<pre><code> Just wanted to post and say hi! I'm also a GWHS finalist and was an ED II applicant, so I'll be at W&L next year and am completely thrilled. I'm definitely flying to campus in March because I'm from Houston/Fort Worth Texas (the parentals live in Houston and I'm living in Fort Worth this year). Anyway, can't wait to meet y'all and see campus in action. Looks like the intro to political philosophy class is going to be a full one. I'm taking that plus the economics of education and contemporary ethics. I'm planning on majoring in politics in the Williams School. Anyway, just figured I'd say hi. Hope everyone is having a great week.
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<p>Congrats. I'll see you there. I'm still unsure about what my major will be, but the classes I picked were different. I'm RD, however, so I may not end up at W&L. Certainly not because it's not near the top of the RD heap (if not the shared-top), but who knows? My week is great, I hope yours is too.</p>
<p>Hey, Tegan, congrats! I'll see you in March.</p>
<p>As a fellow future politics major, I have to ask: Democrat or Republican? The Texas thing (as well as your choosing W&L) seems to indicate Repub but then again areas like Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston can be very Democratic.</p>
<p>I'd like to ask you, as well, Dima. Not that it matters beyond a matter-of-fact, because as a Democrat from the Old South, I know that there's nothing more annoying than partisan issues coming before politeness.</p>
<p>I agree with you completely williwonka, partisan issues should never come before politeness, can you imagine flipping the two "paragraphs" in my previous post? But there's not much better than healthy political debate to grow friendships and get to know a person.</p>
<p>As for me, I'm a registered Democrat, moderate by NYC standards, but probably quite liberal by southern standards. I worked on the Kerry primary campaign and then for Citizen Action of New York (a group much farther left than I am) doing voter registration and get out the vote this year.</p>
<p>Well, I'm a conservative-- generally I am more of a Republican than a Democrat but I don't really consider myself an advocate of either party. I grew up overseas in countries where there were way more than two political parties, so US political parties seem really broad to me. But I'm more interested in foreign service and international relations than domestic politics, anyway, so I guess that's ok. :-) Actually, Houston is a pretty big republican stronghold-- I would say that the only notably liberal city in Texas is Austin, which is ironic considering that it hosts one of the most conservative state governments in the nation. But anyhow, that's my input. What extracurriculars did everyone sign up for?</p>
<p>I'm a finalist (and a conservative, hahaha, who sadly cannot vote yet) as well. I'm from Chicago...I think I signed up for Spanish Lit., something about cell biology, and something else science-y for the classes and then a choir, academic team and <em>brain dies</em> for the extracurriculars. </p>
<p><em>runs back to Rice board, awaiting status of ID application....</em></p>
<p>Lol, Emilia, Rice is a beautiful school. I almost graduated a year early to go there, but then decided I would rather go to college on the east coast and at the same time as the rest of my friends. Anyway, good luck there-- it's in a cool section of Houston near a lot of great restaurants and museums. The Montrose/River Oaks area in Houston has a lot to offer. If you end up going there you absolutely have to go to the Empire Cafe on Westheimer. It's seriously a spiritual experience. Good luck and let me know how it goes!</p>
<p>Haha, well, c'est la vie I guess. Tegan, that's so cool, in what countries did you grow up? </p>
<p>I thought about applying to Rice, but Houston is just too far away for transportation to be affordable or possible. I would have found a way to work through the cost if I had liked Rice as much as Dartmouth or W&L, but that's not the point.</p>
<p>This thread reminds me that I never said what classes I was definitely going to be attending.</p>
<p>1) Biology 301: Statistics for Biology and Medicine
2) Computer Science 315: Artificial Intelligence
3) Economics 102: Principles of Macroeconomics</p>
<p>I haven't seen anyone taking these yet (maybe I just missed it...) so if you're going to be going to them let me know! It'll be weird all by my lonesome.</p>
<p>I don't know about the 75 out of 100 thing, although about 50 get picked so it would really improve my chances, because that would mean about 2/3rds of the people that come get some sort of money, half or full from what I've heard.</p>
<p>And yeah, the host assignment is supposed to be posted online tomorrow according to the website.</p>
<p>Willywonka, I grew up in Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Yeah, I'm kinda hoping not all the finalists come to the final round of the competition. I heard only like 25 or 30 people get merit scholarships, but I don't remember where I heard that and I really hope I'm wrong! Anything to narrow the odds :-) Hope y'all are having a fabulous week. I wonder if more than one finalist will stay with each host. Guess we'll find out soon enough. Dima, I'm also waiting to hear for NM finalist-- but I think that the W&L site did say it's $750 for finalists. Which buys.... books? But oh well, if nothing else it is a nice resume perk. The freshman class profile for this year said they had 27 national merit finalists, which out of 400 some odd freshmen is a nice number for those who are. I had to call National Merit this week to ask something and they mentioned that the letter were being mailed out tomorrow (Thursday) so I guess we'll know soon.</p>
<p>Yeah, I just saw that too. The more, the merrier, I guess...</p>
<p>Was anyone else's pop-up box for their name strange? My major said philosophy, religion. I thought "Okay, that's just the official name of the philosophy major," and I changed it to pre-law on the preferences page to see if it would go away. Now it says "pre-law, religion." I really have no interest in religion, and I've never clicked anything to say I did. Maybe it's a sign...</p>
<p>I'm not sure where to check about dorm and floor; I'm still confused as to whether or not I've been drafted as a religion major.</p>
<p>Edit: Nevermind, I found it through the link on this page. Did you know that if you log in as yourself, you can see the list of hosts and finalists reversed? Then you can click on our names and see our information. That's why I was so confused.</p>
<p>I'm in Graham-Lees, too. Room number two-sixty-somethin'.</p>