<p>1) Did you or your child pray to God?
2) Did you/your child get into your/your child's first choice school?
EDIT: 3) What was your first choice at the time of prayer?
4) Do you think praying made a difference?</p>
<p>Hahahahaha. No, I didn't pray. Yes, I did get into my top choice! x)</p>
<p>No. I prayed, it didn't work.</p>
<p>Well after these posts I guess it's fair to assume that praying to God is actually bad :P</p>
<p>Applications should ask you number of hours per day spent praying to get in. Now that's real demonstrated interest to you, lol</p>
<ol>
<li>No. My parents and I are atheists.</li>
<li>I didn't really have a first choice; I would be happy to attend to any of the places I applied to, so for me, the answer is yes. However, there was one school my parents wanted me to go to but I didn't get into it.</li>
<li>n/a</li>
<li>We didn't pray, but I don't think it would help. It might give people a more optimistic and hopeful outlook on the process, but it wouldn't affect the college's actual decision.</li>
</ol>
<p>Haha. I didn't really have a first choice but everytime I looked at the clock and all the digits were the same (e.g. 2:22), I made a wish to get a big envelope in the mail. I doubt it had any effect since I've gotten acceptances, rejections, and a wait-list.</p>
<p>I prayed. It didn't work. but yet i was going to go to san francisco if i got in.</p>
<p>I agree with sorrygrateful.</p>
<p>I've seen numerous times on these boards "PRAY TO GOD I GET IN," and the result? Rejection, more often than not. Either God's reluctant to make prayers come true, or Harvard adcoms' intents happen to be exactly the same as God's. (Though I'd rather not apotheosize Harvard like that.)</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm atheist and this sounds downright hilarious.</p>
<p>I didn't really pray that I'd get into my first choice, but I did pray that God would help land me at the right school. Choices 1, 2, 3 and 5 rejected me; choices 6 and 7 waitlisted me. So getting accepted at choice 4 was a total anomaly, and I think God made it pretty clear where I should go. I still feel bad turning down 5 great schools where I got merit scholarships and would probably get very good financial aid, but I'm in love with Amherst and very excited to be heading there this fall! Thank God for all of His help ^_^</p>
<p>Maybe it's just my Atheism showing up, but this is just plain an odd concept. What do people think will happen - the people reviewing applications will all of a sudden feel the wrath of some strange, often tempermental Western deity grap hold of their hands and force them to retype their rejections into acceptances? If they rejected you, no god can change that, and if they accepted you, it's because your grades and tests and essays were acceptable. Period. (In other words, no, praying does not make a difference. If it gives you hope, go for it, but as for actually changing reality? Hardly.)</p>
<p>I don't think it's fair to pray to get into a specific university. I prayed for God to provide me a university He knew I would be happy at and since I knew God knew best, I trusted He would know best where I should be. It ended up being my first choice, so I was pretty thankful.</p>
<p>(Not trying to sound preachy, it just came out that way)</p>
<p>I hate thanking God that is done so publically when someone wins something, it like saying, well God picked you over those other people</p>
<p>If they prayed to God and they didn't win, is God punishing them? Picking favorites?</p>
<p>ANd if you really felt a school was the perfect one, do you hand over your own mind and judgement to God?</p>
<p>If I believed in God, I would agree with spoilme. Asking for admission in one school is ridiculous. However, asking to get into a college where you would be happiest in .. that is a legitimate request.</p>
<p>Wow, there are so many atheists now. Well, I'm at least happy to see so many people have a belief and are not afraid to proclaim it! </p>
<p>I am a deist, and while I believe in some sort of God, I did not pray for college admissions as I would prefer to reserve prayer (in the rare instances that I use it) for truly important moments. I just don't think the college you go to is something you should ask God to fulfill for you because in the end, it is so trivial. </p>
<p>That said, I've gotten into one of my top choices so far and told my grandma (who is very religious) and she said she'd been praying for me and hoped that helped me. It was a nice thought, but I kinda doubt it because I wonder if God would alter the natural decision of something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things.</p>
<p>brand_182, there is a correlation between higher IQ and absence of religious beliefs.</p>
<p>Don't take that the wrong way, I think I read it somewhere online.</p>
<p>I agree with murkywater. I prayed and I did not get in, however, I love the university I'm currently at.</p>
<p>I'm a little confused. Atheists say we shouldn't pray because God won't change anything? If you don't believe in the God that some people do, how can you say what that God can and cannot do? What if I believe in a God of college admissions (I do not). Would it not make sense to pray to him for his good favor? If you're an atheist, how can you tell people what their God can't do?</p>
<p>Just to clarify: I'm on the atheist side of the belief spectrum, but I posed the question because a lot of people said they prayed for acceptances, and I was curious how things turned out for those people.</p>
<p>God has a plan for everyone, if that does not include getting into your first choice school than so be it. God will take you were he wants you to go. You should not pray to God about something as trivial as to wich college you will get into, rather, you should be thanking God that he has blessed you with the opportunity to even attend some form of higher education.</p>