<p>Working hard in high school has benefits other than just getting the chance to get into a good school. Developing a work ethic, learning how to write, thinking critically, balancing time, etc. are all life skills that serve some of the same purposes that going to a good college does. Your paradigm is all messed up.</p>
<p>wow, mellywithlove, reading your post i thought i had written it, i feel the exact same way. i would've liked to know i'd be rejected at those schools so I could've had more fun in hs, rather than worry about every little grade point.</p>
<p>same for you tiff. they apparently really over-estimated what i'm capable of, and made me believe them.</p>
<p>and yeah, stringa, i agree that it'd be foolish to completely slack off, but i could've taken some electives just for fun. i've always wanted to take a ceramics class, but my schedule wouldn't allow it.</p>
<p>I don't think anyone in guidence could predict the record increase in overall applications. I guess I didn't show enough interest(didn't tour many schools), but I honestly didn't have time or was unable to. I probably should have reached out more to certain schools, but it is frustrating when schools waitlist you b/c they are your safety.
They tell me my list is solid, and I will get into most of my good fits and probably a reach. the worst part is when you get rejected from a dream school and find people eho were accepted saying their not attending, or when people have worse credentials.
I asked my guidence counselor my chances at Penn, and she said "well, there's no real formula for schools like that. Kids who you'd think would never get in get in, and vice versa". Thanks.
This college process was the worst and most demoralizing experiance ever.</p>
<p>'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all</p>
<p>unfortunately, when i read this quote, all i can think of is people losing their dream school...i think that makes me slightly insane, but anyway, it prbly sucks to hear it, but at least you tried...i wish i could say the same...</p>
<p>But is it better, to set your sights on the stars and get shot down every time, than to play it safe and keep your feet planted firmly on the ground?</p>
<p>thus far I have only gotten into my three "safe" schools (BU, Pitt, and Xavier); deferred at Michigan; rejected EA/ED at Barnard and UChicago; rejected RD by Brandeis, McGill, and Wesleyan; and waitlisted by NYU and Vassar. I'm still waiting on Rochester, Tufts, and Columbia rofl. My ACT was a 32 which isn't AMAZING but I thought it was pretty solid, my UW GPA is 3.9 (most rigorous courseload/all AP or honors/etc), my EC's were good but nothing outstanding like Olympic-level athlete or whatnot, my essays were good (or so everyone told me lol maybe they were lying), blah blah blah. My guidance counselor had told me that I was absolutely going to get into Barnard and that she would be shocked if I wasn't accepted to Chicago as well except I was outright rejected by both of them lol :( then she told me she was sure I would get into all of my RD schools except for maybe Columbia. I wish I would have applied to more match schools coz I feel like a complete and total failure right now :/ </p>
<p>I've already declined my acceptances to Boston University and Xavier so as of now I'm headed to Pitt..I went to an accepted students weekend and liked it a lot more than I thought I would but I can't help but feel inferior to all of my peers (academically speaking anyway) coz this past week they've been accepted to schools like UCLA, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, UVA, Stanford, Northwestern, etc etc and I didn't even get into Pitt's honors college coz my class rank wasn't high enough. </p>
<p>I know college is what you make of it and all that and that I can transfer out after a year if I get a good GPA and end up disliking it but I definitely feel like crap right now. It's not even so much the fact that I'm not going to some super pretigious school like so many of my friends but that I could have worked half as hard in high school and received the same results from the same colleges as I am getting now. I'm never going to get any of that time back so now I am really regretting caring so much about school and my grades and standardized tests instead of fooling around and being a normal, stupid teenager..I know the last four years weren't a waste because I enjoyed my classes and the activities in which I participated but right now it's really feeling like I just wasted my time.</p>
<p>OP wrote "I killed myself trying to get the top grades, made myself sick taking the SATs, forcing myself to recheck every answer for a section until the proctor said "time", forced myself to be involved in loads of extra-currics, community service, etc etc etc. "</p>
<p>may be the admission saw these "forced" from your application. I know you are upset and all at this time. I am not very good with words so if I offended you in any way I apologize in advance. You need to find something that you want to do regardless if it is good for college or not. Your efforts and results will shine and you will be happy.</p>
<p>Someone told me after several days of bad news, "at least you have the bad luck out of the way." It turns out I did. I got accepted to some great schools. If you're still waiting for results on Monday, you might not be out of luck. As my counselor tells me, "there is no ladder of selectivity."</p>
<p>I agree, melly.</p>
<p>I hated high school. Now that I am in the second semester of my senior year I like it a little more, but I never got a chance to enjoy it because I was working my butt off. And I still got rejected and waitlisted, respectively, to Bowdoin and Colby, my top schools. I look at a lot of my classmates who are intelligent, but only applied to state schools that they had no trouble getting into (I have no issues with state schools), when they could have got into more competitive institutes had they tried harder in high school. They party and have fun and they are fine with the fact that they are going to mediocre state schools. I worked so hard (I have only been to one party in high school ever) to get into my top liberal arts schools. I cried for a little bit, but then I realized that I have acceptances to some very good schools: Worcester Polytech, Providence College, Hobart and William Smith. So now I am saying, well I wouldn't want to go to Colby or Bowdoin anyways, if they didn't want me in the first place.</p>
<p>And now my novel is over.</p>
<p>Well, I have a 95/100 GPA, top 10%, a SAT1 of 2150, a SAT2 of 2400, ACT 33, and some 500 odd hours of volunteer work and ECs.</p>
<p>Rejected from Duke, Chicago, Stanford, MIT. Waitlisted at Grinnell, Colby and WUSTL. Waiting on Upenn, Princeton, Columbia. I thought id get into at least one.</p>
<p>But then, im an international. Its feel, yup, like a total failure. Not to mention the financial burden just applying to these univs was for my family. :(</p>
<p>What I hate about this is that I am more scared of disappointing others than of disappointing myself. I still have five schools to hear from, but there is a very good chance i won't get into any of them. personally, i would LOVEEEE to get into one of these schools and will be sad if i don't, but i have come to terms with the choices i have right now. everyone else expected me to go to some big name school though, and it will be so hard to tell people that i am going to a state school instead. looking back on high school, i definitely did not try my hardest academics-wise, and came out with a mediocre 3.7. what i did do was throw myself into ECs that i absolutely love, and looking back i don't think i would have done it a different way. i did live it up in high school, and if that means i have to go to a state school instead of the ivies, then so be it.<br>
i am so glad to hear that i am not the only one not getting into a dream school, or even a 2nd/3rd/4th/5th choice (not that i would wish that upon someone... but you know what i mean). it had started to feel like i was the only one.</p>
<p>Like premed, volleysnap, and pomplemousse, I agree with everything all of you have said 100%. I am really happy someone made a thread about this topic, because after reading the posts, it has been very comforting to hear other people's same situations and points of views. Second semester senior year IS supposed to be the best, or so everyone says. But all I can remember about this semester so far is working my butt off (as premed stated), spending countless nights on college apps, having insomnia during decisions week, and etc. I revisited my guidance counselor on Monday and told him I was having a hard time believing I had made the right choices in college selection. He had me list all my colleges and then kinda sat still for a moment and finally told me, "I wish I had advised you better." I was so mad. I probably visited him more than any of my friends or anyone I knew visited their counselor. When I first went to see him about colleges, he was all in favor, and now it seems like he had forgotten where I applied and had no hope in my choices as well. I think the biggest regret I would have if I end up going to a state school is everyone's faith in me. My friends and family have all supported me constantly and even now keep encouraging me and telling me they believe in me and that I will end up somewhere amazing. I know I deserve (however selfishly it may seem) to end up somewhere great after all the sweat and tears I put into not only school, my community, but bettering myself as an individual. I desperately hope colleges will be able to sense my passion, commitment, dedication, and determination as Monday rolls around. I know as of now, there is nothing I can do, as decisions have all been finalized, but it will probably be a great injury to me if I end up having nothing to compensate for my work. All my friends, with their amazing credentials have all gotten into very prestigious schools, and it hurts me a lot to think of not being able to get in anywhere, when they have obviously achieved so. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others, much less the amazing people here on CC, but it's been very hard.. everything has. As much as I hate to admit it, I believe luck plays a large part along with someone's potential. If you have luck on your side, a lot can happen. So, I wish everyone the best of luck and I hope you all are lucky on Monday. ~</p>
<p>As much as you may not think it now, some of the world's greatest minds were thought of as "rejects". Don't forget that Albert Einstein was hated by his professors, to the point that they wrote him a negative letter of recommendation (this is archived if you wanna look it up). He was rejected by many places that didn't think he was "good enough". The fact is, it doesn't matter what others think of you, it's what you think of yourself and what you do with the knowledge you have.</p>
<p>I think the best thing is to just get really psyched about the schools you've gotten into. Look more at their websites and find things that you can do when you're a freshman! aaand maybe find bad things about the schools you got rejected from... like the workload hahaha. </p>
<p>And as far as easy fictional acceptances, have any of you ever read Forever by Judy Blume? This girl spends her entire senior year having sex with her boyfriend, and then after they break up she writes a good essay about it and she gets into Harvard. NIIICE</p>
<p>I wish I got into something right now I have nowhere to go I can not believe I wasted all this money on college apps.</p>
<p>I truly think all these top 40 schools should just create another awesome university for all the ridiculously overqualified rejects</p>
<p>Although I'm not quite in the position of many people in this thread, I really feel for all of you, I do. It hurts to see other people hurt or feeling like something unjust has happened to them. </p>
<p>That said, it really is hard not to think about college. Even with Monday upcoming with Ivy decisions, I haven't been able to do anything all my spring break (this past week) because everything screamed college at me. I wanted to reorganize my closet - but I don't know what kind of weather I'll experience for the next four years. My family's waiting on me for travel plans, what car to buy or where the cars we have now should go, even in a sense, where they might live (they're considering moving). Everything's frozen until I know. </p>
<p>If I get rejected from my remaining, absolutely top choice schools, I'll be unhappy but I'll get over it. </p>
<p>I think some of it has to do with perspective. There's a dangerous irony to this too - you're shot when you go to school and see others with less work or worse stats into better schools, and by comparing yourself with others, you lose some self-esteem. But the only way I can try and console you is a continued comparison - truly, there's something about you that makes you different. I admire anyone who has the will, discipline, self-control, tenacity, and drive to get themselves to work for an ultimate goal. Although college has been it, you're going to find something equally, if not much more, rewarding in the future - a cause, field, or person to whole-heartedly support and fight for. That sense of determination is so difficult to find in this overstimluated, high-tech world. I'm not sure what your classroom experience was, but I can't believe that all you did in the classroom and for your assignments amounted to a single number or letter on your transcript. You learned skills, time management, prioritizing, how your own mind works and learns, and countless other lessons. </p>
<p>Even this experience of being rejected can be a blessing in disguise. Learning the lesson that life is intrinsically unfair, or simply distributed in a way that things don't make sense, is something that other people still have to come to terms with. Knowing that you are more than what others determine you to be from limited appearance, whether that be your ethnicity, resume, or aplpication provides a sense of self-worth that will be invaluable to you later on. Please believe it. Only you really know how much it hurt and how much work it took to be where you are now.</p>
<p>Reward yourself. Give yourself a pat on a back. Do what makes you happiest -even if that involves finishing a stellar academic career in high school, by all means, tie up your high experience transcript with a gorgeous, well-deserved bow of good grades, or however else works for you - because you know. </p>
<p>Apologies for the length - but really, I'd like people to know that they are wonderful, especially in light of all the responsibilities they take and carry out to the end.</p>
<p>"You need to find something that you want to do regardless if it is good for college or not. Your efforts and results will shine and you will be happy."</p>
<p>Oh I do lots of things that make me happy, but I wasted so much time stressing over getting top grades and what-not, I could've had a less stressful high school experience, with the same college results.</p>
<p>Maybe wanting to go to top schools is like wanting to sit with the cool kids at lunch. You keep hoping they'll ask, doing your best to impress them, but end up with a quarky, slightly-off group who ends up becoming your best friends. I think I just summarized about 25 different teen movies. But in those movies, the non-cool kid always comes out on top. Life lessons and what not. I'm not 100% sure what I'm trying to say. Just that not ending up at the picture-perfect school doesn't mean you won't have the 'time of your life'?</p>
<p>And wow. Aeshchina. Your message really touched me. I had some randomn classical song on, and reading what you wrote sounded like reading a huge collection of profound quotes. I'm really bad at organizing my thoughts tonight, but I hope others reading what you wrote makes them feel better too.</p>
<p>Agree. Really nice post, aeshchina.</p>
<p>I agree. That was kind of poetic in a weird way.</p>
<p>Well, to be honest, I did not kill myself through high school. I had fun and I worked semi-hard (but I should have worked harder, it seems), yet I maintained a good GPA of 3.8 in all honors courses. School has never been hard for me, I just get really bored sometimes, so I slack. But even when I slack, I still do well.</p>
<p>I did not study for my SATs, but I still did ok. I do wish that I had studied, though, just to see what I could've gotten. </p>
<p>So, it seems that even if I had killed myself, my results would not have been different. Okay, cool. I'll just be a superstar at my safety school. They seem to want me a lot. It's a cheap-o school that none of you have probably heard of, but they've got a nice honors college that I could get into easily. I just pray I'm not going to get bored there. </p>
<p>I have hope that if I rock at my safety, I can apply to transfer to some other dream school. Meanwhile, I'll have fun with what I've got. Hey, at least I'm going to college!</p>