A little something for the stressed out senior who ins't at the top of his/her class

Applying to College
1

<p>Unless you have near perfect SATs it's impossible to not feel inadequate while reading CC. </p>

<p>I had a very rough junior year. I'm not gonna list my grades here. I'll just say I took 3 AP classes, one High Honors AP feeder class, and an honors class I barely passed it was a foreign language course) and I got C's in one other classes, and D in AP calc AB. My class rank ended up in shambles and I fell out of the top 10 percent of my high school, which felt awful especially when I considered that everyone I associate with was ranked high, and as a result, I ended feeling dumb and inadequate because I felt like I was doing the best I could at the time, and yet nothing seemed to work.
It happens to the best of us. I'm probably considered far above average by most people in my high school, yet even I can't stand college confidential. Think of what the average high school student must think when he/she looks at a CC forum? Some chance me's are ridiculous. Frankly, I think some kids use chance me's as a way to brag about themselves. If there's anything to be wary of once you're at a high academic standing is 1) getting cocky, and 2) applying to a top heavy list of schools with not even a decent midrange backup. </p>

<p>I managed to get through junior year with all my AP tests 3 or above. I pulled it together near the end, and I started self studying and watching OpenCourseWare lectures daily.</p>

<p>Now I'm a senior, I just finished applying to all my colleges last week. Guess what! I'm applying to MIT, U Chicago, Harvard, and Cornell (along with 6 other schools that are a mix of upper level match schools, lower level match schools, and two safeties). I take 4 AP classes, and a dual enrollment chemistry course at the honors program of one of one of the larger Umass campuses that includes a lab portion that's graded separately (the whole class is weighted as 2 AP classes at my school, or equal to an AP lab science like physics). On top of that I'm self studying for AP Physics C. I took a class at Harvard the summer before, revamped my study habits, and figured out I have a passion for physics and chemistry and that I want to eventually get a doctorate and become a research scientist. Can you believe that even after C's in AP Physics B the teacher teaching Physics C is now even offering me a research opportunity? I aced the first semester of my chemistry lab and lecture course, with a 97 on the final, and a 100 on an 8 page research paper. My other classes? I'm faring pretty well. I'm just a little worried about maybe my calculus BC grade and my AP English lit grade. ok, I'm worried they'll be high B's instead of A's. I KNOW I'LL HAVE TO GO TO MY LOCAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE BECAUSE OF THAT!!! (that last part should be taken as sarcasm). My 1st semester isn't over yet, so I still have time to pull through with all A's. If you super score my SAT, it's within the middle 50 percent of some of the top schools, including Harvard, another accomplishment I feel proud of. My other SAT test dates resulted in only slightly less than 2100. I feel confident about my essays because I enjoyed writing them, I was myself and no, I did not make them a sob story about my junior year, which I realize is a really important year. I tried to give a full picture of myself, my EC's, intellectual interests, and my personality. My point here is that behind every transcript there's a story. Frankly, If I hadn't learned my lesson in high school, I would have had to have learned it in college, which is where it would have hurt me even more.</p>

<p>Harvard definitely isn't my first choice. I don't think I can get in, and frankly it was my parents who convinced me to apply. I visited MIT (twice) over the summer though and I absolutely fell in love with the school. I already was a huge fan because of its online course materials. U Chicago (like they've done with everyone in this forum, I assume) sent me a lot of mail. Well, a lot of schools sent me A LOT of mail, but U Chicago ended up really appealing to me as well, so I applied, and currently it's my favorite. What's important is that I didn't let myself get discouraged from applying to schools I genuinely liked. I don't care about my chances anymore. </p>

<p>I admit, I'm as worried as anyone else here. pressing that submit button on my common app supplements is scary! Supposedly being done with applications should make me feel better, but it's only making me feel worse. Now I have to find comfort in that WHAT'S DONE IS DONE!</p>

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<p>Good for you. It is easy to feel inconsequential when reading some of the threads on CC. It is so nice to hear from those students who have managed to turn things around.</p>

3

<p>Take everything you see on this site with a grain of salt. There’s no way to survive with your sanity intact otherwise.</p>

4

<p>This site used to make me feel so inadequate. Now, I just avoid the “chances” forum and only rarely take a look at chance posts. And after being here for so long, I’ve kind of grown accustomed to seeing the “super amazing kids” and at this point it doesn’t bother me anymore. I just block them out of my mind, because if I didn’t, I would feel just as inadequate as I used to when I first joined.</p>

5

<p>Remember, you are pretty well-off compared the majority of high school kids in the United States.</p>

6

<p>I appreciate this post. Yes, looking at CC for too long, you could start to feel you should be ashamed of a B plus, and that B students might as well commit hara-kiri. It’s hard to maintain perspective. </p>

<p>I’m a college professor, pretty new to this site, who has a son applying to art school. After reading posts these last few days . . . well, now i understand better why my college freshmen students are so anxious about grades. (I hope all my excellent B-plus students don’t feel disappointed. I think of B plus as a really good grade–seriously.) I’d like to think education is about learning, not grades. But i understand that today’s students didn’t create this culture. They inherited it. It’s very stressful.</p>

<p>iborpastan, I believe you’ll do well no matter where you go to college (though I’m sure you’ll go to a fine school) because you sound really committed to learning, and you’re determined. Determination may not get you into Harvard (or then again it might), but I believe in the long run it will will do much more for you than perfect grades or test scores. </p>

<p>( . . .not that your grades/scores aren’t really good! Hate that i even have to add that! . . . .CC insanity has me in its grip too.)</p>

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<p>@Rain202
I’m especially aware of that since I go to a large urban high school that started out with a class of nearly 1000 students my freshman year and now has a class of around 700. Now I’m willing to bet the 300 that left didn’t leave because they transferred to Philips Exeter or because they got early admission at an Ivy. The majority are most likely drop outs and misfits that went to alternative high schools. I’m fortunate that my school also has a strong AP program and large group of committed and hardworking students.</p>

<p>@leslier
What I’ve noticed is that highly selective schools don’t have ANY minimum requirements and U of Chicago doesn’t even require a high school diploma. But they don’t need to. It’s probably partly a gimmick to get everyone to apply, but it’s also because it’s not necessary because they get an overwhelming number of very well qualified applicants. I’ve also noticed that admissions for more selective schools can sometimes seem random but that’s because there are simply so many factors that go into their applications. I’m just hoping for the best. I was actually going to apply to mostly match schools and low level schools, but frankly, I felt like I should also aim as high as possible, while keeping it realistic.</p>

<p>Most of my friends don’t know my grades, so a lot of people regard me as a shoo in for an Ivy without knowing the full story. Just because I’m talkative, I love physics, and I take hard classes, doesn’t mean I’m going to harvard. That also factors into my motivation! Even my dad, who has his master’s degree from Harvard thinks I have a good shot. It’s hard to explain to him that this isn’t a personality contest and that I have the shadow of my most important year. It’s really nice getting that encouragement though!</p>

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<p>U Chicago is not unique in that a HS diploma is not required for admission. In fact, I can’t think of any single college or university in the US that requires a HS diploma. If the admissions committee believes that the applicant is capable of performing well in college, the committee can admit that person. Period.</p>

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<p>generally speaking I think it is required. It’s mentioned as a basic requirement on the profiles of a schools on Princeton review. I suppose U Chicago was the only one I noticed that said they didn’t require one. </p>

<p>I guess that’s just a detail, not important.</p>