Sorry Ray Kurzweil, it’s off to RIT for me
Well, decision time came and passed. I guess it was about two weeks ago. I’ll give you the TL;DR version way up top: I’m going to major in Information Security & Forensics at Rochester Institute of Technology, starting this fall.
I’m going to start off by saying I waited as long as possible. I had two schools that were my top choices: RIT and the University of Advancing Technology. The former is in Rochester, NY; the latter, Tempe, AZ. Having been raised in Cleveland, I jumped at the thought of going to college in the Valley of the Sun. Why, you ask, am I talking about UAT, if I picked RIT? Here’s the story.
On March 27, I applied for UAT’s Ray Kurzweil scholarship. That was the $9,000 I needed in order to put UAT into my family’s budget range. (Like just about everyone, I lost a few bucks to Wall St. last fall.) Their info sheet said to expect a decision about a month after you apply.
On April 14, I e-mailed UAT and let them know that in order to make sure I got a spot in the university of my choice, I was going to make a decision on the 20th. I already had enough in grants and scholarships from RIT to go there. If UAT gave me the Ray Kurzweil, it was UAT; if they didn’t, it was RIT.
April 20 came. I hadn’t heard from Arizona. I was busy with my 70-hour week at school as the sound guy for our musical, so I waited a day. And another. And another. Finally, Thursday night came and I told my dad I had made my decision: RIT.
I think that’s where my parents really wanted me. I came home from school the next day to find a large, bright orange stack of RIT stuff on my desk and a note saying “the RIT admissions deposit has been made.” Over the next week or so, I signed a few papers and got my housing contract in.
Fast forward to today, Cinco de Mayo. 8PM sharp (5PM in Tempe, meaning right at their closing time) the phone rings. It’s the head of UAT’s admissions department, asking urgently to speak with Dan. Congratulations to me, not only did I get the Kurzweil, they pulled it from the graduate scholarship pool because they liked my essay so much. (It was over 4 times the required length, a) because Enano can’t be described in 400 words, and b) as you probably can tell I’m a very verbose writer; this post is currently over 500 words.) Of course, I couldn’t make it work.
As flattered as I was, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit heartless about the whole thing. They waited too long, and I gave them a 4 day grace period. I had a gut feeling I was going to earn the Kurzweil, but that was a risk I could not afford to take. If I hadn’t enrolled in RIT by May 1, I would lose my spot and, had UAT not given me the Kurzweil, I’d be going to a state school or (worse) Defiance College, which has done some creepy things to say the least. (To not offend the folks at Defiance, I won’t get any more specific than that.)
So, I’m going to Rochester. There’s no Chipotle there – yes, I will be writing Steve Ells – and everything has metal roofs. But there are business minors at RIT. And tunnels. And Gracie’s Dining Hall (best damn college food I ever had, couldn’t help but select “unlimited meals” before my parents could force me to click something else), a pathetic excuse for college food far outweighed by the newly built Chipotle. And, come this fall, someone else in my high school class will be going there – a considerable feat considering the fact that my class size is 27.
And yes, my torrent activity will stay at home. I can only promise, RIT, that I won’t break your TOU.
Will you continue to add posts to this journal over the summer? I’ll miss you next year!