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shillanseva · 5 years ago

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If you are still taking prompts - Beca's family is poor after father left and mama Mitchell stayed with Beca and her siblings, she is going to some fancy school bc of scholarship, she is trying to help her mother out and collect money for some school trip by playing on the guitar in the park aaaand this is where her future lover(s?) from class finds her (you can choose the ship) (sorry this is so long)

This is completely unedited and I decided to make this a multichapter fic. So this is a very introductory chapter and i’ll come back and edit it soon. It might be a tiny bit different than the prompt but I’m hoping to do something along these lines. I haven’t decided between mitchsen or triple treble yet.

Music had an amazing way of fixing everything for Beca Mitchell. Well maybe not everything. She wasn’t naïve. But it at least it helped her pretend.

And she needed that sometimes—a lot of times if the callouses on her fingers were anything to go by. Plucking at the steel strings of her father’s old Stella guitar made all her worries melt away, and she could feel her voice speaking through the gentle thrum of the strings. It wouldn’t make her dad come back. It wouldn’t get her mother a better job or pay for her sister’s medication, but it was her release, and her world didn’t feel quite so dark with the weight of her guitar in her hands.

She never expected her playing to lead to anything else. Sure, she would stop off at Central Park every couple of days and play for whatever coins people would toss her way, but she never expected to be recruited, especially not by the recruiters from Park Edge Preparatory for the Fine Arts.

Park Edge was one of the largest magnet schools in the city. They had thousands of applicants every year and if you weren’t a part of their program by the time you were eleven, there was almost no way to get into the school which meant it mostly accepted of trust fund babies from the Upper East Side—definitely never a poor kid from the Bronx.

She had been playing near the 81st street station next to the Museum of Natural History on a Saturday afternoon in June when she was approached by very stern, blonde woman in a navy-blue pants suit. She was tall. At least a full foot taller than fifteen-year-old Beca who had already reached her peak height of 5’2. Beca had thought she was about to get cursed out by the woman when she first approached. She was all angles—strong, bony nose, a mouth set in a grim line that didn’t look like it even knew how to smile, and cheek bones that would have given Angelina Jolie a run for her money. The woman didn’t say anything at first, just whipped a card out of her jacket and pushed it into Beca’s face. Beca had been forced to take a step back from the proximity, but the woman didn’t back down until Beca’s small hand shakily gripped the card and took it.

It read Angela Parry, Recruitment Office, Park Edge Preparatory for the Fine Arts, and a few phone numbers listed at the bottom. Angela nodded and stretched her hand out which Beca took after a moment.

“Angela Parry,” she said with a strong Brooklyn accent and continued to introduce herself before asking Beca’s name.

“Um, Beca Mitchell,” she replied. Shifting her weight slightly and tugging her guitar strap around to hang the instrument from her back.

“You have a voice, Mitchell,” she said bluntly. Beca furrowed her eyebrows. “And your guitar playing is decent too, do you have any other talents?”

“Well, I play flute, kind of, and piano. And I write?” Beca responded. Angela only nodded. This woman was intense. Her compliments didn’t really sound like compliments. It sounded more like she was giving Beca permission to exist because she didn’t completely suck.

“How are your grades?”

“Mostly B’s, a few A’s,” Beca replied quickly. The woman’s eyes were piercing as she thought for a second.

After a succinct nod, she continued, “Have a parent send me a copy of your transcripts and we’ll discuss setting you up at Park Edge.”

Beca was wide-eyed as Angela shook Beca’s hand once again and walked off, the clack of her heels causing Beca to blink after her. It took a moment to realize what had just happened before she tossed her guitar in its case and sprinted after the woman. She finally caught up to her about half a block later, and grabbed her arm. The daggers she received from the woman were enough to make her drop the Angela’s arm like it had burned her, but then Angela raised an eyebrow at her.

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Beca asked. She didn’t dare to hope that she understood the woman, but she needed to hear it herself.

“I want you at Park Edge,” Angela said as if it explained away every question Beca could have.

“But I can’t afford that school,” Beca responded. “And that’s like an hour on the train.”

“We’ll give you a scholarship,” she said as if it was the most obvious solution in the world.

“You can just do that?” Beca asked.

“Of course not,” Angela said. “You’ll have to audition and prove you can handle the schoolwork, but as long as you can prove not to be a drain on the school, I don’t foresee any problems.”

“That’s it?” Beca asked suddenly feeling dumbfounded. Her arms hung limply at her side, guitar case thumping against her thigh.

“That’s it.” Angela said, then pivoted and walked away. Beca almost chased after her again. No way was it that simple right? Who just recruits random teenagers off the streets, gives them multi-thousand-dollar scholarships, and all they need is a transcript?

Beca was right. It didn’t turn out to actually be that simple. There were a lot of logistics to figure out. Most importantly, school wasn’t in session at the moment meaning there was no administration available to approve a scholarship for Beca, nor was there anyone to witness an audition to make sure she’d be accepted in the first place.

After Beca had told her mother about the strange conversation with Angela Parry, her mother had spent almost three hours on the phone with the woman going over details. It was a private school and had plenty of money so there really wasn’t anything to worry about financially as long as Beca could nail the audition. Her mother spent the entire phone call getting reassurances about money and then figuring out what exactly Beca needed to do for the audition and what was expected of her should she be accepted to the school.

It took three weeks before an audition could even be booked because the principal of the school was required to be present for all upperclassmen auditions. Beca prepared herself the best she could. She wasn’t classically trained as a musician, and all the arts programs at her school had been cut so she didn’t exactly have a teacher, but she did her best to pull together an audition. They were intense. They wanted scales, two contrasting solo pieces no longer than a minute and a half each, sight singing and playing, and specific vocal and instrumental etudes. Apparently, all music majors were required to have vocal and instrumental talent. The vocal aspect was a non-issue, but Beca didn’t feel completely competent on any instrument. She eventually decided on use piano for her audition. It didn’t feel quite so personal, and she wouldn’t be judged on the condition of her guitar.

But despite Beca’s pantsuit angel making her dreams come true, Beca still wasn’t convinced she even wanted to go to this new school. She would be going into her sophomore year of high school without anyone, everyone would have already found their groups, and most of these kids would have known each other since pre-school. Not only that but Beca hated rich kids. They were always spoiled and arrogant like the world owed them for existing. Beca had no time for those kinds of people. All she wanted to do was be at home to take care of her little sister, Triss. She was eleven-years-old. She didn’t exactly need a babysitter anymore, but Beca’s mom worked late so they didn’t see her as often as they’d like.

It took a lot of convincing. Triss called her an idiot no less than fifteen times for not being excited about the audition.

“Why am I the idiot Triss?” Beca asked, looking to her mini doppelganger. Triss was reading on the couch, feet tucked up underneath her, and glasses perched near the end of her nose. Beca smiled a little as she watched Triss’s eyes scan a few lines of her book before she spoke.

“Because.” Triss didn’t even look up.

“That’s not an answer,” Beca chided. She plopped down next to the girl, and pulled the book from her hands despite an indignant “hey!” “Why am I an idiot?”

“You think those scholarships just get handed out?” Triss asked. “You’re going to get to go to one of those cool music schools like you see on tv and you don’t wanna go? Why? Cause I need a baby sitter after school. That’s dumb Beca.”

“Well someone has to keep you out of trouble,” Beca laughed and ruffled Triss’s hair.

“And someone has to keep you from being dumb,” Triss said. She climbed over Beca to grab at her book but Beca held it just inches out of reach. Triss’s light blue eyes narrowed and Beca let out an embarrassing squeak as Triss started to poke at Beca’s side. They wrestled on the couch for several minutes before Beca felt too winded to fight off her sister’s onslaught of tickles and she wheezed a breathy “uncle” before handing the book over to Triss.

“Don’t look too smug,” Beca said, emphasizing her words with a poke to the ribs. “I know where you sleep dweeb.”

“Yeah, six feet away from you. You’d be, like, the first person they arrested if I went missing,” Triss responded flipping her book back open, settling against the arm of the couch and flinging her legs over Beca’s lap.

She still wasn’t convinced, but she went to the audition anyway. She was nervous as hell—never being one for the center of attention, but she nailed the audition and they offered her the spot and scholarship later that night. She took a few days to answer them, but eventually came to realize, she was never going to get an opportunity like this again. She wanted out of the Bronx. She wanted more out of life than a crappy food service job, because there was no way she could afford college.

School at Park Edge was going to be intense. Two days after she accepted the scholarship, a student handbook and a box of uniforms came in the mail. Beca thought the uniform looked ridiculous, but at least it included pants so she wasn’t forced to wear the plaid, pleated skirt. The handbook was two inches thick though. It included everything from grading to attendance to dress code to extracurriculars. Apparently, on top of a mandatory 3.0 GPA, all students were required to take part in at least one after school activity, of which, they had seventy-six; sports, debate, musical groups, theatre, writing clubs, science clubs, math teams, Beca was a little dizzy from the prospects. They even had a gaming club.

Despite the school having “fine arts” in the title. It turned out to be dedicated to the entire class of subjects. They could declare a major and take specific classes pertaining to that major. Each major fell under one of four broad subjects: math, science, humanities, or fine arts.

For Beca, it was a no brainer that her major would be in fine arts, but she couldn’t decide between performance or, the increasingly intriguing, composition. She had never written her own music before, but she would have been lying if she said it wasn’t something she thought about—a lot.

Both programs were very similar. They would have to take generals in math, science, language, and history, but then they would get to choose electives that pertained more toward their major as well as take lessons from a private instructor in either vocal or instrumental music. The composition majors would get additional lessons in composition.

The longer Beca looked at the classes list, the more overwhelmed she became. She began to wonder how many students actually went to this school if they could offer nearly as many classes as a small college. Then she took a look at the campus map and realize she wasn’t actually that far off. The school was set up exactly like a college.

The closer the first day of school got, the more nervous Beca felt. She really didn’t know what to expect. She was used to a school with cheap linoleum and metal detectors, torn and worn textbooks, and lunches that were barely edible. If the amount of her scholarship was any indication, the lunches at Park Edge were probably five courses, and that was intimidating as hell. Her mom was convinced that a new school meant all new shoes and a new backpack. Things Beca knew they couldn’t actually afford, but her mother couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

A week later as she stood in front of a giant stone, gargoyled building, Beca was thankful her mother had insisted. Students walked around her as she stared up at intimidating figure it posed ahead of her. She felt her heart rate accelerating as she realized what exactly she got herself into. Beca shut her eyes for several moments and took a deep breath before her characteristic, apathetic smirk slid into place, and she walked into the office.

#triple treble #mitchsen #pitch perfect

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laurintranslation · 6 years ago

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a guide by a former applicant who never received a single rejection letter!

table of contents

where to begin

essays

transcripts + test scores

letters of recommendation

interviews

before we begin, please remember that while the process of applying to college may seem like it will never end, in just a few short months it will. yes, it is a stressful time full of uncertainty, and you may start to think that college isn’t even worth it, but this is the time where all the hard work you’ve been putting in for the past four years really comes to fruition. you know how hard you’ve worked to get where you are, and let your applications accurately reflect that.

where to begin

figure out where you want to apply. have a backup, somewhere you can get in for sure, at least two schools you’d be happy to attend including one you know you can for sure afford, and then of course your dream/reach school. some people do more than this (I applied to 8 in total), but this is a good starting point.

set up your common app account. the common app application usually launches on august 1, but go in before that and get your account set up so you can get a head start. the first thing I would do is fill out the application part itself, sans essays. it’s a ton of information, and it’ll be overwhelming at first, but if you can get it done, especially before you go back to school, then you won’t have to worry about it.

get organized! go through the requirements of every school you’re applying to. figure out what you need to submit and when. be aware of your deadlines from the beginning and make a checklist to mark everything off as you go.

essays

to be perfectly honest, the essays are the most time-consuming and most daunting part of this process. here’s how to tackle them:

first of all, start early. in august it may seem like you have plenty of time, but then you’ll blink, and it’ll be november. I spent a first week and a half of my christmas break trying to finish a 2000-word essay because I didn’t really start my essays until october. please save yourself that stress and aim to finish at least a first draft of all your essays by halloween.

KNOW. YOUR. SCHOOL. I cannot stress this enough. this is the one thing I can tell you that will make or break your entire application. certain schools and even programs value certain qualities in their applicants, and knowing what they’re looking for can help you cater your essay to their specific tastes. for example, NYU values the diversity of their student body and their reputation as a global institution. express why you also value diversity and how you would contribute to or take advantage of that globality. don’t go into your essay writing without some semblance of what the schools you’re applying to stand for. if you can demonstrate that you understand their missions and their vision, you can turn your borderline acceptance into a much more solid one.

on a similar note, get familiar with your school or program’s website. for one thing, it will help you get to know your school better and understand what they’re looking for (point above). you can also prove just how interested you are by naming specific programs or opportunities available that you’re interested in or even a professor you’d like to study under. do outside research too: watch youtube videos, talk to current students, and read student publications. a deeper understanding not only strengthens your essays but also helps you to know what’s available to you.

show some enthusiasm, even if an essay is for a school that’s lower on your list. admissions officers want students who want to be there. you may think you’re above gushing, but you’re not. gush, even if it’s your backup and you’re a shoo-in. apathy is not impressive to an admissions officer.

really focus on what makes you unique. I know that sounds cliche, but admissions officers read thousands of essays every application cycle, so you really need to find what can make you, and thus your essay, stand out. I promise you, you can find some unique experience to write about, even if it’s some obscure anecdote. spin it to be a thoughtful, profound experience. talk about something that has seriously impacted you or your trajectory. if you’re having a hard time writing about yourself (I know I did) ask a parent or a friend, someone who knows you well, what they think makes you different. I promise you there’s something there you can use.

work smarter. reuse material from similar prompts. reuse old graded essays. I even reused a book review I had already written for my english class. writing these essays is not your full-time job (though it may feel like it), so be smart about it where you can.

transcripts + test scores

(combining these since really at this point all you have to do is submit them)

in terms of test scores: so it’s the beginning of your senior year and you’re still not happy with your standardized test scores. take them again! you still have time! you should doublecheck to be sure, but most schools will take your test scores all the way up to the application deadline, and sometimes even after, which gives you at least two or three more opportunities to take the SAT/ACT. also, sending scores to multiple schools can get really expensive really fast (roughly $15 per school, so you do the math), so see if you’re eligible for fee waivers before you submit.

in terms of transcripts: request them early. it took my guidance counselor at my smallish public school almost 6 weeks to submit my transcripts after I requested them to be sent. the longer you wait, the more time it’s going to take them, because they’ll be doing the same for hundreds of other kids. also, double check and see if your schools require mid-year transcripts; most don’t unless you’re actually going there, but some do. make sure your guidance counselor knows you need those in by a certain date; mine almost didn’t make it in time because it took the school district almost two months to get them done. you’ve already done the hard work to make the grades on your transcript; don’t let a lack of action create an issue with it.

letters of recommendation

(this is one area that can actually really help you if you take the time and put in some effort)

teacher recs: most schools require at least one teacher recommendation. start thinking about whom you want to write your recs once school starts, and then ask those teachers as soon as possible. chances are, they’ll have other students asking as well. it takes time to write a really good recommendation, and you have to remember your teacher is doing all of this on top of their other work. so be courteous and don’t wait until three weeks before the deadline to ask.

counselor recs: pretty much every school requires a counselor recommendation. this process probably varies from high school to high school, but at least for mine, we had to print an online form and fill it out to give to them. I had no idea, however, that that was a thing until one of my friends told me. so get on your school’s website as soon as possible and see if your guidance office has a section posted about the college application process. then, as with teacher recs, make the request as soon as possible. counselor recs may take even longer (again, hundreds of students), and you don’t want to wait until the last minute to get something so simple done.

other recs: recommendations from someone associated with the college you’re applying to—a prominent alumnus (the more money they’ve donated, the better) or a well-respected staff member are your best options—can really tip the scale in favor of a borderline application. we all know that in the real world it’s not always what you know but whom you know. yeah, it’s unfair, but work that system anyways. ask your parents if they know anyone with some kind of connection to your school. if you live nearby, get in contact with a professor in your field. even if you don’t, go on facebook and find your local alumni chapter. contact someone involved and ask them to meet you for lunch. express how important that school is to you, and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to help. make the system work for you!

interviews

*a total sidenote: interviewing was actually really helpful for me personally. my interview at my former top choice made me realize what I really wanted for myself in college and totally changed the trajectory of my college experience*

let me just say, interviewing is not for everyone. some people come off better in person than they do on paper, and some people don’t. so do not feel like you need to interview at every single one of your schools if that really isn’t your thing.

again, know your school. most schools offer interviews, but it’s rarely a requirement. if your school strongly recommends you interview (ex. wake forest), you should probably do it. if not, it’s really up to you.

just putting in the effort of interviewing, especially if you have to travel to get there, shows your interest in the school and can help you in the long run. an interview is typically weighted equally with all the other aspects of your application, so unless you really bomb it, it won’t make a big difference.

prioritize. some schools offer skype or local alumni interviews to make things more accessible if you farther away, but not all do. if you have to travel for an interview, especially if it involves getting on a plane, pick your top two or three choices to focus on, especially if you think you’ll be more of a borderline applicant.

every school does interviews differently. some treat it more like a conversation, others like a Q&A. you may be interviewed by an alumnus, a current student, or an admissions director. it all varies. do your research ahead of time so you’ll know what to expect. some schools even have sample questions you can practice answering.

prepare, prepare, prepare. the more prep you do, the more confident you’ll feel, and the better you’ll do. talk through the questions you’ll be answering. have a mock interview with someone you trust, preferably who has interview experience and can give you pointers. if you know ahead of time who will be interviewing you, do a little research on that person so you know something about them and what to expect. and again, know your school and what they value in their students so you can exemplify those qualities.

random bonus tips

get in touch with the admissions director for your region. most schools have multiple admissions officers that read applications for a certain area of the country (ex. pacific northwest). most likely, they’ll be the one reading your application. so email them with your questions or issues (although, please, please don’t ever ask anything that can be found on the website, and for the love of god, don’t have your mom call or email for you). if you happen to be on campus, stop by admissions and make an effort to introduce yourself. by the time that person gets to your application, the hope is that even if they don’t recognize your name right off that bat, it at least seems familiar enough that they know you’ve made an effort and demonstrated your interest.

thank you notes! if you interview or have someone besides your teacher or counselor write a letter of rec for you, don’t forget to send a handwritten thank you note. it’s just a little adult thing to start doing that goes that extra mile. plus, if you mail a thank you note to your interviewer via the admissions office, it may get put in your file, which will reflect well on your personal professionalism.

more helpful tips & resources

if you have any questions, please feel free to send an ask. also, if you’d like more specific advice here are the schools I applied to: emerson college, univ of central florida, colgate univ, wake forest univ, college of william & mary, middlebury college, new york univ, and univ of st andrews.

essays

“those different essays that keep popping up tips” by @thisnerdsadventures

“college essay masterpost” by @studyfandom

“would you admit you?” by @genericappblrurl

“college essays” by @sootudying

“college essay edits” by @intellectys

letters of recommendation

“teacher recs” by @etudiance

interviews

“15 questions to know for college interviews” by @solustudies

“college interviews” by @cyberstudies

general

“massive college masterpost” by @heyiwantyoutostay

“college application websites masterlist” by @cyberstudies

“smol college app tips” by @365text

good luck, young ones!! you can do it!!

#masterposts #college apps #college admissions #college advice #college #uni #uni tips #uni advice #uni applications #studyblr #studyblr tips #study tips #college applications #studyspo #mine

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kalpana237 · 3 years ago

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5 MISTAKES INDIANS MAKE WHILE APPLYING FOR STUDY IN GERMANY

Every year many scholars across the globe wish to study in Germany for better career prospects. There are many reasons to choose the country for higher studies: affordable living costs, low-cost tuition fees, best education standards, experienced faculty, and many more. Here, Students find high-paying job opportunities in various fields.

Indian students make up a significant group of international students in Germany. Nearly 60,000 applications from Indian students are received by German higher education institutions. German study visa requirements for Indian students require proof of Entrance Qualification, the transcript of Grades, Proof of Language Proficiency, ID or Valid Passport Copies, and a Letter of Motivation.

In Germany, the highest-ranked universities offer numerous degree programs. At present 400,000 students are studying in Germany, making it one of the top choices for international students. Following are certain German University admission Requirements for International Students:

1. Search for a Study Program based on preferences.

2. University Admission Requirements

3. University Application Documents

4. Proof of the Financial Means

5. Health Insurance

6. Student Visa to enter Germany

7. Accommodation options

8. University Enrollment

When the students are ready to join the university, they will need to follow the visa guidelines for their stay in Germany. German study visa requirements for Indian students are:

A valid Indian passport.

Passport’s Personal page information (2).

National visa application form. Submit two completed and signed copies.

Acceptance Letter from university, language school, or preparatory college. At least Certificate of Language Proficiency in level B2.

Three visa photos with white background in 35mmx45mm dimensions

Submit the original copy of academic qualifications along with two copies

Your resume

Confirmation for a Blocked Account or a Letter of Sponsorship.

Health insurance for a German visa.

Demand Draft.

Additional contact and legal representation information Declaration form

Printout of the document checklist signed.

If you want to give your studies an extra length and want to study in Germany for a Master's degree, then you must fulfill the following requirements for a master's in Germany:

· Recognized Bachelor Degree

· Transcript of Grades

· Language Proficiency Proof(German or English)

· Motivation Letter

· Important References

· Work Experiences (Optional)

Though one tries to be extra cautious while applying for a foreign University, one can commit a few mistakes at this time. Here is the list of common mistakes that Indian Students do:

Selecting the wrong course

Applying to the wrong University

Not talking enough to the concerned people

Feeble financial planning

Not researching and planning enough

To avoid these mistakes and smoothly carry out the process, you can take the assistance of German Consultants like YES Germany. The organization’s commitment and support help you take the right steps in the right direction the right way. Their guidance proves to be of immense help during the application process. Their presence nationally and internationally helps students with an easy approach. They also have a strong network with the German Universities and their representatives. They study your Performa and carefully go through all the details and assure systematic and guaranteed work. Go ahead with your future choices and let YES Germany help you realize your dreams.

#studyingermany #mastersingermany

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bgtoukedu · 4 years ago

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UK/Wales University Application Documents

Disclaimer: I am not a professional and this guide is based on my personal experience. Please double-check any important steps and keep in mind that some things may vary depending on your university of choice. Furthermore, this post assumes that you have picked courses and universities you would like to apply for.

1. Documents

Every application process starts with documents and universities are not an exception. For a standard application in a university based in UK or Wales you will need:

(Most highly dreaded) personal statement

Reference by a teacher or a tutor

Language certificate

Transcript of your predicted grades

Some of these you’ll need to provide straight away and some will be required in the process. We will go over those down below:

1.1 Personal statement

I’m guessing that this bit terrifies a solid amount of applicants, and understandably. This is your personal essay. You’re supposed to talk about yourself, your interests and achievements. This is the part where most people start considering themselves ‘boring’ and ‘quite ordinary’. Chances are, you have a ton of things you could write about. I’ve laid out ground rules and basics below:

You have 4000 symbols allowed. That is approx. 650 words and 47 lines.

You need four paragraphs: Genuine interest, Skill and Knowledge, Language skills + Experience in multicultural environment, Motivation and backing up your choice of university.

You are required to send the same personal statement to all 5 universities so refrain from including their names anywhere in your statement.

You don’t want to go way above the limit, because the admission committees might refuse to read it. I highly doubt this will happen unless someone has had a very awful day and decides to take it out on your essay, but furthermore it indicated that you’re not able to fit your arguments into a provided limit, which may present itself as an obstacle throughout your university life.

Let’s dissect that paragraphs:

Genuine Interest

This is a short introduction of your letter and a chance for you to tell them why you’re interested in the course, how you discovered it, any touching stories related to your interest etc. I opened my personal statement with a story about a very inspiring robotics teacher that I had at the time and how he motivated me to pursue robotics further. I know people like to talk about books, quotes, siblings, family situations and circumstances that pushed them towards the chosen course. My advice for this section is to start putting things on paper. No one’s first draft looks good or tidy. Chances are by the time you have finished your statement it will look nothing like your first draft anyway. Don’t be afraid to start your first sentence with cliche phrases - they will evolve at a later stage anyway. Here, it is important that you put emotion so your passion transcends through the paper.

Skills and knowledge

This section is quite important as experience is always valued - regardless if you’re applying for university or a job opening. Most people choose to talk about their high school years and emphasise on extra curricular activities they were involved in. Any unconventional volunteering experiences and hobbies are welcome. Being a tiny bit different in this case makes you memorable - universities often tend to prefer diverse environment. If you can’t think of anything you would like to put in this section, you should probably go back to the basics and put a twist - for example how the typical, repetitive high school subjects gave you interesting insights and unlocked skills? Whatever you chose to focus on in this section, remember that it’s not about the experience itself but rather the skills and qualities you gained from it. In order words, saying that you have enhanced problem-solving skills due to a particular volunteering activity gives a better impression than simply pointing out that you were involved in volunteering.

Foreign Languages and Multicultural Environments

I wrote my statement 3 years ago and I really don’t remember why this section was highly desired from a personal statement. It is important to indicate in some way that you wouldn’t struggle in an academic setting and you have the ability to navigate university life in multicultural environment. For most people this means talking about languages they know and how they use them or mentioning experiences in foreign countries. You might want to mention any other skills you think will help you to excel at university.

What makes you think that this is the right institution for you

This paragraph is the least personal - here you want to show them that you did your research. As mentioned above you are required to send the same statement to all 5 universities, so you can’t really go into details. Don’t be afraid to mention things that you really liked, even if not all 5 universities have them - if you’re really keen on taking that YI (Year in Industry) mention that. You want to conclude that you’d be an asset to the institution and express your excitement.

A word on plagiarism: Obviously you’re trying to write your own piece, but plagiarism might ban you from the application process. Looking at statements for inspiration is absolutely fine as long as you don’t copy them word for word. The UK/Wales institutions have plagiarism software which has access to hundreds of databases and if you’ve copied some work the copied sentences are painted in (very throw up-y looking) green.

1.2 Ze Reference

If you have the ability to go up to a teacher/tutor and kindly ask for a reference and they are willing to write it for you - good for you! Teachers who write their own references are the best. But some of us don’t have that luck - either because our teachers are busy or because they don’t know how. For those of you:

Your reference is typically one, one a half page at most. Your reference resembles you personal statement just a tiny bit. So you’d want to go in the same direction. A technique that works once you’ve asked a teacher to sign your reference is to track which classes you had/have with them and what skills you acquired through them. Briefly ask them what are the first 3 words they associate with you. Feel free to spice your reference up, after all, you’re the one writing it - as long as it sounds realistic. Keep a basic paragraph structure and focus on different modules or activities led by the teacher. Finish up by saying that ‘You know that this student will be an excellent addition to the aspiring community of young academics in any institution’.

1.3 Language Certificate

Before we begin on this, there are ways in which you can avoid taking the test and paying for a language certificate. You will need to check with your university, but you maybe could:

Take the national state English exam (матура) with an average of 5.50 or above

Take the entrance exams (not all universities have them, Aberystwyth University does). By getting above 50% you might be able to escape the certificate.

They just don’t care. Good universities do care though.

The point of a certificate is to prove that you can speak English just enough to be able to keep up with academic work. There are three types that I know of. The IELTS, The TOEFL, and The Cambridge.

Ultimately, Cambridge is valid for 50 years but it covers more material and it focuses on both academic practices and general grammar. Usually people aim to get their Cambridge certificate a year before applying for universities as it relieves the stress and gives them the opportunity to retake it if failed.

TOEFL is valid for two years and it is computer based, with a duration of 4 hours. It eliminates face to face communication and the score system is 0 to 120. I have no experience with TOEFL or Cambridge examinations.

IELTS Academic is the certificate I went for, due to not being aware of the options to prove my knowledge in a different way as outlined above. The purpose of IELTS Academic isn’t to teach basic grammar but rather to imitate the format of academic assignments. It focuses on crafting complex arguments and tying together a bit of grammar and specific writing style. I’ll link up my post and a list of resources on passing an IELTS examination asap.

1.4 Transcript

This is by far the easiest bit of your application. Going to the administration office of your high school and requesting a transcript is something you can do early on in the process of the application. It usually summarises your achieved grades for the past few years and has some predicted grades based on current averages which, combined, make you overall average.

2. Submitting documents

A lot of universities allow individual submission through their webpages, however, the universal way to apply is through UCAS. This is a platform which conveniently provides the option to submit your documents to 5 different institutions in a secure way, with provided tracking option. Don’t be shy, visit the link and click around to get acquainted. :) I will be breaking down the UCAS pages in a future post, which I will make sure to link below real soon.

#Applications

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earthlover46 · 5 years ago

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i was in a cycle of fret & anxiety today. countless emails of upcoming college applications & new SAT/ACT dates flooding my inbox. i have felt inaqeduate for a while, academically. not in grades nor extracurriculars, but on standardized tests. i was always too anxious and doubtful on them, i scrutinized every answer and miscalculated my gut feelings. even in quarentine, i worry about what colleges may think of me. what will they think when they see my score? the score of an AP student, of a National Honor Society student, of an active student. what will they think of me? i feel the disappointment & almost-good enough feeling that would soon flood the admissions board. they would take one look & think “impressive but not good enough,” “she almost made it,” and by far my best to imagine, “what a shame, she had potential.” i don’t know why I base my worth on this. i am the embodiment of “school does not define your intelligence” to my friends but i seem incapable of believing it myself. i feel like i am just as intelligent as any other scholarly student. this score does not reflect me or my intelligence accuracy. colleges deserve to see me for me. i was falling into a rabbit hole of sadness & acceptance of failure, until you caught me. you seem to always do. even when I don’t reach out for you dad, you always come to save me. i seem to find you in the strangest of places. i felt the sudden urge to search “class of 2021” on tiktok to find some comedic or scholarly relief about my scores. then, i found a page that seem to lift my overwhelming burdens. a certified school counselor was listing the numerous universities that are not requiring SAT/ACT this academic school year for college admissions. it provided me such relief, i thought i could cry. i could stop fretting day & night over if i could prove myself. i can simply submit my impressive high school transcript, my extracurriculars, and my community service hours. and i owe it all to you dad. i know you saw how anxious this made me & you directed my path to relief. you always seem to creep your way into my life when i truly need you. you were never any good at standardized tests either.

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italiansabroad · 7 years ago

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Studying in the Netherlands (Chapter 1.1 - the Application Procedures)

(Italian text below) - this is a picture of Groningen shot from a friend’s balcony :)

By the time I had reached the penultimate year of my high-school, it was already pretty clear that I would study in the Netherlands. In defiance of the well-known anglophone tradition of applying to 10100 Universities to then cherry pick amongst those that were silly enough to offer a place, I committed myself to just one, the University of Groningen, and, given that a) I liked the programme and b) I was accepted early decision, I saw no reason to further struggle with Studielink (the nation-wide University application engine, aka the smaller, dumber brother of the English UCAS).

This chapter number 1 of my blog will give an overview of 1. application procedures, 2. entry requirements, 3. choosing programmes and, last but not least, 4. the academic culture in the country.

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Questa è una foto di Groningen dal terrazzo d’un’amica :)

Quando raggiunsi il penultimo anno di liceo, era già abbastanza chiaro che avrei studiato nei Paesi Bassi. Contro la tradizione anglofona che consiste nel fare richiesta a milioni di University per poi seleziorne una tra quelle che sono state così sciocche da offrire un posto, mi sono dedicato ad una soltanto, l’università di Groningen, e, siccome a) mi piaceva il programma e b) fai accettato presto, non vidi alcuna ragione per continuare a fare fatica con studilink (il motore di richieste universitarie nazionale, aka il fratello piccolo e scemo dello UCAS inglese). Questo capitolo numero 1 del mio blog (interamente in inglese!) darà un impressione del 1. processo di applicazione, 2. requisiti d’ingresso, 3. come scegliere un programma e, ultimo ma non meno importante, 4. la cultura accademica nel paese.

Today: Applications !

There are two very important things Italians must know about applying for University abroad: 1) you must start early. 2) you must be ready to do things (like a CV) that you have probably never done before.

As far as deadlines are concerned, while competition isn’t as fierce as it might be somewhere in the UK, and while the deadlines here might not fall as early as in other places, you definitely cannot wait until the last moment to apply. Ulike Italy, where you can enroll in a Law programme until the second month after the start of the actual degree (madness!) - forget these jokes, here you need to know what you want in life at the very least 6/7 months before the start of the degree, worst case scenario. Deadlines, however, vary per programme. For undergraduate studies, they usually fall around may, by which time you must have submitted references, English language results, letter of motivation, CV, a proof of graduation (I still get seizures if I think about it), transcripts of grades (in English) and for specific programmes additional evidence (like a GMAT for Economics). Regarding the preparation of documents you have never dealt with before, it’s really needless to be concerned: while the letter of motivation is highly course-specific, the CV just needs to highlight your academic achievements or all of those things which you might not otherwise include in the letter of motivation. Good luck, on the other hand, with the letters of reference! My English language teacher was so proud that at least 1 of her students would study abroad that she not only refused to write me a letter of reference (busy woman) but also later refused to sign it, for a comma was missing (rigorous, principled woman), forcing me to rewrite and print the whole damn thing. Similarly, the secretariat of my school is in the habit of issuing the actual signed diplomas some 3 or 4 years after students graduate. Since in Italian Universities you needn’t exhibit proof of high school graduation until you actually finish your degree (this is beyond me), and since I was just one weirdo stubbornly asking them a piece of paper that proved my graduation, I remember spending several days in the middle of August, in my high school, sobbing for an A4 that stated proof of graduation -otherwise, I said, I simply won’t be accepted in my programme! It took the school chief and some genuine Italian shouting to finally produce one, which I then had to translate: luck smiled at me, and my English teacher was around that day, and agreed to certify the translation, under the condition that I would translate it. So I hid in a room, translated it, and she then brought the document to the secretary for the stamp of the school - it was around the beginning of August, and some days later I would have flown to the Netherlands to start my degree.

The bottom-line of all of this is: the process per se is *simple*, in every other country, students take a week or two to get together all the documents and apply. In Italy, chances are, it might take you some months - so the responsibility is on you to get ahead of the system and start early. Your Italian professors / school administrators are not always just voluntarily getting in the way of you and your future: most of the times, they simply have no idea about what you need, how to help you get it, and are very unfamiliar with the procedures. So make it clear as soon as you can and demand what you need.

You can think of Studielink as a sort of blog: you get a username and a password and you log in to add documents that you need to apply for a programme as you get them sorted out. when all is done - boom, just submit the application and you will hear back within few months, when an email will hopefully inform you that you will go Dutch next year!

#italiansabroad #studyingabroad #chapter1 #application procedure #italianstudents #University #italian #italy #dutch #netherlands #dutch school #study #studying

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i-am-always-lost · 8 years ago

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Day 23 | Ishikawa-San

I wanted to blog about this as well as my Your Name encounter because I felt the strong need to get this story out to the small amount of people who read my blog. Maybe you will read this post today and tell your friends and family around you about his story. After all, that is what Ishikawa san wants.

Today in media class, our lecturer brought in a guest speaker- a man who was wrongly accused/ convicted of murdering and raping a high school girl 54 years ago who also escaped death sentence and is awaiting retrial. It was the discrimination against the burakku-min that contributed to this outcome.

Transcript and summary of what I heard today in class:

Ishikawa san self admitted that he was a socially ignorant man who locked up for 23 years due to the lack of knowledge in the situation he was in - surrendering to a case that he did not commit on his innocent brother’s behalf as his brother was the breadwinner of the family. His brother was wrongly accused for a crime he did not commit. Ishikawa san was sentenced to death but escaped death.

Ishikawa san’s background:

He was brought up in a poor family. Had 10 brothers and sisters, none of them had higher education, and he envies at our privilege looking at us university students. As a result, they never had enough food for the family, and he grew up eating chicken feet. When he was in fifth grade, Ishikawa san sent to work in some business and was provided accommodation, he worked there till he was 18. At 18, he returned illiterate due to the lack of opportunity for education. After that, he went to employment agency and got a job, worked for four years. Got a girlfriend after that, and frequently worked overtime. His boss saw him as honest and earnest, and he was appointed leader of the shop eventually. Things seem to be going well at this point.

However, when you are in an responsible position, reports and paperwork are often required. Due to this illiteracy, his friend had to always help him. After some time, that was revealed and he was fired. After that, got a construction job where he didn't have to read or write. 6 months later, he was made into a rapist and murderer of the high school girl.

Prison days:

In prison, he met this ward officer who had a strong sense of justice and he learned how to read and write there for 8 years. He learned from the officers in the afternoon once he finds out that he does not get death penalty in the morning. Death penalties run from 9-12AM daily and if you didnt get to the chopping board, you get to survive the day. He lived like this for decades. Ishikawa san got his word out by writing letters to his supporters all over the nation to pass information on to the media. The media was more accepting towards him when they found evidence to prove Ishikawa san innocent and started changing their perspective away from the discrimination of burrakumin people as well.

Post prison days:

5 years ago went to UN Geneva and appealed the law of police restraining people for many days without being able to see their lawyers (when it should only be hours). The people in UN were surprised to find out that in Japan even if a suspect is not proven guilty, they would have to be locked up for 32 years (for Ishikawa san’s case), everyone at UN was surprised. He appealed them to talk to jap gov, and they did directly negotiate with Japanese government.

Thanks to science, tech and medicine, innocence proven by evidence. By the end of this year, he is expecting retrial is going to be granted. After his guilt is proven innocent, he would like to go to a night school and get education. He would also like to spend rest of his life studying and working to eliminate discrimination. If he live 32 years from now, he will be over 100, so he wants to be healthy in order to live past a 100. He is 78 years old now, and the way he sees it is if he lives past a 100, the amount of time that he was discriminated against would eliminate discrimination faced by his children and grandchildren.

Because of the injustive of Japanese law that made an innocent man locked up, there were angry voices reasoning with him and helping him fight the system. Would like to pay back the people that help, and he would want us(uni students who were his audience) to fight discrimination.

Sachiko ishikawa san (wife) gave a speech as well, following Ishikawa san’s speech.

She was honored that we were interested in her husband’s story and she would like us to take back the story to our respective countries and tell at least one person and spread the word . Her husband was sentenced to death only by six months trial. It has been 54 years since the case. Of the 54 years, locked up for 32 years and wrongly accused.

Surrounding this case, she highlighted two points:

discrimination against burakku community and

injustice

Discrimination against the Burraku community

Burakku discrimination is like the Indian class system. Class doesn't exist anymore in their society, but still has influence over job hunting and marriage based on family background. When this case was investigated, they believed criminal was from the burakku community cos that's what the media reported. Mainstream media believed that criminals were all born in burakku. However, this was 54 years ago. But now, people in the Burraku community are standing up and raising voices, to try to eradicate and work against discrimination in Burraku. They would have to continue this activism as there is still hate speech against minority community.

Her story:

Sachiko san was also born in burakku community (western Japan). Since young, her parents and people around her told her that she should hide the fact she was born in burakku. There wasnt much of a difference on the surface having the same skin color and all, so even if she hid her identity no one will know. Since she was hiding, she was able to get jobs - but she still faced discrimination while finding marriage.

She didn't have any means to protest against , and that's where she learned about ichikawa san's case. Learned that he was learning how to read and write through prisons, but his messages still got out of the prison and spread throughout Japan His message at that time was you can't possibly run away from discrimination forever, you have to stand up and face it one day. Because of his words, she learnt that she should not hide her true identity anymore and found a new way of living. That's when she joined the movement against the buraaku discrimination and the fight against the injustice faced by Ishikawa san.

There are still lots of kids in burakku community, so they will go visit them and tell them to get education as he did not want them to be in his position if anything similar happened to them. Another strong feeling he had was never to repeat admitting to wrong accusations.

It's very difficult to the wrongly accused to appeal to the justice system in Japan, even after 54 years they are still hiding evidence. Ichikawa san wants to tell justice ministry to have a fair trial and give away all the single evidences. They still go to Tokyo high court and have protest once in a while by demanding the prosecutor to give away evidence and have fair trial. They plan to do the same at January 26 and feb 2nd Sachiko san ended her speech by thanking us for having them there and she said that

No one should be locked up without any reason in any country

Q & A

Did you lose hope?

I never gave up hope, as soon as he learned he was wrongly accused and was determined to stand up and tell his story

Faith in the criminal justice system?

Judges in court houses only listen to prosecutors. Feel that judges don't listen to people's voices too often

Parents’ occupations?

Father hired by some other farmers, weed the farms

How did you adjust in society after being in the prison for 34 years?

Really surprised! When he went in, only pebbled roads, after he coming out surprised to see the development

Why are police still withholding evidence?

Yes, think it's true they have to save face cos it will be proven that he is not guilty

Did he ever get to meet the murdered girls family

Condition for his probation not to meet family of the deceased

Did any media get his story when he was locked up?

Earlier on, media were only writing negative things about him and burakku (first 10 years) Now they are writing positive things Saitama newspaper and Tokyo shimbun were amongst the first to report

During his prison days, were there any similar cases?

Yes, 4 people who were locked up life imprisonment, they were eventually let go though

How was the process of learning to read and write in prison conducted?

Yes, it was strict but at that time he didn't know. Was awaiting death sentence in mornings (9-12) - when they didn't come to get him, teach him how to write the person who taught him how to write and read saved his life If he was caught he would be fired

Why did he had to admit his crime?

have to say bc police made him say it "It must be your older brother," but his brother was bread winner, so he admitted

How do they look at him in the society?

Most people already knew he was innocent, so even he went back to his village, people were supportive

Any other evidence aside from the confession?

Most surprising thing: fountain pen was supposed to belong to the victim but it ended up in his house With the science these days, proved that the fountain pen did not belong to the victim, only found out last year!

Any evidence AGAINST him?

wrist watch that was handed to him BY the police

How they pay for legal proceedings?

Retrial- legal team of 30 lawyers mostly working as volunteers, national network of burakku community

Do you think the girl's family knows the story?

he doesn't know

What's his secret at looking good at 78?

10 years after he came out, running a few kms/minute 20,000 steps every day now!!

Pensions from the government?

How did the husband and wife meet?

Year after he came out, they met at a rally, started talking and hit it off

Has his brother told him not to take the blame

brother said he shouldn't do that, but they weren't able to meet for a long time, only after he visit him and had death sentence only his brother was allowed to visit.

Only interacted with other immates when he go out to field to do physical exercise.

END

After the class, I took photos with his wife and asked details for the court hearings that were going to be held a few days after this. Unfortunately I didnt go -- and I felt really sorry for not going. But here I am writing this to my limited audience, hoping that this can be spread to the people reading this. After all, it is a social responsibility.

#burrakumin #discrimination in japan

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mathematicianadda · 5 years ago

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The mathematicians’ view of Galileo

What did 17th-century mathematicians such as Newton and Huygens think of Galileo? Not very highly, it turns out. I summarise my case against Galileo using their perspectives and a mathematical lens more generally.

Transcript

I’m going to conclude my case against Galileo with this final episode on this subject. Here’s a little anecdote I found that can be used to frame the overall point that I have made. Galileo was sentenced by the church in 1633. And to go along with this there was a bit of a crackdown on Galileo sympathisers. Somebody in Florence was going to publish a book that made reference to the “most distinguished Galileo.” But the Inquisition intervened and demanded that this phrase should be changed. Instead of “most distinguished Galileo,” the phrase should be changed to: “Galileo, man of noted name.” I am not generally on the side of the Inquisition, but I have come to the conclusion that this particular decree is sound. Instead of “Galileo, father of modern science,” we would be better off saying “Galileo, man of noted name.”

That’s what I have argued before. Today I will offer a bit of a roundup with some new perspectives on these issues. And that will be the end of my 18-episode rant against Galileo.

My main claim has been that Galileo was a poor mathematician. Historians are still blind to this fact. People still speak of “Galileo’s mathematical genius.” That persistent myth must certainly die. John Heilbron, the UC Berkeley historian of science, published an authoritative biography of Galileo in 2010. There Galileo is called “the greatest mathematician in Italy, and perhaps the world” in his time.

Galileo was no such thing. In reality, tell-tale signs of mathematical mediocrity permeate all his works. Many pages of Galileo would not be out of place somewhere in the middle of the piles of slipshod student homework that some of us grade for a living.

A number of Galileo’s numerous mathematical errors even concern some of his core achievements. I have discussed all of his notable scientific contributions and found much to object in every single case. For instance, Galileo uses “his” law of fall erroneously on a number of occasions: when he tries to explain the orbital speeds of the planets, when he tries to calculate how long it would take for the moon to fall to the earth, when erroneous claims to have proved that centrifugal whirling could never throw objects off the earth regardless of speed, and when he erroneously describes the path of a falling object in a reference frame not rotating with the earth. Galileo is praised for having discovered the law of fall, but the fact is that he derived as many false conclusions from it as correct ones.

He also not infrequently presents arguments that are demonstrably inconsistent with his core beliefs, such as his tidal theory contradicting his own principle of relativity, his Joshua argument contradicting his own principle of inertia, and his objection to the geocentric explanation of sunspots being inconsistent with his own heliocentrism.

I should say that, of course, other people made mistakes too. It was the early days of science after all. Suppose I concede that everyone has an equal comedy of errors to their name. Even so, this would still prove my point that Galileo was a dime a dozen scientist and not at all a singular “father of modern science.” But I do not in fact need to concede this much. Galileo’s sum of errors are not just par for the course. They are exceptionally poor, and in matters of mathematics especially they are astonishing.

We have seen time and time again that virtually all of “Galileo’s” achievements were either anticipated or at least made independently by others. To name just the most striking case:

“Let us hypothetically assume that a scholar contemporary to Galileo pursued experiments with falling bodies and discovered the law of fall as well as the parabolic shape of the projectile trajectory, that he found the law of the inclined plane, directed the newly invented telescope to the heavens and discovered the mountains on the moon, observed the moons of the planet Jupiter and the sunspots, that he calculated the orbits of heavenly bodies using methods and data of Kepler with whom he corresponded, and that he composed extensive notes dealing with all these issues. In short, let us assume that this man made essentially the same discoveries as Galileo and did his research in precisely the same way with only one qualification: he never in his life published a single line of it. As a matter of fact, the above description refers to a real person, Thomas Harriot.”

Actually these discoveries are not identical with those of Galileo but rather go beyond them, because Galileo never “calculated the orbits of heavenly bodies using methods and data of Kepler,” as Harriot did, who was a better mathematician.

So the history of science would have been much the same without Galileo, because people like Harriot and others were doing all of that stuff independently anyway.

It’s instructive to compare Galileo to Kepler in these kinds of terms. We can find independent contemporary discoveries for almost everything Galileo did, but not so for Kepler’s achievements, even though many of them are still central in modern science. Harriot was a “second Galileo” and you could go on to a third or a fourth stand-in without much loss. It would be much harder to find a “second Kepler.”

In my view it is not hard to see why: Kepler was an excellent mathematician who worked on difficult things, while Galileo didn’t know much mathematics and therefore focussed on much easier tasks. The standard story has it that Galileo’s insights were more “conceptual,” yet at least as deep as technical mathematics. On this account it is imagined that basic conceptions of science that we consider commonsensical today were once far from obvious: we greatly underestimate the magnitude of the conceptual breakthroughs required for these developments because we are biased our modern education and anachronistic perspective.

But if this is true, how come that Galileo’s ideas—for all their alleged “conceptual” avant-gardism—spontaneously sprung up like mushrooms all over Europe? And how come all of those ideas can easily be explained to any high school student today, if they are supposedly so profound and advanced? The same cannot be said for Kepler’s ideas. They were neither simultaneously developed by dozens of scientists, nor can they be taught to a modern student without years of specialised training. Perhaps this contrast between Galileo and Kepler says something about what genuine depth in the mathematical sciences looks like.

In my opinion, mathematicians at the time realised this perfectly well. I have already spoken before about the very harsh words that Descartes and sometimes Kepler had for Galileo. “He is eloquent to refute Aristotle but that is not hard,” as Descartes said. There are a number of quotes like that from mathematicians. And of course they spotted numerous mathematical blunders in Galileo, which they condemned.

Let’s look at what some other competent mathematicians thought of Galileo.

Christiaan Huygens was perhaps the greatest physicist and mathematician of the generation between Galileo and Newton. He is often portrayed as continuing the scientific program of Galileo. Huygens’s collected works is 22 thick volumes. Go ahead and try to find any strong praise of Galileo in there, let alone anything remotely like calling him a “father of science.” Somehow Huygens never got around to saying any such thing, in these tens of thousands of pages on physics and mathematics and astronomy that we wrote. Hmm, what a mystery.

The closest Huygens ever gets to mentioning Galileo favourably is in the context of a critique of Cartesianism. In the late 17th century, the teachings of Descartes had attracted a strong following. In the eyes of many mathematicians, the way Cartesianism had become an entrenched belief system was uncomfortably similar to how Aristotelianism had been an all too dominant dogma a century before. Huygens makes this parallel explicit:

“Descartes had a great desire to be regarded as the author of a new philosophy [and] it appears that he wished to have it taught in the academies in place of Aristotle. [Descartes] should have proposed his system of physics as an essay on what can be said with probability. That would have been admirable. But in wishing to be thought to have found the truth, he has done something which is a great detriment to the progress of philosophy. For those who believe him and who have become his disciples imagine themselves to possess an understanding of the causes of everything that it is possible to know; in this way, they often lose time in supporting the teaching of their master and not studying enough to fathom the true reasons of this great number of phenomena of which Descartes has only spread idle fancies.”

It is in direct contrast with this that Huygens slips in a few kind words for Galileo: “[Galileo] had neither the audacity nor the vanity to wish to be the head of a sect. He was modest and loved the truth too much.” Historians have observed that Huygens in all likelihood quite consciously intended this passage to apply to himself as much as to Galileo. Perhaps this is why Huygens is surely too generous in praising Galileo’s alleged “modesty.” Galileo was anything but modest, of course.

In any case, it is very interesting to see what Huygens says about Galileo’s actual science in this passage. Let us read it, and keep in mind that this is as close as Huygens ever gets to praising Galileo, and that the context of the passage—a scathing condemnation of Cartesianism—gives Huygens a notable incentive to put Galileo’s scientific achievements in the most positive terms for the sake of contrast.

In light of this, Huygens’s ostensible praise for Galileo is most remarkable, I think, for how qualified and restrained it is. Huygens’s praise begins like this:

“Galileo had, in spirit and awareness of mathematics, all that is needed to make progress in physics …”

Interesting phrasing. Huygens seems to be saying: Galileo said all the right things about about mathematics and scientific method, but he didn’t actually carry through on it. Given Galileo’s rhetoric, he ought to have been able to do it, but be didn’t.

Interestingly, Huygens does not say that Galileo had great mathematical ability or demonstrable achievements, only that he was “aware” that mathematics is necessary for physics. In this respect, Galileo “had all that is needed to make progress in physics,” Huygens says. Why not simply say that Galileo *made* great progress in physics, instead of this convoluted and qualified “he had what was needed to do so”? So really Huygens’s ostensible praise for Galileo is actually quite backhanded. At least that’s how it seems to me.

Let’s continue reading because the Huygens quote goes on. Here is the rest of the sentence:

“… and one has to admit that he was the first to make very beautiful discoveries concerning the nature of motion …”

Galileo wasn’t the first, as we now know. Huygens didn’t know about the unpublished work of Harriot etc., so he is overly generous in that regard. But never mind that. Huygens’s formulation is still very restrained in an interesting way: did you notice that strange phrase “one has to admit”? “One has to admit” that Galileo was the first to make certain discoveries. Who speaks of their greatest hero in such terms? One “has to admit” that he made some discoveries? That seems more like the kind of phrasing you use to describe the work of someone who is overrated, not someone you esteem as the founder of science.

Huygens wrote in French. The phrase is “il faut avouer.” I’m not a linguist but I think the translation I gave is the most natural one. “Il faut avouer”: “one has to admit”; it suggests a reluctance to concede the point. I’m not sure if it’s possible to argue that taken in context it could also be construed as “even a Cartesian would have to admit” or something like that. If you’re an expert of 17th-century French I would like to hear your opinion about this.

Let’s see, the Huygens quote continues even further and here’s how it concludes. After this remark about Galileo having made discoveries concerning motion, Huygens adds:

“ … although he left very considerable things to be done.”

Well, yes. That’s my point exactly. What is most striking and remarkable about the work of Galileo is not the few discoveries he “admittedly” made, but how very little he actually accomplished despite all his posturing about mathematics and scientific method. It seems to me that Huygens and I agree on this. Even in his most pro-Galilean sentence in all his works, Huygens is undermining Galileo as much as he is praising him.

What about Isaac Newton? What did he think of Galileo?

Newton famously said that “if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Many have erroneously assumed that Galileo was one of these “giants.” One scholar even proposes to explain that “when Newton credits Galileo with being one of the giants on whose shoulders he stood, he means …” blah blah blah. We do not need to listen to what this philosopher thinks Newton meant, because the first part of the sentence is false already. The assumption that Galileo was one of the scientific giants in question has no basis in fact.

The closest Newton gets to praising Galileo is in the Principia, his most important work. After introducing his laws of motion, Newton adds some notes on their history.

“The principles I have set forth are accepted by mathematicians and confirmed by experiments of many kinds. By means of the first two laws and the first two corollaries Galileo found that the descent of heavy bodies is in the squared ratio of the time and that the motion of projectiles occurs in a parabola.”

The laws and corollaries in question are: the law of inertia, which Galileo did not know, as we have seen; then Newton’s second law, the force law F=ma, which Galileo also did not know; and the composition of forces and motions, which was established in antiquity.

Note that Newton doesn’t say that Galileo was the discoverer of these laws. All Newton says is that Galileo used these laws to find the path of projectiles. Indeed, as one historian has pointed out, “Newton’s Latin contains some ambiguity” for it “can have two very different meanings: that the two laws were completely accepted by Galileo before he found that projectiles follow a parabolic path, or that these two laws were already generally accepted by scientists at the time that Galileo made his discovery of the parabolic path.”

Either way, Newton is wrong. Of course, once you are looking at the world though Newtonian mechanics it is natural to think that surely Galileo must have had these laws, because that is so obviously the right way to think about parabolic motion. Therefore, as Dijksterhuis says, “[according to] the myth in which he appears as the founder of classical dynamics, [Galileo] must surely have known the proportionality of force and acceleration. But to those who have become acquainted with Galileo through his own works, not at second hand, there can be no doubt that he never possessed this insight.”

Quite so, and indeed Newton was not acquainted with Galileo’s work directly. As I.B. Cohen says, “Newton almost certainly did not read [Galileo’s] Discorsi until some considerable time after he had published the Principia,” if ever. On the other hand “early in his scientific career, [Newton] had read [Galileo’s] Dialogo”—but that is of course his work on Copernicanism, not his work on mechanics and the laws of motion, which is what Newton is referencing in the Principia.

“Hence Newton (rather too generously, for once!) allowed to Galileo the discovery of the first two laws of motion.” And the reason for Newton’s excessive charity is not hard to divine. To quote I.B. Cohen again, Newton’s Principia is marked by an obvious and vehement “anti-Cartesian bias.” “Because of his strongly anti-Cartesian position, Newton might have preferred to think of Galileo rather than Descartes as the originator of the First Law.” Whereas, “in point of fact, the Prima Lex [that is, the law of inertia] of Newton’s Principia was derived directly from the Prima Lex of Descartes’s Principia”—that is, the correct law of inertia. Descartes stated the correct law of inertia with crystal clarity in this published key work, while Galileo never stated it anywhere, nor believed it.

Clearly, then, Newton’s attribution of these laws to Galileo means next to nothing. Galileo demonstrably did not know these laws; Newton hadn’t read Galileo anyway; and Newton had an obvious bias and incentive to overstate Galileo’s importance in order to belittle the influence of Descartes which he did not want to admit.

Newton’s words aren’t high praise in any case. In fact, that becomes ever clearer if we read on in Newton’s text. For when Newton continues his historical discussion he says on the very same page:

“Sir Christopher Wren, Dr. John Wallis, and Mr. Christiaan Huygens, easily the foremost geometers of the previous generation, independently found the rules of the collisions and reflections of hard bodies.”

So evidently Newton was in the mood when writing this to point out who “the foremost geometers” of the past were. Yet on the very same page he had no such words for Galileo. A telling omission. Altogether there is no evidence that Newton regarded Galileo particularly highly, let alone considered him anywhere near a “father of modern science.”

The time has come to wrap up my Galileo story. Perhaps I can sum it up like this.

Say you go to the library and find the shelves with philosophical texts ordered chronologically. You pick the books up one by one and see what they have to say about science. Century after century you find the same thing. Aristotle, Aristotle, Aristotle. Then commentaries on Aristotle. Then commentaries on commentaries on Aristotle. Then people who ostensibly try to think more independently, yet cling desperately to Aristotelian concepts and terminology as if their life depended on it, even when they try to challenge isolated claims of Aristotelian dogma. Then, suddenly: Galileo. What a breath of fresh air this is. The Aristotelian shackles are emphatically discarded, and all the nowadays familiar principles of modern science are articulated in lucid and entertaining prose. At once after him everyone is a scientist. The Aristotelianism that ran rampant for centuries had suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. How can one not admire this singular father of the scientific worldview, this pivotal hero who divides the entire history of thought into two disjoint worlds separated by such an abyss?

Alas, you made one mistake. You went to the philosophy shelves. You should have gone to subbasement 3, where the mathematics books are kept. This may not have been an obvious choice. Perhaps you were educated in the humanities and therefore naturally drawn to the sprawling and well-attended shelves in your part of the library. The out-of-the-way mathematics section never caught anyone’s eye. Isn’t it just for nerds in training who need to double-check their formulas? Apparently there are a few books there from Greek times, but blink and you miss them between thick modern textbooks on algebraic topology and partial differential equations. And if you do open one of those old math books, it’s full of technical diagrams and equations anyway. Who would ever think to look there for man’s view of the world? Surely that’s what philosophy is for?

In reality, we sent Galileo to your shelves because he wasn’t good enough for ours. Galileo wasn’t the first to do anything except explain what mathematicians had always known in such basic terms that even philosophers could understand. Galileo once wrote to a fellow philosopher:

“If philosophy is that which is contained in Aristotle’s books, you would be the best philosopher in the world. But the book of [natural] philosophy [or science] is that which is perpetually open to our eyes. But being written in characters different from those of our alphabet, it cannot be read by everyone; the characters of this book are triangles, squares, circles, spheres, cones, pyramids and other mathematical figures, the most suited for this sort of reading.”

That is Galileo’s advice to the philosophers of his day. I say much the same thing to modern scholars. If the history of science is that which is contained in philosophical books, you would be the best historians in the world. But the real truth is perpetually open to our eyes, if only we take the trouble to read mathematics.

from Intellectual Mathematics from Blogger https://ift.tt/36Kuduj

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ixvyupdates · 6 years ago

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I’m a DACA Recipient and a First-Generation College Graduate and I’m Nervous About What’s Next

It’s a day I’ll never forget: September 5, 2017, the first day of my senior year at NYU. It was the day the Trump administration announced that they planned to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). What was supposed to be a joyous ride to the end of my undergraduate career was suddenly riddled with unnecessary stress and uncertainty about my future in this country.

Although the courts have reinstated DACA for now, the damage and anxiety the administration caused with its attempt to shut down the program cannot be undone. Furthermore, amidst the horrific immigration battleground at the border for the past few months lies the tenuous nature of DACA and how vulnerable its recipients are to the whims of the current administration.

This is my sixth year as a DACA grantee. My experiences with DACA have been fraught even before the current administration’s attempts to end the program.

DACA was created in June 2012 as an executive order from the Obama administration. DACA defers removal action, or deportation, for two years to undocumented immigrants who must meet a handful of strict requirements.

If approved, DACA recipients get a temporary employment authorization, as well as a social security number, and become eligible to obtain a driver’s license in their state. DACA does not provide a path to citizenship, nor is it a form of amnesty—it simply delays deportation for a two-year period. Additionally, despite the benefits, DACA does not provide a lawful status to its recipients, meaning they are still in a sense undocumented.

Proving I’m ‘Worthy’

A few days after I turned 15, my parents and I met with an immigration lawyer. To ensure that my case was as strong as possible, the lawyer told my parents and me that we had to find proof of identification, proof that I had come to the U.S. before my 16th birthday, proof of my (lack of) immigration status, proof of having continuously lived in the U.S. since June 15, 2007, and proof of my status as a student.

We went home and immediately began poring through every document that could prove I was “worthy” of receiving DACA status. The memories of looking for and making copies of countless documents for my application are vivid: Kindergarten report cards, my third-grade science fair certificate, a small piece of paper that marked my arrival to the United States in 2001, high school transcripts, my Salvadoran passport, and even a letter from my church stating we attended regularly. All were scanned, copied, and placed inside a large manila envelope to be sent along with my DACA application. Though this collection of documents would primarily be used to prove that I had been in the country since 2001, it also felt like a litmus test for good moral character.

Students and Teachers Sound the Alarm on the End of DACA

https://educationpost.org/students-and-teachers-sound-the-alarm-on-the-end-of-daca/embed/#?secret=NShOgRcOl6

As the years passed, I increasingly felt as though DACA served as a way to perpetuate the myth between the “good” immigrant and the “bad” immigrant, creating a hierarchy. The good immigrant (the DACA grantee) is an educated law-abiding citizen, who contributes to the nation’s economy, and is even willing to put their life on the line by serving in the armed forces. The bad immigrant, especially as depicted by this administration lately, is nothing but an uneducated criminal.

While this false dichotomy has become even more muddled during this administration, it is crucial to recognize that DACA plays a role in creating that divide through requirements that ignore the various contexts in which immigrant children and DACA grantees are treated by society. I believe it was pure luck that my parents were able to settle down in a neighborhood where I was able to find mentors in my teachers and feel valued as a student and a peer. Had they chosen differently, I may not be a DACA grantee or a first-generation college graduate.

DACA Opened Doors But Also Kept Some Shut

DACA allowed me to get a job at my hometown’s ice cream store to help support myself financially throughout high school and most of college. DACA allowed me to get my New York state driver’s license, making transportation easier for me. DACA opened up a host of opportunities that were previously unavailable to me. Yet other doors remained shut.

The first door-slam came when I had to fill out my FAFSA in order to receive financial aid. I was confused when I did not see any Pell Grants or state and federal aid on my student profile for my top two school choices. That’s when I learned DACA recipients do not qualify for federal aid or state aid in the state of New York. Though I was able to get a school scholarship, and my parents and I found other ways to pay for my education, the amount of money that I could’ve received from state and federal aid would’ve made a huge difference, as I am sure is the case for many DACA grantees across the nation.

Another source of anxiety around DACA has been the cost to apply and then renew every two years: $495—$85 for biometrics and $410 for work authorization document application/renewal. Regardless of how well you budget, the fees of applying for or renewing every two years can have a great effect on DACA grantees of low-income backgrounds or families that have more than one child who qualifies.

Getting together enough money to initially apply is difficult enough, and one bad financial year, or the need to pay for other costs such as tuition or housing, could cause unnecessary financial strain. The high costs became more problematic last fall when DACA grantees scrambled to pull together the funds to renew before the administration’s October 5 deadline. United We Dream even set up a DACA Renewal Fund in order to help grantees fund their urgent renewals.

I can’t pretend to speak for the hundreds of thousands of DACA grantees in the U.S. who are entering higher education and the workforce. However, the events these past few months have proved that it is vital that the country’s leaders provide a more stable future for all undocumented immigrants, so they can become fully engaged and active citizens in a country they yearn to be a part of. After all, I am only in the United States because of the American dream. This is my home. But for how long? Now that I have my bachelor’s degree, my professional career should be just beginning.

Earlier this month, I was able to renew my DACA for the third time, but the future still remains unclear beyond the next two years. Although I am nervous about what will happen next, especially in the wake of family separations at the border, I still remain hopeful that one day Congress will pass a clean DREAM Act.

Photo by @chefaniesteng, Twenty20-licensed.

I’m a DACA Recipient and a First-Generation College Graduate and I’m Nervous About What’s Next syndicated from https://sapsnkraguide.wordpress.com

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fancycollectionfury-blog1 · 6 years ago

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Insurance for 16-20 year old Male?

"Insurance for 16-20 year old Male?

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