<p>So I've been researching some colleges recently, and I'm just in awe of some of the things students have been able to do. I honestly feel like I'm going to be the dumbest one at every university I apply to besides my state flagship. Is it just me, or do yall feel this way too?</p>
<p>Of course I always feel dumb. This is what happens when you get a sprinkle of Bs every semester. But to me, what matters more is what I’m doing to improve that. :)</p>
<p>I also applied to some selective private high schools, and I felt even more primitive after researching each one-just like how you feel now. However, lo and behold, I was actually accepted into one of them! This tells me that I can still grow into one of the people I’ve always admired, innovate and improve. Maybe I’m not as inferior as I’ve always made myself to be.</p>
<p>Think about it. A B holds many connotations for everyone. An A student will (if s/he is a CC member) freak out, scream, spam the teacher who gave out the bad grade, and then rant about it all over this forum. On the other hand, a C student will be overjoyed to get a better grade. I suppose it’s all about the viewpoint. I can choose to be “dumb,” or I can actually believe that I have “potential.” Different connotations, different consequence, different outlooks on everything around me.</p>
<p>There are two faces to every coin, after all!</p>
<p>Source: Eighth grade student who’s overzealous for high school.</p>
<p>Who cares if you’re the dumbest one at a university (which I can almost guarantee you won’t be). If you get accepted to the same university, you are on the same playing field as the rest of them. Besides, hard work is so much more important than natural intelligence. It’s incredibly common to succeed with little smarts but lots of hard work. It’s pretty rare to succeed with a great mind but pure laziness. </p>
<p>Also, one of the best traits you can have in life is confidence. Easier said than done, but try to be supremely confident in your ability to do whatever it is you are doing. Don’t be arrogant and think you don’t have to try hard, but be confident that you will succeed.</p>
<p>Peace out, from a wannabe life coach. :P</p>
<p>If you live in the US, Universities are doing pretty awesome stuff because we have a whole bunch of great universities and crappy high schools. Everyone naturally gets a lot smarter in college.</p>
<p>@hailbo: Why do you think high schools are so inadequate?</p>
<p>“Everyone naturally gets a lot smarter in college.”</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen of college students, that’s not saying much.</p>
<p>And yes, I feel like a moron a lot of the time. People on here are always doing internships at their “local university,” whatever the hell that is. We have a local community college.</p>
<p>Everything in high school is getting really easy, and US rankings have fell a lot behind other countries. There’s like only a few good public high schools in the US, and it sucks for smart kids who aren’t rich. Most of the good high schools are around rich areas anyways.</p>
<p>^ Though it pains me to say it, I have to agree.</p>
<p>I dont feel this. At the end of the day, you gotta work hard and smart</p>
<p>I always feel like I’m not smart enough. I’m glad I’m not the only one.</p>
<p>The dumb people are the ones who care about academic ****ing contests.</p>
<p>EDIT: whatever, let’s try “urinating contests”</p>
<p>I always feel that I’m the dumb one in school because sometimes I don’t grasp a concept as fast as the others, but that doesn’t discourage me to try harder. And I know deep inside that I’m really bright :)</p>
<p>I feel intelligent enough, but not nearly accomplished or experienced enough</p>
<p>Yeah, I feel stupid everytime I read the chance threads on this site :P</p>
<p>A lot of people seem to have so-so grades/scores and awesome extracurriculars, and colleges are admitting them holistically because of their general awesomeness.
My problem is the other way around, so I feel unaccomplished and boring. For a lot of extracurriculars, you have to have previous experience to get anywhere with them.</p>
<p>A lot of what you read are from professional students who have been strategicaly perfecting a college application since grade school. Most aren’t any smarter than the average student, but they are smarter about manipulating the system into believing that they are the best candidates. E.G. A kd preping for the SAT since freshman year, and who scored a 2300+ plus is likely no smarter (and quite possibly dumber) than the kid who studied a month for the SAT and scored a 2000.</p>
<p>Studying for a test isn’t manipulating the system. It’s a standard practice.
Someone who got a higher score because they studied harder isn’t necessarily more intelligent, but the SAT was never an intelligence test in the first place, and I would still consider high-scoring students desirable to colleges because they were responsible about studying and planning ahead.
In the grand scheme of things, 2000 and 2300 are both amazing scores anyway.</p>
<p>Im going to be honest,grades and scores don’t define your intellegence. the word smart implies a comparison to someone.the definition is pretty subjective due to that fact.</p>
<p>I guess my problem is more like halcyonheather. I can get good grades and test scores, but I can’t translate that into any real world accomplishments.</p>
<p>
Case in point</p>