<p>Haha, I'm not dejected at all - every discussion on here has consistently said that plenty of people don't get interviews . . . not to mention all the brochures say that no interviews are offered, so honestly I'm taking it exactly as it is meant; if they need information on your personality, whether it's good or bad, they'll 'contact you' for further information. Plus I interviewed as an freshman and had a good interview, I was just too clueless to fully complete my application back then. So, anyone still up? I've been waiting to commiserate about this crap, it's the worst time of year and it's good to talk about it, since no one here seems to understand not wanting to be here ;)</p>
<p>PS Janel, have you said where you go to school?</p>
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haha...i know my w.h. facts.
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<p>Well I'll say. Haha. Small world indeed. Yeah everyone I knew from Hall went to King Phillip, so that would make sense. Where do you go to school now?</p>
<p>You betcha, Brian.</p>
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I go to UMass, Amherst. (I feel like I've answered this question 100 times this week, haha).
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<p>I'm sorry, for some reason I thought that's what BNX said and I was going to ask him and then mistakenly asked you - Is anyone else up? (Oh, and what was 'You betcha'? - if that's a slight, you have the wrong state ;)</p>
<p>haha. i go to a top 30ish LAC...what about upenn is making you want to transfer?</p>
<p>I've been here this whole time and made maybe 2 friends - I'm a gregarious, unpretentious guy and just into so many things, and it seems like everytime I mention that I'm a philosophy student someone laughs or cringes - it's literally a bad word around the pre-professional crowd. It's not in my head; I have a dozen friends at Harvard that are really rooting for me to get in, and even some reluctant Yale friends, so that we can party at H/Yale games, but I don't have a connection that is even CLOSE to this kind of comradery at Penn. I've been on 8 medications and have 3 therapists, just to convince myself that I can be happy here and it hasn't worked. What can I say.</p>
<p>Yeah...I never really got a good vibe from upenn. It seemed very high-school-like. It's so big and so "generic" almost if that makes sense. But I would definitely have to agree with you, I think it lacks the smaller sub-communities for which many of the ivies are known.</p>
<p>You applying to Penn?</p>
<p>Same here, Brian. I've had a few acquintances come and go -- but never really made any real friendships here. Oh and I'm a Philosophy major as well! Pre-professionalism, however, isn't even a known word at my school as most students here couldn't care less for grad school. So, just remember, it could always be worse, haha; you could be at UMass.</p>
<p>Do you guys attribute your lack of friendships to the size of your schools? or do you think it's just the schools themselves?</p>
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but I don't have a connection that is even CLOSE to this kind of comradery at Penn. I've been on 8 medications and have 3 therapists, just to convince myself that I can be happy here and it hasn't worked. What can I say.
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<p>Oh man, I know the feeling.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you intend to go to graduate school, staying put might be a better idea. Letters of recommendation are usually the most important part of a graduate school application, and you will want enough time to become well acquainted with your professors so informative recommendations can be written.</p>
<p>A lot of people bond over things like fraternities, sororities, and anything they have in common - people really stick with people that are just like them, and I really work against that. All the Asians stick together, and international students barely learn English because of it. Black students are all in one dorm - extremely ghetto and unsocial, and it's the school's fault. People are not friendly or interested in people they don't know; they make their friends during new student orientation and that's the end of it.</p>
<p>Yea but I want to go to grad school at Harvard extremely bad anyway, and all the stats show that Harvard undergrads have a huge advantage over anyone else for Harvard grad (even contrary to pop belief); in fact of the 500 1Ls at HLS, 232 of them are directly from Harvard, 120 from Yale, 91 from Stanford, and 30-50 from the other ivies. So, sorry, but in this case it doesn't apply!</p>
<p>That's really interesting to me because I thought a larger school would be different. You've painted a pretty accurate picture of the social scene at my current small liberal arts college (of under 2000 students). And I always just assumed that larger universities would be less like this.</p>
<p>Wow 'extremely bad?' hope Harvard didn't see that . . . you know it's late when Conan reruns are on . . .</p>
<p>The schools themselves. Definitely. It isn't that I haven't had the opportunities to be in an intimate setting with my comrades here, it's just that I haven't really cliqued with any of them. And I've been here for two years! I'm the type of person that gets excited about everything and wants to achieve a laundry-list of objectives. The bottom line is: UMass kids want to lay back and take it easy. Which is great. But it's not me. </p>
<p>Keep looking though, Brian. I know plenty of the inquisitive types at Penn that are very intelligent. Also, once you get to know more people within your major, you'll possibly find your niche (if all else doesn't work out with transferring). I friend of mine who goes to Georgetown, another very pre-professional atmosphere, seems to be finding his niche within his Philosophy department slowly but surely.</p>
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Yea but I want to go to grad school at Harvard extremely bad anyway,
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<p>Actually, going to Harvard for undergraduate studies will hurt you for graduate studies there. Academic inbreeding is usually frowned upon, especially since the Ph.D program only accepts around 5-8 applicants out of more than 200.</p>
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in fact of the 500 1Ls at HLS, 232 of them are directly from Harvard, 120 from Yale, 91 from Stanford, and 30-50 from the other ivies. So, sorry, but in this case it doesn't apply!
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<p>I am talking about graduate school, not professional school.</p>
<p>Hah, ok, new rule; no mentioning or even <em>thinking</em> about not getting in or 'not working out' - I'm probably just superstitious, but I like this thread because it's supportive :)</p>
<p>Ah well I want to get an M.A. while I finish my B.A. OR go to law school, but a Ph.D. isn't likely, unless it's through Kennedy, and that would be a more opportunistic afterthought, as I will be focusing on publishing and creating an academic/research niche if I really want to go to grad school, but regardless, I think having a BA from Harvard is the one exception to having reduced chances at anything; that's why it's the only school I applied to transfer to.</p>