(no subject)

I hate the thought of writing a letter of intent.


*is* there for me any *other* reason to go to Finland than to... be there?



*sigh*



Official transcripts will also be a killer if not interpreted correctly.

Thoughts on Application Letters (excerpt from a letter)

I looked at the application forms I will need to fill out for that... Jyväskylä thing. They are due before the end of February, and I will need to write a letter of intent. I will also need to note any relevant volunteer or work experience and stuff (remember this is a program in "human sciences" so it'd be social science and intercultural studies-type stuff).

I feel like I'm competing against the world again. Only time and my efforts will tell if I've made the same mistake in thinking that I know I will make it as I did the Nightwish-project. Perhaps, though, since this is a much more formal application process, things will be different. And more than one will be accepted.

I shall write of my intercultural experience of living in International House this year. I shall write that even though it may not seem that I currently study fields to which the program will appear relevant, I plan to pursue a degree in education. I shall write that I want to learn how to create and share the intercultural experience such as that I have witnessed at I-House with the people around me outside of I-House. And that there would be no other place in the world I would rather go to learn these things because it will complete what makes me living proof of my belief in cultural identity as not limited to bloodline or places one has been. It is the right-hand side of the equation which I have hypothesized in my search for identity and this the chance to prove it.

I propose to balance practical and personal reasons in my letter. It is my hope that my passion to go there and there alone may set me apart from those who do so purely academically or practically. Again, I stress, balance will be the key. It still needs to be more important that I want it for the education.

But I will be going against other undergrads, grad students, and even Ph.D students in more applicable fields than me. I hope that it would not be dishonest to write as my program of study "Physical Sciences / Sociology" (which I enter Sept. 2008) rather than the highly precise, but inaccurate "Materials Engineering". Maybe the sociology minor will give me some clout.

A computer science professor at Jyväskylä and his wife are already thinking of things to do with me (he's a board gamer). You [Deverant] and [fakiiri] have both expressed how much you want to meet me and see this dream come true. I would hate to disappoint you all. But I will still walk cautiously because, as you fear, you may end up being the agent of my undoing by encouraging me to think that I will make it even if I don't stand a chance... just like my ex.

But when have you ever said that to me? That is why I have more trust in your good heart...