<p>This is going to sound mean, but ( again this is my own opinion) there were probably other reasons for you deferal, but to honestly think and believe that an A- average got you defered is pretty lame to me. I’m SURE that if you had an A average it wouldn’t have changed your early decision.</p>
<p>Continuing the list…</p>
<p>1.Joining too many clubs, even if I had little interest in them. I ended up having quantity and little depth of quality. I also dropped most of them junior year.
2.I didn’t pay attention in math for the first few days and ended up falling irretrievably behind.
3.I would’ve gotten all my SAT testing over with - at least for the first time - by June.
4.My biggest mistake would be that I don’t start thinking about university (as well as SAT and all those tests) until the end of junior year.
5.Another one would be that I only applied to my match schools because I didn’t want to get rejected letters.
6.I’ve never played a sport other than in PE classes.
7.Not caring about grades until it was too late. I was satisfied with the grades I got because I felt that they were high enough given the amount of effort I put in, which was absolute zero.
8.I’m a junior but I do regret slacking off my first semester of freshman year, and not applying for more scholarships.
9.Not knowing the PSAT was also the NMSQT
10. Not really looking into colleges until nearly the end of Junior year
11. Not studying for the SAT
12. Not buffing up on ACT math
13.Not taking any SAT II’s
14.Mistakes? Freshman year. Not putting myself out there in terms of ECs, internship opportunities, etc. I just wasn’t aware of what kinds of things you could do as a high school student and how much ECs affected admissions.
15.That said, the mistake I’m really kicking myself for now (since admissions turned out okay, despite everything [grin]) is not applying to more financially generous T20s.
16. Probably not volunteering enough.
Remember though there’s more to high school than college prep.
17. I should have kept on playing viola as much as I did in Soph. year. I probably could have submitted audio if I had kept practicing and gotten better. Now I have to describe viola as something I “just do for fun.”
18.Getting all A’s, A+'s etc. first two quarters of sophomore year, only to get straight B’s at the end.
19.Taking regular foreign language instead of honors.
20.not</p>
<p>having</p>
<p>enough</p>
<p>fun</p>
<p>…seriously.
21. Slacking off first semester senior year because I thought I would get into my ED school.
22.Not finding this website earlier. Seriously. If I had known how hard it was to get into top schools, I would’ve tried much harder.
23.Not realizing that being first generation would make the college search process EXTREMELY difficult.
24.Not taking up research, internship opportunities
25.Not knowing how to dress/put makeup on well freshman year!
26. Being akward. Still a problem.
27.Taking AP World History
28. Not taking physics or caring about calculus
29.Not taking more than two APs senior year!
30.Doing absolutely nothing during my summers, minus marching band.
31.1. Waiting until sophomore year to take a foreign language
32. Doing so horribly in math for the 1st 3 years and opting to drop it completely senior year (I literally could not go on with math in high school; it’s not my subject at all no matter how hard I try)
33. Not studying as much as I should have, but I am lazy and apathetic toward high school in general, even though I’m surrounded by friends who are fighting to be valedictorian.
34.BECAME COMPLACENT, I thought I was extremely smart, so I didn’t work hard, which screwed up my gpa. Thank-god for my SAT scores, really saved me when it came time to apply to colleges.
35. Being over-committed. I was in band all 4 years, in clubs, doing SAT prep (from sophomore to senior year), in honors/AP classes, and in academic decathlon. Doing everything at once killed my GPA. SAT scores were okay. GPA sucked. and it didn’t matter how committed I was. My GPA just wasn’t up there…
36. Class planning. I wish I had taken calc senior year instead of junior year. Maybe I would’ve been more prepared for the class then and understood integrals more (or maybe not :P). I would’ve taken APUSH instead of AP Physics. I’m NOT a science person whatsoever.
37. Not realizing until after the college process, that life isn’t all about getting into a great college, but to just do the things I love and have fun.
38. Not applying to enough reach schools.
39. Not taking another honors class to boost my GPA.
40. Not yelling at the Board of Ed for not giving us enough weight for takings honors/AP classes.
41. Not researching schools enough and finding out colleges that I applied to has a quality that I don’t want.</p>
<p>@Collegestress: Your assertion that the difference between a 4.0 GPA and a 3.66 GPA is not a potential deal-breaker in an admissions process is patently ridiculous. Also, your assertion that you are SURE (you even capitalized lol) that a higher GPA wouldn’t have earned me acceptance is absurd. I’m going to stop arguing with you now because you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>I definitely regret putting absolutely no effort into my high school career. I have fantastic test scores but my GPA is mediocre at best</p>
<ol>
<li>Not getting involved in ECs until middle of soph. yr</li>
<li>Playing too much video games freshman yr</li>
<li>starting the college search at the end of jr year</li>
<li>over-working myself. High school is also about the experience… not the grades / awards. Don’t waste those years making yourself a good candidate for admission. Do what you love. Do what you think will help you grow / develop as a person. And be sure to value the importance of friendship. Make your high school experience a sweet sweet memory… Many many years from now, those memories will be the ones that REALLY matter.</li>
</ol>
<p>Edit: Wow, this is one of the fastest growing threads ever on CC.</p>
<p>@collegestress and drought:</p>
<p>Alright, I think it’s pretty pointless to argue on such a subject as this because the drought’s high school is so different. For example, in my high school, there are no A-'s, there are only A’s. However, drought, you have to keep in mind that colleges know each school’s agenda, and will take into account that a school like mine doesn’t have A-'s and a school like yours does, giving you more leeway. Then again, it could be that the A itself is easier to get at your school, and an A- at your school could be a B at mine. Who knows. </p>
<p>In conclusion, it had an effect on your admissions, but other underlying factors could have been there too. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>@collegestress: Thanks for making the list, but it’s a bit long, so maybe I’ll edit my first post after it reaches 100. Meanwhile, don’t copy and paste, just list the number after the previous post.</p>
<p>hmmm. this is a good thread. I say this from the perspective of a college sophomore, so high school is definitely a past experience for me. I don’t really have anything to add, because I’ve mostly made up for my high school regrets. mostly, I wished I had taken certain classes or done certain activities, and since I got to college I have made up for ALL of these omissions through hobbies, classes, and work. :)</p>
<p>Paste and Continue the list…</p>
<p>1.Joining too many clubs, even if I had little interest in them. I ended up having quantity and little depth of quality. I also dropped most of them junior year.
2.I didn’t pay attention in math for the first few days and ended up falling irretrievably behind.
3.I would’ve gotten all my SAT testing over with - at least for the first time - by June.
4.My biggest mistake would be that I don’t start thinking about university (as well as SAT and all those tests) until the end of junior year.
5.Another one would be that I only applied to my match schools because I didn’t want to get rejected letters.
6.I’ve never played a sport other than in PE classes.
7.Not caring about grades until it was too late. I was satisfied with the grades I got because I felt that they were high enough given the amount of effort I put in, which was absolute zero.
8.I’m a junior but I do regret slacking off my first semester of freshman year, and not applying for more scholarships.
9.Not knowing the PSAT was also the NMSQT
10. Not really looking into colleges until nearly the end of Junior year
11. Not studying for the SAT
12. Not buffing up on ACT math
13.Not taking any SAT II’s
14.Mistakes? Freshman year. Not putting myself out there in terms of ECs, internship opportunities, etc. I just wasn’t aware of what kinds of things you could do as a high school student and how much ECs affected admissions.
15.That said, the mistake I’m really kicking myself for now (since admissions turned out okay, despite everything [grin]) is not applying to more financially generous T20s.
16. Probably not volunteering enough.
Remember though there’s more to high school than college prep.
17. I should have kept on playing viola as much as I did in Soph. year. I probably could have submitted audio if I had kept practicing and gotten better. Now I have to describe viola as something I “just do for fun.”
18.Getting all A’s, A+'s etc. first two quarters of sophomore year, only to get straight B’s at the end.
19.Taking regular foreign language instead of honors.
20.not</p>
<p>having</p>
<p>enough</p>
<p>fun</p>
<p>…seriously.
21. Slacking off first semester senior year because I thought I would get into my ED school.
22.Not finding this website earlier. Seriously. If I had known how hard it was to get into top schools, I would’ve tried much harder.
23.Not realizing that being first generation would make the college search process EXTREMELY difficult.
24.Not taking up research, internship opportunities
25.Not knowing how to dress/put makeup on well freshman year!
26. Being akward. Still a problem.
27.Taking AP World History
28. Not taking physics or caring about calculus
29.Not taking more than two APs senior year!
30.Doing absolutely nothing during my summers, minus marching band.
31.Waiting until sophomore year to take a foreign language
32. Doing so horribly in math for the 1st 3 years and opting to drop it completely senior year (I literally could not go on with math in high school; it’s not my subject at all no matter how hard I try)
33. Not studying as much as I should have, but I am lazy and apathetic toward high school in general, even though I’m surrounded by friends who are fighting to be valedictorian.
34.BECAME COMPLACENT, I thought I was extremely smart, so I didn’t work hard, which screwed up my gpa. Thank-god for my SAT scores, really saved me when it came time to apply to colleges.
35. Being over-committed. Doing everything at once killed my GPA. SAT scores were okay.
36. I wish I had taken calc senior year instead of junior year. Maybe I would’ve been more prepared for the class then and understood integrals more (or maybe not :P). I would’ve taken APUSH instead of AP Physics. I’m NOT a science person whatsoever.
37. Not realizing until after the college process, that life isn’t all about getting into a great college, but to just do the things I love and have fun.
38. Not applying to enough reach schools.
39. Not taking another honors class to boost my GPA.
40. Not yelling at the Board of Ed for not giving us enough weight for takings honors/AP classes.
41. Not researching schools enough and finding out colleges that I applied to have a quality that I don’t want.
42. Not getting involved in ECs until middle of soph. yr
43. Playing too much video games freshman yr
44. starting the college search at the end of jr year
45. over-working myself. High school is also about the experience… not the grades / awards.
46. Dropping Band in senior year. (Wanted to finally have an open, but then got signed up to mentor an underclassman. Never experienced an open after all.)</p>
<p>I originally signed up for 4 APs, 1 honor, and 3 regular for senior year…however my schedule shrunk it to 3 APs and 3 regulars… I went to the person in charge at the time to request adding more courses(which i really wanted to take), she said why do i want to take an extra class when i have enough to graduate already and ridiculed me in front of the other studnets who were waiting. Then there was a month’s time for students to go to their counselors cna change their schedule. When I remembered that and decided to go, it was already past the last day. I first thought maybe I should still try, but ended up just walking away, wanting to secure a high gpa.</p>
<ol>
<li>Choosing some classes/activities based on what my friends were doing. Or not doing something because no one I knew was doing it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It seemed important as an underclassmen, but I really think I would have accomplished more if I’d gone my own way and not been all insecure and such.</li>
<li>Going to a high school with only a handful of APs, no honors, and a TERRIBLE science department. Again, at the time I didn’t care because hey, free As. But now I sort of wish I’d commuted to the charter school half an hour away so I would actually be prepared for college-level science.</li>
<li>Testing - I didn’t know the PSAT was important either (and am also <em>right</em> at the borderline for my state) and I’m not going to have all my SAT stuff out of the way until June, and that’s only if I don’t have to retake anything. >.< Prepping/sitting for tests is not what I want to be doing during application time…so hopefully that part at least works out.</li>
<li>Not knowing that to be considered a great applicant, being at the top of your class and involved in your school are basically only a prerequisite, not the criteria.</li>
</ol>
<p>Not taking PSAT seriously. Activities I would’ve liked to do but didn’t, for some reason. Generally sucking freshman year.</p>
<p>its already on the list a couple times, but its worth repeating…</p>
<p>HAVE FUN. life won’t suddenly become wonderful if you get into harvard. don’t keep sacrificing today for tomorrow- because it will never end. took me a while to realize that.</p>
<p>“My biggest mistake was being an asian male. Oh wait, I can’t do anything about that. So why are colleges punishing us then?”</p>
<p>So funny, yet so true. </p>
<p>My biggest regret is not finding out the perfect EC for me earlier in my life. It would’ve made a big impact.</p>
<p>Yeah, some ECs earlier would have been nice. Getting a C+ in math first semester junior year, and not enough SAT/ACT prepping</p>
<p>not taking SATII’s as they came up. i.e. I took chem sophomore year and didnt take the test right after in june. the consequence is extremely low sat2 scores.</p>
<p>that and i wish i had gotten higher grades junior year. i really slacked off. now that its senior year and im pulling the 4.0+'s, it doesnt matter.</p>
<p>Slacking off in freshman year. </p>
<p>Getting B’s in classes i should have easily gotten a A</p>
<p>Not volunteering enough</p>
<ol>
<li>I could have had more FUN in HS. I guess youth is really wasted on the young.</li>
</ol>
<p>1) Doing the bare minimum I classes when I realized school wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, which eventually meant I only focused on the grade rather than the learning process.</p>
<p>2) Joining several time-suck ECs rather than really listening to what I was interested in–writing and French. I think I would have had a much better shot at TASP (decisions come out this week…eek) had I focused on being interesting and passionate rather than busy.</p>
<p>3) Not being as scheduled as I used to be. I used to get my work, studying and all, done by 7 every night, even with ECs, but I slowly feel into a procrastinating schedule of doing everything only when I felt I could no longer avoid it. This made me more stressed than just getting my work done would ever had, and I also meant (means) I have less free time.</p>
<p>if it makes you guys feel any better, its helping me :)</p>
<p>My biggest would be a lack of participation in anything athletic whatsoever. I didn’t bother trying out for any sports because I thought–no, I knew–that I would not make it. I wish I knew now that my school’s tennis team is no-cut, and I’m actually not too bad in tennis. Next year would be too late as I will be a senior and all my applications would be in before I can note being on the team.</p>