Poor Choices

I knew I was going to get into MIT, so I only applied to UT and UTA otherwise.

I never applied for financial aid from UT, because at the time of the deadline, I was convinced I would be going to MIT.

When I was rejected from MIT, I chose to skip the $8,000/year scholarship at UTA and give UT a shot.

Once I got to UT, I didn't make meeting new people a priority.

After a few weeks at UT, I began to really dislike my classes, so I stopped going to them.


Maybe these were mistakes and maybe they weren't. That depends on how you define mistake. Perhaps the biggest mistake happened much earlier and snowballed to prove my lackluster candidacy for enrollment at MIT. Or perhaps going to MIT would have been a bigger mistake than all of them. Going to UT might have been a mistake, but I have certainly gained worthwhile experience here. Does the good outweigh the bad? How can one compare the two? Is it worthwhile to evaluate my previous mistakes in hopes that I will make fewer in the future? I think so. So perhaps there were multiple courses of action that would have been greatly beneficial. Obviously there are courses of action that are greatly harmful. The question becomes: how can I select the course of action that will be most beneficial? But it is impossible to compare two courses of action that bear such significantly different consequences.

Great men have come from lesser universities. Even more great men have come from great universities. Some great men have never been to a university. A man's greatness is not defined by who his parents are, what degree he holds, the contents of his wallet, or the means by which he lives. A great man is defined by his actions. Everything else is trivial.


My only desire is to be great.

A long time ago...

I was at a pool party with the rest of the "graduating" 6th graders. And I was fat. So naturally I wasn't getting much attention from the pre-pubescent girls at the party. I had no problem with this. My problem was with the fact that my friends seemed to be avoiding me. So I swam over to them and they politely told me that they didn't want to be seen with me because I was fat. So I dried off, put my clothes back on, and waited until my mom came to pick me up. I don't remember feeling angry at them; I only remember feeling disappointed in myself. I grew distant from those friends later as we got involved with different activities. I still talk to them from time to time. But right now I want to say one thing to both of them.

Fuck you.

UT vs. UTA

The educational quality between the two universities is, in my novice opinion, approximately the same. UT does have significantly more opportunities to gain employment while in school and after graduation; these include the Engineering EXPO and the interviews held on-campus during the semester. This is a moot point though, since I don't want to find typical employment with my degree. I would much rather find employment doing something... unique... instead of a standard engineering internship. UT also has quite a few groups such as honor fraternities, engineering clubs, and fun clubs, but these are, at best, only marginally better than the groups at UTA. Moreover, I'm not really interested in most of those groups. Austin is a large city with plenty of entertainment, unfortunately it is difficult to lease property due to the massive number of students. Arlington doesn't have much entertainment, but it is between Ft. Worth and Dallas which do have quite a lot of entertainment. Arlington would also be much easier to lease a property in. Chris has a standing offer for a job at CCoA on commission. This coupled with the willing roommate, Brandon, would set me up in an apartment with a car and a decent job in no time at all. At UT I have only my current dorm room, no car, and only the possibility of a job. Leaving UT means leaving a few friends here, leaving the trombone choir, and leaving the possibility of meeting the thousands of people here. Going to UTA means getting back together with some of my best friends, starting anew with music and classes at UTA, and the possibility of meeting the thousands of people at UTA. UTA will give me at least $2,300 per year in scholarship money, and possibly more depending on my GPA at the end of the Fall '07 semester. UT currently gives me nothing, though I could apply for Continuing student scholarships, but I estimate that these would not exceed $2,500 per year at most. In conclusion I think it is clear that UTA is the better choice.