More magical fun than you can handle

As the applications deadlines loom, college recruiters get a little loopy. They want to get as many students to choose from as possible, and that means emailing every possible students five times a day until the fateful deadline day passes. All this pressure has to be getting to them, since their emails have gotten odder. This says nothing about the schools, which are all very reputable and educational I'm sure, Cabin Fever can affect anyone.

Consider this subject line from Mills College in Oakland, California: "The Magic Runs Out At Midnight"

The Mills application is due at midnight, which explains part of the title. The rest of the subject was obviously inspired of the mystical magical semester of Senior year where any free time is spent blissfully writing essays, typing up majestic community service activity sheets, and filling out the same personal information again and again. If only I could be there once again. Too bad the magic runs out at midnight. At least I had it while it lasted.

St. Olaf's most recent email gave me a glimpse of what people think is "fun" in their hallowed halls. "Meanwhile, for a little fun…As inspiration to push you through to the final “submit,” play our fight song and imagine yourself being cheered on as an Ole (or at least envision explaining to your friends how your college fight song is a waltz). Or how about some serious fun? Become a fan of St. Olaf on Facebook and get your questions answered while you finish up your application."

What's that Liz? You want to hang out Thursday? Well, I would except I've kinda got the St. Olaf fight song cued up for the next three hours. It's just so peppy.

Sorry Steve, I can't go out with you this weekend. I'm joining a St. Olaf group on Facebook! Pressing that join button is more fun than the movies, and they have helpful-slash-informative answers to all my questions about my application.

I don't know, maybe I'm just not cut out for the excitement of life at Olaf.

You can tell they really care

College mail is spam. Sure, it's sent to a very specific audience (high schoolers that may be eligible for their school) from a prestigious source, but it's a mass mailing, spam. Many schools take the time and trouble to put your name on the page, or even send you the brochure related to a possible major, but that's about as personal as it gets. Sometimes, though, it seems to go past that into the territory of "just doesn't care".

The University of Montana sent a nice, albeit dull, postcard about the balance between academics and nature that can be found at their school. I was about to chuck it into my equally dull trash bin, but the address caught my eye.

"To Jane Doe*, or current resident." Obviously the University of Montana is really interested in me as a student. Or my mom, or my brother, or, for that matter, my cat, who are all residents of my house. I wonder how they would respond to getting an application from "Kinsey Cat." Her transcript is lacking, but her extracurriculars are spectacular.

*My name isn't Jane Doe, and thankfully, they actually went to the effort of putting my name in the slot, but I don't feel like putting my name on this blog thanks.