<p>I'm sorry, bartleby, but I'm trying to help this guy out beyond the standard "CHANCE ME PLEASE OMG I'M NOT GETTING IN ANYWHERE" question because, honestly, he has more than enough confirmation from other people suggesting that he's an excellent applicant. How much more help can we be by just repeating what other people have already said?</p>
<p>The sheep are slaughtered and sold so that the shepherd can make the money.
Think about whether or not simply answering his inane question to the best of your ability is actually helping him or if you're just feeding his ego.</p>
<p>This is precisely why I hate - HATE - applicants who ask people to "chance" them and you read down the page and it turns out their stats are so stellar that they already know they'll get into an excellent school. At that point it's just pointless and, in my opinion, actually hurtful to the forum community because it's a waste of time, time that could be spent answering other more meaningful questions. (Well, on the flip side of the coin, ANY "chance" question is kinda iffy, especially the students who are actually borderline and worried about getting into a school, because we're not on the adcomms and our opinion may or may not be the same as that of the adcomms).</p>
<p>So despite your poorly veiled dig at me, I really do think that I'm perhaps the more helpful one in my effort to perhaps help him open his eyes a bit and to really consider these decisions. I spent HOURS poring over college viewbooks and websites trying to decide if these schools were all schools that, if I were to be accepted, I would have no problem attending. And I feel like my list was a very good list - I didn't apply to all the Ivies just because they were Ivies; I didn't just look at the "top 15" schools in the "rankings" and apply just because of numbers. So sure, he may have his own reasons for applying to certain schools, but I hope those reasons don't eventually lead down a path to where he'll be unhappy for the next four years of his life because he made a mistake or something.</p>
<p>This forum is about helping each other. And we need to think about how to BEST help each other.</p>
<p>tastyb33f there are many reasons why i asked for peoples opinions on these forums, and one of them is not to gain attention. Applying to college is a very nervous process that makes a person very anxious. Even the best of the best still worry over if they are accepted into the school of their dreams. This is because they see people with perfect SAT's, perfect gpa, and perfect EC that still get denied. And considering how I am not one of these people that is perfect in all of the criteria that colleges look at, i have a reason to be nervous and anxious.</p>
<p>Do you realize how few applicants there are that have perfect GPAs and perfect SAT scores? (By the way, no such thing as "perfect extracurriculars" in my mind - extracurricular activities done for the sake of padding a resume is absolutely disgusting; applying a formulaic paradigm to extracurriculars just worsens that notion). Three years ago, I went through this exact process of freaking out and being a nervous wreck over every little number. The vast majority of us who have gone through the application process completely understand how you feel.</p>
<p>But also know that you don't NEED perfect scores and perfect grades and a whopping list of extracurriculars to get into a school. That's how it works in lots of other countries (east Asian schools come to mind, minus the ECs), but the reason why tertiary education in the US is among the absolute best in the world is because we value the students more as individuals rather than a simple set of numbers (one reason why I don't really like the way large public schools admit students, mostly by looking at numbers). For example, in Taiwan, they don't consider special circumstances like your socioeconomic background or that you're the captain of whatever team. As far as they're concerned, you are an entrance exam score and a GPA. In the US, however, It's all about FIT - whether or not you can convince the adcomm that you'd be a good fit to 1) be educated by that particular school, 2) that you can contribute to that particular school in a positive manner, and 3) not bring shame to the name of the school (that third one should be pretty easy for most people). So it's not about having a perfect GPA/SAT/whatever. It's about shining as an individual. Sounds really cheesy, I know, but that's what it's all about. So you're allowed to freak out about your numbers - everybody is. But it's better if you realize sooner rather than later what they're looking for.</p>
<p>America's an awesome mothereffin country, isn't it?</p>
<p>Yes i agree with everything that you said. However, saying that i posted this thread to gain attention because of my ego is very unreasonable. It does not hurt to ask for people's opinions and see where improvement is needed to increase the chances of getting into the college of your choice. This method is far more effective then basing your decisions off your own thoughts.</p>
<p>I did not suggest that you STARTED this thread with that in mind. It's good to ask for opinions. But continually asking for more and more opinions when you already have plenty that say the exact same thing is just excessive and unnecessary.</p>
<p>He got 5 opinions, all of them somewhat different. Lay off him.</p>
<p>you would be a competitive candidate if you were in-state.</p>
<p>uc berkeley: reach</p>
<p>everything seems fine, try to boost SAT</p>
<p>edit:
@Bartleby: if you wrote "anything" like, "i dont want to go here!" you most certainly will not get into uc berkeley (UCLA does the same). their admissions are not formula based. they have a committee that review your application and essay as a whole and then score it holistically.</p>