College application season is just around the corner. As a survivor of the grueling task of completing the application process, I know exactly how daunting, overwhelming, and downright stressful it can be. I hope that by giving you a little ‘tour’ of the college application process, you’ll have a much easier time navigating it. and hopefully you’ll be able to craft a successful application.
Before I get right into it, I’d first like to tell you a bit about myself in the context of college applications. I just graduated high school (in 2018) and I’m going to attend Cornell University in the fall. I plan to major in Computer Science and Economics, but I remain open to other courses of study that I may find interesting as I progress through my college career. I applied to a total of 17 schools: I was accepted by 8 of them and waitlisted by 1.
Disclaimer: I am not a college admissions officer and thus I am not certain that everything I write in this post will work. This is just what I experienced with my college applications. Also, I will only be talking about college applications in the US, since that’s where I applied to, but perhaps some of the tips are adaptable to other countries’ college application processes.
Stage 1: Pre-application
Drafting a college list
(before summer break – start of senior year)
Doing college research
Before starting your application, it seems pretty obvious that you should have an idea of which schools to apply to. And in order for you to do that, you should do a little research to make sure that you’re applying to colleges that you actually want to attend.
One of the first things you should do is list different factors that you think will affect your decision. Do you want to go to a college in the city or in a small town? A large college or a small one? A chill school or an academically rigorous one?
You should also consider the major/area of study you’re interested in–it doesn’t even have to be super specific. Your potential major can then be used to choose your colleges. For example, if I wanted to study CS and Econ, I would choose colleges that are strong in both areas.
On a side note, I don’t think you should choose an area of study just because you’re good at a certain subject, e.g. just because you’re good at English, doesn’t necessarily mean you should study English or Literature. Instead, choose a potential major based on what you enjoy doing.
When doing your research about these different colleges, reading all of the information on their websites can be tedious and boring. As an alternative, I’d recommend watching youtube videos or talking to alumni instead. When I was applying, the most effective way for me to get to know a school is through those “A Day in the Life of…” videos as well as Q&A videos because you not only end up knowing more about the school but also about the student body and the student culture at that university.
What colleges?
I recommend that you apply to a good mix of safety schools, match schools, and dream schools.
Safety schools: you exceed their requirements and you’ll definitely get in.
Match schools: admits have similar academic credentials to yours. You have a good chance of admission, but there’s also a (relatively small) probability that you won’t.
Dream schools: your scores or credentials fall in the lower end of the school’s average range for the previous batch of admitted students.You’d be lucky to get in.
All the colleges you apply to should be colleges that you’d be happy to attend.
How many colleges?
You should start with 6 schools: 2 safety, 2 match, and 2 reach. Then you can adjust the numbers as you wish. If you’re applying to more schools, I’d say the optimum reach:match:safety ratio is around 3:5:2, so if you’re planning to apply to 10 colleges, that would be 3 reach, 5 match, and 2 safety.
How to classify colleges
Generally, people categorize their colleges based on statistics, so things like test scores, GPA, and rank. Perhaps the easiest method is comparing standardized test scores. A good way to do this is to look at the 25th to 75th percentile range, which shows you the scores obtained by 50% of last year’s entering class. If your scores fall between the 25th and 75th percentile, you may have just found yourself a match school! But hold up, the lower percentiles may be reserved for special admits like athletes or donors, so in reality, a match school would be one where your scores lie closer to the 75th percentile.
Aside from standardized test scores, it might also help to figure out what kind of student the college is looking for–such as by reading accepted supplemental essays–and seeing whether or not you seem like the right fit.
Resources
Once you’ve compiled your list of colleges, it would help to have a table with information about them. This might include information like deadlines, median scores, availability of scholarships, interviews, etc. Here’s a link to (the blank version of) the spreadsheet I used for my college application. Feel free to modify it according to your needs, but make sure to make a copy before changing things!
Recommendation Letters
What are recommendation letters?
Recommendations letters are letters written by your mentors to provide insight into what you’re like as a student, e.g. your behavior, positive qualities, interests, achievements etc.
Whom should you ask for a recommendation letter?
It’s good to ask teachers who know you very well, either someone who has taught you for a long time or someone who has a multifaceted view of you, such as a teacher who has also advised you in an extracurricular.
Some people would also suggest that you get recommendations from teachers of different subjects to show that you’re a well-rounded student. I think it’s better to ask teachers who can write about your different positive qualities, i.e. one teacher could highlight a part of your character that the other teacher would not be able to.
You might also want to ask teachers who can write well. In my experience, letters from teachers in the humanities and social science departments tend to be more convincing and well-written than those in the science and math departments (I know not all teachers are like this; this is just a generalization). But again, it’s definitely better to ask teachers who know you well and can write about your qualities.
The first recommendation letter I used was from my Economics teacher, who was also my MUN (Model United Nations) advisor – an extracurricular in which I was very active. My classmates and I also had a pretty good relationship with this teacher, especially since our class was only 3 students.
My second recommendation letter came from my Math teacher, who taught me for 6 years. Math is also my strongest subject, so that’s definitely a plus point (get it? :p).
Another letter that might be useful to submit is the additional recommendation. This is a recommendation from anyone other than your teacher, it could be your coach, another mentor, or even a friend. I think you should only consider submitting an additional recommendation if it highlights qualities that haven’t been covered in your other ones.
What do I have to do as an applicant?
Be prepared to answer questions your teachers may have about you so that they can write a more valuable recommendation letter. Compiling a resume or list of achievements and activities might help, or you could simply sit down for a conversation.
When should I ask for these recommendation letters?
Preferably before your senior year starts so your teachers have enough time to put some thought into what they’re going to write.
Standardized Testing
Do I really need to take standardized tests?
A lot of colleges recommend (read: require) you to take the SAT or ACT (and TOEFL if you’re an international student like myself), but remember that they are not your entire application. Just do your best in the standardized tests you take.
When should I take them?
I say whenever you’re ready, but no later than the deadline specified by the college (usually October of your senior year would be the latest to take the general SAT). I did my SATs in October during my junior year, my younger sister took it at the end of her sophomore year, and a lot of my friends took in October during our senior year, so again, it really depends on when you feel you’re ready.
How many times should I take them?
I don’t think you should do each test more than once unless you’re sure your scores will improve. Your application won’t look very good if you sat for the SAT 3 times and your scores decreased each time, assuming the college looks at all your scores.
Which scores do I send colleges?
Different colleges have different requirements for the submission of these test scores. Some only require the highest scores, while others would like to see all of your scores. On the CollegeBoard website, when you enter colleges to which you’ll send your scores, the site will also inform you of the requirements for those colleges.
How will colleges receive my standardized testing scores?
You’ll have to fill a form in the Common/Coalition App. In addition, some schools require you to send official score reports from the testing agency. I suggest that you send in your scores as soon as you know what colleges you’re applying to, just so that you don’t have to pay an extra amount to ‘rush’ your score sends (i.e. have it sent to colleges in 2-4 days as opposed to the regular 1-2 weeks).
The Rest of Senior Year
Take challenging classes and do well in them
Colleges look at the classes you take in high school and how well you did in them. You should consider taking classes that are both challenging and in the area of study you might want to pursue. Taking challenging courses allows college admissions officers to see that you’re taking initiative to further your education.
What if I catch senioritis?
If you’re a senior, you’ll definitely go through a phase where you don’t care about anything and just feel like having coffee and talking to your friends in class. I know I did. Senioritis is totally normal, but you should still try to put effort into your studies. Colleges can rescind your admission if they see a drastic fall in your grades, so keep your grades up and don’t overwhelm yourself with too many unnecessary activities.
Join extracurriculars
Extracurriculars show college admissions officers that you can manage your time well and that you have other interests aside from school. It also shows them that you are an active, contributing member of your community, and that you’re proactive in developing your passions and interests.
What type of activity counts as an extracurricular?
Well, it can be anything you do in your free time. It could be a school club, a club outside of school, an online activity, etc. Maybe you programmed an app in your spare time. Maybe you had a part time job. Or maybe you ran a blog that helps students navigate their academic lives. You just have to find something that matters to you and is significant and meaningful. It would be even better if the activities in which you participate can demonstrate leadership and commitment.
If you’re having a hard time picturing what that could be, I’ll give you a couple of examples. One of my friends expanded his love of reading by starting a hip hop literature club that has branches in Japan and in multiple states in the US. A junior of mine established a website that brings together people from all around the world, who are experienced in the MUN community, to give newer members advice and guidance so that they may thrive in the MUN world.
Stage 2: Completing the Application
The Application Form
Different Application Platforms
The first thing you should do after you’ve compiled a college list is to find out where you should complete your application.
1. The Common App
The most common application platform is the Common App, which is used by more than 700 colleges in the US. It’s super convenient if you’re applying to a lot of colleges, but the site does limit you to 20 colleges.
2. The Coalition App
Another common platform is the Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success, which is a fairly new platform that has 132 members. It does have a cool feature I like, though: it allows you to compile a kind of portfolio by uploading documents and files to your “locker” on the website. Furthermore, the Coalition App is specifically aimed to help lower-resourced and underrepresented students, so the colleges listed there have substantial financial aid and scholarship opportunities.
3. Other Applications
Some colleges also have their own applications, such as the UCs and MIT.
Parts of the Application
You’ll have to fill in your
Personal information (This is probably the easiest part of the application, so even if you don’t have anything else ready yet, I recommend you fill this out just to get it over with.)
Extracurricular activities
Essays (the Common/Coalition App essay and supplementary essays)
Honors and awards
Disciplinary information
Standardized test scores
Your counselor will submit
Your high school transcript
Your mid-year and final transcript
The school report
The counselor recommendation
Your teachers will submit
Their recommendation letters
Now, even though you aren’t submitting every single thing on the form, you are the person responsible for the punctuality of these documents. Your teachers are busy and they might forget, so it’s your job to remind them.
For real though, one of my teachers forgot to upload his recommendation onto one of the external application websites. Fortunately, the university gave me and others in my position an extra 22 days to send in any missing documents.
The Essay (and other essays)
Ah, yes. The much dreaded Essay™. Probably the most challenging part of the application, and the one that sucks the life outta ya. There’s a reason for that, though. The essay is an important part of the application because it humanizes the applicant instead of merely showing them as a collection of statistics and facts. You should aim to showcase something about yourself that can’t be found in other parts of the application.
Planning
When should I start?
Ideally, you should start thinking about potential essay ideas over the summer, maybe come up with a rough draft if you can. But it’s really no rush, though. Sometimes the best ideas come later. I wrote my first common app essay over the summer. Completely scrapped it. Wrote a second one in like September-ish and used that for Early Action. Scrapped it again. The final essay I sent in was first written on December 17th. Sometimes life works that way.
How do I start?
One method that helped me is making a mind map about myself (my counselor recommended this to me). You’d start by writing down the things that define you: your personality, qualities, and values. Then, you’d think of activities, events, or other things in your life where you exhibited those traits or exercised those values. Since all college essays pretty much boil down to “What good qualities do you have?”, mind mapping your good qualities will help you answer all sorts of essays.
One important thing you should know is that your essay topic doesn’t have to be super deep or anything, just that it says a lot about you. And just because your essay is really personal, you shouldn’t divert your focus away from writing it well. You also shouldn’t write about something everybody experiences unless you can find a way to make it unique.
What next?
As soon as you have several topics for your essay, you can create outlines for each of them, and see which one would give a greater contribution to your application. If you’re not the outline type of person, start writing away, and see which one turns out to be more effective.
Writing
Start writing as soon as you have an idea. You don’t have to perfect it yet, just see where and how far the idea goes. You can always edit it or scrap it later. Or, if you prefer a more structured approach, make outlines for all the ideas you have.
How should I structure my essay?
When writing your essay, I would recommend using a narrative structure since people generally respond better to stories. However, if you think your essay would read better without the narrative structure, then use a different one.
What writing techniques are important?
Imagery is your best friend. You want your readers (the admissions officers) to be able to picture what you’re telling them so that they could understand more clearly and comprehensively whatever it is about yourself that you’re trying to convey.
Using an extended metaphor is also an excellent way to compose a memorable essay. Be aware that they’re fairly difficult to pull off, but if you have an idea, you should try and write it out first and see how that works out.
What are some common mistakes applicants make?
Some applicants make the mistake of sounding too preachy, you know, something like “We should make the world a better place!!” You might think, “but aren’t these types of essays supposed to be like that?” That’s what I thought, too, when I first wrote my essay. The admissions officers, however, are only there to get to know you, not to be preached upon. Instead, you should tie in the message you want to convey with your personal experience.
Lastly, you shouldn’t summarize at the end of your essay. It really isn’t as useful as you might think. In other words, you should write your essay so that it doesn’t need to be summarized in order for the readers to understand what you’re trying to tell them.
Revising
You should be prepared to write and rewrite and, like I said before, completely scrap essays. Don’t let yourself get attached to a particular sentence or phrase or even essay topic. Rewrite as needed. Write something else if you must.
After you’ve written your first draft, leave your essay for a couple days before coming back to it to edit. This is because right after you’ve written your essay, the ideal image of the essay is still the one you have written down, so you likely won’t make any meaningful changes.
What if I exceed the word limit?
If your word count is waaay past it, I’d suggest you write it from scratch without referring to the original draft. This helps eliminate the less important details since you yourself don’t remember them.
If you think you can simply cut down on a few phrases, there are several things you can do: delete redundancies, shorten your introduction/conclusion, simplify phrases, rearrange sentences, and use contractions, for example.
Should I ask other people to read my essay?
Somewhere along the road, you’ll also want to ask other people to read over your essay. I wouldn’t recommend asking a friend to do this for you since they might give a biased opinion. Plus, they know you too well. Instead, ask a teacher, your counselor, or even an acquaintance with whom you’re comfortable letting them read your essay.
Supplemental Essays
Honestly just refer to your mind map if you made one, or make outlines for each of your supplemental essays. Don’t be afraid to reuse essays, just make sure to change the name of the college if mentioned.
Some colleges also require you to write about an extracurricular. A guide to the extracurricular essay will be covered in the Extracurriculars section of this post.
Colleges love applicants who are contributing members of their communities as well as those who are actively developing their passions and skills. The extracurricular section of the college application allows the college to see just that. As I’ve said before, an extracurricular activity can be anything you do in your free time, but one in which you hold a leadership position will pique the interests of the admissions officers.
How many activities should I list?
The Common App gives you 10 slots for extracurricular activities (the Coalition gives you 8). However, it’s completely fine if you don’t have 10 activities. For the most part, colleges prefer to see quality over quantity, so having a few activities you’re passionate about and to which you made significant contributions would be better than filling all 10 slots with activities that you don’t care about all that much. The best combination of activities would be 1 – 3 significant activities with a large number of hours and several others with a lower number of hours.
What if I have too many activities?
Choose the activities that you invested the most time in and gained the most experience from. You can also combine multiple activities into one slot. For example, I organized quite a few events and fundraisers when I was in the Student Council, so instead of writing “Organized and volunteered for sports cup”, “Designed and produced school merchandise”, and “Organized a charity festival”, I wrote them all under “Student Council”.
Note: Extracurricular activities aren’t the same as Honors and Awards.
What activities should I include?
As I’ve stated previously, colleges prefer quality over quantity. However, you can aim to be either “pointy” or “well rounded”. Some students have activities that are only in one area of study (”pointy”). This shows colleges that you’re focused and have an intense desire to pursue a single passion.
Despite this, being more “well-rounded” and having a diverse range of activities can also be beneficial since it shows that you’ve gained a lot of experience, and that you aren’t afraid to try different things.
Your activities don’t even have to be conventional extracurricular activities either. Two of the extracurricular activities I listed were 1) this studyblr; and 2) my instagram poetry page. I mean, I am a Gen X kid; I’m bound to spend large amounts of time on social media. Fortunately, it turns out I made a pretty significant contribution, I would say, and also learned a lot from the experience, so they definitely count as extracurricular activities.
Describing the extracurricular activities
This blog post from College Vine is super comprehensive and helped me a lot when I was writing about my extracurriculars. I’ll sum up some key points below:
Select extracurriculars that will present the best image of yourself
Use action oriented verbs (e.g. “facilitated”, “managed”, “maintained”)
Quantify your accomplishments as much as possible
Certain activities will look better if you emphasize the valuable skills you learned instead of what you did
Be specific
Some colleges will require you to write an essay in which you reflect upon a particular activity you did: what you learned and how you grew. This post from College Essay Guy covers pretty much everything I have to say about the extracurricular essay. Main points:
Use active verbs
Write a good clear sentence about what the activity meant to you
The honors and awards section is another component of the application that can help you stand out from other applicants. These are basically any achievement, award, or recognition you’ve received in high school.
The common app limits you to 5 honors/awards, and I would recommend that you choose your most impressive honors, e.g. an international competition would be more impressive than one within your school.
Sometimes awards are directly tied to an activity, such as winning Best Delegate in an MUN conference. In this case, you should mention your award in the activities section. Awards that aren’t tied to an activity should be listed in the Honors and Awards section. These might include scholarships, academic awards, etc.
If you have too many honors to fit into the form (lucky you!), you might want to consider sending in a resume. Some colleges provide this option, while some merely have a section for extra information.
Interviews
Interviews are another way the college can see you as a whole person. Some colleges might provide you with an option to take the interview or decline it, but if given the chance, go for it!
What is the interview, exactly?
For me, this was probably the most nerve-wracking part since you’re practically telling things about yourself to a stranger (can you tell I’m not into socializing?) and it’s like you’re being evaluated and you don’t really know what to expect.
But honestly they’re basically regular conversations where you talk about yourself and the things you love. They’ll ask about your school, your family, your aspirations, your hobbies, but the conversation can lead anywhere–food, human rights, pop culture.
It’ll probably start with an open ended question like tell me about yourself and then branch off from there.
There might also be another type of interview where it’s more like a Q&A about the school and you get to know the college through an alumni (Cornell’s “interview” was like this).
A bad interview really won’t hurt your application, unless of course you fail to answer why you want to go to that university.
It really just gives you an extra boost and another factor to consider when the university decides whether or not to admit you.
Plus, you get to elaborate on things that you didn’t on your application.
Interviews can be anywhere from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours, so don’t worry if you think it was too short or too long.
General Tips
Arrive early. It helps to take a few seconds to breathe and take in your location and surroundings before you start your interview.
Wear something comfortable. I wore a plaid shirt and trousers to most of my interviews. In my experience, Western people tend to be more lenient with clothing, so if you wear a t-shirt, it’s fine. Indonesians (and some other Asians) kinda want you to dress at least semi-formally, maybe a button up and formal pants or a skirt.
If your interviewer asks if you want to order anything, go ahead, they won’t mind, and you’ll get free food or a free beverage. I would usually order coffee or tea.
What should I prepare?
How to answer the question tell me about yourself.
How to answer the question why do you want to go to this school?
How to answer other common questions. Don’t script your answers though. Just think about them so you know what the focus of your answer will revolve around.
Your resume, in case they ask for one.
Research the college and prepare some questions to ask the interviewer.
Research the interviewer, e.g. what they studied, what their job is, anything you think would be important to bring up, like one of their research projects or theses.
Check and recheck! Everything! Like actually tho, I typed in my friend’s TOEFL score instead of my own on one application, and on one essay, I wrote the wrong name of the university. I fixed them, though. But yeah check, recheck, and have someone else check it for you too, if possible.
If you’re strong in the arts, send in an arts supplement! I sent in some poetry samples (although I don’t actually know if they’re good haha) to demonstrate my extracurricular interests.
Just be your honest self in all parts of the application. Don’t try to mold yourself to fit the university you’re applying to. I’m sure the admissions officers will be able to tell if you aren’t being genuine.
Enjoy your senior year, but again, keep up those grades. Don’t be consumed by senioritis.
Spend more time with your friends since it’s probably gonna be your last year together. Actually spend more time with everyone around you and join activities you normally wouldn’t. But again, don’t overwhelm yourself.
Even though you’re having fun, remember to check your email regularly. Colleges will update you about things, e.g. if you’re missing a component from your application.
Prepare to view your admission results.
Final Notes
College applications are tough, and you’re amazing for being able to put up with such a daunting task. It’s meant to be hard, so applaud yourself!
Also remember not to wear yourself out! Take breaks and revitalize because you’re going to craft a much better application if you have a clear mind and a healthy body.
And when announcement day arrives, be prepared for whatever result you’ll get. Congratulations if you get into your dream school! And if you don’t, that’s alright; maybe the school wasn’t a good fit for you after all.
That’s it for now. Hope you found this post helpful, and best of luck for your college applications!
as requested by quite a few people – a masterpost of educational podcasts. links go to either the site or the itunes podcast store. an excerpt of the description is included with each.
* indicates a podcast that i listen to regularly
entertainment
*welcome to night vale – twice-monthly updates for the small desert town of night vale
I know a lot of you guys don’t want to reblog those posts about the wildfires in Greece because they’re too long, so I figured I would make a shorter post for y’all.
Here is a link on how to help and what the current situations are, and here is a direct link to the fundraiser.
As someone who has personally been affected by fire, I would really appreciate if y’all could sb this??
ATTENTION ANYONE WHO GOT CAUGHT IN THE FIRES OUTSIDE ATHENS (GREECE): CALL 2296081841 FOR HELP
they can help with food, water and a place to sleep tonight
Please guys reblog this. I’m from Greece (thankfully I’m okay) and I can confirm things are horrible for so so many people here. So please spread the word!
An agency spokesman warned that “unprecedented levels of heat” were being seen in some areas.
More than 22,000 people have been taken to hospital with heat stroke, nearly half of them elderly, officials say.
On Monday, the city of Kumagaya reported a temperature of 41.1C (106F), the highest ever recorded in Japan.
The heatwave shows no sign of abating, forecasters say.
In central Tokyo, temperatures over 40C were also registered for the first time.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that temperatures of 35C or higher would continue until early August.
“We are observing unprecedented levels of heat in some areas,” spokesman Motoaki Takekawa said, adding that the heatwave was “a threat to life and we recognise it as a natural disaster”.
In Ibaraki prefecture, north of Tokyo, a 91-year-old woman was found collapsed in a field and later pronounced dead in hospital. In nearby Saitama two elderly women were found dead in their homes.
With less than half of Japan’s public schools equipped with air conditioning, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the summer holidays could be extended to protect pupils.
“As a record heatwave continues to blanket the country, urgent measures are required to protect the lives of schoolchildren,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
The public is being advised to drink plenty of water, to use air conditioning and to rest often.
People in some cities have taken part in an event known as uchimizu, or “water ceremony” – pouring or sprinkling cold water on to the hot pavements in an attempt to cool them.
The heatwave closely followed torrential rain that caused severe flooding and landslides in the west of Japan.
If only we knew what was likely causing these extreme weather conditions. I guess scientists are too busy wasting time and money on fake research to figure it out. idk
There’s a huge fire in Greece and I can see on tv how hellish it is. They don’t know if everyone is safe and they just said that the children’s camps have been evacuated, I can see animals running frantically around, so many trees burnt, more than a hundred houses destroyed and the fire is constantly spreading. It’s so windy and there are at least three different outbreaks (it’s probably arson). I can see the residents running to save themselves, the tv reporter is begging the tv anchors to run as well, the firefighters are backing up… it’s terrifying.
And of course no one on tumblr will spread the news and raise awareness because were just a lil’ European countries who cares if we’re burning am I right? We’re not the US about to lose free internet after all
Only good enough for them when they want to take a fucking vacation.
Please, everyone reblog. Keep us in your thoughts (and prayers, if that’s your thing). The rain stopped. There are new outbreaks. They are afraid that there have been human casualties as well. The fire is spreading!
There is at least one confirmation for a human casualty as of now according to SKAI (not the best news source tbh but still)…
@lover-healer-empress you are absolutely right.
I’m watching Alpha and they just reported that. There are also some Danish people whose fate is unknown.
I can’t even be salty about people not reblogging atm. I’m just terrified and heartbroken. I’m just watching the news and I feel sick in my stomach. I hope there won’t be any more casualties.
I had no idea about this fire. The ones in California are always all across the news but I really wasn’t aware of the situation in Greece. This sounds really horrible!
I do hope that the fires can be put out before there’s even more death and destruction.
I think that they’ve managed to control most of the fires. But we keep finding bodies..
There were 8 different outbreaks all over Greece last I read, so we’ve asked for international help. Hopefully this nightmare will end soon 😦
update: More than 53 people died.
The air is polluted. Hundreds of houses got burnt. 150 adults are in the hospital suffering from burns nd breathing problems and 11 of them are cannulated. Good thing is, 16 kids from the people who survived the fire are in no danger.
Greece 2017:
The government approves a bauxite mining plan in the area of Kineta.Local residents start a protest against it because it will destroy their forest and pollute the area.
Greece 2018:
A wildfire tears the area.Forests,properties,houses are burned out.At the same time a second wildfire takes place in the west Attica.More than 50 people are dead and 150++ injured.
And that’s just an another excuse for politicians to blame one another while noone is willing to take the blame.
Greece sacrifices people for one more time.
How many times have we seen the same play? Year after fucking year.
We see it all the time. They burn everything down and then sell it out.
Για ποσο ακομα; Αμαν πια, αμαν!!!
I took this picture yesterday. The sky had turned orange due to the fires miles away
If you want to help here is a bank account to donate to for the victims of Rafina-Pikermi :
Piraeus Bank
Bank account number: 5186092291418
IBAN: GR20 0172 1860 0051 8609 2291 418
Name of the recipient: ΔΗΜΟΣ ΡΑΦΙΝΑΣ – ΠΙΚΕΡΜΙΟΥ(aka the name of the municipality)
I have $24 to last me til Friday, what should I buy with it?
a pallet of ramen noodles
I hate ramen noodles tho
hmmmmm
bees?
Are you suggesting that I eat bees for a week
This is roughly what I make sure I have in my kitchen all the time along with rough estimates of local prices (MN). I buy a lot of things when they’re on sale and stockpile them.
instant oatmeal packets with fruit in them – $3 probably and this can be breakfast all week and maybe even a lunch or dinner too since you usually get 10 packets
bag of rice – $2-3 depending on size. 1 cup dry rice makes enough for about two meals depending on what you add in. if you get cheap rice, rinse it before cooking
canned beans – usually under $1 per can – mix the can with your rice and you have a meal. chili-spiced beans will make bean tacos. Rinse non-spiced beans before adding to anything.
Tortilla – usually around $3 but you get like 8-10 of them. Tacos, wraps, and quesadillas are all fair game here
lettuce – $2 max around here, either a head of something or bagged precut depending on preference, use as a salad or on tacos
protein other than beans of some sort – probably $5-7 for meat, $2-3 for eggs. sometimes I can get bags of frozen chicken breasts in this price range and each is usually 2 meals if I add in a bunch of veggies. fry/scramble eggs and add to any of the options.
your favorite stir fry sauce – $3ish
vegetables – $5ish. literally anything that you can 1. fry in a pan and 2. you’ll eat. fresh carrots are usually pretty cheap. get frozen if it’s cheaper and you’re strapped for cash/prep time on this part.
alternative to stir fry: pasta (~$2), fresh tomatoes (~$2), cheese (~$3).
cheese and fruit if you have extra – look if your store has loyalty cards for free that you can load coupons on for cheese there’s always one it seems like.
ahh thank you!!!
Reblogging because there’s never knowing who’ll need it.
Adding also: the single most nutritious food on earth is potatoes in their peel. Potatoes + some milk and butter = everything you need. They don’t last all that long, but they’re fairly cheap and the quickest cheat to “How do I not fuck my body up.”
(Cooked potatoes’ll last a while in the fridge. Potatoes nearing the end of their useful lives? Cook them to half-done first, figure out what to do with them later.)
Easiest baked potatoes: slice thinly but not paper-like, spread like cards, brush with oil (a silicone baking brush is totes worth the little it costs), spread salt and pepper (a little less than you think you’d like), cover with foil, stick in oven or toaster-oven at 150C for 40min. (If you have the patience, at that point click up to 180C, remove the cover and add 10-20min.) Reheats well, lasts in the fridge longer than it’ll take you to nom.
Dead-Animal-Free Whole Protein: some legumes + some grain. AKA rice and lentils, or rice and beans. (Maybe some fried onion for flavor; onion’s cheap and stays good a descent while. Fried onion makes everything taste better and keeps forever in the freezer, so frying up a bunch and keeping portions is not a half-bad idea.) (If going for the beans option – lentils are cheaper around here but fuck if I know what it’s like in your area – dump some tomato sauce and oil in; canola or soy are best health-wise, and far cheaper than olive; avoid corn.) Oh, what does instant couscous go for in your area? It keeps for fucking ever, it’s usually cheap, and it takes well to any and all added taste.
If you get to choose, black lentils taste the best and need the least soak-time (0-20min), green lentils are best for cooked stuff and red lentils are best in soups. (Red lentils + potatoes + root vegetables of choice + spices; cut into small pieces, cook, run through the blender if you wanna [stick blender’s awesome], freeze in portions.)
When possible, get instant soup mix. Get the good instant soup mix. (The kind that’s not made primarily of sugar, yeast or both. The rest is optional.) Dump 1/2tsp (or more, but start on the low end) into couscous, or chicken, or sprinkle over potatoes being stuck in the oven. Whatever. It’ll make most cooked-food-type things taste better. And again, lasts forever on the shelf.
If you can have eggs (goodness knows they’re sometimes expensive), dump some tomato sauce in a pan (tomato sauce lasts forever on the shelf), add some oil, onion/beans to cook in it, hot peppers if you wanna, then when it’s nearly ready crack an egg or two in. Hard-boiled eggs last a remarkably while in the fridge, so when eggs reach near the end of their usable lives, just hard-boil and stick in the fridge.
(Have eggs as often as you can, particularly as you have brain-shit going on. You need all the eggs, salt, and 60%-or-more chocolate you can get. Brains are made of cholesterol and salt, so folks with neuro or other brain shit need more of both. Potassium is also aces. You know what has the most potassium? Tomato paste.)
Grated cheese keeps in the freezer for ever. Grated cheese will make a lot of things taste nicer. Preserved lemon juice keeps forever in the fridge. Grated cheese + oil + lemon = instant and awesome pasta sauce that’ll liven up the weeks-old dry pasta in the fridge.
Slices bread also keeps well in the freezer. Try to have half a loaf or a loaf. Dry bread gets cut in cubes, mixed with oil and the aforementioned instant soup, stuck in oven at lowest until properly dry, then kept in an airtight jar to add to soups.
(Over-ripe tomatoes come cheaper. They get turned into soup or sauce, then frozen in portions.)
this is a very good post but why are we glossing over the fact that the alternative to ramen is bees
i have it on pretty good authority that bees are not an affordable eating alternative to ramen.
Seriously, bees are expensive
Trufax.
And speaking as someone who is also living off oatmeal, beans, and brown rice, if you need recipes, I have them!
Today I made 16 bean soup with chicken sausage and it was crazy good and I got 8 servings out of the one batch (froze half). I usually get the cheapest beans I can find, and GOYA bags of beans are usually $1-2. I soaked them overnight,rinsed them, and threw them in a gallon lidded saucepan with 2 boxes of chicken stock (also on sale for $2), two bay leaves, sauteed green pepper, onion, and celery, some garlic from a jar, about two tablespoons of dried herbs de provence,and the “fancy” bit was adding $6 bourbon and apple chicken sausages. You can actually sub veg stock for chicken and skip the sausage and make it vegan and it would still taste great.
Oh and I’ve been doing steel-cut oats. I don’t buy the name brand ones, I just pick whatever store brand/generic I can get for less than $4. They take about ½ an hour to make, but they’re super tasty and I make 2 cups
of dried oats at a time
with dried cranberries and that’s breakfast for 4 days at least.
I’ve also been making black bean soup, red beans and rice, and curried potatoes and chick peas. I got 100 quart and pint take-away containers from Amazon for $20 and they all stack neatly and are perf for one serving of whatever.
Additionally, depending on where you live, whole rotisserie chickens are something like $4-$7 and are easily 4 – 6 servings of protein and on TOP of that, if you stick the carcass in a ziplock bag and then the freezer you have excellent soup makings. Using bones in soup literally squeezes all viable vitamins and minerals out of the suckers. Soup made from lots of bones is great to keep around if you get sick, it’ll feed and sooth you relatively easily and as you get better you can add noodles. ON TOP OF THAT, a quarter to a half cup of soup broth added to a lot of dishes also adds those nutrients PLUS flavor.
Outlining a story is very, very important. Without an outline and thorough planning, your story will veer off in wildly different directions and will cost you a ton of time editing later, like my book did.
1. Get the characters down first
Characters are like the chess pieces of the story. Their moves and strengths/weaknesses will decide what is going to happen and how it will happen. Sure, you can have a nice plot and setting, but without the characters, the story is meaningless.
Here is the character chart that I usually use:
Name (First/Middle/Last/Maiden name)
Aliases/Nicknames
Age
Race
Gender
Sexuality
Height
Weight
Eye color
Hair color
Clothing style
Religion
Political views
Personality Traits
Strengths and Weaknesses
Likes and Dislikes
Family
Friends
Enemies
Role in the story
Backstory/past
2. Choose a template
Just bulleting the events does not give the plot the dimension that it deserves and does not really accommodate side plots.
I personally use the zigzag method that I discovered fromthis post.I branch off of the zigzags for my side plots so it looks kind of like a graph.
You can also use the subway method, which I found on the nanowrimo website.
There are a whole other host of outlines to choose from if you search them up!
3. Know that you don’t have to stick to it
An outline is just that: an outline. It’s not the final decision for the plot, it’s the first draft for the plot. If you’re writing and one of the points just isn’t working anymore, you don’t have to keep it because it was a part of your outline.
Write what feels right.
Happy outlining, and good luck with your story!
There’s this,,, atmosphere that imagine dragons songs always have, and i can picture it clear as day. I can almost feel it.
Like
It’s dusk and you’re riding down a long road with your friends, the horizon stretches forever and the breeze kisses your cheeks. It’s night and you’re laying on your car, or your roof, in a tree, and someone you love is next to you, and the stars are almost as beautiful as them. It’s midnight and you’re at the beach, and the only light is the bonfire and the moon, and the sound of waves in the background makes the world fall away, and the sound of music makes your feet move through the sand in time with your friends. The sun is rising, or maybe it’s just begun to set, and you’re lying on a blanket in a field, meadow to your left and forest to your right. There are arms holding you and you never want them to let go.
Candlelight-magick 