<p>Enjoy. BY FAR. Graduate schools will see what school you go to, but being top of your class is more important than going to a good school. For jobs straight out, your interviews are most important. I know a guy who went to Radford in Virginia, making 45k right out, That goes pretty far for a single guy in Virginia. That beings said I am going to UVa, which is pretty prestigious. So why not have both(?).</p>
<p>Can someone suggest what kind of ECs I can start up on this late in the game? In my school, people tend to get into very high caliber colleges. For example, one senior friend got into Stanford ED, and another senior girl was oddly enough rejected from Columbia, Cooper Union, Stony, but was accepted at MIT. How weird. </p>
<p>What I really don’t want is to go to a school where my HS work didn’t pay off. For example, my cousin who just got into Stonybrook clearly did not work as hard as I did in school, so it would be work wasted if I went into Stony as well. My brother failed 5 classes, and he still was able to get into Poly, so I don’t want to go to Poly, because, again, I would have wasted years of work. He came home, played computer games, and then copied the hw from someone else. I spend 4hrs a day on my hw, including afterschool clubs, one which I am President. It would be a shame to go to the same school as him, but unfortunately, that’s how life works right?</p>
<p>Even if you end up at Poly with your brother, your hard work won’t be in vain. Your better study habits will almost certainly mean that you will do better in your college classes, and any AP or CLEP credits will make it possible to skip some classes.</p>
<p>Don’t obsess about missing ECs. Even just one that you are enthusiastic about is good enough.</p>
<p>Does anybody understand what I mean? Its like, why work so hard if I’m going to end up in the same school anyway. Is all this hard work worth it in the end, if it doesn’t pay off and I don’t get to a better school? </p>
<p>Like my brother and my cousins took 0 AP classes and I took 4 senior year, including doing an Intel project, so it would just be a waste of effort if it didn’t pay off in the end. Would that not be frustrating?</p>
<p>you need to develop a better list!! There are plenty of choices in between the schools you’ve listed. Spend some time with some college guide books – Fiske is a good one to start with, IMO – and learn about a whole lot of other schools that you can consider! Perhaps not only big universities as well.</p>
<p>At this point, your time is better spent in developing a better college list than in trying to cram in some new ECs. The schools aren’t looking for a laundry list of activities – they want to see passion, perserverance, dedication.</p>
<p>You can’t compare yourself to your brother. Things are far more competitive (even at the top SUNYs) than they were even 3 or 4 years ago.</p>
<p>Kids that would have been a shoe-in a couple years ago are getting rejections.</p>
<p>So you have to work hard… it is the world you are coming of age into :</p>
<p>And I think you need to keep a few of the schools on your initial list. You need to find some other schools that are matches and safeties. You never know…</p>
<p>Engineering? Look at these: See if anything interests you. </p>
<p>Union College (NY)
Alfred University (NY)
Clarkson University (NY)
RPI (NY)
RIT (NY) </p>
<p>If Alfred University interests you, you can send me a PM, I have a child there.
Merit Aid & Need-Based Aid available, very nice school, a hidden gem, and the professors care about their students!</p>
<p>oh, and if you like um small and are into engineering/sciency things, took at Olin college. I have a friend that chose them over UIUC in-state for engineering.</p>
<p>And on the working thing. I know people far smarter than me, who got rejected from Ivies and other top twenty schools. They are all going to UVa. I also know that many people have worked harder than me, but were rejected by W&M and UVa. It’s a fact that these school accept a spectrum of students. It’s not ALL about how hard you work in HS, It’s also about how you can manifest that in the application. Odds are that your recs and essays will be good.</p>