Tag Archives: Watson

The (Last) First Day of School

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Welcome back, Scripps! To all students, I hope you’re excited for your classes and are looking forward to the semester! The start of fall semester is really something special. Unlike the spring semester, it is a start of a whole new beginning. Coming fresh from summer, it’s a chance to bring those experiences back to campus and reconnect with the community. I thought I would be a little less flustered at the start of my senior year, but instead I lost my ID while moving in and I accidentally locked myself out of my suite on the first day of class. But starting senior year reminded me of a certain story about my first week at Scripps.

As a first-year, I went to a Fellowship Informational Session during the first week of school. 18-year-old me had decided to go to as many things as possible on campus and learn about all the opportunities available. At this point in time, I only really remembered the names of the girls in my hall and had started remembering where my classes were. Tiny conquests like that helped me adjust to college.

But 18-year-old me was really good at overwhelming herself (so is current soon-to-be-22-year-old me). I remember stepping into Vita Nova Hall, greeted by a sign in sheet. Maybe two dozen or so names were on the list before mine, but as I scanned the lines to write my own, the last column made my stomach lurch. Every other student in that room was graduating in 2013. I immediately thought, what am I doing here? All these students are seniors, and I’m just a first-year… Should I not be here? I mean, I just want to learn about these opportunities… Right?

I awkwardly sat near the exit and felt temporarily at ease, until Professor Edwalds-Gilbert started the presentation. The presentation included the descriptions, requirements, and timelines for a number of fellowships such as the Watson, Fulbright, Napier, etc. I left about 20-minutes in to the presentation and headed straight back to my room, but decided to stop and gather myself on the bench by the huge tree on Jaqua Quad.

The overwhelming feel kept escalated in my head, I was shaky and even a teary eyed, and at the time, I couldn’t put together why. I had just gotten to college, eager to take in as much as I could, and then immediately I felt like I was out of place, like I could never possibly pursue those opportunities after graduating.

Well, here I am now, the last first day of school, when three years ago, I couldn’t tell you what I wanted to major in let alone what career path I wanted, and that was okay.

Looking back on that story, I was scared. I was scared of the possibilities of what could be my future, and that overwhelmed me, especially since I wasn’t even completely comfortable at Scripps yet. But I take a few important things away from that experience; I must always discover what could be, by always feeding my curiosity and putting myself out there. Searching for those opportunities seems daunting at first, but throughout my time at Scripps, I have sought other experiences that have accumulated and empowered me with the confidence needed to take the next steps during my senior year in preparing for after graduation.

The Watson Fellowship Informational Session is this week on Thursday, September 4th at 3 PM in the Lang Art Building, Room 221, and I plan on attending.

So during these first few weeks of school, I encourage you to look back and see how far you’ve come. Whether you’re a first-year or a senior, your hard work has paid off to get you to where you are now. The bumpy roads are always rough, but you’ve learned more about yourself for it. I know I have! From getting accepted to Scripps and my last first day of school, first-year me would be really surprised to know what I’ve accomplished and see where I am today.

On Interviews and Business Casual

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By my next blog post, I’ll have completed the three interviews I have scheduled for next week; there are lots of mock and campus interviews in my future.

I’m guessing this is likely the last year I’ll have to differentiate actual interviews from fake ones, and I feel fortunate to have CP&R as a resource that is able to provide the mocks. If you haven’t utilized their mock interviews I would highly recommend scheduling one. In my mock Fulbright interview with Gretchen, I was able to respond to questions directly related to the Fulbright and then go over how my answers could have been stronger. While I know we are all brilliant and qualified for the fellowships, internships, and jobs we’ll be interviewing for, it only makes sense to take advantage of the practice runs that are mock interviews. Having certain responses down, e.g. a challenging situation and how you got through it and grew from it, will mean you can focus your energies during the conversation on being articulate and engaging rather than scrambling for answers. This will make a huge difference, and I can tell you this with 100% authority as someone who interviews prospective students and sits through quite a few both very well prepared for and ill prepared for interviews every week.  For your viewing pleasure, this is one of my favorite interview scenes ever. Here’s hoping nothing like this ever happens to you!

This brings me to my next and quite related subject, which is interview and job attire. In honor of CP&R’s recent professional dress fashion show, I’ll be talking a little bit about what I’ve been wearing to work interviewing prospective students with the Scripps Office of Admissions. The fact of the matter is, I kind of always thought that I would hate wearing professional dress or even business casual because it would be restricting and no fun. Instead, it turns out I adore it. The secrets to the ease in which I’ve been dressing are two: Marshalls and Forever 21. At these two stores, I found a number of very inexpensive jackets, pencil skirts and flowy pleated skirts, and blouses (sleeveless, short sleeve, and button-up) in a wide enough variety of colors and patterns that even after a month of piecing together outfits for the office, I’m able to mix things up. Throw in fun jewelry like that wooden fish necklace I picked up at a garage sale this summer and some staples, namely black straight-legged trousers from Gap and incredibly comfortable black flats from Born, and I have lots of delightful outfits to wear to work.

How are other fellowship applicants feeling about the upcoming interviews? Which questions are you looking forward to answering and which are you dreading? And most importantly, should I do a work attire photo shoot for next week’s blog? Vote yes or no in the comments section. Have a great week, everyone!

The Fateful Day Has Arrived

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Hurray! I am exhausted and so ready to not look at my Fulbright and Watson applications any longer. Luckily, I handed my Watson to Claire Bridge in the Office of the President before the noon deadline yesterday, and sent my Fulbright application off somewhere into cyberspace just after that. I thought I was going to feel more of a weight off my shoulders but the thing is, it’s all just beginning! I have a mock Fulbright interview this Friday, proper interviews next week, and should the committee like my Watson proposal (cross your fingers) I’ll have an interview for that, too. Then, of course, there’s that thesis proposal due and a paper.

Here’s a cool old map of the Camino de Compostela, a pilgrimage route in northern Spain I may be trekking around this time next year should my Watson be selected. (thanks to the RetireUSA blog)

I’m not going to lie. I struggled to keep myself chugging away on both of the applications (why is writing single spaced so much more difficult than double spaced?), and there were a certain, very few, factors that kept me going when the Fulbright Embark Online Application logged me out for the 50th time.

They were:
1) The professors I asked to write my references. On the whole they were sweet and enthusiastic that the thought of just…skipping the Watson application after so many hours of research and work felt like letting them down more than letting myself down. In particular I’m thinking of one amazing Pomona religious studies professor, who will be writing a Watson reference should I be selected but not a Fulbright, and told me rather gleefully at the Religious Studies tea last week that he “couldn’t wait to write my letter” and that he “already had most of it written in his head”. Remembering that professors I respect and have learned so much from feel that way encouraged me to get back to work.

2) How much I would actually love to carry out my projects. If either of them sounded any less fascinating and up my alley, I would’ve struggled even more to complete them. Both proposals combine my love for anthropological research with an exploration of young people’s narratives of religious identity, whether to do with Islam in Jordan for the research Fulbright (titled “Perspectives on Faith: Shifting Religious Identities of Young Jordanians”) or with different religious pilgrimages for the Watson. I think the fact that I haven’t lost interest but in fact my interest is still growing is a good sign, and I look forward to testing my passion and knowledge of these subjects in interviews to come.

Here’s a cool aerial view of Amman, in the running for my new home after graduation! (thanks Wikipedia)

Really though, we should celebrate! I’m going out to Eureka Burger for dinner with a whole bunch of friends who were working on the Fulbright, Watson, or both to celebrate our accomplishment. The thing is, any experience or process that forces you to think critically about what you love to do, what you find fascinating, where else you can explore is a valuable exercise whether or not you get awarded funds. Last year in hopes of doing research in Beirut, I put together a proposal and applied for a Johnson research grant from Scripps. The application forced me to clarify a lot of things that were simply fuzzy ideas before and while when I didn’t get the grant I was disappointed,  I was grateful that I had had the chance to do this. I was able to strengthen my proposal, find an internship that also matched up with my interests, and actually get more funding when I was awarded the Conflict Management Internship grant.

So how are other fellowship applicants feeling? Relieved? Ready to sleep for about 48 hours? Congratulations to all!