Selling your soul to McMaster... really

If there was an instant beam-into-McMaster’s-Health-Sciences-Program button, I’d press it. Despite the fact that reading the school’s supplementary application questions resulted in the need to commit an act of self-hurt, McMaster’s philosophy is also the reason why they’re one of my top two choices. They consider more than an applicant’s marks. They believe in problem-based and self-directed learning.

The thing is, it’s hard to know how to suck up. If McMaster wanted me to do a headstand, I would. If they wanted a ham sandwich with mustard and mayo, I’d make it for them. But answering their questions creates more mental strain than sorting out the ending of X-Men 3 (apparently there’s a special director’s cut where Cyclops dies and the other characters notice).

McMaster’s second question asks, “What’s one extra-curricular activity that’s important to your sense of self and why?” I have a general rule about answering questions like that. It goes something like, “If it has the words, ‘sense of self,’ within it, I skip it.”

There’s only one thing worse than a meandering, open-ended, self-exploration kind of question, and that’s McMaster’s third question. I swear I’m not making this up:

“What is the one question that shouldn’t be asked and why?”

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I remember the good old days, when all it took was having a 90+ grade point average and glasses to get into university.

Now I’m forced to choose between, “How many skid marks before you throw out a pair of underwear?” or, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

scott.dobson.mitchell@gmail.com