This is the first of five blog entries I’ll offer to you – a glimpse inside one week during application reading period in the Admissions Office at Holy Cross.
_____________________
Monday
It’s not personal.
I swear it’s not.
It has absolutely nothing to do with you or your application.
It’s just that when I finish reading an application, I slide the yellow reading sheet inside, close the cover and at that point, I slam it on the ground.
Well, perhaps “slam” is too strong of a word. I’m not Hines Ward celebrating a touchdown. Let’s say – “drop with force”. You see, I like the sound the application makes when it drops on the ground totally flat — a slapping, of sorts.
You may enjoy crossing this off a to-do list for a sense of satisfaction; I like dropping applications on the ground and hearing the slap, signaling one step closer to the end of my pile. Yet, when I wake in the morning, there’s yet another pile waiting for me, as if I’ve done nothing that previous day or as if I’m Penelope from the Odyssey, staying up all night undoing the weaving I’ve accomplished during the day.
So I dive into that new pile of applications early in the morning. I go get a cup of coffee first (milk and two sugars, thank you) and then settle in at my desk at home overlooking my snowy back yard in Worcester. And in the quiet of the morning I read your recommendations, your transcripts, your interviews and your essays.
The essays are my favorite part. Some are funny, some are sad, some are silly and some are serious. But, the common thread that runs through them all is that they are you – a snap shot of your life, taken at a turning point in your life. Sometimes I wonder what you’ll think of your essay five or ten years from now.
You’ll probably think exactly what I thought this morning while I was sitting at my desk at home.
This is good. This is real good. Thanks for sharing.
Andrew N Carter
Associate Director of Admissions
