<p>take a deep breath and step away from the ledge. </p>
<p>College experience is not just about where you go. Its really about what you make it to be.</p>
<p>Keep the faith...try again.. dont give up</p>
<p>Please take CCsurfer's info to heart!</p>
<p>i wish thee luck
and those were true words of wisdom CCsurfer...</p>
<p>For all of you with rejection letters in hand from your preferred schools... your life is NOT over and you are NOT a failure, no matter how it seems right now.</p>
<p>I was in your shoes some years ago-- rejected by all my top choices and left with my safety schools. This despite very good scores, outstanding grades and extracurriculars, and a top class rank in a competitive high school. All my friends were going to Ivies and me? Safety school. Like you, I wanted to die. But I didn't... read on...</p>
<p>In my case, my plan was to do well at the safety school and transfer to an Ivy a year down the road. Well, I did great at the safety school... but I had such a good time that I forgot about my plans to transfer. I worked very hard at the safety school, graduated high in the class, and went to top-rated grad schools afterward. So the safety school worked out GREAT! </p>
<p>Even BETTER...</p>
<p>I met my husband at the safety school, and we are still happily married many years later. So, maybe the plan was for me to meet my husband at the safety school. Who knows? What I do know is that I would rather have my husband than have been accepted at an Ivy League college.</p>
<p>The point of this... life throws every one of us curve balls. You just happen to have gotten yours in the college admissions process. No, this is not necessarily fair, but life frequently isn't. So take the long view and start having fun with your curve ball. You have a number of options:
--Go to the safety school and have a great time. It may be that your safety school sets you up for a terrific future, as mine did. (And yes, you can reapply for transfer to your preferred schools if you would like to...)
--Take a "gap" year and do an internship or volunteer in something you are interested in. Then reapply to college (or take deferred admission to the safety school) and see where you are. If you are doing something constructive, your "gap" year will be life changing in a very positive way, and will allow you to attend or reapply to college with greater enthusiasm and confidence.
--Take a year off to travel and/or work. Again, a constructive response. You will be a different and better person at the end of the year, and ready to attend college, reapply to college, or do something different, with new maturity.</p>
<p>The point: live large and step outside the box when you can, especially when life throws you a curve ball. </p>
<p>And a secret: admission to a top college is not necessarily the key to life success, at least not for everyone. One of my high school classmates, a brilliant person who was accepted to all the Ivies, was, sadly, the victim of a breakdown several years later. </p>
<p>Finally, college admissions committees are made up of human beings who sometimes make mistakes. And the college admissions system is highly imperfect, so don't let it define you as a person. You are not where you attend college, even if it doesn't seem that way at the moment.</p>
<p>So, get out there and start planning and living your life. And live large-- after all, you have nothing left to lose any more, right?</p>
<p>ANet:</p>
<p>Very well said.</p>
<p>About the runner thing....if you understand the ethos of running as a sport, you should also understand that many things affect the outcome of a particular race. Wind at your back, height (lenth of stride), weight, etc...</p>
<p>The objective, like in any other sport is that you pick yourself up, reassess, focus on you strengths/weakness and get better for the overall season, rather than a particular race. College admissions is a particular race, while a long life is the season(s).</p>
<p>I used to be a runner, but now I row (crew). In the fall, you race against objective measures (the clock), while in the spring you race against another team in a head race. Sometimes what maybe a great fall season does not translate into a great spring one, and visa versa.</p>
<p>Racing, running, and sports depend on individuals to get up if they are knocked down and continue racing. If you give up, how will you know the outcome, except that you are sure to lose and prove your parents right?!</p>
<p>IB</p>
<p>PS--BTW, I am part asian so I do know what kind of pressure there is to go to a good school. That's what I am facing also.</p>
<p>Dude Miler, don't worry about it, there certainly has to be a good reason why you got rejected, maybe life has a different plan for you. i can almost guaranteee that almost wherever you may go, you will have a great time in college. The same thing happened to me, I worked my ass off in high school to try to get into my dream school (USC), but no matter how hard I tried, I kept feeling that something was holding me back from it. Then one day, I got a letter from Ohio State, and even though my first impulse was to throw it away, I decided what the heck, I'll look into it. Then I decided to apply for the heck of it as well, not even giving it a second thought, just applying so that I could have more than in-state colleges, and it would seem like a good safety. I actually totally forgot that I applied there as well, and when I got my acceptance I was pretty un-enthusiastic.</p>
<p>Well, what do you know, life threw me a curveball, i got scholarships from them flying at me, and they even flew me out to visit their school, and I absolutely fell in love with the campus. I had never even thought about them before they mailed me a letter, and now they are at the top of my list, I can't wait to become a Buckeye in the fall.</p>
<p>Like I said before, life most likely has another plan for you and don't sit around and wallow, pick yourself up, become a bigger person from it, and stay determined. It's like a whole 'nother race, a fresh new lap, and another chance to bring your splits down (trying my best to relate to track, I'm a swimmer! :) ) When you fall down, pick yourself up and hold your head high!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Racing, running, and sports depend on individuals to get up if they are knocked down and continue racing.
[/quote]
...and so does success in college, in the professional world, and in life. What IsleBoy is talking about is resilience. Perfect SAT scores and an acceptance letter from Harvard are worth nothing if an individual lacks resilience. No matter who you are, at some point (or many points) in your life, something or someone will come along to knock you down. That's life. Winners get back up again. That's resilience. </p>
<p>College application readers look for evidence of resilience in the application. It's quite important to them -- why? Because they know that their students will be facing many challenges down the road and they don't want a class full of students who will give up at the first speedbump. They want their admittees to be successful in college and after graduation. The ability to adapt to a shifting environment is crucial to success. And though this may sound harsh, the fact is student health centers are bursting at the seems with college students struggling with stress-related mental health issues; and other things being relatively equal, given a choice between an applicant who has shown resilience over one who hasn't, they will take the resilient applicant. (And now you already have the beginnings of a transfer application essay, should you not fall in love with your first college. You can talk about how you didn't let this little speedbump become a roadblock and how you made the most of your experience at Penn State Wherever, etc.)</p>
<p>Everyone at Big Deal U graduated in the top 10% of their high school class. Half of them are now in the bottom half of their class. Using the "race" analogy, they are losing that race. Should they give up and transfer to a school where they can once again rest comfortably in the top 10% or drop out of college altogether because they're in the bottom 25% of their class? Of course not. They know there is a bigger race out there and losing the Big Deal U race is still better than winning the "do you want fries with that?" race. </p>
<p>Being able to distinguish between a speedbump and a roadblock is a valuable trait worth developing. Until it's fully developed, you fake it. You pretend that it's just a speedbump even if it feels like a roadblock. </p>
<p>Picking yourself up and moving forward when you are feeling defeated is very, very hard. It's hard for everyone. But that's what separates winners from losers. It's normal and fine to feel like closing the blinds and pulling the covers over your head. Everyone feels that way sometimes. It's okay to feel that way, it's not okay to do it--or at least not for long. Spend a metaphorical day or two in bed, but set your shoes and jacket next to the bed first and set the alarm for a day and time when you will put your shoes and jacket on and go out and do something whether you feel like it or not. You probably won't feel like it. You'll come up with a thousands reasons why you can't or shouldn't. Do it anyway. By the time you return, you'll feel better and it won't be as hard the next time.</p>
<p>miller, please post so we all know you are fine. you have me kind of freaked out by some of your posts especially since i made a post of a similiar situation with a boy my parents know. PLEASE keep this in perspective for God's sake...you have two arms, two eyes to see with, two legs to walk on, air to breath, a home, food, ALL THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU HAVE. Do you believe in God, then by all means, also know he has a plan for you like he does everyone of us. MANY of us didn't get into our top dream schools, life moves on. I like to say if a school didn't want me the first time around then I don;t want them the second time around either.</p>
<p>Life is like a ride, live it fully because you never know when your turn is over. COME ON, MOVE ON MOVE FORWARD AND CONCENTRATE ON WHAT YOU CAN DO NOT ON WHAT YOU CAN'T.</p>
<p>ANd read the stuff on Andison, who had a similar situation...</p>
<p>chicken, someone is distraught here and MOST of us are trying to help him through this...........I personally feel humor is not appropriate here especially not the degrading variety. Plumber? That is insulting to someone who is aspiring to get into a good school after he worked his buns off in his high school, I mean really that was quite demeaning!</p>
<p>Bestmiler1, did you see that this thread was quoted in the New York Times? I ran across the link on the Smith College forum.</p>
<p>wow doing ib and getting these rejections must suck but keep your hopes up, i bet you'll get into some of the rest of the schools you applied to. don't give up.</p>
<p>oh and by the way, one of my best friends got into U of Miami and Northeastern with your same SAT score and IB.</p>
<p>Bestmiler1, I didn't keep checking this thread so often, but have you heard from all colleges yet? If not, you still have hopes. So why are you so desperate? =/</p>
<p>Just found this thread. I haven't read every single page of the discussion. Since OP seems to be quite upset, I don't know if this'll make him feel any better, but here's the breakdown, according to me.</p>
<p>1) OP said that his parents were immigrants without specifying their immigration status. I imagine that state schools like SUNY may prefer to take students who are American citizens and state residents on the idea that tax dollars are better spent on students who will more likely remain in the local community. Of course, if the family is naturalized and are NY state residents, this is moot.</p>
<p>2) Rejection from two private universities like Lehigh and Syracuse is not at all unheard of - in fact, it's quite common. At this stage in the game, there's no point in getting upset about it.</p>
<p>3) Ultimately, as long as OP is accepted into even just one school, it's enough - OP will still go to college. While it's great to be accepted into highly competitive schools like the Ivyies, OP should consider his chances of doing well in such a school. There's no point in going to a school that allows OP's parents to brag to all their friends about how great their son is if their son struggles to maintain a good GPA. In short, school prestige really means quite little - it's how well students do while they're in school that counts.</p>
<p>sorry to say this, but with that SAT score you should be looking at community colleges</p>
<p>Why would you say something so mean?</p>
<p>The OP takes IB classes and has a high GPA. The SATs obviously don't reflect his ability.</p>
<p>There are many colleges that would take the OP with those scores. It is funny about SAT scores on CC. People with high scores seem to think that they are the key to acceptance while people with low scores talking about people with 1250's who got into Harvard. (Of course, the other characteristics of the people with 1250's are never mentioned.) For better or worse, the SAT scores matter quite a bit, and I think the OP underestimated their importance. This is a bad thing about society and not about the OP.</p>
<p>matrix, you are a real warm and fuzzy type aren't you? To the rest of you who actually have feelings, I realized we have not heard from bestmiller since yesterday, I hope he is ok, he is so vigilent about checking on this board and we are likely his only support system, in fact I have been so busy trying to help him and others I have no one to console me! 6 painful rejections, 4 acceptances, all to safety or match schools only and 2 waitlists. Well........I am trying to concentrate on only the positive things. Miller, let us know what is going on as of today.</p>