<p>Over the past few years, I have found my dream school. I would absolutley LOVE to attend. I spent a few weeks there, had an amazing time, and adore the school. Of couse, it happens to be an Ivy, has a low acceptance rate, and there is a chance I will get rejected :( So, I have to look at others schools.<br>
My problem: I am BLINDED by my dream school!
Every school I look at, I compare to my dream school. Oh, this school has great food, but Dream U has the best food ever...this school has a great business school, but Dream U has best hotel school in the world....
I am the type of person who will make the best of a situation, and I will probably be happy wherever I end up, but how do I "fall" for a match or safety school if I can't get my mind off Dream U???? How do I even begin to narrow my list when all I can think about is my dream school? Does anyone else feel the same way?
-side note- My parents really don't want me to apply ED because of financial aid :(</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated, especially from 2013ers who recently went through the process! Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m going to copy and paste some good advice:</p>
<p>“Be broad, realistic, and open.”</p>
<p>“What makes a school ‘perfect’ is what you do at the school, not what the school does for you.”</p>
<p>“There are more colleges than the ones on the ‘top college’ list, so keep an open mind + look at all kinds of schools”</p>
<p>"Visit the college campus + talk to students + sit through a class + visit the dining hall + look at the ‘bulletin board’ (shows what is going on in school) +look at student newspaper "</p>
<p>When I was looking at colleges, my dream school (Northwestern) ended up being the first school I toured…so I was kind of in your situation where I was comparing all the others against it later. NU admissions, although not at the Ivy level, is competitive and I knew there was a good chance I wouldn’t get in. So you have to remind yourself how competitive the applicant pool really is and that it can be a crapshoot for anyone - even for the schools I reallyy didn’t like, I tried my best to picture myself there because I knew there was a chance I might end up there.
Try thinking about (and even writing down) a couple things you liked from each school. And obviously hope for the best with your dream school, but try not to linger over it too much while you’re filling out your other applications. I also found that writing the essay supplements for other schools made me give them a deeper look and appreciate more what they had to offer.</p>
<p>hmmm ur probably talking about Cornell right? lol
if it is… yea my brother goes there and i went to their summer program for 3 weeks and its great. It is also one of my top colleges i want to apply to. (turning senior btw).
im not quite sure what ur status is regarding gpa, sat, and other important stuff but i would say just reply. lol
my brother, whom i never thought could be accepted to cornell, got in with only like
-2010 sat
-800 math, 800 korean, 750 bio
-only 4 bio and 5 ab calc (just 2 APs junior year)
-got maybe couple B’s…
but SOMEHOW he got in… so never give up~! lol what major ur thinking about applying to though?</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I plan on applying to the Hotel School at Cornell (how did you ever guess??? ) which means the basic standards are a little lower than Cornell, but focus a lot more on fit and passion for the hospitality industry. </p>
<p>@crzylilaznjay: when did you go to the summer program? this year? i went for the first three weeks (hotel operations mgmt)</p>
<p>Definitely notice the good things about the other schools which you’re visiting and the bad things about your dream school. Find schools which are similar to your dream school. Think about which other schools you liked best, so you have a back-up plan.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that even if you get into Cornell, if you go into it with this idealized image, you are setting yourself up to be very, very disappointed by it. Because the reality NEVER lives up to the idealized image. And when it doesn’t, people frequently swing to the other extreme and end up HATING the former ideal. So understand that if you scale back your image of Cornell, you are actually doing yourself a favor even if you get in.</p>
<p>Never fall in love with a school until after acceptance, rule #1 we learned after older daughter’s experience. With our second one, all schools will be treated equally. We will just write down characterics of school she likes, but not pin them to one school. We will not set her up for another unnecessary disappointment like her older sister.</p>
<p>D1 had her dream school too, and was considered a shoo-in for the school. It didn’t happen. She is at Cornell now. Looking back 2 years later, she couldn’t understand why the first school was her dream school. She is where she should be, couldn’t be happier. Cornell is beautiful in the summer. It’s hard not to love it. Come winter when walking across that huge campus, many people do wonder why they are there.</p>
<p>Hey listen, if you dont wanna be blinded by your dream school, let me help you:
Cornell is in the middle of no where, believe me i live in NY, and if you live/have lived in an urban/suburban, you are gonna missed it.
Cornell has some depressing winters, just like being snowed in and nothing to do.
Other than that its a great school.</p>
<p>Anyhow, it’s good to want to go to a school but at this point the schools you should be learning to love are your safeties. That way, even when things might not turn out the way you’d like them to turn out, you’ll still have something you can genuinely enjoy.</p>
<p>Pretend you are shopping for a car. Sure, Bentleys and Porsches are beautiful, but if you can’t afford them, do you look at cheaper cars and sigh that they aren’t Bentleys? Or do you get over it, and buy the Kia you can afford?</p>
<p>Clinegirl, I totally am feeling you on this one!! I have been blinded by Cornell for about a year now; however, I am proud/thankful to say that I got my “cataracts” removed! lol I also have love for Amherst, Vassar, Emory, and many others. Is Cornell still my absolute fav? duh! haha I just had to really broaden my horizons. I am applying RD to CAS as a prospective Anthropology major. Who knows, maybe we will be seeing each other in the near future as Cornell students. That would be the sh**! tehe I wish you the best of luck in the admissions process :D</p>
<p>First of all, just stop worrying. Yes, you love it, but you’ve already stated yourself that you will probably be happy at other schools. Well, you’re not going to only apply to Cornell, right? I assume that you’ll be applying to several other schools as well and hopefully putting effort into them. If you are rejected, well, there’s nothing to it. You’re rejected and you’re going somewhere else and you’ll probably end up happy at that school, like you said.</p>
<p>Following up on what Following up on MPD14’s advice, I’ll try to lend you hand on getting your mind off Cornell (:. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Dude, Cornell is worst ivy school, and people don’t let it go. You will be taunted by friends as “the kid who went to the suck ivy school.”</p></li>
<li><p>The setting is rural. Rural is not good. You will be taunted endlessly by kids from Columbia and Barnard and NYU. </p></li>
<li><p>Crazy grade deflation makes it hard to graduate, and the students are extremely competitive. Do you really want people secretly ripping up your tests while you’re sleeping?</p></li>
<li><p>The weather. Think about it: midterm exams are here, and it’s snowstorming like crazy. You can’t go get a hot chocolate because you’re snowed in. You can’t study because the snowstorm killed the power. And worst of all, you’re probably going to fail that midterm anyway just because of grade deflation.</p></li>
<li><p>The dorms are incredibly far from the classes. Do you really want to walk half a mile in pouring rain or flurries in below zero weather?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>(This is all in good humor, though. I am aware that <em>all</em> of the statements are blatantly false, and I personally actually like Cornell myself :P)</p>
<p>I too am smitten with one school in particular, however, I know that as a rising junior, I need to broaden my options and open my mind to the many other phenomenal schools out there, so as to keep myself from being focused on simply one.
I’m very interested in attending a school in the south/southwest/southeast/midwest in an urban or suburban location…As I mentioned above, I am a rising junior, so I don’t really have applicable test scores, just yet. In the meantime, however, here is a summary of my current status:
-In Top 5% of class (Out of 550-600 students)
-Upward Trend in GPA
-A few unique EC’s
-High Moral Values
-Open-Minded
-Frankly Put: I am a nerd.
-Devoted to three clubs, president of each.
-Strong Leadership Activities/Positions (Only a fraction of which are mentioned above)
I love to be around other intellectual, motivated, dedicated students who are willing to work hard, and at the same time, are somewhat easy going. Any suggestions, in regards to which universities I might consider visiting/applying to would be greatly appreciated!
(By the way, I hope that the OP is not offended by my redirecting their thread! Good luck in your college search! )</p>
<p>^haha no big deal…have you thought about Cornell??? :P</p>
<p>Just wanted to thank everyone…I do realize all the bad stuff about Cornell (esp. the long walks), and I am going to try to do as much research about other schools as I have about Cornell (then maybe I will love them too!)…Any suggestions for me?</p>
<p>My current list:
1)Cornell - Hotel School!!!
2)Cornell - Hotel School!!!
3)Cornell - Hotel School!!!
ok now really…
4) Penn - Wharton (high reach?)
5) NYU - Stern (low reach/high match?)
6) Emory (match?)
7) Oregon State U (safety)</p>
<p>So that’s 7 (wait - 5) schools to apply to. I don’t know if I should add another school in the match category (suggestions?). I’m also considering Yale EA (although a major reach) simply because if I get in, I would only apply to Cornell, Penn and maybe NYU - cutting a few apps. I would like to attend Yale, but they don’t have undergrad business which is keeping me away. I would rather attend Yale than Oregon State… :P</p>
<p>haha, no…too cold!
It’s too bad you are not in a good position to apply ED to Cornell! I’m not sure what the financial aid is like at Cornell, but if it is really that important to you, maybe you should exhaust all of your possible options, before completely dismissing applying ED there? Maybe there is another financial option that you have not yet explored! Just a thought…I’m merely trying to help, because you really seem to be set on Cornell! :)</p>
<p>Yeah - Cornell actually has really good financial aid…it is just a matter of convincing my parents that I will get enough financial aid. At this point, they are much happier with me applying to multiple schools but I’m still unsure…as you can probably tell, I would love to apply ED!!!</p>
<p>Have you looked at Rice, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, or Emory???
I’m not too sure…does size matter? what are you interested in as a major?</p>
<p>Oh, I see. Well, I hope things work out for you!
I’d like to be at a school with 2,500-5,000 undergraduates. Size definitely matters for me.
I’m basically considering majoring in either biology & kinesiology or classical studies & american/english lit. Since I’m just beginning my junior year, I’m still sort of undecided!</p>
) which means the basic standards are a little lower than Cornell, but focus a lot more on fit and passion for the hospitality industry. </p>
)</p>