How cool was it to coincidentally sit next to a senior from Yale on the train from Philadelphia to New York?! Right off the bat we got started talking like we knew each other for the longest time; she was very amiable. She informed me of student life on campus and Yale’s total atmosphere. This was my first time in the Big Apple and I must say it was AMAZING! Ms. Kronenberg, being a New York native, was the best tour guide ever! Besides being able to go on top of the Empire State building late at night and also going to Times Square and buying an “I ♥ New York” t-shirt for just $3; we had a very informative time at Columbia University.
I would like to just make a few notes before blogging about Columbia. New Yorkers aren’t rude. It really is a stereotype. While walking, a guy bumped into me and apologized. People say please, thank you, etc all the time here. Another thing is that New York has hardly any humidity. The weather actually felt pleasant. Before going to Times Square, we had dinner at Charlie Palmer: Aureole New York. It was amazing. I had the New York strip loin and for dessert the New York Cheesecake. They were both very delicious. It was also great staying at the Hotel Wolcott because it was ideally located in between 5th Avenue and Broadway at 4 West 31st Street. Also, it was interesting to see “Sidewalk Catwalk” which were mannequins dressed with designer dresses in the Fashion (Garment) district. Earlier we met with David Buckwald, Senior Assistant Director and Admissions Officer and he was a major contributing factor that reinforced my desire to attend Columbia University.
Today we took the train from Penn Station in New York to New Haven Station in Connecticut. It just so happened that I sat next to a woman that was from San Francisco, graduated from UCLA and was attending a wedding in Connecticut. That was fun. The humidity was back and we checked in at the Omni Hotel in New Haven. The Omni is only about two blocks away from Yale. We visited Yale and attended an information session after unpacking at the hotel. The information session brought up a few good points such as reminding the student that the SAT is just a test score and that Yale weighs in on the transcript much more heavily and also that Yale requests all your SAT and ACT scores; not just your highest scores.
After the Yale information session we had much needed rest time at the hotel and later had dinner with Dr. Luong, Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Center in Grand Strategy. We had a great time and discussed our pleasant time so far in the East Coast and expressed our excitement for the Ivy Scholars Program, which starts this Sunday!
Brandon,
ReplyDeleteOften before a major sporting event such as the Super Bowl, entrepreneurs will print up ball caps and t-shirts by the gazillions with both sides winning. The profits from selling the souvenirs showing the real winners far exceeds the losses from having to eat those souvenirs showing the loser as the winner. If it’s set up right the tax benefits can help alleviate the burdens of the actual loss. Then again, they donate those items to third world countries so the people of a depressed country will be wearing t-shirts and ball caps that are meaningless to them.
These entrepreneurs can afford to sell these items at a serious discount—like $3 per t-shirt.
On the other hand, when it comes to “I ♥ New York” t-shirts, just about every tourist buys one. As a matter of fact, I think there’s some sort of law that may even require it.
So why discount the shirts so low that the profit margin is almost negligible? Even when made in third world countries using slave labor, the cost for materials and shipping half way across the world has to eat into that profit margin. Add in the profits by the manufacturer, the middle man, the jobber and the guy on the street selling them and you still have to ask how they can do this.
Did you find yourself asking why it is that Yale wants ALL of your test scores if they’re not that important to them?
Nobody likes a know-it-all.
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