<p>uggghhh...unfortunately i have been sick all week :(, i hope i'm fine by tommorrow</p>
<p>I know a lot of you are already at the weekend, but I was a finalist last year, and I had an awesome time at the weekend. I did not get the scholarship, but I was offered everything but about 1k a year. </p>
<p>The weekend was a really fun and entertaining one, where Clemson both engaged you academically and socially. There were two interviews -
single/Panel interviews, and a group "dilemna" interview.</p>
<p>Single interview - I felt like I came in with a disadvantage, because my application said I was interested in business. I was more interested in Economics/Mathematics/Finance, but I couldn't change it. In my individual interview, I was asked questions about business ethics that I did not know how to answer. I left feeling somewhat cheated, because they were asking me questions about something I was not interested in.</p>
<p>The group interview is where a problem/dilemna is brought to the group with 4 (usually equally tough) solutions. Things such as, "school has seen a budget change, which program do you cut" and gives 4 different programs to eliminate. Or, "chemical bomb explodes downtown city on the night of the Superbowl," and you need to choose which option to take in saving/rescuing people or preventing more attacks. That was one of my favorite parts, and a lot of us ended up talking about it for a long time afterwards. There were three people from my school that attended the weekend, and we still talk about it to this day. They both recieved the scholarship but went to Princeton and Duke instead, and I went to Furman, along with another NS finalist.</p>
<p>Other times were spend touring campus, and getting to know the current NS students, as well as the other finalists. I really enjoyed that part of the weekend, because it made it entertaining, and would keep your mind off the evaluation process. I still keep in touch with some of the other finalists, and both of us at Furman are heavily involved in the scholarship program here.</p>
<p>If you do recieve the scholarship, I would highly consider taking it (That is unless you applied to Furman ;) ), but don't make impulse decisions. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions about the weekend, PM me or feel free to ask!</p>
<p>how is microsoft like a cockroach?</p>
<p>Because they're everywhere and not many ppl like them</p>
<p>btw, Bill Townsend was obviously the best candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship ;)</p>
<p>My fave part was how everytime someone would meet me for the first time, they would say, 'awe, you're the girl from Maine. I am so sorry." Hahaha, my 7hour flight delay was entirely NYCs fault lol
And oh yeah, after I finally arrived, the first person I met (who was from SC) said, "you're from Maine and want to go to Clemson? You should have stayed in New England." But it's ok...at least the school itself was good to me :)</p>
<p>Jelybo07 -Too bad re the reaction to the first person you met - they probably thought they were being humreous. Hope the weekend went well. What was your impression of the program?
Shobhit - Did you feel well enought to attend?</p>
<p>Haha, no unfprtunately the person was not being humorous, they continued to say things along similar lines throughout the next day as well. The weekend was ok. The last person I met (my host dinner NSP member) kind of discouraged me also, as she said the hardest part about attending Clemson was not being able to take ONLY honors classes, forcing her to "take classes w/ the slow people who don't know what they are doing and hold me back." </p>
<p>I don't know, the faculty members and NSP directors were amazing and very welcoming, but after this weekend I don't think it's for me afterall. I almost felt more comfortable at Vanderbilt and Duke.</p>
<p>jelybo07 - As we discussed Fit is important in making your choice. Makes me sad that you encountered two such negative folks. The NSP dinner host doesn't sound like any of the NSPers my son associates with. It is true you don't take all honors classes but I can't imagine other "slow" students holding someone back unless that's how one chooses to look at it. My son wasn't part of the weekend, unfortunately, I think he would have told you otherwise.
He has enjoyed meeting other students from all walks and certainly has a great deal of respect for students outside of Honors & NSP. Keep us posted though.</p>
<p>yes i was able to go and I really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>jelybo07, I think I've read previous posts you've made and recall instances where your feelings were also hurt by folks at Vandy, and "unnamed schools in Durham and Nashville." Is it possible you are taking comments too seriously? Sometimes anxiety, which is natural during interviews and while waiting for application and scholarship decisions, can make us particularly defensive at comments which at another time wouldn't faze us. Relax, don't take yourself so seriously. And perhaps you should give people "the benefit of the doubt" that they weren't intentionally trying to wound you.</p>
<p>don't worry about it jessica</p>
<p>i bet the finalist who said that to you was just intimidated by the competition ;)</p>
<p>hm, i wonder who it was though...</p>
<p>i, personally, did not get any comments like that. Usually when I visit in state schools, I get comments such as, "oh you're indian, what are you doing looking at this school?," but I got nothing like that this time...although I was the only Indian there haha</p>
<p>Webbie, my dad's gf from SC was there when that guy from SC said what he did, and even she was caught off guard, and my dad left the school with the impression that people there can be very snooty and unfriendly, though he said there are probably nicer people. I can tell the difference between joking North/South rivalry--I had plenty of people say "you know, the Civil War is still going on, and the South is going to win one of these days!" and I took that completely light-heartedly and humorously; it was just that a few people were genuinely rude and inconsiderate (they didn't even have the hospitality to hold open the door for anyone...) And as for Vandy, it is pretty hard to misinterpret "well, you are a good fit academically, but I think you might have a hard time really fitting in socially b/c most people will be from the South and will likely have connections with each other." </p>
<p>But I really liked talking w/ my host person and spending time in her dorm (Lever in the high rises), they were all VERY nice, and kept telling me how they hope to see me there next year and that they would be there if I ever needed anything. There were even times where I felt like Clemson was THE school for me by talking w/ these girls! My host person also said not to take the NSP as representative of the entire school as a whole, which is more laid back. Maybe the school is for me, but the NSP isn't.</p>
<p>I wasn't there, obviously, but cannot imagine that you encountered snooty and unfriendly people at Clemson. That's been the opposite of my experience, but you never know. Of course, there are snooty and unfriendly people everywhere -- were these other finalists you got this impression from? If you need something more laid back, then yes, maybe the NSP and that level of expectation isn't for you -- so you'd turn down the scholarship if offered but still go to clemson if you felt Clemson was the best fit for you?</p>
<p>Haha, I don't think at all I'm getting the scholarship--the interview and seminar went horribly to the point I was near tears lol But again, that doesn't really bother me b/c I didn't feel that the NSP was for me. Some of the current NSP members and NSP candidates I met were very, very friendly and welcoming, but there were enough that weren't to make me feel uncomfortable. But you are right, there are people like that everywhere and I think the magnitude of these people's success often augments people's confidence to the point they can make other people feel awkward (though I wouldn't say that the majority of the people were rude, just a minority).</p>
<p>I do feel obligated to go though b/c of all the stuff they gave me lol...and it will probably be considerably cheaper than the other schools to which I applied, and I did really fit in well w/ the people I met w/ my host to the point I can see myself hanging out w/ them in the future :)</p>
<p>Did they tell you guys when you would hear back about the NSP? I can't remember how quickly the respose came to our house 2 yrs ago :-)</p>
<p>they said by this week we should!</p>
<p>Since someone always asks about stats for the Clemson National Scholars - the article talks about this year's newly announced group. Their avg SAT is 1489 - the highest ever for this group.</p>