Rejected, but differently.

So I am in Korea now.

Time to break a secret to you guys. I applied to transfer to Emory College a year early. And yes, I spent a lot of time and effort preparing that application, including taking the SAT again. But upon submitting my application, today I received a notice from the admission office that on page 8 of the Oxford College 2009-2010 catalog, paragraph 3 says "Students may not transfer between Oxford College and Emory College." There was no word of this on Emory College of Oxford College's admission sites. I sent an email to the Emory College dean of admission who just in turn said my application will not be reviewed. So then I emailed President Wagner (yes, I am taking it up to the top). I am still waiting for his reply. But I have little doubt that his answer will be the same.

There are very few things in life that annoy the hell out of me, and this bureaucracy is one of them. In high school, they wouldn't let us film our film club ad in an indoor school basketball court because they said we would need a supervisor, written permission and an ahead-of-time schedule setup. So we just filmed it outside. My goodness.

Anyways, the reason I was trying to transfer was similar to the that of Wonmin's. I many times feel limited at Oxford. Oxford has some great people and all, but way too much of my success (arts competition 1st place, campus moviefest best drama, free speech arts competition 1st place, emory tv, etc etc) takes place at the main campus. And simply put, the main campus has a lot more resources I utilize frequently (including more classes). And I was not going to say this, but I think it's ok seeing that not many people read my blog anyhow. I believe the majority of the population at Oxford lacks ambition. Most Oxford people simply exist, and don't LIVE. A HUGE reason of why places like Harvard or Yale is awesome is because of the people there. Most people around you at Harvard are ridiculously ambitious, studious, responsible, etc etc. And there is so much to learn from that.

But now, I will finish my sophomore year at Oxford. Don't get me wrong. Whatever situation I am in I can learn much. Staying at Oxford is not the end of the world for me. After all, I think (I'm trying not to be cocky here) I have a respectable reputation, I have been chosen as a writing tutor, I've got fun classes lined up, and I will be able to stay with my girlfriend. And with the inevitable vast amounts of time that will be available when bored, I can read and undertake some ambitious endeavors (especially related to film). One of the most important individual lessons I learned while at Oxford was of "just doing it" despite the fact that no one else seems to be doing so. Simply put, I am comfortable enough with myself and my abilities to not "settle" into my situation. I continue to be ambitious and strive to learn on my own. And now, I believe I can do that even in the middle of some hillbilly, uneducated, middle-of-nowhere, lame place. And that's an extremely important ability, because one cannot always depend on their surrounding situations to find greatness. One must sometimes necessarily beat down a path of their own where there is none to ultimately be able to reach the greatest type of success.