<p>I have those same fears but those that truly love and care about you will support you and be proud of you</p>
<p>Alexisss, by opting out of applying to your top choices due to fear of being lambasted by your peers, is only doing a disservice to you. I applied to U of C, and so did another girl in my district (caucasian, valedictorian, 2200 SATs, decent ec’s) and I got in, but she did not. Needless to say, that side of the district cried foul play and blamed affirmative action as the culprit, even though they knew nothing about me. My major is SO obscure, that only 5 universities have it, and one of them just so happened to be U of C, but I found many, many more reasons why I loved the school, and implemented that, as well as my passion and dedication to my future field of study, into 3 fantastic essays. </p>
<p>Now, they’ll still continue to talk their crap, but I will go to Chicago, have a blast, earn my degree, and become a successful, revolutionary individual with or without their naysaying. My only hope is that you put your best effort into Harvard and/or your other choices, and if given the opportunity to attend, RUN WITH IT. Grab every opportunity that is presented to you. I hope you’ll join me in my quest to “silence all the haters with success”…you owe it to yourself with all of the hard work you have put in throughout 4 long years.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>If I get into a top university, I’ll be sure to let my white/Asian friends with better GPAs/SATs know. Haha, I love to **** with people.</p>
<p>Ew I hate the idea of blacks being intellectually inferior. It’s just not correct, at all.</p>
<p>@ladylikeliz
Thank you for the encouragement! I really needed that. I’ve been feeling so down lately. I mean, this whole process is extremely exciting for me, but I have no support from anyone around me (save for people on the internet :3) and I feel so discouraged. >__< I’ll keep working hard, though! c:</p>
<p>Yay! I’m glad I could help!</p>
<p>I can totally sympathize with you; applying to elite schools is such a daunting process that makes you want to just scream all the time! (Or maybe that’s just me?) My friends got ****ed off at me for never hanging out with them because I could only study for SATs on the weekends, my mom couldn’t understand my frustration and anxiety over the applications, and my counselor was NOT interested in having to write all of these letters and fax so many papers for me, so I definitely understand the lack of support. But if you want it as bad as you say you do (believe me I can tell you do!) keep working hard and having faith and it will work out like it was planned and you won’t have any regrets! </p>
<p>(No more spiels I’m sorry haha) bye!</p>
<p>I agree. I’ve been accepted to four schools so far out of the 9 that I applied to, and one of them happened to be northeastern to which I was accepted and into their university scholars program which represent the top 1-2% of the applicant pool. I was extremely excited only to have by excitement crushed by many of the white applicants at my school that applied and got deferred EA. only I and one other girl ( Caucasian, and brilliant) got into NEU, but she was not accepted to the program and countless people blamed affirmative action as to why I got in. The same with another selective school that I was accepted to. I’ve decided from now on that until all of my RD results are released I will not say anything because people will always talk, and will be jealous no matter what. I worked hard, as did you to get to where I am today, and people know that but are blinded by AA. However many people don’t bash development cases or legacies - students in these categories are not chastised nearly as often. So be proud of the schools you got into, and don’t show off but stand tall. Good luck :-)</p>
<p>I’ll definitely keep working hard! I only have a few more apps to complete, some fee waivers to get and scores to send! </p>
<p>I’m also keeping the list of schools I’m applying to a secret. It’s easier that way!</p>
<p>Be courageous. You probably are not alone in your drive to succeed at a high level academically. You could inspire or help a few people that could be intimidated as you feel now.</p>
<p>There was a time when blacks thought that if they excelled academically and beyond, that their example would light a path for others to follow. It all went haywire in the late 60s,70s and now achievement is maligned, cast as bourgeois and mocked with at least one major exception, after one has become successful, we claim their success as our success. </p>
<p>For example, the current leader of our nation went to Harvard and Columbia, his wife to Princeton. The mayor of Philly is a UPenn grad. Successful Black actors, like Denzel Washington, send their kids to the Ivies. The only Black winner of The Apprentice, Randall Pinkett, attended an Ivy and went to Oxford and has 5 degrees. The list goes on and on and no one is mocking them, folks admire them.</p>
<p>Please don’t lose courage. Don’t think that all those before you had a ton of family and friend support, school support and felt encouraged everyday. Know that achieving great things will win you many fans from which to choose as friends or not. And your example and courage may inspire another to do the same. If not, others who strive as you do will encounter the same resistance and feeling that you feel now with no idea how to handle it.</p>
<p>I’m not really afraid of telling my closest friends where I’m applying/got accepted to, but i worry I might be seen as bragging because they’re not applying to the highly selective schools I’m applying to such as USC, UCLA, and UC Berkeley. They’re mostly applying to lesser selective schools such as Cal states. However, my other friends who are applying to highly competitive schools such Cornell and Columbia, I have no problem letting them know of my application status of the schools I applied to! :-)</p>
<p>Bump bump.</p>
<p>A legacy admission isn’t bad? Usually that happens, because second,third and lower generations usually lack the juice(academic/athletic) to cut the cake, an admissions is an admissions.</p>
<p>tell the truth and be proud of your accomplishmenst.</p>
<p>I bumped this back in January and can’t think of why I did it.</p>
<p>Although now with 2 kids in very unique universities - one at a fine and performing arts university and the other at an Ivy - one thing I notice often is that huge assumptions are made about each kid based on where they go to school.</p>
<p>One is creative and the other is really smart.</p>
<p>Assumptions cloud the evidence that the one at the Ivy was in national art honor society and the one at the art school wrote a sci fi novel at 13yo. </p>
<p>The stereotypes aren’t wrong but they are incomplete.</p>
<p>For that reason, I have some reluctance saying where they go to school. I don’t want put in this or that box.</p>
<p>Most, if not all, of the kids who are jealous about your accomplishments you will never see again. Keep a list of those backstabbers because it helps you identify who are your real friends. In otherwords, haters gonna hate!</p>
<p>If you worked your tail off to get the acceptance, and if being a URM in this extremely rare moment in life is an advantage, then thank God, thank your parents, and be thankful for what you’ve accomplished. </p>
<p>When I was in undergrad, we called some members of the AA student body “tourist”. This was a label for kids who were “just passing through” with no chance or desire to graduate.
Don’t be a tourist. Be a college GRADUATE. That is the best revenge for those who didn’t think you were deserving of the opportunity.</p>
<p>There are a world of opportunities out there for graduates and even more for those blessed to attend an elite college. Wear your school t-shirt and sweatshirt proudly! Let people know that you have accomplished something that few can do.</p>
<p>Put these petty high schoolers in your rear view mirror and embrace the new world you are about to enter.</p>
<p>I had the same problem. Whenever anyone took issue, though, I usually offered to compare SAT scores.</p>
<p>What’s the alternative to having URMs compete with non-URMs?</p>
<p>@Best Many of the college’s that practice affirmative action already practice this; you are competing with people like you basically. That’s why the percentages of races at like Harvard and Stanford stay pretty constant from year to year (I think they have a quota system). They put people in different pools and decide admission within each. This is what I have been told. </p>
<p>Also, this is a reason why comments like “A URM took my spot” irk me. First of all, you never had a guaranteed spot to begin with 
. Secondly, you were never competing with that URM. You were competing with other Caucasians, Asians, etc.</p>
<p>BestofTheBest-
So let me get this straight…you are from India but have decided it is prudent to come to the African-American student forum to assert your opinion that URMs are taking up too many slots at American universities? </p>
<p>First, if you plan to attend school here, just some friendly advice-many AAs won’t respond well to being referred to as “you people”. </p>
<p>Maybe you should also educate yourself by looking at some Common Data Sets-at many top schools you will see international students out numbering AA’s. If you don’t get an acceptance that you are hoping for it will be because of YOU, not because some AA kid has taken your slot.</p>
<p>Oh, and stop with the generalizations and stereotyping-my son doesn’t need his application to be “analyzed separately”, or to “NOT complete with non URMs” or for colleges to “increase their seats…specially for URMs” because he can compete on his own merits with ANYONE.</p>
<p>Seriously, “increase their seats”…maybe you could suggest a whole college JUST for those URMs so you won’t have such a “HUGE disadvantage” when you apply. Segregation, now there’s an idea…</p>
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<p>I find it interesting that you point out that whites should not be disadvantaged because they have no control over their race. URMs are constantly put at a disadvantage based on our race, even though it is something we cannot control…</p>