Cornell, you really need to work on your acceptance jargon.

When I was offered a place in Cornell’s Class of 2014 so many years ago (well, okay, it feels like many years ago), the congratulatory message I received was pretty generic: in fact, I’d say that most American colleges and universities follow the same basic model of “Welcome to [Whatever School], little underling! Please accept your offer quickly so we can give your place to another slightly-less-lucky applicant whose academic records are otherwise probably indistinguishable from yours if you say no! ”

So, as a junior in college who (thankfully) has yet to worry about getting into any additional programs for still-higher education, why am I talking about the college application process?

Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I just “firmly accepted” my “unconditional offer of admission” to Scotland’s University of Edinburgh for the Spring 2013 semester. Wouldn’t you love to hear such charming phrases in your next college acceptance letter?*

*That might sound like sarcasm, but I am TOTALLY SERIOUS. I have never heard such kindly phrases in this sort of context before.

I’m also fairly certain that no American university has ever “very much hope[d]” that a student will choose to study there…

Last year, I wrote a post about the challenges I faced during my search for a study abroad program. I eventually narrowed down my top choices to Edinburgh and the University of Cardiff in Wales: as much as visiting Wales is one of my greatest dreams in life, Edinburgh offered an academic program much more relevant to my interests.

Although I’ve only been a confirmed study-abroader for a couple of weeks now, I’ve already begun to learn about many of the quirks involved in adjusting to a completely different academic system…

  • I won’t be spending too much time in class. Weirdly enough, most European universities tend to allow each student only a very small number of courses per semester: like all Edinburgh students, I’m only enrolled in three! The “quality, not quantity” cliche, however, happens to be applicable here. During my time away from Ithaca, I will be studying the imaginative qualities in artworks by and contemporaneous to Jan van Eyck; Chinese modern art; and–wait for it–the history and performance of highland bagpipes. Seriously.
  • Smoking in dorms is apparently okay. I’m very sensitive to cigarette smoke, and can barely handle walking fourscore feet behind someone puffing like a dragon without breaking into a coughing fit, so I was surprised to find out that a number of the residences for Edinburgh students allow smoking indoors. Fortunately, I was able to find a couple of nice-looking dormitories that appeal more to my smoke-free sensibilities: here’s hoping the Edinburgh housing process works more effectively than Cornell’s!
  • Creative writing doesn’t qualify you for anything (including creative writing courses). Studying at Edinburgh as a third-year student requires a significant background in your subject of choice. Since I’ve been devouring art history courses with fervor recently, I was perfectly qualified for upper-level “History of Art” (as they call it abroad) classes–but, in a shocking plot twist, cannot take any English classes! I’m almost done with my English major: how could this be possible? Well, apparently creative writing seminars–even selective, upper-level classes like those I took last spring–are useless to Edinburgh’s English lit department. I’m not even qualified to take their basic creative writing course because that too requires a certain number of solid “literature” classes. And it’s not just the creative writing, either: any English courses I took that were cross-listed (e.g. a linguistics course focusing on the English language) are okay for the Cornell English major and not so okay abroad. Keep that in mind, potential applicants, lest you too are forced to take Highland Bagpipes instead of a literature class! (What a tragic fate I’ve brought upon myself. However will I survive?)

And, if you’re wondering how studying abroad will affect my posts here, fear not: I plan on both continuing to blog about the pre-departure process and later reporting my experiences as I go boldly where no Keely has gone before! 

Warning: as long as I’m in Scotland, I will probably never tire of the Star Trek/”beam me up” jokes. Live long and prosper!