<p>I've already applied SCEA, so now I have time to mull things over, like this question.</p>
<p>I'm white. I'm female. My father is a doctor, and our mortgage has been paid off for ten years. My parents will not ALLOW me to get a job, nor do I need one. I go to a good (albeit public) school with good resources and enough opportunity. I have time to keep up my GPA, and my SAT scores are fine because I could afford to retake them until I was happy with them.</p>
<p>In short, I'm advantaged.</p>
<p>It feels like colleges want students who are self-motivated and self-made--I'm definitely the former, but certainly not the latter. Instead of working at a job 40 hours a week to support my family, I've won writing awards and racked up a few passionate leadership roles, but I haven't cured cancer or made it on my own in the face of numerous obstacles. Sure, I'm a good writer, and I'm sure my stats and essays are more than decent, but I'm wondering if, in college admissions (NOTE: not financial aid dealings), my advantaged background would offset my achievements.</p>
<p>Does anyone have opinions or feel the same way? I'm really curious to hear about the flip-side from the "he did all this, was valedictorian, AND had to work to support his disabled family member" story.</p>
<p>I guess I should have made it clearer in my original post that I'm not a "spoiled brat" type of kid. I don't get everything thrown to me, and I'm certainly active (president of Interact, lit mag editor, 1st chair bassoon, 13 years of piano, plus salutatorian). I'm more of the student who's a school star, just not a national award-winner. At the same time, my ECs (especially my music) reflect my position--we've had the money to afford music lessons, instruments, etc. </p>
<p>As for where I'm applying--yale scea, oxford, barnard, georgetown, hamilton, oberlin, colgate, dartmouth, and swarthmore (plus a state school and another school with an 80% admit rate as safeties)</p>
<p>Please understand that the last thing I want this post to sound is "whiney," but I'm having a really, really hard time avoiding that.</p>
<p>Lunar... I think you misunderstand the process a little. It doesn't HURT to be advantaged. Some people (in fact the vast majority of the applicants to the schools you listed) just have some advantages.</p>
<p>Nobody is going to look at your app and think "ahhh, she's not qualified, she doesn't have a disability of some sort."</p>
<p>Remember college applicantions aren't a race to see who has had the suckiest life.</p>
<p>More is expected of those who've had a lot of advantages. And many sound worse than you--top private schools, European summers, study abroad....Also keep in mind that at top schools the majority are full payers.</p>