zelauto

Count my Blessings

More than anything else, guess I still owe God a lot of thanks for the wonderful things he has given to me.

It's been 2 tumultuous weeks since I first bid a sad farewell to Cambridge. Kind of embarrassing when I was like telling people around me where I was going for university. Whether or not they wax lyrical at the sound of Cambridge, it sure beats getting asked what kind of fruit I'm going to (for those of you whose eyes missed the last post, I'm now going to Carnegie Mellon, which can't even boast succulent cuisine - it's voted the top 10 colleges with the least edible food by the Princeton Review!)



At least the Carnegie Mellon University Singapore Students' Association did mention that we'll be seeing more Starbucks and B&Js than we'll see in our sunny island (or at least more than I get to see), courtesy of a compulsory dining plan. Still the rest of the food is supposed to be rather mediocre *will have a pleasant surprise if it's not* Ah well, it's a sacrifice after all - I'm sure the other 2 universities, Cambridge and Cornell, which I wanted to go to would be able to boast far better food. Then again I'm going to Carnegie Mellon for its Electronic and Computer Engineering Course - it's like the second best after MIT, being tied with Stanford (yes, the ranking says computer engineering, but then, Carnegie Mellon only offers Electrical and Computer Engineering) - the link doesn't require a password unlike the previous case.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/enps05_brief.php

So thanks be to God then, who guided me since March 27th last year in my hunt for the right college. Coming fresh out of a finallist interview for the Stanford Club of Singapore Book Prize, I was so high on cloud 9. For almost 9 months afterwards, STANFORD! and Die Luft Fehreit Weit (As the Wind of Freedom Blows) became my rallying cry as I marched through the SATs and A levels. The first disappointment came on December 15th when I was booted OUT of Stanford with a nice terse email.

And then came the good news from Clare College in January that I got into Cambridge. So happily thinking that I would be in Cambridge, I set about applying to A*STAR brandishing my Cambridge letter. So happily I got through both rounds 1 and 2. And then came the process of telling everyone that I got into Cambridge, dreaming of punting down the River Cam (and dunking someone special inside!) and exploring Europe.

BUT as previously mentioned, the carpet got pulled away too soon. Had to junk that dream. Nevertheless, as the figments of my imaginations of Cambridge fell away, Carnegie Mellon came back to the fore. Carnegie Mellon, the 'nemesis' of my former dream school (It gained a one up when its robotic-controlled SUV "The Boss" edged out Stanford's "Junior" during a DARPA competition with $2 million as prize money). Oh how interesting life has become. Thanks be to God once again for leading and guiding me through this tumultous path.

posted by Zhong Liang @ 2:14 PM