<p>i’m not going to explain my situation specifically, because i don’t think it’s neccesary for my question. most people like me who are rejected can’t have it any worse–meaning a rejection is a rejection. after an appeal, either nothing happens or I get reconsidered. </p>
<p>so with an appeal, i don’t have anything to lose i guess. to truly explain to you these past few days and how terrible i’ve felt would take me awhile. </p>
<p>i know my shot with an appeal is somewhere around .001 percent. but something in me keeps begging me to try. </p>
<p>I still have a great desire to go to Brown even though I got rejected too so I’m just thinking of transferring… but even then, I’ll have a really slim chance of getting in…</p>
<p>i’ve been basically screwed to the worst position in my life. </p>
<p>never had a counselor, a tutor, connections, legacy. just a kid who worked her butt off to get into brown and hoped that pure merit could get her in. the best extra curriculars in my entire school. 2140 SAT. (i guess it’s average for brown)</p>
<p>the kid who was accepted from my school is known for having cheated in high school and he has a sibling attending brown. the kid who got wait listed was a two time legacy with ZERO extra curriculars. another girl i know who was accepted has parents with a history at brown and in addition her parents paid 1,000 bucks to get her essay edited by the princeton review. </p>
<p>it’s not fair. what did i do wrong to deserve these circumstances? i’ve never cried so much–or felt so lost. i wanted everything and more to go to brown. i did everything i could, despite not having any connections or help along the way. </p>
<p>i never had a tutor for my SATs. I bought a book and studied myself and brought my score up 270 points. </p>
<p>i always believed i was the type of kid brown looks for. hardworking, passionate, intellectual, curious, creative, artsy. i’m crying while typing this.</p>
<p>i wanted to go to Brown SO badly. more than anything. i showed incredible interest. but of course, the kids who they accept are the ones with connections.</p>
<p>^hey, I’m pretty sure you are not the only one out there… just like you, I did not go through SAT/ACT prep (some even taking it all 4 yrs. of their high school life) and earned that 31 through my own hard work.</p>
<p>Though, rarely anyone gets accepted to Brown from my school though… They get into all the other ivies but not Brown. Why I do not know… But yeah, for my essays I thought they were pretty good, esp. the why Brown one. </p>
<p>But really, isn’t this process sort of just like the “real world”? Truthfully, life is about connections most of the time and we just have to face it-that life is-and never will be fair.</p>
<p>it’s just so hard. i wish the ivys completely eliminated the legacy system. a school would be so radical, yet monumental at the same time if it did that.</p>
<p>i hate the fact that people including teachers keep coming up to me and saying time after time you should have gotten in. the boy who was admitted even told his friends that he thinks i deserved it more than him.</p>
<p>i hate this process. i guess i’m learning. i would have done anything to have the brown experience for my undergraduate college years, but i can’t. and that’s so hard to erase from my mind. i’ve worked at it for so long–with everyone around me telling me i could get in, but more than anything that I deserved to get in. </p>
<p>and now what…</p>
<p>the only thing I REGRET is allowing myself to fall in love with Brown.</p>
<p>Let me tell you something. By the time I am writing this comment, Im sure thousands and thousands of kids are passing their worst nights since March 31th. I am reading your post about how much devotion you put on that process. I know what it feels to realize every single second that you didnt make it into your top ivy choice (Brown for you, Princeton for me…).</p>
<p>It is close to obsession because as a fact, what happen to me is that since Tuesday, every thing that is related to college environment has been causing frenetic dipressions.BUT HEY, it is difficult to just say MOVE ON! However, my hunch is that we will end up being satisfied no matter where we will end up for our undergrad years. (probably Rose-Hulman for me…) I am serious, just think about that; its the human nature which acts that way besides your own attitude.Its the common good of human nature, this inherent faculty of overcoming even though it might be more evolved in some people than others…</p>
<p>Thus, I am pretty sure we will get over it. Just make sure by the time you graduate from your college and if, of course, you plan on doing grad studies, to be as motivated as you were for your undergrad college search to apply for your dream school.</p>
<p>PS: Also very important, try to find somebody to talk and with whom, you can let it all out. Personally thats what Im looking for right now…I am sure you will feel better. if it could be someone in the same s*** as you are, it would be the coolest since he or she would understand better what you feel. :)</p>
<p>they are not going to eliminate legacy. thats how they get money, which helps pay for financial aid for students. is this an elitist mentality? kind of, but its how the system works… its unfortunate. </p>
<p>i ask you all to not lose hope though. not getting into brown is not the end of the world. if youre able to, try to move on and go to your college without the intention of transferring in the end, and who knows. it will probably STILL be the best 4 years of your life.</p>
<p>thank you guys so much. your words are incredibly kind. seriously. =]</p>
<p>it’s going to be really hard to move on, since i made the mistake of completely idolizing the school in my mind. in the fall, I sincerely thought I had the stats, passion, and the drive to be accepted to Brown. No joke. I still think I do, but things didn’t work out. </p>
<p>I’ll be going most likely to UChicago or UC Berkeley next year.
(The weird thing is I know two students who got rejected OOS to Berkeley, but accepted to Brown. And I was accepted OOS to Berkeley, but unfortunately not Brown.)</p>
<p>Chicago will be really nice since it shares Brown’s quirky, intellectual, discussion based atmosphoere. But I’m so scared of the workload. I would have totally preferred to have it (*slightly) easier at Brown than Chicago (where fun goes to die? not sure if this is true). </p>
<p>Oh well…
I’ll let myself cry if I need to. Letting out tears is good. I’ll move on. But because I love Brown so much, still, even after being rejected, I’m going to write a respectful letter to my individual admissions officer. I know the process is over and I won’t get accepted, but I think I deserve the right to share what I feel with her. </p>
<p>sorry about this. however, as i’m sure you know, there are people who feel the same as you, except with respect to UChicago or UC Berkeley. obviously everyone has their different dream school, but the schools you are into are amazing. try not to become fixated on brown. it’s just one good school amongst many. gl!</p>
<p>ilovepeople712,
I’m sorry that you got rejected. I really am, and I know it must be hard trying to cope with it. Having your dreams and your highest hopes shattered, just like that? I’ve always felt that one of the worst feelings in the world is disappointment, because you let yourself get so excited and hopeful and happy and you just get on such an emotional high, only to come crashing down to the lowest low. I don’t know how I can express how much you have my sympathies, but you do.</p>
<p>That being said, though, I don’t think it’s fair for you to be so hard on the people who got accepted. How do you know they didn’t want this just as bad as you did? In all of the 22,280 other people who weren’t accepted, do you think there aren’t people who feel the exact same way you do? Not every applicant admitted to Brown has a legacy there. You’re making it seem as if the only reason the people you mentioned got admitted is because of their connections, but you don’t know that. How can you say “but of course, the kids who they accept are the ones with connections” like you “know” what the admission officers were thinking? Sure you’ve had it hard. Haven’t other people? How many people couldn’t pay $1000 for their essays to be edited? Who hasn’t worked their butts off all four years of high school, and challenged themselves just as much as you have? You’re not the only one. </p>
<p>That being said: so you have over 750 hours of community service, and you self-studied for the SAT, and you never had a tutor, and you have all of these great characteristics, and you have these stats, and this drive and this passion. Just because you didn’t get into Brown doesn’t mean that none of this happened, or that you suddenly don’t have all of these great qualities. It’s clear that you loved/love/will always love Brown. But you didn’t get in. So? It’s not about the school, it’s about you. It’s more about what you make of your college experience than the other way around. And yeah, it’s so, so hard being rejected from your dream school–no one ever said it wasn’t. Give yourself time to heal, but remember that you got accepted to two of the best schools in the country, and that’s no small feat. Seriously. Be proud of what you’ve accomplished, and realize that life has to go on, even when we don’t get what we want. Maybe you’ll end up finding out that it all works out in the end.</p>
<p>Aw I’m sorry that must be really difficult. This happened with someone at my school but with Notre Dame. But at least you got into UChicago and UC Berkeley which are great schools! You’ll probably fall in love with those schools too.</p>
<p>I am somewhat in the same situation as you. I cannot stop crying for days when my dreams have been taken away
Except that you are still luckier than me.The colleges that I got in are not “prestigious” enough so my parents cannot pay for my tuition (complicate situation so I cannot apply fin aid ) –>I will probably have to go to a community college next year :(</p>
<p>Hope you will love the school you attend or if not…transfer to brown next year
hope for the best
:D</p>
<p>I totally feel your pain, i was rejected by Brown (my top choice).
But on top of that, i was also rejected by UChicago, NW, JHU, Cornell, Princeton and WLed by WUSTL. I was only accepted to Boston College…Like you, i never had a tutor; 2210 on the SAT, 2270 on SAT IIs, over 500 hours of community service, and i lead four separate clubs… I’m sure that you’ll be successful wherever you go. My counselor was consoling me today telling me that it’s not the university that makes the student, but rather the student that makes the university. Studying at a different university will not change how smart you are, or change the magnitude of the great things that you have planned, or will do following university. From a Canadian applicant, no one really got into ivys, myself included. And although my counselor has told me time and time again that my scores were competitive enough for the perhaps 7/8 schools i applied to, i know consolation probably won’t feel any better, but we just have to keep plugging away.</p>
<p>FWIW I spent 2.5 years at a community college before transferring to Brown and those 2.5 years were as important and amazing as the two I’ve had here, just in a different way.</p>
<p>ilovepeople: I’m so sorry you are hurting like this, but you’ve been accepted to some wonderful schools. I hope that when the grieving process ends for you, you can move on.</p>
<p>You have to understand that you did nothing wrong. The acceptance rate was so low this year – the RD rate was about 9.5 percent. And the RD acceptance rate for girls was even lower. Do you understand that means that probably 94 of every 100 girls who applied was denied? Brown had to make some very tough decisions, and you should try not to take it personally. You did have what it takes (after all, look where you did get in).</p>
<p>Brown DID NOT accept the other kids in your high school instead of you. That’s not the way it works. You have to appreciate that you probably wouldn’t have been accepted even if they hadn’t applied. And Brown doesn’t accept legacies who are not qualified (believe me, I’ve known many highly qualified legacies who didn’t get in – being a legacy does not make up for deficiencies in your application.) Unless you read your classmates’ entire applications – their essays and recommendations – you have no idea what package they presented.</p>
<p>You should be extremely proud of your accomplishments. Self-studying and raising your SATs like that is awesome. The only way an appeal would be considered is if there was a mistake in your application, like your transcript was wrong. Whining that other kids in your school were accepted because they got tutoring is not a basis for an appeal.</p>
<p>Many moons ago, I didn’t get into my first place school, the college I dreamed about. So I do appreciate where you are coming from. I hope that when time passes you can appreciate your strengths, fall in love with the college you are going to, and move on.</p>
<p>it’s hard and it’s not fair. but i’m still lucky for so many other things. i got into uofchicago, arguably one of the best academic schools in the world, and i know plenty of people who would have done everything and more for that school. </p>
<p>i’m going to try my best next year at uchicago (i’m turning down my offer of admission to columbia, because i don’t like it very much. yes i loved brown for much more than its ivy label). i’m hoping i’ll fall in love with it, and never have to wonder “what brown would have been like.” but just in case my experience isn’t for the best, then I’ll consider transferring. </p>
<p>In short, I’m not going to appeal. It’s just not worth it. I did send a respectful, but heartfelt letter to the admissions office, however. </p>
<p>and most of you are right, who knows? those legacies and kids with connections might have had something wonderful i just never knew about. i’m sure Brown spent a lot of time deliberating. I think what hurts me the most, however, was when I had to go tell one of my teachers (she wrote my rec). She knew how badly I loved Brown and she started crying in front of me. It was so hard to see that, she’s one of the nicest and most inspiring human beings I’ve ever met. It made me tear up just watching her. It wasn’t her fault at all. I guess she just wasn’t expecting it.</p>