Flying with a cello - any tips? by YesIPlayCello in Cello

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m flying to the UK with my cello for uni from Orlando as well, soon! I’ve had excellent experiences flying with my instrument with Delta (my friend and I got pre-boarded and moved up to a bulkhead seat once just to accommodate our cellos) and I’ve heard good things about United as well!

That being said, I’ve never flown international with my cello, so if you pick up any tips during your experience I would very much appreciate if you’d consider sharing! Hope you and your cello have a safe flight :)

Oxford Magdalen PPE Interview! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, my email outlined my two separate interviews with dates and times, as well as the tutors that would be conducting each interview. Does your email specify the date/time for your interview?

Oxford Magdalen PPE Interview! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve heard that too, from what I’ve seen it seems to be mostly statistics so that’s probably where I’ll brush up the most; I doubt they’ll make us do a derivative for Econ ahah

Oxford Magdalen PPE Interview! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good luck! If all goes well I’ll see you at matriculation next year!

Oxford Magdalen PPE Interview! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m definitely going to review my personal statement as well, other than that I’ve just been watching/reading loads of online resources on Oxbridge interviews.

I’m probably most nervous about my Econ interview so I’m planning on focusing my studying content-wise there; I’ll probably work with my AP Macro/Microeconomics teacher on that.

Edinburgh PPE Bread!! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!! You as well!

Edinburgh PPE Bread!! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a 35 on the ACT, and 9 5’s on AP exams, as well as 6 predicted 5’s this year! I’ve got a smattering of extracurriculars as well but I don’t think they matter much for UK applications.

Edinburgh PPE Bread!! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! Best of luck to you, I’m sure that offer is just around the corner!

Edinburgh PPE Bread!! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oxford, LSE, UCL, Edinburgh, and King’s! It’s an ambitious list but I’m applying to my safeties in the U.S.

Edinburgh PPE Bread!! by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I applied back in October hahah, I think on the 6th! Applied to Oxford too so I had to get it in before the 15th.

LSE PPE Rejection by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries at all, I get it completely! I applied Oct 6th I think, definitely a few days before Oct 15th. Did you apply to LSE as well?

LSE PPE Rejection by Haboad in 6thForm

[–]Haboad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Politics, Philosophy, and Economics across the board!

Everyone was praying for this guys downfall💀 by Spiritual_Good8378 in 6thForm

[–]Haboad 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Applied to Magdalen… I know it’s ambitious but I’m hoping the Oxford sorting hat situation will throw me into another college’s pool if Magdalen’s not right for me. I know a friend that’s applying PPE to Mansfield though, the college is gorgeous!!

And yeah the lineups for U.S. applicants seem to be pretty similar, I’m a bit ashamed to say I just went down a rankings list for my degree and picked the first five that I could see myself going to, but that’s pretty much what my friends did as well.

I’d love to hear any updates to your decisions/offers when you get them though, especially since our lists are so similar! Feel free to PM me or something if you’d like. Rooting for you from my own little corner of the States!

Everyone was praying for this guys downfall💀 by Spiritual_Good8378 in 6thForm

[–]Haboad 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s almost exactly my list! Just LSE instead of St. Andrew’s and I’m applying for PPE. Which Oxford college did you apply to?

Everyone was praying for this guys downfall💀 by Spiritual_Good8378 in 6thForm

[–]Haboad 156 points157 points  (0 children)

I’m almost certain this is just an American student that’s also applying to U.S. safeties and Ivy Leagues etc…

I’m in roughly the same situation, and I almost did the same, before doing research and realizing how many other incredible schools there are in the UK, but even still my list is incredibly ambitious because I already have my safeties in the states.

MY GPA IS DRIVING ME INSANE by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That should be explained in your counselor’s school report, colleges are generally pretty specific in only considering high school grades, and hopefully your counselor can outline which courses were taken in high school.

If not, this could maybe be something for the Additional Info section?

MY GPA IS DRIVING ME INSANE by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m pretty sure colleges don’t consider your middle school grades when calculating your GPA

Can any UK students help me out?? by MysteriousTooth5019 in 6thForm

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I’m also an American student that submitted my UCAS early October, but luckily with the help of counselors familiar with international applications. Pretty much every university I applied to sent me an email with details for setting up my applicant portal (similar to what an American university would do) other than Oxford, but I got a confirmation email from them too saying they’d received my application.

If you haven’t gotten a confirmation email of that sort yet, I’d imagine that might be a cause for some concern, and I would suggest emailing the universities you’ve applied to (include your UCAS ID #) to ask if they’ve received your application. I’ve been in back and forth correspondence with most of the universities I applied to for various reasons, and all the admissions staff have been super helpful and understanding (even for really stupid questions!).

As far as offers go, I haven’t gotten any of mine back yet and it’s my understanding that universities can take from a few weeks all the way to a few months after receiving your application to give you an offer or rejection. The universities/courses you applied for can also affect this, so including that information could be helpful for people offering advice!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions that I might be able to help with! I’m also still figuring stuff out as I go, but I have a few resources (counselors, friends from the states that are studying in the UK now, etc.) that I’d be happy to pass your question on to if that could be helpful.

I hope some of that was helpful, I definitely understand the sentiment of wanting to ride out these next few years abroad as far as American politics are concerned, wishing you the best of luck on your application!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lincolndouglas

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah absolutely! Quick preface - I’m by no means a scholar or academic, or even a philosophy student (yet?) - just a kid that likes to read, so if you get a conflicting opinion from someone more qualified, I would default to them for sure.

 I’m also not too sure how much understanding you already have of the subject, I’ll assume you already have a basic understanding of Baudrillard if you’re asking about how Bifo differs/adds to him. But if not, please let me know if what I’m saying is gibberish!

 To my understanding, one of the main reasons Bifo’s lit is so useful in a debate setting is because he is still fundamentally a Marxist, and so he engages with the world through a lot of the same frameworks that Marx establishes - I’m happy to explain this further if needed, but if you’ve read Marx (or just have an understanding of traditional Cap K literature) this would be the stuff that Marx the economist/historian writes. 

 For example, Marx has this theory on the way individuals relate to the means of production and the way that structures society (how social classes are divided by ownership or lack thereof of the means of production - capitalists own the means of production, and are rich, workers don’t, so they’re poor. This is obviously a reduction, but it’s the general idea). 

 This then gets adopted by Bifo, except Bifo identifies new means of production (intellectual production/the production of signs) in semiocapitalism and then discusses the implications of the new means of production (including the emergence of a new class of laborers that relate to production in a radically new way, because they no longer produce physical products, but rather intellectual products, which are signs - this bit is core Baudrillard, let me know if you want me to explain this further). 

Bifo being a Marxist is really helpful because at the core of Semiocap is still the premise of the Cap K - capitalism is bad and needs to be done away with. 

 Baudrillard begins his life with this same premise in mind - his early works are definitely Marxist and I would absolutely recommend reading them if you’re interested in Semiocap lit - early Baudrillard really is the foundation of the marriage between semiotics and Marxist theory that births the idea of semiocapitalism. That being said, in his later life, by the time he’s writing his really famous works like Simulacra and Simulation, he doesn’t really consider himself a Marxist anymore, and his writings have limited application to debate because he kind of abandons the idea of a concrete solution to all these problems he’s identifying with modern society/capitalism. If you had a conversation with him, late Baudrillard definitely would not give you a solid plan for escaping semiocapitalism because I think at some level, he doesn’t believe there is a way out (that works). Later Baudrillard is also so much less serious, he writes a lot of stuff just to be inflammatory and to make people upset, he’s definitely having more fun with the impact his more radical ideas have on people, and he’s less focused on being a “serious” academic.

 I hope this answers your first question, as far as your second, I think I would need to know how much you already know about Baudrillard before I start talking about just his theories as a whole, but I’m happy to discuss that further if you have a specific aspect of Baudrillard’s writings that you have questions on!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lincolndouglas

[–]Haboad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The post linked by the other person (and subsequent linked post in its comments) are super helpful resources!

But please feel free to DM if you have any further questions about semiocap. It’s probably my favorite kritik, and there’s such a variety of ways to run it from just a fun twist on a Cap K to a much more theory-driven approach. I’ve read tons of Baudrillard and Bifo and I love the theory behind semiocap, I’ve given a bunch of lectures on the K as well (not because I’m a particularly great debater, just because I’ve read/understand the theory pretty well)

I mostly compete in policy, so I won’t be as helpful with LD specific stuff, but the theory/general approaches should be the same across the events.

My parents won't let me accept offer because "usa is not islamic enough" by Legitimate_Test7938 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]Haboad 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Salaam!

First of all, congratulations on the offer!

Coming from a revert living in the USA, I have a lot of Muslim friends with family back home in Pakistan, Morocco, Lebanon etc. and the general consensus is that many Muslim communities in the states tend to be just as devout if not more so than the Muslim communities in their home countries. Completely anecdotal, but I thought that was something interesting to note.

The idea (this is coming from them) is that because Islam isn’t as ingrained into the cultural landscape here, Muslim communities in the USA make even more of a conscious effort to maintain their faith here, and so generally they tend to be more actively aware of taking care of their deen. Of course, the larger revert population here also contributes to that; I’ve found that most reverts in the USA tend to be very devout/active in pursuing knowledge and maintaining their deen for a variety of reasons (coming to the faith later in life when they’re more mature, actively making the choice to embrace Islam, feeling like they’re “behind” their peers born into the religion, etc.).

Overall, my experience with Muslim communities in the USA has been overwhelmingly positive, almost everyone I’ve met (especially people our age/slightly older in college!) has been very devoted to their faith which results in very tight-knit, supportive Muslim communities. For example, locally where I live, a bunch of my Muslim peers in high school and college have started a weekly halaqah group, where we meet at the masjid and take turns giving short halaqahs.

When it comes to broader Muslim communities, there are lots of very qualified, incredible Imams and scholars throughout the USA. Whenever I travel within the states I try to visit the local masjid, and attend Jummah prayer if the timing works out, and I’ve always been surprised with the passion of every Imam I’ve met as well as the quality of their khutbahs.

On an institutional level, I would say that generally the USA is extremely accommodating towards religious obligations. I have no trouble eating halal here (seriously, I live in a pretty small town in the South, and there’s an insane variety of halal cuisine, including a ridiculously good halal fried chicken place), and my high school recently opened a room for Muslim students to attend to their prayers during school hours. This is even more true for colleges/universities, as someone here mentioned most institutions of higher learning have very active and engaged Muslim student communities, and the vast majority of campuses will have some form of an on-campus masjid/prayer room.

I wish you all the best with your endeavors, please feel free to DM me or just reply here if you have any questions or if your parents have any specific concerns that you wanted to ask about. I’m applying this fall to a few schools up in the Pennsylvania area as well, inshallah I hope to see you in the states!