An Opportunistic Road Trip: Part Deux
Mar 8, 2010

students discussing at a table

When he's not embarking on the Opportunity Network college tour, Cesar discusses the layout of his short film about the Biennial with fellow group member Sakhia, March 2010. Photograph by Diane Exavier

students discussing at a table

Hey there! It’s Cesar again, still your favorite blogger! I'm taking a break from camera duty to pick up where we left off on the Opportunity Network college tour.

Our next stops on the tour were Wesleyan University and MIT. Both schools were huge! Wesleyan had all of the athletic facilities that you could think of, which really interested me because I like to play all sports. They had fields for soccer, football, baseball, track, ice hockey, swimming pools, and even rock climbing walls! This was another liberal arts school where the students were really friendly, shouting “Come to Wesleyan!” whenever they had the chance. MIT’s students didn’t seem as open and friendly, but the school was still great. 

We saved the Ivy League schools for last: Brown University and Yale University. They were both phenomenal! Brown University was my favorite because of all the academic freedom. Students can take any classes they want and the pass/fail system relieves a lot of pressure. Yale was also very interesting and offered many programs of study. The facilities there were also huge. A fun fact about Yale is the history behind the school’s good luck charm. Long ago, during the canoe-sporting season, the president at the time would tap the school’s canoes with the tip of his shoe. Whenever he did this, Yale would win the race. The president eventually had a statue erected in his honor on campus. Now, students rub their hands on the tip of the statue’s shoe for good luck. 

Like Brown, Yale is part of the Ivy League, a small group of excellent schools that are highly selective. Both of these universities receive about 25,000 applications a year and only 2,000 are accepted! The chances of getting in might seem nearly impossible, but I realize that we have to live in the present, excel in our education today, and take it one day at a time. I want to thank Opportunity Network, because I have learned a lot from this experience and had a great deal of fun in the process. 

Now back to filming!

By Cesar