SchwartzBlog

Last week I turned 18. I didn’t really get to celebrate it since I have had midterms. But through my friends, family, and Facebook, I certainly was reminded quite a few times that, as of last sunday, I am legal.

I don’t rank gifts. I really hope no one does. But today I realized that there was one gift that on my birthday was beyond any other.

I realized this because today I was thinking about how I was going to thank people for their gifts. For many it was as simple as a phone call or a letter.

But then I came across a gift that couldn’t be thanked by a letter or a phone call. Because the gift itself was not a letter, nor a gift card, nor a voicemail. It was a video.

On the night of my birthday I got an email from Facebook telling me a video had been posted on my wall. The video was from someone I knew from school, but not extremely well.

Later that night I got home, turned my computer on, and logged onto Facebook. And I was blown away. The video was of the Quaker Notes, an acappella group at our school, singing happy birthday.

That video had no economic value. I couldn’t go use it at a store, and I couldn’t return it if I didn’t like it. And yet, it was the best gift I got.

I spent this past week thinking about how I was going to thank the members of the Quaker Notes. Truth be told, the video itself was kind of blurry and I didn’t know all of the people in that group. And since midterms are still going on, the thought seemed to go to the back of my mind.

Until today when I was browsing through Facebook and found that today is a birthday of one of the members of the Quaker Notes. As I went to write on her wall, I stopped myself. After what I had been given, I just couldn’t go and only put 8 seconds into a gift that 50 other people were giving. Not when what I had been given had been so unique.

And that was when it hit me.The ability to sing is a resource. It is a skill that requires time and effort to develop, and a skill that I do not possess. So getting a group of friend together and singing happy birthday for someone I’m not that close with, is something I would never be able to do. So what made that gift so meaningful to me was that I could see the amount of resources and time required to put something like that together. It was something I couldn’t measure, and something I couldn’t do myself.

As for the Quaker Notes, I still have no idea if or how I could thank them. Because not only did they give me the most unique birthday gift I have ever received, they left me puzzled. And not many people leave me puzzled.

So for now I am just going to say thank you, in front of everyone I know. Thank you for a gift I can’t return.

And happy birthday Victoria

Thank you for reading…

You don’t need a degree to post something online. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to identify yourself to put something online. But there are two types of writing on the internet; Writing that people give credibility to, and writing that people do not.

So what makes a website credible?

The first thing that come’s to my mind is cited sources. Well, that’s kind of true, but not exactly. Let’s take a look at Wikipedia. While today Wikipedia is much more credible with cited sources, people still gave it credit before it had a lot of cited sources.

So what about foul language? Do credible sources use foul language? Well, I can’t rule it out…

So what makes a website credible? Well, I’ll tell you a little story…

Someone posted this on my facebook wall today:

“check out my blog. let me know what you think. i know you’re a blogger too – feel free to submit an article.
badnewsatgreeley.blogspot.com”

So I went to the blog, and I did think one of the articles was very good. But the first thing I thought to myself is, who is this? How can I trust this information if I don’t know who it is?

People comment on my blog all the time. But a lot of times they don’t put their real name or email. And I have no idea why. Do they not want me to know who they are? Why? So I try to give these comments as much attention as I can, but it is very difficult for me to do so not knowing who actually wrote it.

I’ve been jumping around so lets get to the point.

Being Anonymous is counterintuitive to the concept of social media in general.

You can put whatever you want online. But if you want credibility, you can’t be Anonymous. You need to let the world know who you are and stand behind what you believe in.

Stand Up, Speak Out, Don’t Be Afraid.

Thanks For Reading…

I have had this blog up for over 6 months now, and I have to say it has had a huge impact on me.

Since its inception, it has generated over 50 posts and almost 4,000 hits. The most successful post has been “What Makes A Great Musician And What Makes A Great Ensemble”, which consequently has also gotten the most google clicks.

There’s another thing, google. Whenever someone clicks my blog from google, I can find out exactly what they typed to have my blog pop up. The top hit has been from that music post, but I have had plenty of them. Some just from someone goggling Andrew Schwartz, but some other weird ones. I go to a camp in the summer, and if you google the name of my camp you might come across my blog. If you google a friend of mine Hikari Senju, you might come across my blog as someone did.

The effects of my blog can be seen everywhere. Sometimes at the dinner table someone will say something, and to that there is the reply, “Andrew, you could blog about that”. And if I have a strong enough opinion on the subject, I usually do.

I started this blog for one reason, because Tom Krieglstein told me to.  I got the name SchwartzBlog from Jon Schwartz, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, who’s blog is also called SchwartzBlog. And since it began I don’t think I have gone more than a month without posting. I never get a day without fewer than 5 hits.

This blog has become a part of me. When I have something on my mind, I just type. It lets me chronicle my life, it lets me dig deeper into my interactions, and one day maybe I can take all of these posts and turn them into a book.

So here is where you all come in. This blog has definitely improved over the past few months, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get better. So I ask all of you, how can this blog improve? Leave a comment, shoot me an email, or just stop me in the street if you want to. Whatever it takes to get this blog up a level. Because this isn’t just a website. It’s SchwartzBlog

I wrote this post after visiting Carnegie Mellon

enjoy…

Blog Post Written for 10/18/10 - Carnegie Mellon Trip – Summary & Analysis

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During the last two days I have been at Carnegie Mellon University, and I can without a doubt say that these two days only confirmed what I already knew in terms of where I want to go. So lets get into it. Sunday I woke up at 4:45am (yea I know) and packed, because I was too stupid to do it the night or day before.

Car pickup at 5:45, and off to JFK. Flight to Pittsburgh, cab to CMU. When I got to CMU Registration I walked around, and then went to the main opening session. The room was stadium seating, probably 30 rows with around 150 students and maybe 200 parents. And I bring this up because with all of that, there was only one person sitting in the front row. So being me, I went to the front row, sat down and started a conversation. Nick Peterson was from Seattle and this was his fourth college on this trip, I think. He had seen Cornell, Yale, and Columbia so far. So right off the bat I assumed he was a bright kid. But not bright like he had pocket protector and glasses. In all honesty, He looked like a snowboarder. But he was smart. Let me also say that as a referee I have nothing against pocket protectors, but it helps make the point. So Nick and I started talking, and it turned out that we had a lot in common. We were both interested in the same fields, were both involved in student leadership, and one other thing. When I asked him about his flight back home, it turned out that our flights were 5 minutes apart and the gates were in the same concourse. So essentially Nick and I spent the next two days going to information sessions, sitting in on classes, and we even both got interviews.

I’ll get back to Nick in a bit.

Before I go on, I’d like to go back to that opening meeting. The director of admissions came out, introduced himself and a few other officers, and then he said he wanted all of us to stand up and tell him and everybody else what their name was, where they were from, and what they were interested in studying. And to punish those in the back, he started at the back row. So I went last. I would have gone first, but whatever.

Sunday night I met my “host”, Alex. Interestingly enough, I didn’t spend that much time with Alex. I got a bite to eat with him and his friends, and then we walked to the soccer fields where a pickup game was going on. One of the kids wanted to play and they needed a second to balance the teams, so I played.

Afterwards I went with one of the players to a frat house where they were talking about planning a theatrical performance for an event called “Sing” (Some of my friends know my connection with this, others don’t so I’m not going to bring it up). At CMU, “Sing” is an event in the spring where fraternities and sororities compete in putting on 13 minute renditions of musical performances or broadway shows. And since I actually have some knowledge in the area of shows, I started putting in some ideas and giving them feedback. They loved it. I was no longer a prospective student at that moment, I was, for the time being, one of them.

Afterwards I headed to a mixer, hung around for a little bit, and then went back to the dorm and a few hours later I was asleep. The next morning I woke up around 9, had my interview, went to a few classes and sessions, and went with Nick to the airport. Quick tangent (as if there weren’t any others): I missed school today, but I did attend an hour lecture in a calculus class and learned WAY more than what I missed in a high school math class.

This experience was amazing on two levels, both of which told me the same thing; that Carnegie-Mellon is the perfect school for me. Reason 1 has to do with its programs. Lets face it, almost every piece of technology we currently use will be obsolete in four years. Programming languages we use now will be obsolete in four year. Most of the things taught in Community Center Tech classes four years from now will probably be lightyears beyond the app store. So how do you teach a student body to be on the cutting edge of tomorrow? CMU answer: Teach them to learn. Have them learn to learn the new era (no its not a typo). Teach them how to problem solve on a level that no one else can. So when that software comes out in the years to come, those students will quickly know its flaws and can sell that information back to the company that made that software in the first place. But let’s be realistic; MIT does the same thing.

The second reason I know I want to go to this school is because of the people I already know there. The people I played soccer with were ages 18-23 (17 including me). Business majors, information technology majors, computer science majors, and more. Those head’s of that fraternity were the same thing. There were no airheads at that school. I could go play with some kids, and then talk to them about the inner workings of what they were learning. When I was with them, I felt at home. Then look at Nick. Nick is my age, lives in Seattle, and became my best friend over the past 36 hours. Just because we were the only two students who sat in the front row. Nick is the kind of kid who I could easily spend hours upon hours with, and we would have never met if it hadn’t been for Carnegie Mellon.

I’ve talked to quite a few people over the past 36 hours, and here is what I have told most of them: I am not in the slightest worried whether colleges accept me or not, and neither should anybody else. The reason why college admissions process is so extensive is because each college is built for a different type of person. So if the college doesn’t accept you, it is simply because they don’t think you are a right fit for that school. So even if you went, you probably wouldn’t enjoy yourself.

I bring this up because I want to make it clear that I am not saying I should go to Carnegie Mellon because my GPA fits their profile. The reason I want to go to Carnegie Mellon is because I can see myself there. I can see myself going to class, playing soccer, and having mature lunch conversations. I see myself getting a degree in information systems, maybe getting a minor in music. Who knows, the opportunities are honestly limitless.
This experience was great, and I can only hope that I get to come back in the years to come.

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If you read all the way to this point, Thank You.

There were a few minutes left in the game. The rain was torrential. A Lightning player was tripped. It was a clear foul, and I was supposed to do something about it.  I was thirteen, a new, young ref, and I had been making a lot of mistakes. “Come On!” the Lightning coach rasped at me. He had screamed relentlessly throughout the game. Now, his voice strained, and his hands bunched up in fists, waving at me. He was a friend of my father’s, and his rage made me even more uncertain about my new credentials.

I blew my whistle for the trip. But I had hesitated. A ref can’t hesitate.  His actions need to be immediate, confident. The Lightening coach’s eyes bulged and he screamed at me some more. I looked at the other coach for comfort, some smile of sorts that could give me some more confidence. But I could see that even his faith in me was starting to fade. A Lightning player asked if I would stop the game. He had a good point. The rain was coming down in freezing sheets, and it was no longer fun. I could have stopped that game on account of weather; I could have carded the coach for yelling so viciously at me; I could have just walked off of the field and ended this torture. But I didn’t do any of that. I was petrified.

On that November day back in 2006, I froze.  Not just for one second, but for many, and often. But it wasn’t the freezing rain that paralyzed me.  It was fear.  I was afraid of what one coach would say to my employers, and I was afraid of what the other one would say to my parents. I was afraid of the screaming parents and of the 10-year-old players.  I was afraid of my new responsibility. I was afraid of everything I could think of. I sat in the parking lot at the end of that game and cried. I had lost control of the game, and of myself.

When they teach you the fundamentals of being a referee, they tell you to keep your whistle at your waist while you are on the field. So if you see a foul, you have at least one full second as you bring your whistle from your waist to your mouth to contemplate whether or not you should make the call. That second can be unbelievably terrifying. Anybody can memorize the rules of the game, but a referee does something more:  He memorizes, observes, synthesizes, determines, and reacts. One second can determine a lot.

Four years later, I walk at least three times a week onto more fields. I am one of the youngest high school certified referees in New York State to officiate varsity soccer games. On the field, I refer to the coaches as “Sir” as to give them the respect they deserve as adults. But through my quick and confident calls I earn respect as a referee. At the end of the game the coaches shake my hand, and refer to me as “Sir”. Then I travel to another field to watch a new young referee attempt to earn that same respect. As a mentor, I provide them with the confidence they need to make those same calls. I’ve worked hard. I have learned to stand up to fear. I keep my whistle at my waist. I can do a lot in one second.

College.

It is a word that in my high school, will drive some kids nuts.

Normally this is when I go online and try to find some reasonable percentages to prove my point. But honestly, knowing the demographic that read this blog, I don’t have to.

The college admissions process is a long one, but it is something that if planned correctly, can be executed with minimal stress.

So lets break down this proccess.

Standardized Tests

Colleges don’t want you actually taking the test before the start of junior year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start preparing before the start of junior year. For the most part, anything you will learn in school that will help you with these tests, you will have already learned by the start of your junior year, with the exception of subject tests. So start early. If you start early, you finish early. And once you have the scores you want, you are done.

When you take these tests, you should come prepared. But don’t come over-prepared. Personally, I used the same pencil case for every test I took. And when I finished a test, I put the pencil case in my glove compartment and didn’t take it out until the morning of my next test. I didn’t show up to any test with more than 3 pencils, and I never needed more than 3 pencils. I never showed up with food, because I can go a few hours without food.

It’s not that I think you should be underprepared, but when you over-prepare for these tests, it usually means that you are stressed over it. And stress never helps in those testing rooms. The calmer you are, the clearer you are going to be, and the better you are going to do.

Chill out, take the test, and if you don’t do well, take it again. Simple as that.

Interviews and Tours

Most colleges say that getting an interview is recommended, not required. Well, if you are dealing with your first choice school or even second, it is no longer a recommendation. Don’t just go get a tour and an interview. Spend a day without a guide. Find a friend of a friend who goes there. Meet them for lunch and ask them to take you around. If you can’t find anybody, just go alone. The purpose of a tour is to show you how the school can fit you. But what it doesn’t show you is how you can fit the school.

So walk around. Talk to some students. Figure out what is not on the tour, what the school is really about.

When I went to Carnegie Mellon, I took a tour and had an interview. But I also spent a day without either of them. I walked around. I ended up meeting some students at a soccer field and I played a pickup game with them. Then I talked to them about their degrees. And as I walked around the campus with a few of them, I realized exactly why it was the perfect college for me.

So when I wrote my supplement essay for Carnegie, I knew exactly what to say. I didn’t just talk about why I was qualified to be at that school, I talked about my experience there and why I knew that I belonged there.

Letters of Recommendation

Believe it or not, this was the one angle of the application that could have been my downfall. Because out of the three letters I asked to be sent, only two of them made it to the colleges. So, based on my mistakes, here is what I would recommend; Don’t just get your envelopes to teachers early, keep in touch with them. Most colleges say that they don’t need those letters until a few weeks after the deadline. But in my case, two of the three writers had their letters OUT by october, and I know this because the colleges had opened them and placed them in my file by october 6th. The third writer’s letter was out in early november. Which should have been fine, only it never made it to any of the colleges.

Luckily this didn’t effect me in a negative way because the other two letters arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Essays

One of the biggest parts of your application is your essay. And personally, I loved mine. Here is what I have to say about it:

Your essay has to be about you, not your parents or your guidance counselor. Take an hour and just write about yourself, about everything you love and why. Then give it to your parents and ask them what they think stands out, what they think you could really turn into something.

Your essay is not going to come together in one day, and it’s not only going to come together in front of your computer. One of my strongest paragraphs came after a dinner conversation I had with my parents after watching my brother referee his first soccer game. I actually wrote a post about it…

Overall

There is a reason the college process is so extensive. Those colleges need to figure out not if you are good enough, but if you are a good fit for them and if that college is a good fit for you. If a college denies you, it is simply because you were not meant to be there. But if you get in based off of essays that were not really who you were, you might realize later on that the college you thought you wanted, isn’t that great for you after all.

The process is a long one because it is an accurate one. It picks students that are meant for it. So I know you can’t help it, but don’t stress. You are going to get in to the college you were meant to get into. It is not fate, it’s the process that tries to let the admissions officer know who you really are.

I’ll post up an essay or two later on in the week. If you have any questions or you want me to talk about another portion of the process, just post a comment.

Thanks for reading…

Wow, what a trip it has been.

In my last few days I have been in Jerusalem. I saw the Western Wall, the Dead Sea, and Masada.

The last few days in Israel have really given me an opportunity to think about some of my core values.

I believe that one rarely has the full story. There are so many things that can happen in this world and there are so many things that can happen that you will never know about. So with a major issue, if you jump to conclusions, you are probably wrong, because there is going to be information that you simply don’t have.

Now I am not saying never trust anyone. I am saying that you should be careful when you “say” you are 100% sure of something.

Especially when it has to deal with something you have no control over, say, an international conflict.

That is where this trip comes into play. Obviously the Israeli conflict with the “Palestinians” is one that has a lot of opinions circulating.

And speaking from experience, those opinions can really get a grip on you. So to summarize that point, here is what I can say:

This conflict is not one person constantly beating on the other. It is a conflict. And like any other, there are two sides. So be careful before you make conclusions about what you might not know.

So some conclusions on this trip. Well, it was amazing. But obviously there is a little more to it than that. This trip was an eye opener. From the views on the top of Mt. Arbel to the views on the Israeli conflicts, I have changed the way I look at things.

Another change was the way I looked at my brother. Dan separated his shoulder a few weeks ago and his arm is in a sling.

But that didn’t stop him from:

1. Parasailing

2. Repelling down a crater

3. Climbing a mountain (free climbing Mt. Arbel)

4. Shooting an Uzi Sub Machine Gun and an AK-47

5. Climbing in Archeological Tunnels (A difficult task for everybody, its hard to explain but just keep in mind that from a physical stand point, it was even challenging for me and I have both arms)

6. Climbing another mountain (Masada)

So that is one part. But the other is much more significant. Over the past year and more so over this past week, Dan has started to become less of my “little” brother. In other words, I trust him more. I respect his opinions more. He has started to develop a significant level of intelligence, and it has made it much easier for us to get along and for me to trust him.

The last person I want to bring up is our guide, Yoram Mor. Yoram has been a guide for over 20 years, and it shows. He was a constant wealth of information that never needed to stop. If we wanted to change our itinerary for the day, he would have it done. If we wanted to cram three 1 hour activities into 2 hours, he would have it done. If you needed a good jewish joke, he would tell you one. He was always there when we needed him, and he never stopped spewing information about where we were. It is honestly astonishing how much I learned about Israel on this trip, and I have no doubt in my mind that he played a huge role in that happening.

Israel was awesome, no doubt about it.

Next week I break down the college application process, see you soon!