we’ll be ready and excited.

Until then, if you get in, join the Facebook page. Talk to some of your seniors, but try to wait for the summer for your full plethora of questions. We have a lot of work right now. And AP exams. But it’s getting a little bit lighter for many people, and a whole lot of us are getting excited. We’re getting ready for you.

Good luck, and congratulations in advance.

[Guest Blog Entry] Early Morning SSM Musings

I suppose that at 1:06 AM, everyone gets a little self reflective. It’s true for me, at least. Don’t judge.

And really, I’m writing this because Smath is all that’s been on my mind recently, especially with the sophmore notification date ominously looming on the horizon. So soon, yet so far…At this point, I’m not even sure if I want to know. How is it that I can imagine both the crushing disappointment of rejection and the frenzied elation of acceptance equally vividly?

I grew up with Smath as a constant presence. It’s always been lurking in the shadow of my mind, waiting until sophmore year to jump out and grab me. I’ve never not thought (apologies for the double negatives) about applying for NCSSM. As soon as I hit middle school, I was already planning my extracurriculars; trying to choose things that would further my application. That’s right, I’ve been obsessed since birth. It’s just that I can see myself there so clearly and I’ve imagined myself there so many times that it just seems to fit. I guess that’s the case with anyone, though. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Smath has been a huge part of my life. When I was in elementary school, it was one of my biggest dreams. When I was in middle school, it was the dream to aim for. Now that I’m an applicant, it’s a source of both boundless joy and endless anxiety. If I don’t get into NCSSM, it sounds ridiculously silly, but, I know I’ll lose some direction in life. For me it’s just always been something to aim for. If this was a cliche 90’s teen movie, I would be the sad nerd girl hopelessly crushing on NCSSM, the star quarterback.
But love does fade, doesn’t it?

I’ve been thinking that maybe getting rejected from Smath won’t crush me, but instead, set me free from this dream that’s followed me my whole life. Maybe I’ll find a new one. But until then, I’ll sit here and wait.

Author: Anonymous

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Sorry about the late upload date, anon. 

I think you’ve got a good handle on how to take the news, the good or bad. Smath life is very different than what I expected from back when I was applying. It’s not the exactly greatest thing in the world, but of course not all that bad either (why else would I still be here).  Sure, some days I’ll miss my old school and wonder what my life would have been like if I stayed, but at other times I’m just so grateful for getting in. The place may seem like some great castle in the sky from the outside, but once you’re here, it’s just life. And you’ll get used to your life with or without it. 

In other news, decision day is coming up soon for all you applying sophomores out there, so the bloggers and I  would like to wish you all good luck. 🙂