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<p>Lol. Baseless assertion.</p>
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<p>Kudos for understanding implied verbs.</p>
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<p>So what is it? Good schools ≠ success and charisma = success? </p>
<p>Wow, so black & white. Why so binary? It’s a combination of both.</p>
<p>Yes, most of us on CC do take our schooling and college admissions seriously and that’s why we are on here! Well, for the most part… I am a very driven person and really always have been so college is very important to me and has been since 8th grade. Yes, I am always looking for ways to increase my chances for college and studying for SAT with books, apps, and the SAT question a day email. BUT I do have a life! (I think) I love to learn like genuinely like to learn (my mom thinks im weird) so I think that I can be a good fit for some of my dream schools. I am home schooled which I love because it causes me to be more focused on school, plus I am a very mature individual. Kinda like 16 going on 24-25. I do not see anything wrong with taking school seriously because in high school, you are shaping yourself and I’d rather be obsessed with my studies than getting wasted and throwing my life away.</p>
<p>ecounter, first i like your posts.</p>
<p>second, i’m wondering if you’re familiar with the SENS foundation. and what you think about aging as being a problem and all of that. </p>
<p>as a bright young person with an interest in biochem and a desire to be high-impact I can’t help but think that might be something you would be interested in.</p>
<p>the SENS foundation has an academic initiative program thing, which you could join pretty simply, and add to your college apps perhaps, so there’s that too.</p>
<p>I remind you of someone? OK. </p>
<p>@ice What? </p>
<p>Also, this entire thread is based upon generalizations. I’m just stating an observation. My apologies if you are offended.</p>
<p>In terms of the whole state school thing, I just want to slip in that purdue (a state school!) has a really good engineering program that’s ranked 9th for undergrad, tied with Cornell while none of the other ivies are even on the top ten. Granted rankings arent perfect, but my point is that some state schools, depending on what you study, can be pretty good, not to mention much cheaper.</p>
<p>^true. rutgers is supposedly top in the nation for undergrad philosophy</p>
<p>It’s weird…I like planning things. I’ve been planning my sweet sixteen since the summer before freshman year. I planned to go to LaGuardia High School (NYC) since sixth grade. I’ve been wanting to go Ivy League since I was eight. I’m going into my sophomore year at LaGuardia, and one thing I have learned is that it’s never too early to plan for college. College readiness is a given at LaGuardia. A lot of my friends are in advanced classes, whether they’re a year ahead in math or science, taking an honors class, or going AP. Two of my friends who took geometry in freshman year are taking trigonometry now so they can move up to Pre-Calculus this fall. I am taking geometry over the summer so I can be in trigonometry come September…</p>
<p>But I try not to obsess over it. I admit, I go overboard. I am taking AP World History sophomore year because I was in honors last year, and I wanted to take the most rigorous class available. It looks good for colleges, as all of you CCers know. The drawback? I’ve hated history since 4th grade. My teacher gave me a 70 because I messed up the state capitals; that’s not the point. </p>
<p>My parents and older brother were all born in a small country in the Caribbean. I’m the only one born in the country. My mom and dad are perfectionists. Typical, right? My brother is ten years older than me. (I’m not giving you my life story, I promise.) He had a lot of trouble in college. He didn’t do badly, he just was as driven as he is now. He owes a lot of money because of student loans, is having trouble finding a full time job even with a marketing degree (he doesn’t have much job experience), and he is really frustrated with his life. My parents were always gentler with him compared to me, even though I’m the youngest. Look at him now. He’s a great guy, I’m telling you. But he’s running into trouble now because he didn’t push himself enough in school to get a job, or choose the right college. He wasn’t in the right environment for his education.</p>
<p>I’m rambling, I know. Growing up, watching y parents struggle to pay his high school and later college tuition, seeing my parents’ frustration, my brother’s frustration, and feeling the stress and tension almost every day made me want to take every opportunity to get ahead in school, so I wouldn’t have to deal with that, and neither would my parents (again). My grades have always been pretty high (94%), but now I have been hitting the books so I’ll have as many options as possible for college. I take it way too seriously. But I know working hard now will pay off later.
My ECs are things I love to do, too, but still look great on an application. I want to take as many advanced classes as possible. I plan to join Model UN, the soccer team, and several acting groups. I want to get a job. I want to down my own business. I want to be an actress. I want to be a singer. I want to be a producer of music, films, and tv shows. Maybe I’ll be on Broadway.</p>
<p>But I won’t be able to do any of those things if I don’t take school too seriously.</p>
<p>What can I say? I love to learn.</p>