<p>sorry if this is the wrong forum...there should be a "complaining" forum!</p>
<p>ok, so in a month my senior year of high school starts, and with it the process of applying to colleges. i have to visit places this month basically, in case i decide i want to go early decision anywhere. but i really don't know how to narrow down my huge list....and i'm also feeling like i'm just setting myself up for disappointment. suddenly, my reach schools, the ones i really like...i'm just really... afraid to visit them and dreading interviews. my sats suck, 2050, and i doubt they'll go up much. and i have pretty much no community involvement at all. i'm not a "leader." i don't have a "hook." i don't even have any idea of what i want to study, really. and seeing all the people here with 2200+ and that do science research with professors and volunteer hundreds of hours, etc etc, only makes my chances look worse. i just...am suddenly feeling overwhelmed and terrified of the whole process. it seems like everyone else is on top of things...and i don't even know how to begin, let alone really want to.
ok, sorry for ranting, i just had to put it out there...</p>
<p>Definitely not alone... this process has given me soo much more respect for people that have gone/are at certain colleges (why bother listing them). I have to admit I hate the sat too. I feel very strongly that it's just not an accurate measure of how intelligent you are.</p>
<p>At one point during this process, you'll get paranoid and fear that you won't get into any school, but this whole thing will be over before you know it, and everything will turn out alright :)</p>
<p>Gloaming, I thought I would get into nothing but my safety school because I felt the same way you did. But I assure you, your SAT is just fine. As long as you do well in school and present your application correctly, and write interesting essays, you'll be a notch above most whose apps were hastily thrown together last-minute. I too was intimidated by all the CC people who had amazing stats, but in a sense it was a sort of motivation to do better after seeing what was out there. Also, I was so nervous before every interview I had. Most of them will go pretty well as it's just a normal conversation 90% of the time. A few of my interviews weren't so great, and one was just awful (Tufts) but you will find that the interviews aren't that significant. You will be surprised how so many colleges will be willing to make room for you.</p>
<p>Same boat as me. My SATs aren't stellar either (2120)...I'm not a leader of anything, except of a small club. I'm pretty ordinary and maybe even below average on this board. And on ED, I have several in mind (UPenn, Columbia), but I'm not sure if I can commit should I get admitted (I probably won't, but there's always the thought of what if) since my parents aren't poor but they aren't going to shell out $45k a year just because I'm "forced" to attend.</p>
<p>On the topic of ED schools....don't force it. If it's not your absolute favorite, don't commit to something you might regret later.
legendofmax didn't mention this, but he ended up getting into all his schools except his ED school, so applying early doesn't necessarily mean a huge advantage, especially since it gives you less time to prepare your application.</p>
<p>Yeah I applied ED Princeton. My app was awful and I wasn't really able to get my teacher recs until the last moment (I later scrapped them for better recs from teachers that had more time to write longer ones). My essays were disorganized and not very moving. The app as a whole was just mediocre. Needless to say I didn't get in despite the "apply ED if you want easier admission!" myth. The applicant pool for ED is a little different in terms of who gets taken. The amount of interest you show in a school helps too. I didn't get into Princeton but I got into four other Ivies. I seriously think that a lot of your chances for admission are based on presentation and subjective factors. This explains why so many high-stat people are rejected and low-stat people admitted. After a certain threshold, academics are "good enough" and the adcoms will begin to focus more on subjective factors resultant of how you present yourself.</p>
<p>Then again a vast majority of Princeton ED deferees were rejected RD. Zant was sort of an anomaly :/</p>
<p>prepschool9: Oh god if that were true... eep.</p>
<p>The kind of person who would take the time to look around and actually find this board tends to be the kind of person who is an overachiever. They definitely aren't a good representation of the average applicant.</p>
<p>You need to take everything said on CC with a HUGE grain of salt, and ignore all the chances threads, but other than that, there's a lot of useful information and cool people here.</p>
<p>it's just so hard not to get sucked into all the hype...i wonder what, in a theoretical world, it would be like if the concept of prestige, of one school being better than another, didn't exist. like if you just applied to colleges based solely on how much you liked their curriculum, location etc. i bet in the long run people would be happier and probably get better educations...of course, it's just hypothetical, but an interesting thing to think about : )</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat here. My ACT is good enough to get me some scholarships to a state school, which is where I intend to go, but I'm still intimidated by all sorts of other things (do I HAVE to live with a roommate? do I HAVE to move out? do I HAVE to get a job? etc.) I don't even know what I want to major in yet. I like science, but it takes too long to get a decent job with a physical science degree. It's all making me really apathetic toward everything. I think I'm slowly becoming catatonic. Ah well.</p>
<p>Well, all the hype about prestige helps a school...in terms of getting donations and a big endowment, which allows it have more programs and resources. Prestige gets an institution good professors and top notch students..etc...it's just kind of cyclical.</p>