I got in to Berkeley! :D Just got the email. Wooooooo!!!!!!

*squeals a whole lot*

Hurrah! It's in! *squeals*

This is your confirmation that your online application has been submitted. Please print this page for your records.

Submission Date: January 06, 2008 09:53 PM

Name: Pakrul, Stephanie

Program: Information Management and Systems

Degree: M.I.M.S.

Term and Year: Fall 2008

Now to wait to hear back... which should be between mid-March and early April.

The suspense is nearly killing me. Or it would be if I had a spare moment to notice.

Big big big things coming. Soon. I can spill the beans in a couple of weeks or so. And no, I'm not pregnant, since I know that's where your brains are going :P

~~~

In news of things that aren't in stealth mode, I dropped off the stuff I needed to submit hard copies of at UC Berkeley today. Eeee! They'd be crazy not to take me ;) The more I write about the things I want to do, the courses, my background, the professors there, the inspiring opportunities... the more it makes me excited about actually being there in the fall. Cross your fingers.. I have to get the last of the online stuff in this weekend, then it's a waiting game for 2-3 months.

Also, we launched Amnesty! Yep, that's our handiwork up live at www.amnesty.org right now. Chris and I did the theming (wireframes/design mockups -> Drupal theme). Try switching it to Arabic.. too cool.

The boys were out for a great visit over the holidays, which was actually a nice rest for us. Saw some good shows, ate good food, hung out. Yay!

We're off to a Drupal workshop in Portland all next week, so we'll be pretty afk. Oh, and I'm co-chairing the design/UX track at the upcoming Drupalcon 2008 in Boston. Feeling awesome things brewing...

Well, I'm mildly confused :) My quantitative score was somehow a 780, but my verbal dropped to a 590 (which is still 82nd percentile, but lower than average scores for Berkeley). Nailed the essays, but I have to wait for those scores. And those BASTARDS gave me a second experimental math section. And no, they don't tell you which one it is. Too. Much. Math.

So yeah... this leaves me really torn. If my verbal had been just a wee bit higher, I'd be ecstatic. I'm gonna mull it over for a bit before deciding if I'll take it again. I really don't want to go through another month of studying, ugh. Nor risk seriously dropping that high quant score :)

Either way, yay, it's over and I did well!

So tired, tense, sore... time to unwind tonight and then on to more important things in life than analogies and geometry :)

(PS. felt the San Jose earthquake while we were in the theatre at a family friend's film screening.... looooong rumble, very cool!)

Last practice test has me sitting at a 650 verbal (92nd percentile) and 680 quantitative (70th percentile). Gotta remember not to freak out when I get verbal questions where I don't know half the words in the answers, since that means I'm getting most of them right and getting the hardest questions :)

Guh my math still sucks though! I have a hell of a time figuring out the "trick" to these word questions that you have to translate into algebra. Basically, all the math questions can be answered in like under 30 seconds if you see the way to do it. But half the time I don't have that AHA! moment and end up having to try and calculate some crazy ass answer and guess. Or I make a careless mistake, but I've been better about writing stuff down. Berkeley wants quantitative at 80th percentile or higher. Gonna try and cram another hour or so of word problem wrangling into my brain and then get a good night's sleep.

Wish me luck!

(also I keep telling myself that I can do the test again in November if I need to... I really feel like I left re-learning high school math a little late in the game...)

Just when the Berkeley iSchool couldn't possibly have me any more excited, they come out with a new course like this.

I'm nearly squealing by the time I get to the syllabus page and see things like this: "Lab 9 - Synthesis: Invent a music instrument (group work)"

Then nearly fall out of my chair when I see the footer: "Powered by Drupal"

*faints with happiness*

Been a busy grad school prep beaver today -- starting my statement of purpose, writing my last (hopefully) reference-letter-writer, reading up on the wonderful world of NSF grants (no way I have the time/background to apply this year, but I will for next year!), and making notes on four professors I'm dying to meet at the open house.

~~~

Both our huge work projects are in their biggest crunch time at the same time this week. IE6 must die. This makes Steph crazy. This makes Steph crazy. This makes Steph crazy.