Several geeky reasons I really like file reading

1. The names.  This may have something to do with my own standard moniker ("Colleen"is simply "girl" in Gaelic -- very creative, Mom and Dad -- and Smith is hardly distinctive), but I truly enjoy all the unusual, foreign, and melodic names I encounter through application files.  If I ever decided to turn my attention to writing a novel, I'd be set.  Character names abound!

2. The places.  You'd think that after 5 years of reading the same territories, most of these schools would be familiar to me.  But just in the few days we've been reading files this season, I've already encountered several new-to-me schools -- from rural areas where we don't see many applicants to new public charters to our ever-expanding pool in China.  And there's always more to learn about a region; for example, I've read the essays of many students from Shenzhen, which prompted me to check out this gripping book from the library, and recently I caught this fascinating/uncomfortable episode of This American Life.  Arm chair traveling is pretty fantastic.

3. The mascots.  Lava Bears.  'Nuff said.  (And Thyra's all-time-favorite typo on a school profile: "Home of the Mighty Loins."  Oops.)

4. The camaraderie.  Sure, I'm reading files alone in my living room, with no one but my dog for company.  But I can imagine the reactions of my colleagues when we read our commentary aloud in committee, and so it's fun to work in a pun for Peter or a literary reference for Thyra.  (Falone and Raissa's sports analogies tend to whoosh right over my head, unfortunately.)  Our favorite essays get bookmarked so the entire office can enjoy them.

5. The reassurance.  Without airing too many of my personal political views here, let me simply say that I'm often deeply concerned about the trajectory of our planet.  During reading season, these worries evaporate.  Our applicants care so deeply about making the world a better place, and they have the intelligence, the creativity, and the ethics to do it.  Our future could not be handed to better stewards.