<p>Reading through a lot of people's acceptence/dejected posts, I feel very intimidated on competing against them. I go to a mid-upper public school in New York, but I can't help but feel that they don't offer enough to help me to be as good as other people with better opportunities. Does this affect chances at all or anything?</p>
<p>Most admissions offices do their best to evaluate “in context.” So if you want to compare, do it with people from your school or area I guess.</p>
<p>Just a note: The majority of applicants here are not your “typical” applicants. Most of the people here on CC are extremely focused on college admissions. Their priority throughout high school has been crafting their college resume. And typically, the admit rate for people on this forum is much higher than the actual admit rate of the school. If you compare yourself to these applicants, know that many of them are the best of the best, and that everyone who gets into Stanford or Harvard or any other of the super-competitive schools don’t have resumes that look THAT good. Plus, where you’re from does have a pretty profound impact on the opportunities available to you, and the adcoms know that. The kid who does medical research under some professor at Johns Hopkins would not have had that opportunity if he didn’t live near Johns Hopkins. Your environment does limit your opportunity, and you aren’t directly compared to those who are able to do more simply because of where they live and go to school.</p>
<p>And remember that admissions for these schools is largely subjective and based on other factors besides scores, GPA, and a long list of extracurriculars. Certain things can’t be scored. These top-tier schools have enough valedictorians and 2400ers applying to fill their classes twice over. But they know that if that’s all they accept, they’ll have a very boring school. Potential for success can be seen in ways other than numbers and scores.</p>
<p>That being said, the competition for these schools is still extremely tough. They have to turn down many fantastic applicants that go on to do great things in life. Just remember not to view rejection to these schools as a failure. It doesn’t determine success for the rest of your life. There are many people who go to these schools and never achieve much in life. And there are those who go to less prestigious schools and go on to change the world.</p>
<p>My dad always tells me “Warren Buffet was rejected from Harvard!”
Not that you’ll get rejected…I’m just reinforcing what joedirt said.</p>
<p>I definitely know how you feel…but we’ve got to stay positive and no matter what, we can’t let what college we go to decide our future. If I end up at Harvard or the community college down the street, I’m still going to go for my dreams and be as successful as I can be :)</p>
<p>thx joedirt131 and jj43912 that helped me feel a little bit better. The only thing now that I feel is holding me back are my parents and how they restrict my lifestyle. My main worry atm is that when I write college essays, I will have nothing to write about because of my restrictions as a child so that i wouldn’t have a lot of experiences to write about</p>
<p>well, your essays don’t have to be about interesting experiences. It could be about the most random, insignificant thing in the world. It’s what you think, what you learned, and how you analyze your situation that matters.</p>
<p>Yea, trust me…nothing interesting has happened in my life. I have no cool life story to tell so the essays were a challenge because I wanted to think of something cool and interesting to talk about…but honestly you can talk about anything: a random profound thought you had, realization, or something that happened in school that may seem simple but had a big impact on you. And you can always stretch the truth…I don’t mean all out make up some crazy adventure that you’ve never had…but adding to a story to make it fit you’re point and make it more dramatic never hurts!
Or you can always tell your parents, “Back off! I’m gonna live my life how i want! I’ll be back in a week after I go experience some stuff!” hahahahaha…sorry i was watching south park and eric cartman was on lol.</p>
<p>^Actually, an essay about becoming a hermit for one week after taking an advice from a forum post of someone who watched a South Park episode might turn out to be pretty interesting. It would be even cooler if by then he/she will be a Stanford student. :p</p>
<p>That said, the character limits for Stanford essays/short questions really prevent you from being able to write much, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t have that many interesting events occurring in his life, either.</p>
<p>Try to find the Stanford alumni magazine article from last year on quirky short topics. One girl wrote an essay about using fake names when she orders coffee at Starbucks.
You might feel inspired and realize that your life is more interesting than you think.</p>
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<p>But Bill Gates was accepted :).</p>
<p>ohhhh where can I get that magazine? can you link me to it?</p>
<p>Buffet is richer buddy!</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the article from Stanford’s Alumni Magazine:</p>
<p>[STANFORD</a> Magazine: September/October 2008 > Features > Admissions Essays Opening Lines](<a href=“Page Not Found”>Page Not Found)</p>
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<p>Really? Unless somethings drastic happened in between now and March 10th, Bill Gates has more money. Yes, I went and checked this before I posted, because I did not know whether or not Berkshire Hathaway joining the S and P 500 would give him the edge that he need to beat Bill Gates, apparently it did not.</p>
<p>[In</a> Pictures: The Forbes 400 - #1 William Gates III - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/29/forbes-400_rich-list-09_all_slide_2.html]In”>http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/29/forbes-400_rich-list-09_all_slide_2.html)</p>
<p>whatever! Who’s richer is not the point! lol (i’m a sore loser)
but it’s really not the point…the point is that he was damn successful W/O Harvard! And so can the OP! So no matter what happens you decide where you are going to end up in life…
And didn’t Bill Gates drop out or something??!?!</p>
<p>And let’s be honest…Bill Gates would’ve been Bill Gates regardless of what school he ended up at. Harvard is lucky that they get to claim him as an alumni, Bill Gates isn’t lucky he ended up at Harvard…he was going place way before that.</p>
<p>^ I know, I was just being a smart ass. The school defiantly does not make the individual. </p>
<p>Yes he did drop out, but I think being admitted to Harvard means more than graduating from Harvard. (That statement does not fully make sense but you get what I mean).</p>
<p>[Bill</a> Gates not on top in ‘World’s Richest’ - Mar. 10, 2010](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/10/news/richest.people/index.htm]Bill”>http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/10/news/richest.people/index.htm)</p>
<p>A mexican man now trumps Mr. Gates</p>
<p>^^ Ya, thats why I included the 400 richest Americans list :). </p>
<p>I ignored him because Gates and Buffett are way different from Carlos Slim Helu. It is really an apples to oranges comparison. He is kind of like a South American Robber Baron; he runs a telecommunications monopoly, something that an American can’t do.</p>