This may just be the most important decision I've ever made up to date.

Davis or Berkeley?


It does feel good knowing that ever since I was twelve or thirteen years old I dreamed of getting accepted into Berkeley, and it happened. This proves the point that dreams do come true if you work hard, never stop believing, and never give up on them. Thank you God.

But what is more important is the "What now?" effect. Okay, where do I go from here?

Some people take my situation by face value and say with the quickness to go to my dream school. I dont hold it against anyone who tells me to do so and who tells me I'm thinking too hard, but really this will take a lot of consideration.

First of all, Senior year has been the most drastic in terms of my study habits, my perception of time management, focusing on schoolwork, and concentrating on believing that reaching the requirements is not enough-- and to go above and beyond is the norm. That VHS has taught its students to be "minimalists"-- to only go so far as they need to go for a grade. I have realized this is not the way to success, that we must all reach for more in our learning and should grasp for much more, and get into the habit of it, because that is commonality outside of VHS. Now I know that to try to shortcut yourself through assignments, you are only cheating yourself. Pure, undisturbed, Hard work is the key to everything in life. Mr. Tillay taught me that.


Having said all of this, Mr. Tillay also changed the way I percieved college. If you asked me eight or nine months where I wanted to go, I would have said UC Berkeley without you finishing your question. Looking back on it, it's kind of an ignorant statement. I knew it was going to be hard and will be hard at Berkeley, but I didnt know HOW hard. Now I know a little more about the extent of its difficulty, but I'll never know for sure unless I go into the belly of the beast and actually go there.

All i know is Davis is not as rigorous as Berkeley-- it is a great school of which many of my friends go to, and it will be much more comforting to me if I did go there. Yes, no matter where I go, college will be hard, but it's more like the pressure is off if I go to Davis. If i did go there, I would be happy because I would be doing Mechanical Engineering which is my intended major, but it is a job that is not growing.

I would be doing Computer Science at UC Berkeley, which I can certainly do, I'm just more concerned about how rigorous it will be. The competition. The strain.

Basically, I am loving the fact that I am accepted to my dream school. I do not want to screw myself with that decision of going there, only to be a struggling student because the course rigor is not for me. Of course, anything is possible if you set your mind to it, I just know that if I decide to commit myself to Berkeley, I will commit myself fully, or at least know that to compete, that is what I have to do.

That means full on, full time student. All time is devoted to the books. No tv, no late nights out, no girls, and certainly not any partying.

That is the big question: Am I ready to commit to that?

Some might think that I am taking it maybe a little too seriously, but I am expecting the worst, and was planning on doing that at Davis as well, only with more wiggle room to the above stated committments that wouldnt be available if I go to Berkeley.

You might say "How hard can it be?" Well I don't want to find that out the hard way.

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At the same time. I wish for everything in the world that I could survive and go through Berkeley. Looking back at everything that I am, Everything that i stand for, I'm never the type to settle. I always thought of myself as a beast that could do anything, my parents always taught me that I could do anything as long as I pray, work hard, and believe.

But I'm realizing that one man, one teacher has influenced me maybe too much. I dont know. This is too much to fit for one blog.

I'll talk to you later.