I had to independently apply to the law and business schools of each of the schools I was considering. This meant that since there were 4 universities I was interested in, I had to complete 8 applications. You can see the ultimate results here:

Needless to say, I was not too happy with the results. I got all my applications in around the 1st of the year, and the decision schedules all indicated that I should hear from schools around March or April at the latest, which would have given me plenty of time to plan and return to the U.S. from China. I was very confident with my applications as my GPA was extremely high (3.925) which put me at the top of my UCSD graduating class and earned me membership in both Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. I had worked steadily for the UCSD CSE department as a TA for over 3 years. I had started my own business and acted as CTO of an internet startup. My entrance exams went well. I got a 160 on the LSAT which put me in the 82nd percentile, and a 730 on the GMAT which put me in the 97th percentile with a perfect score on my writing sample. My essays got praise from everyone that I showed them to, and I had a good group of supporters writing letters of recommendation for me.

When the rejections started rolling in, I really had no idea what had happened. On the law school side, the only dark spot was my LSAT score, which while it wasn’t perfect, was decent. Everything other than my LSAT score would have been tough to beat. On the business school side of things, I had no dark spots except for the fact that I had no post-university business experience. I, however, only applied to schools that specifically stated that they accepted students with no post-university experience. Given that type of statement, they must have accepted some people with no post-university experience, and it would have been tough to have beaten my credentials.

By the time April had rolled around, I had been rejected by every school except USC. I was even rejected by UC Berkely, the school my mom attended for her undergraduate education. USC was first choice, so I still had my fingers crossed. I quickly got rejected by their law school, but had still heard nothing from their business school. I started calling and emailing frequently trying to explain to them that returning to the states from China was not an easy thing. By the time June rolled around, I finally got a response from one of their admissions directors telling me that I had been accepted by the business school, and to wait for an admissions packet that they would mail to me. This packet was postmarked on the 5th and didn’t arrive at my U.S. address (my dad’s house) until around the 9th. They were out of town for a few weeks, but when the got back, they told me that the packet stated I needed to respond by the 15th, a date that had already passed. I couldn’t believe that they had waited SOOO long to send me the packet if the date was that close. I had my dad send the packet to me here in China, but it still hasn’t arrived yet. I called the USC admissions office over 8 times but couldn’t get a call back. I sent a number of emails to them but still didn’t get a response.

At this point, I had already been leaning towards spending another year in China. I have an amazing life here that I am extremely happy with. I have a wonderful girlfriend who I am totally in love with. I am learning new things every day and constantly find interesting things about this culture. My Chinese is improving rapidly, but it is clear that due to the complexities of the language, it will take far longer to learn than Italian or Spanish. I spent 6 months learning Italian to get to a level that I was pleased with. I think that 8 or 9 months with Chinese is nowhere near enough time to get to a similar level, but that 18 or 24 months might be a better estimate. I also am just beginning to understand what it is like to do business out here and still have yet to get my feet wet.

All that being said, I was slightly leaning towards spending another year here in China when I finally heard back from USC and they agreed to grant me a deferral. This way I can spend another year here in China and then decide what I want to do. I can go back to the states and attend USC business school. I can stay on here in China on a more permanent basis. Or I can do something entirely different. The bottom line is that I now have more options than ever, which is a great feeling.

So I will be staying here in Shijiazhuang for at least another year. Shortly I will be updating this website a bit to reflect this change. I would like to thank all the people who helped me with my applications including Susan M, Chuck M , Justin K, Geoff V, Jeff W, my Dad, and especially my Mom.

I feel very happy now and I feel very happy about the road ahead

Just after lift-off:

Me geeking the camera on take-off:

Coming in for a fly-by:

Going around:

Coming in for a fly-by:

Up close and personal:

Going around:

On every trip around the pattern, Kevin would let me know how much time he needed to change lenses, change filters, reposition, etc. and I would adjust my pattern to give him sufficient time. Then on the 4th trip around the pattern, I don’t hear his usual radio call, just “Andy, I have to go.” I think to myself “Huh!?!?!” We flew in together….and you have the whole afternoon off….what do you mean “I have to go?”

Well….I look down and there is a police truck with the lights flashing and Kevin is being dragged away in the back. I start to get very worried and try to decide what to do. I don’t want to get in trouble by landing and possible having them take down my tail number or start hassling me about how I was flying. But there is now way I can leave Kevin there alone….so I land and try to figure out what is going on. I see the truck pull up to a bungalow up on the top of the hill on the east side of the runway. The guy gets out of the truck and starts talking to Kevin outside. Luckily it was just some rent-a-cop security guard and he let Kevin go after a stern talking to.

Needless to say, we left immediately and decided to head home. We hadn’t satisfied our photo craving yet though, so we were scheming on where we could take some more photos. Usually, an airplane would be a great photo platform as you get great views of the ground below. My Mooney, however, isn’t the best for taking pictures. The problem is that you really need an open window to take the pictures out of so that you don’t get reflections off the glass and the camera doesn’t have focusing problems. In the Mooney, there is only a tiny pilot’s side window. When we saw some hot air balloons, however, we decided to try and shoot of the little thing:

It worked decently and before we knew it, we were photographing everything. Here is Del Mar race track:

Geisel Library and UCSD:

Muir college / my dorm from first year / my apartment from second year:

Marigold area / my hanger at KMYF:

We finally landed at KMYF and stopped at the gas pump to fill up. The sun was just setting and it seemed like another great opportunity to take some artsy photos of my plane and some photos of me in front of it

Setting sun and the Mooney:

The Mooney on a golden ramp:

Me and my baby:

I love my baby….we get along soooo well:

Mooney and me:

You can see all the photos we took in the gallery below. I have high resolution versions of all the pictures so just email me if you want one.
Low-res gallery

After we got done putting the plane away, cleaning it, downloading the pictures, burning them to CD, and closing up the hanger, I got a quick bite to eat at CPK. My buddy Marco from Potenza, Italy called me and invited me to go bar hopping in the gaslamp (downtown San Diego) as it was his girlfriend’s last night here in the states before returning to Italy. We spent a while drinking, socializing, and dancing…….I spoke almost exclusively in Italian and convinced two Sicilian girls that I was an Italian, and then came home wayyyyyy too late. Good times

While studying at UCSD, I decided to study abroad. In June 2004, I moved to Siena, Italy for 6 months to learn Italian. I became fluent in Italian and had the time of my life. I had never thought that I would be able to learn another language, but I did and was blown away by it. Being able to listen to Italian music, watch Italian movies, order off menus in Italian, and understand perfectly when other Italians speak is AMAZING.

In June 2005, I graduated from UCSD (Summa cum laude, phi beta kappa, tau beta pi, gold key… ). I decided to go to graduate school and get a JD/MBA (business and law degrees), but due to the great experience I had in Italy, I wanted to take a year off and learn another language first. I decided on Chinese (Mandarin) because:

1. It is the most spoken language in the world
2. China is becoming (if it isn’t already) the most powerful economic force in the world
3. It is the farthest language from English and now would be the best time to try and learn it since I don’t have a job or a family and can just move to China
4. I find the culture to be interesting and exciting
5. I really like Chinese food

Thus I will be leaving for China October 19th, 2005 and staying until graduate school starts in late 2006. I will be studying mandarin in a city called Shijiazhuang (I don’t even know how to correctly pronounce that name) that is about 200 miles south of Beijing. The program I will be in is the Konall school. My only goal is to get decent at Chinese by the time I return to the US. Until then…..

Chinese Chinese Chinese!!!!!