This post is mostly addressed to high school seniors around this time of year, and just sums up my thoughts and experiences, seeing that I’ve been talking a lot recently to high school friends about the entire ordeal.
1 for 12: One year later, looking back
Cornell
Duke
Emory
Illinois
Michigan
Notre Dame
Boston College
Johns Hopkins
University of Chicago
Northwestern
Georgetown
Williams
One acceptance, 11 denials.
That was my final college list, a high-achieving Asian male student coming from one the most competitive private schools in the area. Im not going to list out my specific statistics, because Ive never been fond of logistics. They were high enough to fall within the 50% range of most of these schools applicant pools, and my extracurricular activities included activities such as being editor-in-chief of an award-winning high school newspaper, heavily involvement in two musical instruments, and varsity letters/co-captain for three separate sports.
I received eight of the eleven denials within a span of four days. You can say I overshot, didn’t have enough safeties, listened to family and friends too much, didn’t follow proper CC advice. But like many, I was confident, maybe a bit overconfident, in my abilities. I knew I was a good writer, and my scores were high, so why worry right? So when the results came, I didnt cry like some, but clearly the whole world around me seemed to change. Friends who talked about their numerous acceptances were avoided, questioning family members were ignored, and I couldnt focus properly at all. I kept most of my feelings pent up within me, trying to maintain a steady composure throughout the day. Its that looming, miserable feeling in your gut, the feeling of worthlessness and insecurity. The idea that youve been working for four years, and it has all seemingly been for naught. All those hours of community service, sports, studying, all so you could end up at some crummy safety school. How exactly did your friend, with lower scores, less extracurricular activities and whatnot managed to find his or her way into a top school? It must have been youre essay or that one math class. No, maybe its because your counselor sent out your test scores late. Or, wait, it must have been because youre not Native American.
The process isnt forgiving, that’s for sure. But you’ll need to cope with it and look ahead. Looking back at how I finally did, here’s some advice:
-Browsing around CC, there are threads with claims of my life is ruined or Im just not good enough, and certain claims even more extreme, especially around this time of year. Taking some advice my father gave me, its just one small step the grand scheme of things. The first thing you need to do is stop making yourself feel worthless, or blaming the world. You arent worthless, and colleges are probably not overjoyed handing out denial letters. They know you put effort into your applications, and I don’t think anyone would doubt it for a minute. Im also pretty sure talking to any admissions officer theyll tell you they hate reporting denials just as much as you hate receiving them. Also, great people have come from so labeled no-name colleges. This leads me to my next point.
-Enjoy senior year, and be positive about wherever youre going. Senior year is probably the best year in high school, and you should enjoy it for what its worth. Try to find the best aspects of where youll be next year, find clubs you want to join, link up with fellow students. Be happy with where youre friends have ended up. College decisions should not spoil the ends of your high school careers (and/or sever friendships), and you dont want to be that one dude still upset at where hes going after freshman year in college. You’ll find the best way to enjoy college is to get involved, and If youre really that unhappy, transfers are always an option later. Or graduate school, which apparently is becoming an increasing trend these days.
-College will be what you make of it. Sure, youre friend got into HYSMP, but if he doesnt utilize the opportunities it provides he might as well have saved the additional tuition. You quickly realize once you enter the college atmosphere that everyone begins on the same footing. Those that are proactive with their education and experiences are happy and successful: those that aren’t involved and dont put in their fair share of effort will fail and be miserable. This carries over no matter where you end up. Colleges anywhere have hosts of good professors and opportunities: its up to you to find them, succeed, and milk them for what theyre worth. That’s what the college experience is all about. An unofficial universal college motto should be Work hard, play hard.
-Ultimately, the admissions process is the butt of all jokes once youre actually at university. You’re there, and there’s so much to do and explore that things such as your SAT or ACT scores become so trivial. In fact, my friends and I talk during lunch in the dorm halls sometimes about how competitive the process is, how we feel so sorry for our high school student friends plugging away at the next random, rhetorical essay question some committee thought up. Here, we also often shout Go Blue! at prospective student tour groups during game days, and always appreciate the bewildered looks on their faces. The fact is that students are generally proud of where they’re going, and this is apparent once you’re on campus. Being able to go to college is one of the greatest opportunities offered in life, and just being able to appreciate and experience it is something that you should be grateful for, even if it wasnt #1. Youll find out sooner or later that a lot of other people didnt get into their top three schools. It wasnt just you. And theyre really smart/fun too.
Ive sat in lectures taught by outstanding experts in their fields, met wonderful people, and been challenged here in college. Ive partied hard, but worked hard as well. The admissions process, while seemingly unfair, biased, unrelenting in one sense towards its high school applicants, taught me a valuable lesson in pragmatism and self evaluation before I left for college. So to you high school seniors, for those of you who feel that all hope is lost and you’re future is ruined just because you didnt get into some to some top 10 school, it isnt. Learn from the process. There are many ways to get to one place, and these four years in college are definitely ones you should treasure for what theyre worth.
