“. . . he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
In my first blog posting of the year (I’m sure you all have it committed to memory), I claimed that if you spent too much time with your nose in the college guide books, the college search would seem like an overwhelming 4th grade project on birds.
Well, now the shoe is on the other foot — it is our turn. As I sit here on Sunday afternoon watching the perfect Patriots on television, I am distracted (marginally) by the stack of applications on my coffee table. When considered as a whole, reading these applications can be overwhelming. But the only thing for us to do is to simply tackle these applications one at a time, bird by bird.
And when you take that approach, reading applications can be (gasp!) fun. I’ve read some wonderful essays so far this year about the determination of female preemies, a lesson learned from a French girl at summer camp or even something as simple as a swim in the ocean.
So I guess what I want to say is thank you.
Thank you for telling us about your Eagle Scout project.
Thank you for having the guts to take Calculus.
Thank you for fessing up to that mistake.
Thank you for sending us a Christmas card.
Thank you for sending that CD of you playing the violin (Bach was my favorite).
Thank you for applying.
Andrew N Carter
Associate Director of Admissions
College of the Holy Cross
