Waco
80% of it I already knew from their website, the pamphlets and publications they have been sending me and from the current law student at Baylor that I spoke with on the phone.
But this was my make-or-break day. Would they continue to uphold everything they have been advertising themselves to be while I was there in person.
I walked into room 127 a huge octagonally shaped room with ceilings that were exponentially vaulted. And there were kiddos with parents. I kept the cringe off of my face. Most of the people in the room seemed like children to me, being held by the hand by their parents. Don't they know that this is graduate school, that when filling out the FAFSA they are no longer dependents, that they can recap the experience at the end of the day. Hell, some of them had their entire family in tow - I mean there was a four-year-old sibling trailing the the pack.
Did I like the idea of Mom being with me? Sure. Did I plan on calling Dad as soon as I got out of Waco? Of course. But I purposefully went solo. I wanted to represent myself as the independent person who would be living there and going to school there.
We listened to the Dean speak - he was selling persuasion in a jocular, used-car-salesman kind of way. He made you smile, but you never lost sight of the fact that he was pitching his school and everything would be lit in the best possible light. People asked questions of him that were easy enough to find online. But it broke the awkward silence of when he asked for questions.
Then, part of the 20% that is new happened. I got to watch a civil rights class. They were researching/presenting supreme court cases focused on freedom of speech and clear and present danger, while analyzing various supreme court decisions over time that clarified/muddied these two different concepts through altering interpretations. I loved it. And I was competitively inspired. Most of these kids don't have the work experience I have. Put my on the spot? I have spent two years on the spot. Don't know how to read slowly, while projecting your voice and theatrically pitching a piece? please - I have to speak 8 hours a day and capture 15 year-olds attention. Uncomfortable with interruptions? Imagine having 140 freshman who have no sense of timing and demand immediate gratification. My sixth period tops this one professor any day of the week. I feel almost as if I were being trained for this class.
I loved it.
Then we went to lunch, where there was assigned seating.
There is more...but I don't know when I'll write it down, not now.
But this was my make-or-break day. Would they continue to uphold everything they have been advertising themselves to be while I was there in person.
I walked into room 127 a huge octagonally shaped room with ceilings that were exponentially vaulted. And there were kiddos with parents. I kept the cringe off of my face. Most of the people in the room seemed like children to me, being held by the hand by their parents. Don't they know that this is graduate school, that when filling out the FAFSA they are no longer dependents, that they can recap the experience at the end of the day. Hell, some of them had their entire family in tow - I mean there was a four-year-old sibling trailing the the pack.
Did I like the idea of Mom being with me? Sure. Did I plan on calling Dad as soon as I got out of Waco? Of course. But I purposefully went solo. I wanted to represent myself as the independent person who would be living there and going to school there.
We listened to the Dean speak - he was selling persuasion in a jocular, used-car-salesman kind of way. He made you smile, but you never lost sight of the fact that he was pitching his school and everything would be lit in the best possible light. People asked questions of him that were easy enough to find online. But it broke the awkward silence of when he asked for questions.
Then, part of the 20% that is new happened. I got to watch a civil rights class. They were researching/presenting supreme court cases focused on freedom of speech and clear and present danger, while analyzing various supreme court decisions over time that clarified/muddied these two different concepts through altering interpretations. I loved it. And I was competitively inspired. Most of these kids don't have the work experience I have. Put my on the spot? I have spent two years on the spot. Don't know how to read slowly, while projecting your voice and theatrically pitching a piece? please - I have to speak 8 hours a day and capture 15 year-olds attention. Uncomfortable with interruptions? Imagine having 140 freshman who have no sense of timing and demand immediate gratification. My sixth period tops this one professor any day of the week. I feel almost as if I were being trained for this class.
I loved it.
Then we went to lunch, where there was assigned seating.
There is more...but I don't know when I'll write it down, not now.
posted by tayjay at 6:15 AM
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