Deep Springs Discussion Thread for Applicants in Summer 2023 to be Accepted in Summer 2024
Hey everyone,
I’m a little surprised that a forum hasn’t been created yet for this year, but I suppose every year will have its forum stalkers 
I know it’s a bit late for this thread - and even later to start applying - but I firmly believe that it’s never too late, so those like me who haven’t had the time to get around to applying, the chance is now! Let’s get it! 
Oh, also just noticed this AMA on Reddit: Reddit - Dive into anything
Another one of Discord: ApplyingToCollege
I just submitted. Hope to see you guys in the valley 
Hi!
I made an account here just to comment on this thread and I learned about the college last month, turned in my final application yesterday. I’m hoping I get into the second round but I’d really like to be accepted into next year’s class; this is the only school I’ve looked at and been like “I want to go there.”
The essay questions definitely made me think! I was glad to be able to share a portfolio of my art since I’ve spent a lot of time developing my art skills.
What did you write about in your essays and supplemental materials? (If this is a question that’s allowed to be asked, of course.)
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Also if you wanna talk somewhere I have Discord, I’d like to chat with another potential applicant since I’m pretty curious why we both chose this college etc
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I also submitted a portfolio! I’m a current HS senior, and I’ve known about DS for about a year now. I’m really attracted to the idea of DS, especially the community responsibility and labor aspects.
I’m not online too much but I’d be down to chat on discord if you want. 
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Sure, I’ll message you my Discord tag
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Hi @sloppylord @land-urchin ,
Thanks for engaging 
For the essays, I wrote about:
- A conflict between academic integrity and financial hardship
- Whether surveillance capitalism could be used in reverse to nudge people towards the Good?
- Human nature necessitating mistakes
- Civil disobedience in response to the school dress code
- My personal journey of intellectual inquiry and service
For the supplemental materials, other than the a list of books and activities, the book that I wrote about was Kafka’s The Trial and how it changed my perspective on social alienation; and the artwork that I wrote about was Dali’s Persistence of Memory and how it inspired me to question whether or not memories were personal, objective, and the implications of them being so.
If you want to chat in private, I can usually be reached via email: zhaodn19@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn
I also occasionally check Discord: dracollavenorez#0068
What did you think of the essay prompts? I got pretty stuck on the 1st one. Some topics of my essays were art, queerness, family and conflict, and metaphor.
What do you expect from Deep Spings? How did you find out about it?
Im curious, how did Dali’s painting prompt you to think differently about memory and what do you think?
Sorry if this is too many questions, haha
Hey @land-urchin thanks for your patience. I’ve been really busy lately with school so haven’t had time to answer. Hopefully, I’ve written enough this time to make up for it
I think the essay prompts were easier than previous years’, partly because two of them were recycled, partly because they were things I’ve previously thought about. In contrast, last year, or the year before that (I can’t quite remember) there was a question asking “do you want kids?” which totally threw me for a loop since I had never actually given it much thought. I was a bit surprised though that the traditional “Why DS” question had a format change, as well as the missing (or rather integrated) service question.
I think the hardest question this year was perhaps the third one. It shouldn’t have been as I’d previously written a paper on Kant’s Reich Der Zweicke, particularly on how a fully rational life was inhumane on the grounds of it removing freedom. Perhaps it was my overfamiliarity on the topic (niche) that made it hard to abstract. I also think that I’ve gotten so used to college writing that “freeing” my thinking from the typical structural elements (i.e. literary analysis) made my writing a little jarring if that makes any sense.
What do I expect from Deep Springs? Not a lot actually. The more I’ve applied the more I’ve mellowed out so to speak. If there’s anything I want from Deep Springs, it is the freedom to experiment. The unadulterated experience of an intentional community. A place to understand what my version of service looks like. I guess depending on your viewpoint, that might be asking for a lot; after having spoken to a lot of disillusioned alumni its certainly a tall order. But difficult or not, what you put in is what you get out, and given the effort, I believe that Deep Springs won’t disappoint.
How did I find out about Deep Springs? Well, from a typical college search back in 2018. My family is not that well off so back in junior year I sort of made a list of all the “alternative colleges” out there, those that could offer full ride scholarships and anything that peaked my interest. Deep Springs was just another one of those schools, not much different than the rest, and at first I even mistook it to be yet another “safety school” 
How wrong I was about that… When I applied in 2019, Deep Springs officially became part of my radar as the first rejection (not just college rejection, but first ever rejection) in my life. It was a bit of a wake up call I suppose from my otherwise smooth sailing life thus far. Naturally, I became a bit obsessed and the more I found out about it, the more I fell in love. Since then I’ve reached out to multiple alumni as well as current (and would be) DSers. In fact, I’ve had many a conversation with quite a few of those who graduated from Deep Springs right here on CC back when we were all just applicants. It kind of feels nostalgic in a sense even though it was only a couple years back. One example, not from CC, was when I went to Outer Coast with Carmen and Aubryn back in 2019. The three of us applied together and both of them graduated in 2022 whilst I’m still here reapplying ever since , but I digress…
Dali’s painting itself didn’t actually help me think differently about memory, rather as a prop used by my physics teacher, it helped “inspire” a new way of thinking. Long story short, my physics teacher referred to the painting to help illustrate that time is an illusion. Looking at the title of the painting “the persistence of memory” gave me one of those “Eureka!” moments, causing me to ponder whether or not memories were also an illusion. You know how when you’re so deeply immersed in a book that you sometimes mistake the experience of the protagonist for one of your own? That phenomena is actually called “memory stealing” and further research led me to the idea that perhaps memories weren’t subjective, but rather like Frege’s Vorstellung - the concept that ideas exist objectively and that instead of coming up with them organically, we somehow pluck them out of the air. In that sense, it got me thinking that our so-called memories aren’t actually ours but perhaps part of the memory of the world. They are experiences that could happen to anyone and can be adopted as such. For example, my mother loves to repeat stories from her childhood famine and the foods she would eat. Without going into much detail, I’ve found that “her” memories have somehow become part of mine, and instinctively knowledge on how to recreate some of her childhood foods (without her ever telling me the recipe) has come to fruition. In other areas of my life I’ve seen the same thing with skillsets, for example, a physician once told me about one of his patients prior and then at a later event, without any technical expertise or practise, I was somehow able to administer the same medical knowledge (splinting a simple sprain) that the physician had previously talked about. Of course, this could all have been circumstance, after all, splinting a sprain I feel is quite common knowledge and I may have picked up the skill elsewhere, but… imagine if memories were actually transferrable. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Just think about the years of education it could save. Unfortunately, my anecdotal experiences with memory stealing have mostly been involuntary; I haven’t been able to steal specific memories and apply a skillset that I’ve never practised with any intention before which is why I still feel like my experiences have only been circumstantial. But, hey, you never know, maybe memories are plucked out of thin (metaphysical) air just like Vorstellung, and if they are, wouldn’t that be a way to think?
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