<p>this damn site......</p>
<p>As someone who has gotten a lot of press for placing well in research competitions, let me tell you that the press totally hypes everything most people do. The press teams at many competitions will train the students to give vague, sparkly replies on what their research is. Don't be fooled, they aren't finding the cure for cancer! They are studying the location of one gene that may serve as a marker for a possible secondary protein that might give a sign that such and such cancer may occur. Meeting most of these kids with all these great things written about them shows you how the vast majority of them are ordinary kids like the rest of us. The difference is that they had some press team cover them and make them spotlight (why would the NYTimes spotlight some kid and call them stupid?). So just relax!</p>
<p>Still, finding the "location of one gene that may serve as a marker for a possible secondary protein that might give a sign that such and such cancer may occur" is much more than what some of us are doing, lol.</p>
<p>A very good friend of mine does research and he's...just been amazing -- meaning that he actually does understand everything he does, every step of the way. Haha, he also spends way too much time playing Warcraft and other video games, like any other guy. He's as normal a person as they come, and I honestly do admire that ability to work extra on something he honestly loves to do. differential is right -- they're normal, functional people.</p>
<p>And no, I don't suffer from an inferiority complex at all.</p>
<p>i think most honors students who arent #1 feel somewhat inadequate because they know someone is doing better than them</p>
<p>Yep. /<em>Yep. Yep.</em>/</p>
<p>yeah, that article really scared me too.</p>
<p>Yeah, I feel mediocre despite great grades. It's weird, I don't really feel that intelligent even though classmates and teachers are always telling me that I am. It's scary on CC...you see the huge lists of awards and fancy EC's, and it makes me think that I could never compete with them when it comes to admissions.</p>
<p>Same feeling here. I feel that I'm intelligent and that I could do well at a top college, but it still seems like there are so many people who are so much better than me. Like in the chances area, everybody seems to have absolutely perfect grades, a million ECs and volunteer opportunities, go to the top ranked school in their state, etc. </p>
<p>My other problem is that colleges want to see "passions" and such, but one of my main ones is reading and literature, which is hard to demonstrate. One of my teachers is going to mention it in her recommendation letter for me, but other than that I'm not really sure how to convey it. I know there's a question on the common app where you can write about how something (including a book) affected you a lot, but none of the books I've read have individually affected me that much.</p>
<p>story of my life. at first i felt inadequate around people in the top 5% because i was only in the top 8% (::gasp:: omg, i know), and everyone now has this attitude you NEED to at least be in the top 5...well, then i realized, hey, i'm in the top 8 only because i've taken electives that weren't honors. many of my friends (who are all in the top 5% and were the vals and sals) wanted to take an art class...but it was "just too detrimental to their gpas." i'm still friends with some of them, but i've moved on - i find the most intellectual and culturally aware people are not necessarily in the very top of the class. also, when school's been out for a month and the thing many people still talk about is high school, you know something's wrong. so, point being, you're better off not being one of the "elite" - high-level mediocrity (haha - joke) gives you the opportunity to discover who you are better, and it still gives you time to have fun.</p>
<p>"i think most honors students who arent #1 feel somewhat inadequate because they know someone is doing better than them"</p>
<p>It's more than that.
I'm ranked #1 in my school (a pretty good private school), and I feel ridiculously inadequate on cc...</p>
<p>I often wonder how many people on here are either a-lying or b-fluffing their ec's/gpa's/whatever beyond belief...</p>
<p>I agree with Johnson181. I have seen lists of ECs that are so long that I have to wonder how a person can have a night at home watching TV and relaxing. </p>
<p>I feel like I have to push myself harder just to keep up with other CCers. I live in a small town with a supermarket, a hardware store, two small restaurants, and a strip mall. What's a girl to do?</p>
<p>They do those articles on the top entrants into the top schools in the country. Not everyone that goes to Harvard researches on AIDS in Africa =]</p>
<p>How would you know your grades/ECs/scores are "good" if you think you are so inadequate?
I feel like an insignificant ant smooshed by gargantuans who build mountains and rivers. :D And thus, I must COMPULSIVELY apply makeup to my face everyday and make it perfect, and I must be COMPULSIVE with nearly everything that I do. (obsession is numbing, yah)
Anyone else planning to go to Hermitland when they get old?</p>
<p>"Don't be fooled, they aren't finding the cure for cancer... So just relax!"</p>
<p>When I posted about kids "finding the cure for cancer," I was just hyperbolizing... I didn't mean to give the impression that I was bitter or stressed or anything!</p>
<p>"I live in a small town with a supermarket, a hardware store, two small restaurants, and a strip mall."
My town has a library that survives on book donations. That it!!! I can't wait to get out of here... yikes!</p>
<p>Something to think about. . . we need to choose our colleges carefully. If a college is really full of all of these model applicants and Jeopardy winners, do we want to go there?</p>
<p>I have great grades and high test scores and am ranked #2 in class of over 600 but when I read other people's EC lists I feel a little sick. </p>
<p>All I've done throughout high school is two years of baseball and two years each of marching, jazz, and concert band. No clubs to speak of and only a little community service. The only thing I've got going for me really is that I grew up and work on a farm.</p>
<p>Ah well, I'm not applying to Ivy Leagues anyway.</p>
<p>I feel.... like I'm amazing, yet I'm completely useless as a person.</p>
<p>Haha, I feel extemely inadequate compared to the other CCers too! Idk, I also have this weird thing, for every single standardized test I've ever taken I always end up in the 95% percentile, and I've always hated that because compared to other people it made me feel so mediocre, and I thought once I hit the magic 99th percentile I'll be happy......but no, just got ACT results back, I'm finally in the 99th and I still don't feel smart. Weird, huh</p>
<p>Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.</p>
<p>As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.</p>
<p>If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.</p>
<p>Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.</p>
<p>Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.</p>
<p>Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.</p>
<p>Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.</p>
<p>With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.</p>
<p>Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.</p>
<p>-Disiderata by Max Ehrmann</p>