An Unending Need for Umbrellas & University Applications

22 November 2015Jaclyn C, Alex ‘16

What am I doing?

Eating a handful of Froot Loops, drinking coffee, and walking in the rain.

What should I be doing?

Probably my university applications. It is that time of year again: the weather seems to have jumped into a rainy abyss, and the Grade 12s are falling into their own abyss of applying to universities.

I have, in fact, started all my applications, but it is so convenient to procrastinate, especially with this new weather. As an artsy person, I love the rain, wind, bare tree branches, and overall gloom of autumn. Autumnal. It’s inspiring to write about, to photograph, to paint. This, however, is not the case for everyone.

“What is happening?!” new student Serena H, Alex ’16 exclaimed as we walked to Crooks Hall, referring to the sudden gust of wind, and near sideways rain that had been unleashed upon us. I laughed: “It’s the Wet Coast, get used to it.” Poor Serena, so unprepared. You can tell which students aren’t expecting and aren’t used to the rain by whether they try to keep straightening their hair after the first week of October. It’s a lost cause, trust me.

As for university applications, there is still hope. UK applicants have submitted theirs already, and some have already received offers of admission. As for Canadian and US applicants, it’s time to get going. Personal statements, supplements, projected grades, SAT scores, essays, life lessons: the list goes on.

Our fantastic trio of university counsellors – Mr. Rodrigues, Mrs. Coull, and Ms. Beausoleil — have been extremely helpful. They make sure we meet with them, discuss our options, help us set up accounts, write recommendations, and essentially anything else we need help with in the area of post-secondary aspirations.

We get a lot of information thrown at us this term, and we have to make a lot of decisions. When choosing a university, the most repeated piece of advice I have been receiving is to hold location in high priority. It makes sense. You could end up in the city you go to university in for anywhere between four years and your whole life. Most people that I hold in high regard have advised me to be prepared stay in my university city for a decade or so. I have also been told to especially keep in mind the climate that you’ll be living in.

Thankfully, Brentwood students get the full-on temperate rain forest experience to see whether or not the West Coast is a viable option for them to live in. I know that, at least for me, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but there are many who are rather excited to experience a different climate zone.

Seeing as the rain isn’t going to be stopping anytime soon, I have decided to embrace it as my university application writing soundtrack, and I encourage the rest of my grade to do the same. Surely it will inspire something worthy of admittance.

Jaclyn C, Alex ‘16

Where Students Choose To Be