<p>LOL I just always had this pretty image of NYC. Big city, big dreams, fun times really means busy city, crushed dreams, and fake friends. I’m sorry I had to insert a joke. I just had to do it.</p>
<p>^Idealization is always dangerous, my dear.</p>
<p>Better to be an eternal pessimist and proven right than an eternal optimist and always proven wrong.</p>
<p>Lol when you’re 12 and you’ve never been to NY, all you have to rely on is the crap people put on TV. Of course, in a few years, I’ll be “those people on TV” except good. I’m usually optimistic though. I’ve always said “Hope for the best, expect the worst.” Nice equilibrium.</p>
<p>^Well, to each his own. From a young age, I always viewed television programs with skepticism, as I have been plagued by niggling suspicions about the veracity of many media claims. Having been raised in a household where outside appearances reflected practically nothing about the less appealing inner machinations, I generally do not trust superficial impressions.</p>
<p>Unless, of course, those impressions relate to food. </p>
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<p>For my viewpoint of optimists, I refer to the Devil’s Dictionary by the lovely Ambrose Pierce: optimists are proponents of the doctrine that black is white.</p>
<p>/bitterness</p>
<p>:D</p>
<p>I remember when I wanted to decide. But couldn’t. The answer came when I prayed not for the college I wanted, but the college I was supposed to be.</p>
<p>@ksarmand- Lol. I guess I am an optimist. I just feel that you have to look for the best in your situation. Negativity only breeds more negativity. Might as well join the light side.</p>
<p>Hey guys, it’s been a while.</p>
<p>Glad to hear everyone’s got in to the place of their choice, good luck to all of you.</p>
<p>How’s everyone doing on scholarship money and financial aid? I haven’t gotten much in the way of financial aid other thans loans which I AM NOT taking from the University of Central Florida (I messed up my FAFSA). However, I’ve gotten approximately $70K in scholarship money, so I’m looking forward to pocketing almost $30K from that when I do graduate with my BS! :)</p>
<p>I hope you guys are meeting the same success!</p>
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<p>Well, considering a lot of posters here received merit aid or acceptance into universities that provide extremely generous financial aid, I think that we are all doing quite well. :)</p>
<p>And with regards to my situation, after some negotiations with the financial aid office, their initial estimate of upwards of $17,000 was reduced to a far more reasonable $9,500.</p>
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<p>That is excellent! Congratulations. If I may ask, from where does this scholarship money come? Is it the result of competitions discrete from the school, or is it from the institute you shall be matriculating at next year itself?</p>
<p>having won a plethora of scholarships, including gates, ronald mcdonald and ron brown, i have an infinite amount of funds, on top of the full ride i was given =D … now i’m just looking for smaller local scholarships for pocket money.</p>
<p>@ksarmand, I got $10,000 from the school. The rest, ~$60,000, is from seperate organizations.</p>
<p>@justadream92, Seems like you’re rollin’ in dough! :P</p>
<p>^That is excellent. Kudos to you both.</p>
<p>Just a suggestion: </p>
<p>Perhaps you two should make a post of some sort, either here or in the “Admissions Hindsight and Lessons Learned” subforum in “College Admissions” to give advice to students about scholarships, for I realize that this is one area I was sorely lacking in advicce during my junior year.</p>
<p>My AP Chem and AP Calc exam’s are tomorrow and AP English is on Friday. Ahhhh!!!</p>
<p>This sucks. Most people are in AP, so when I bring up IB, they either say “what’s that?” or “Oh I’m in AP.” I finished my chem sl for IB last year. So I did my math studies sl, history hl, english hl already (all last week and the week before). I finished spanish hl today (day before grad), and I have my final exam, french ab (sl test), on the 24th.</p>
<p>I’m AP. I know what IB stands for but not much beyond that. And It’s a little harder for me to get financial aid because of “need”. Middle class with college doesnt help, because most of the time middle class makes either enough to not qualify for good aid or just not enough to pay for as much of the bill as the college expects.</p>
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<p>I shall agree with you, with some reservations of course, on this point. However, as a middle-class student, there are multifarious scholarships available for you to apply to; justadream92’s post shows some of these. I applied to the Ron Brown Scholar program, and although I did not advance to the finalist position - I am sure my essay writing quality had more to do with this than my parents’ income - it is one such example of an opportunity for middle class students to gain money.</p>
<p>So AP Calc and Chem were a breeze but AP English was :(. The sad part is that I thought it was easy, so easy I didn’t know what to write for the second and third essays. It was something about how siblings contribute to the central theme of the novel. My mind went completely blank and I sort of gave up. <em>Sigh</em> Writing is evidently not my strong point. Math and science all the way!!!</p>