I get you @Clockless_hours . Money is a really big restriction on basically everything 
Hopefully, one day it wonāt be. Iām currently struggling with this issue myself - but I donāt want to be confined to a life of Bad Faith. It is hard thoughā¦ facing our ārealityā means that sometimes willpower isnāt enough. And I hate that. I really do. And thatās one of the things I want to do when Iām older. Iām hoping to eventually live a life of service where we confront the absurdity of of socially constructed reality and help people live the lives they deserve.
I think I first heard about DS through a web search on alternative education. You know, because of the money issue - and also because I dislike the restrictive / oppressive nature of mainstream education where there is only one ārightā way to everything. I think that was back in 2017 or 2018, sometime at the start of high school.
Ah. I only found out about it earlier this year through an alumni.
I debated with myself quite a bit of I should apply, ironically because of the life of service bit. I felt that going into seclusion for two years would be rather selfish when I could be involved with student movements at a larger university and get directly involved with mutual aid and such in the community, especially in times as turbulent and historic as these. At the same though, I really do think DS prepares you for a life of service very well and itās not one or the other, if that makes sense. Both can have their time.
I was also kinda cynical about so many alumni going on to study at Ivyās and top universities as somewhat of a betrayal of the appeal I see in DS and itās mission towards service (not that you canāt lead a life of service if you go to a top school). However, what you make out of DS is subject to each person. Just like there are people that go on to Harvard, others have gone off to fight with the YPG after DS, lol.
Anyway, I was just thinking since the application form is already closed, do you want to perhaps exchange applications? @Clockless_hours @_bospad @descartes_fore_horse @vuhoanghaimy
@rayne.drops @extirpatorofpathos I mean, Iām fine with anything whether you want to forward the entire application with the supplemental document or just swap an essay or two. Iām just really interested in how other people interested in DS think and what makes them them. I mean, you donāt have to - I already really appreciate that youāve all taken the courage to participate in this thread. But if you do want to, this is my email: t.walshdaniel@protonmail.com
Also, for everyone else who has been watching but not participating, feel free to shoot me an email too 
Its*
Bah, itās a forum, you get what I mean
Maybe. Iāll keep it in mind. It hadnāt occurred to me to check online for other people applying until this weekend, although I have been curious about it too. Thanks for the offer.
Hey yeah @Clockless_hours I totally understand. I mean thatās kind of the main difference between Outer Coast and Deep Springs. At OC service is integrated into the wider community - when I was there that meant helping repave the forest trail at Kasda Heen, helping out at a 4-H camp, washing and waxing firetrucks, providing a barbeque for the Pioneer Home, repainting buildings on Sheldon Jackson Campus, cleaning up Baronof Islandā¦ At OC service is directly linked with the community at large so imagining how DS in all its isolation seems counterintuitive in preparing for a life of service. But ironically its the isolation which makes it possible. This is because humanity is this large, abstract concept.
Initially, I myself had grandiose illusions of āservice to humanityā being this ethereal missionary limited to people who devoted their whole lives to some project such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama. But thatās not it at all. I like to explain this through the Chinese proverb āåæ仄ę¶å°čäøŗä¹ļ¼åæ仄åå°čäøäøŗā. Donāt try to Google Translate it - the literal translation doesnāt make much sense But anyway, the essence of the proverb is that service isnāt this transcendental thing but itās the attitude in the little things you do - and most importantly that you enjoy doing it. Thereās a big difference between living a life of service and living a life in servitude. Service is meant to be energising, not sacrificial - but Iām getting ahead of myself. How this relates to DS though is that DS makes the abstract notion of service concrete. At DS this greater concept of humanity are suddenly the people right there with you. Because trying to serve all of humanity from the get-go is possible, but really hard. DS is a place to experiment and implement what you learn on a small scale. Everything at DS is an act of service towards a continuous community. DS makes the ethereal real and this is how I think DS prepares someone for a life of service. DS shows someone through practical application away from material distractions and the noise of greater society what service truly is.
Oh also, I understand what you mean by being cynical. After all, going off to an ivy after DS kind of feels that youāre betraying your mission of service. Like, once you graduate from DS you have a moral obligation to help humanity, not just use its prestige to further your own education. But that kind of links in with what I just mentioned: service being in the attitude and everyone having their own way to serve and it not being sacrificial but energizing.
The thing is, our current society is sort of close-minded. Graduating from a āprestigiousā institute like the Ivys gives you a leg up to actually promote change. Itās a sort of investment of sorts. I mean, sure you can pursue service straight after DS, but having a degree from a āreputableā university opens a lot more doors. It means you have a lot more power. It means you have a lot more influence. Itās a sad truth that we have to jump through so many hoops before we can āproveā ourselves. E.g. if your GPA isnāt good enough, nobody takes you seriously in academic discussions. But thatās sort of our role in all this. Or at least thatās sort of my ideal that links with my desire to help people understand the absurdity of our social constructs. I hate that thereās only one or two āacceptableā ways to make change in our world. If youāre not āqualifiedā, then sadly, nobody takes you seriously.
Hmmm, I would disagree on the assertion that going to an Ivy would put you in a position to serve humanity, however you interpret that, better. It helps put you in a more privileged position, yes, but the doors that opens are largely to be able to influence change within the system, which in my eyes is fundamentally built to not serve people. I think one has to be subversive to live a life of service, at least in here in America. This is why I also think you have in a way already lost if you are perceived as respectable by society at large.
But then again, social constructs arenāt evil in themselves. Itās sort of like fire: itās a good servant but a bad master. I personally feel that when initially conceived, our social constructions were good tools in helping us understand our world. Sort of like masks (the metaphyscial one, not the COVID one). Like, everyone now says stop hiding behind a mask and be your authentic self, but without your mask, who are you really?
As Shakespeare said, āAll of life is a stageā. And thatās pretty much true. Wearing masks to react to different scenarios, its not inauthentic either - itās just a way in which we can interact with each other. However, inauthenticity becomes a problem when we fail to distinguish that we are in charge of our masks. Masks themselves arenāt the problem - the problem is forgetting that we can take them off.
The same goes for Adults. Like, for all their talk of āgrow upā and āface realityā, Adults are probably Fantasyās biggest fan. Everything āimportantā has a subjective and sentimental value. Using excuses for actions such as āwar is inevitableā is due to being unable to differentiate raw existence from our social constructs. I mean, nobody forces us to kill each other but ourselves. Saying we had no other choice is just living in Bad Faith. But then again, our social constructs arenāt evil in themselves. Facing the true, unfiltered essence of the world is often overwhelming. But the problem lies within the moment where we fail to differentiate what is truly important - that moment when we allow social constructs to control us instead of us controlling them.
This is similar to our current predicament with democracy. Most people simply assume democracy is an objective good and that has allowed us to accept growing levels of Kafkaesque bureaucracy as something ānormalā. Weāre beginning to allow Orwellian concepts of ādemocracyā govern us under the guise of democracy itself.
I think the main thing Iām tying to say is that the true danger lies within normalising things that shouldnāt;t be normalised. We allow ourselves to sink into Bad Faith unaware and thatās what leads to all these problems of poverty, failures in the education system, global conflict, etc. It can be pretty much traced to all the problems we currently have.
Perhaps Iām getting ahead of myself, but maybe youāve already noticed it but Iām really passionate about this. And I really really do want to change this. Maybe itās childish but I sort of have this desire to change the world. And thatās where DS comes in. Iām just so sick and tired of all the excuses - and honestly, Iām absolutely terrified of where we are heading. And I want to do something about it, and I honestly think DS will prepare me for what Iām supposed to do.
Hey do you mind if we continue this in direct messages? Sorry, this is just rather off topic from the forumās discussion and would prefer to continue discussing elsewhere.
I get what youāre saying about how conforming to the system is already a sort of defeat. But the way I see it, itās sort of an inside job. You canāt really approach this from the path of an outsider because the way we live primarily revolves around the way society normalises what is, for lack of better words, ānormalā. Itās sort of like understanding the right tool for the right job, and being in a āprivilegedā position is the best way I see to enact this change.
Of course, this is rather consequentialist. Kind of like, wellā¦ first we survive then we find our humanity again. And for a time I was rather cynical about this. But you canāt just give up on the people and think that thatās the best way to help them. Sometimes you first have to join them, understand things from their point of view, and then instil change from within. I know it sucks, but I have yet to come up with a better way that doesnāt involve strongarming everyone.
Sure, a violent revolution would work - but thatās the problem with āWokeā culture. You see this with police brutality and everything else. You see it in the past with the suffragettes. There shouldnāt have to be a violent protest, there should be a way of change from within. Just refuting the system and raging against the machine may work - but it has a cost that Iām not willing to pay. I think thereās a better way - I hope that thereās a better way. And that better way is through an inside job. As reflected in the Painās Assault Arc from Naruto - there is a better way than just continuing the cycle of pain.
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Sure, how about email?
I agree thatās its slightly off-topic - although I guess it can all be related to DS in one way or another 
Just sent you a private message.
Iād guess about 450-500 people are applying this round.
@dracollavenore I first found out from flipping to a random page in a college guidebook that my mom got me a few months ago, so really it was all up to chance! But, right after I read the description, I was sure that it was the perfect place for me and Iāve had minimal reservations about it since then. Also, Iām not really comfortable sharing applications at this time, but perhaps after the application cycle is over Iāll consider it.
@descartes_fore_horse Iād guess around the same. What Iāve found online has said itās usually around 300 and the 60 Minutes feature plus more general publicity/word-of-mouth means thereāll probably be a solid increase. But 500 is still doable, though the acceptance rate would end up being 2.8% which is pretty brutal.
Keep in mind that anyone who found out about it through/after 60 min didnāt have as much time to spend on their application.
Yeah, what I worried about is that Deep Springs might fall victim to the prestige system that weāve currently got. I think that the type of applicant that would do well at Deep Springs would probably have done a deep search into what higher ed offers and found the college, but now weāve got all sorts of people applying. There are probably some very qualified applicants that have found out about Deep Springs as a result, but the probability is less. With so many applications, apcom is definitely going to have to spend less time reviewing each one. The same thing happened to the Iowa Writerās Workshop, and now theyāre knee deep in elitism.
But apcom thought it was a good idea to publicize it moreā¦ oh well. Perhaps Iām misreading this all.
That being said, Iām going to cut back my initial guess of 500 to 400. We have a lot of posts on this thread, almost 3 times that of our precedent, and it makes sense that there would be a corresponding increase in views.
Whatād yaāll write for your essays? Iām not really so interested (and I think itās better for privacy reasons anyway) as to what answer you had, but rather how you approached it.
Keep your head up!
Yeah, 400-500 range makes sense to me, but honestly, itās probably best to not worry too much about it (unless we get in, then we literally will have to worry about it next year lol).
As for my essays, I talked a bit about Buddhism and asceticism for the Oscar Wilde one, as well as a personal anecdote about consumerism.
For the life of service, I struggled with it a bit but I ended up talking about two people who I thought epitomized lives of service.
For the āwhy Deep Springs,ā I talked about the pillars and my personal reasons for wanting to attend.
I chose the one about helio/geocentrism and I used observation to prove that the sun orbited the earth, and then made it an allegory about why you canāt just trust your own limited perspective.
And for the book, I wrote about a short story that made me stop believing in free will and changed my thoughts about ethics and morality.
Iām curious which prompt people chose for the 4th essay and if anyone else said the sun orbited the earth?
Oh cool! I didnāt realize that physical college guidebooks existed anymore - I thought they were sort of like yellow pages. Do you mind taking a photo of the page (if you still have the college guidebook that is) and uploading it onto this thread? The seventh icon from the left in the reply to thread section should allow you to upload images. Iām just interested to see what a physical DS brochure / advert looks like.
And no problem. We can always share applications in April when everything is done - or we donāt have to share it all. It really depends on whenever of if ever you feel comfortable.