Two steps forward, one step back.

With Christmas around the corner, and my application deadline creeping up, I am about ready to drown myself in a bowl of eggnog. I’ve really made some headway with my graduate school applications, yet I still have a ton more to get out of the way.

The only question is, if college applications were a game, would I be winning?

Letters of Recommendation:
Got my two top-choice profs to agree to write me a letter. Yey!-+2
Cannot seem to get them to commit to meeting me. Boo! -2

Statement of Purpose:
Finished my first draft! Finally!!! +5
Got my best friend (and literary mastermind) to proofread it. +2
Haven’t started rewrites. -1

Applications Forms:
Like last-year’s taxes, yet to be filed. -4

TOTAL SCORE: +2
Nah nah nah, Life. I win!

On December 11, CampusCompare’s twitter account will be taken over by one Tufts University student who will be micro-blogging his exploits both in and out of the classroom.

Get a feel for what college-life is really like with CampusCompare’s first ever “College Shadow: Live Twitter Blog”. Watch our twitter feed as /CJBroChill from Tufts tweets about the day-in-the-life of a typical college student. Follow him from the dining hall for breakfast to class to the annual Tufts’ “Naked Quad Run”.

Just follow us at twitter.com/campuscompare to get the hilarious running-commentary on the ins-and-outs of being a college student in the age of social media.

Filling in the blanks.

(I probably should have led with this, but oh well, such is the nature of hindsight and chronological blogging)

The challenge: Blog about my graduate school applications with minimal internet humiliation

The subject: 23-year old college admissions-advice blogger, female, undisclosed location (okay, it’s in an office…I even have a little wheel-y chair!)

The goal: In general, don’t get rejected. Specifically, don’t get rejected in front of millions of people on the internet.

The back-story: Since the time I could write, I have wanted to be a writer. Despite a brief emo-poetry phase when I was thirteen (hey, we’ve all been there) my writing has usually been very straight forward, simple, and honest. Tortured poet is really not my gig. Since my time at CampusCompare, I have come to realize that I love working on assignments, I love the internet, and I love finding the hidden story beneath a bunch of boring facts (no offense, SATs, but you’re not exactly a font of excitement). I want to cover stories that excite me, as well as my readers, and I want to do it well. In short, I want to be a journalist.

There’s a lot of debate out on the net right now about whether it’s even necessary to go to journalism school. A lot of people scoff and stammer about “real world experience” and “starting at the bottom, getting your foot in the door, and working your way up.” This sounds great, and if somebody could please tell me HOW I get this miracle “foot in the door,” then I am all ears. But seeing as the New York Times isn’t exactly knocking down my door or putting a want ad in my local paper, I feel at a loss.

What I do have is a few years of blogging and editing under my belt, some nifty technical skills (does Diane Sawyer know HTML? I don’t think so) and a good GPA at a good university. I also genuinely like school, and I think two-years of studying how to be a better writer and reporter would be two-years well-spent. And so to journalism school I will go! Now, if only I knew how.

Can a college admissions blogger take her own advice and get into graduate school?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Follow me on Twitter to get notified as I post updates on adventures in admissions.

Missed my first installment? Check out “Operation Don’t Get Rejected: Advice from Alice“