An Interesting Conversation (Oh, and the Website Is Updated Now)

First off, check out the website, especially the archives. If you find any issues, let me know. Mike says that a lot of stuff that I need is on the computer, and that'll be up Monday night when I return. Does anyone have the officers list?


Second, I had an interesting conversation with the graduate school advisor for the economics department. He's a nice guy and all, but he's not exactly the person to go to when you want to feel happy, content emotions. He said that my GRE scores were very solid (finally, I got my analytical writing score back: 5.5/6.0, so one notch below perfect...scores reported in .5 point increments). He also implied that I don't have a chance in hell of getting into a top 20 school.

Huh?

You see, UNI's economic department hasn't faired too well when sending students off to grad school, apparently. They usually send 1-2 off to grad school a year, and they tend not to fair well. There was one person placed in the University of Minnesota (rank 6-18 depending on the ranking; it was a big deal a couple of years ago), but he didn't talk about that student much in the conversation, so I'm assuming that he didn't do too well. Students sent to Iowa (rank 30-37) tend to have horrible experiences, and they drop out after the first semester or two...mainly because Iowa's econ department is "trying to be better than it is." Students tend to do well at Michigan State (rank 32-56) and Texas A&M (rank 31-55). I asked him if anyone had been placed in a top 20 school lately, and he said that noone other than that one person had. UNI doesn't have much of a reputation, because they don't send too many econ students to grad school, so that'll hurt me in the process.

So, his advice:
-Apply to some rank 30-60 schools (8-10 total to be safe...try including Michigan State and Texas A&M).
-If you want to try for Minnesota or Wisconsin or other top 20 schools, go ahead, but don't count them in the 8-10 schools.
-Don't go to Iowa...it's not for you.

Well, at least he's being realistic. Now I'm going to apply to Harvard just because ;).

Third, I saw a church sign the other day that said the following:
"You and God are a majority"
Gee...that's subtle. The church said it better than Falwell said it (vote Christian in 2008!). The idea of voting purely along religious lines instead of what you feel about the candidates and the issues disturbs me. Does anyone else agree?

Fourth, this is the standard "oh, dear...the weather might be bad tomorrow" warning. You've been warned. Watch out for severe storms tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Fifth, would anyone else join a "Ian Leonard Needs to Go to the Blammo Zone" Facebook group?