<p>Okay, i just feel like letting off some steam...</p>
<p>i got an pm a while ago from a current senior asking if he could ask me some questions about stanford. i said of course. so then he writes back and asks some general questions but its pretty clear that he really just wants to read my essay...i wrote back saying that i didn't feel comfortable about giving my essay out online but i still wrote a really long message about what i put in my essay and how random the admission office is. i looked up his chances thread and offered to help with his essay or with brainstorming and i tried to give him all the advice i didn't get or didn't listen to last year. i put a lot of time and thought into what i wrote and said i'd like to hear how things turn out...and he never wrote back. i'm guessing all he ever wanted was my essay and he just tuned the rest out. Now i look again and most of the posts he's started are chances threads about himself...on about a dozen forums!</p>
<p>The whole point of chances threads is just getting out of hand. I'll admit, there are times when they do actually mean something...when someone is looking to find a good list of schools and needs safeties...but most of them are a waste. i know when you first find the site there is a strong temptation to put up your stats because everyone else seems to be doing it and cc seems like a magic machine that will tell you what size envelope you'll get, come april. but its not and a little time on the website and a dose of reality should make you come to your senses, shouldn't it? I just find it frustrating because the few legitimate concerns and helpful hints are drowned in all these hysterical threads that are asking for things like a percentage chance of getting into HYPS etc. and when you quote the admissions percentage they freak out and think they won't get in, but they are still going to apply to the same schools anyway and possibly get into some, so why do they keep asking?</p>
<p>arrrrrrrggggggghhh...</p>
<p>haha, okay, that's out of my system!!! if you read this all the way through...i love you :) lol</p>
<p>oh man..................less than a week before i leave for stanford :0 maybe i should start, um, packing or planning my time or start doing all the stuff i've put off the whole summer...yikes! haha</p>
<p>I feel your pain -- had a similar experience with someone asking questions and really just wanting the essay. But OH WELL -- if that's the price we have to pay for being lucky enough to go to Stanford, then I'm quite willing to pay it :)</p>
<p>I still haven't finished buying everything I need, but it's funny... tons of stuff is on sale now, because most other schools start earlier. Yay for procrastination!</p>
<p>you love me! haha. yeah you should start packing...NOW!</p>
<p>i feel the same way. someone sent me a pm asking what stats i had and if i was a URM or athlete or a legacy, and for my essays. ugh. why do people ask such redundant questions? whatever stats i say, it isn't going to change what YOU have so what do you care. this person had a 4+ gpa, 1450+ sat, 94703 AP's, ya know the usual i guess. i wrote back (w/out stats) saying that they were more that statistically qualified and what was going to make them stand out was EC's, rec's, and ESSAYS! they actually wrote back saying thanks and asked for some advice for essays which i gave them.</p>
<p>but yeah, chances threads are extremely annoying. the only one i ever posted was in 11th grade when i first found CC. i don't even remember what i was told. i used cc more for college research, not making myself feel more secure about my gpa or sat which isn't going to change no matter how many times i post it or tell someone.</p>
<p>btw, the sales are awesome. i got some sketchers sandals yesterday for $2. haha.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with what you guys are saing. </p>
<p>I've received several IMs from aspiring Stanfordians about getting in and I'm willing to give advice and read essays, but I will not release my essays to anyone I don't know personally, because I want to protect my "creative" work. I spent a lot of time writing them and I don't want anyone paraphrasing mine. I value originality. </p>
<p>I'm willing, interestingly enough, to tell people my scores and stuff because a cursory search would find my own "chances" thread. </p>
<p>I don't mind the chances threads so much because I was REALLY concerned about getting in--I had good test scores but really doubted myself, so I applied to Yale, Brandeis and a lot of places in between. </p>
<p>Tell me about it, I got about 3 of those messages...and yes they wanted my essays -_-</p>
<p>I think it's definitely a bad thing to look at other people's essays because you MIGHT begin to unconsciously become less of yourself and more like the essay writer in question and thus lose your originality and your own unique approach to the application process. Remember the "Summer Dance" short story episode in Old School? (an extreme example, though...)</p>
<p>AND START PACKING. I started 2 weeks ago (I leave on Wed) and I still keep finding things around the house that I forgot to pack...</p>
<p>haha same here. i started 2 weeks ago, but i'm extremely lazy and a huge procrastinator when it comes to preparing or packing. so i'm still buying things i need and trying to fit it into less than 83024294 boxes.</p>
<p>haha same here. i started 2 weeks ago, but i'm extremely lazy and a huge procrastinator when it comes to preparing or packing. so i'm still buying things i need and trying to fit it into less than 83024294 boxes.</p>
<p>i hate guys. all they have to bring are a pair of jeans, underwear, some shirts, and condoms. ok ok, so the underwear isn't necessary.</p>
<p>It's even easier than you put it! Shirts aren't even necessary, as there is no stigma for a guy walking around shirtless, and you can get condoms from your PHE (peer health educator I think). So just jeans.</p>
<p>(You wouldn't need jeans if you wore a towel all day, though. And a towel can be quite useful.)</p>
<p>I'm taking a break from packing right now. Too much stuff to cram into too little space.</p>
<p>I actually don't mind sending out my essays to people who ask for them. Anyone who's foolish enough to try and copy them word for word shouldn't get in anyway, while the other folks can perhaps get some ideas from what I wrote. What we read does in some ways unconsciously reflect in the way we write, but this is true of all literature so I have no more fear that the person I'm send my essay to will suddenly spout Zelleresque prose than I worry that reading too much Shakespeare will make one write in Elizabethan English.</p>
<p>As for the chances threads, well glass houses and all that. I first joined CC because I wanted to get some input on my chances. I wanted a broader perspective since I didn't really have anyone to compare myself to at my high school. I like to post to chances threads now and then, except for the most whiny ones, because I understand their desire to hear from other kids. It's nice to just talk things over and get a bit of advice. We might be the blind leading the blind, but at least we're not alone.</p>
<p>i think i just want them to pass through the same trouble, if that's the word for it, that i had to go through to write a good essay. a little sadistic, maybe. the right thing to do, definetely.</p>