I have applied to 16 colleges so far and one early decision 2. I got into two colleges early action and deffered at one but those colleges aren’t my first choice. Most of the colleges I applied to are reaches but my SAT scores are above the average so i don’t know. I’m scared I’m not going to get into my early decision college and then will be left with options I am not happy with. But if I get into my early decision college then I won’t want to have wasted $400 over me being stressed out and frantic.What would you do if you were me?I can list all of the colleges I applied to if that would help.
Stop. Whose money are you spending? You are already into two colleges. Buying more lottery tickets isn’t going to help you win. If you have done your homework, you will know that test scores are only one component. Grades are almost always the single most important factor. Above average test scores will not help you at reach schools. To even have a smidgen of a better chance, your test scores and grades need to be in the 75th percentile. Your recs, essays, and ECs need to be great.
I saw your post from August, in which you said you were going to apply to 13 colleges. You have applied to 16. That’s more than enough, especially given you already have two acceptances. If you have good recs, good essays, and good ECs, all that will be taken into account when reviewing your application. I also know what your grades and test scores are. You can’t change what’s done, and you have submitted too many apps already. Some schools will want you, others won’t. Adding more colleges that you don’t really care about isn’t going to change how you feel about the ones you add at the last minute. You are definitely going to college, so just stop with the apps and go watch mindless TV for the rest of the weekend. Okay?
Go out and enjoy your senior year. Listing the schools would not hurt
You don’t seem to have defined what kind of school will make you happy, so I’m not sure how you evaluate acceptances or whether you should apply to more schools. Stop listening to others and listen to yourself. Have you actually visited any schools? If not, do so NOW even if your dad can’t make the time to go along. Might actually be better to go by yourself and not be influenced by whoever is with you. Don’t make any more excuses, take charge of yourself and this search. And don’t worry so much about making a “wrong” decision. YOU CAN DO THIS - it’s your future, not your dad’s, your college counselor, etc. At this point, just being on your own and in school may be precisely what you need to mature and get on with your life.
I applied to a lot of the colleges with my college counselor while my dad was sitting on the couch on his phone so I don’t even know if he knows where I applied.I apply to some when I get impulsive and just use my debit card. My dad keeps forwarding me emails from colleges that say stuff about applying.I don’t know if he is trying to tell me to apply there and it just makes me really stressed out. I just want to apply to as many as possible to strengthen my chances.Talk of colleges is all I have heard for the past three years and that is what I have worked for most of my life.
I am thinking about doing the ACT I don’t know if that will help. I just don’t know what I could’ve done differently.I tried so hard last year and my classes were really hard.Tons of people in my classes got into selective colleges so I don’t know what is wrong with me.One boy in my pre-calc last year who didn’t do so well is going to NYU while I got an A+ and everybody keeps telling me I can’t get into college. My high school counselor told me Fairfield was a good match for me while my sat is 140 points above the 75th percentile and .4 above the average GPA. Not to mention the fact that me or my parents have never heard of it. I have visited a lot of colleges but I just don’t have strong feelings towards most of them, I don’t know if I just made myself immune for fear of rejection.
I just feel like I can’t sit back and watch my life wither away I need to do something.I can’t enjoy my senior year because I don’t like school.I go to school and stress out the whole day,eat lunch in the library trying to study and then go home and repeat the process. I started skipping gym class to study more so now I have a bad grade in gym but I don’t care about that.Even on the weekend I am occupied with school work and never leave my house.I sit at the same table in my house never moving and always look out the window and see people walking to the beach.I can’t sit back and watch netflix because I feel guilty for not studying.If i fail something then I think its my fault I shouldn’t have spent so much time watching netflix on the weekend.
I don’t have good ECs because I have basically quit everything I have ever started. When I was younger I tried horseback,dance,soccer,softball,sewing,clarinet but none of them lasted that long.My college counselor says my ECs are weak because basically all I have is being president of 2 clubs and community service.Throughout middle school and up till sophomore year I went to 4 different sleep away camps but I didn’t like any of them so that was a great use of time.
I probably have horrible recs considering my teacher did it in one night. I asked him in September and I kept going up to him and he said it would be done before November 1 and then before Christmas break and then after christmas break I was like where is it? and then I had to keep going to ask him because he kept lying and then finally put it up last week but my other one is probably good.
I think my essay is a 10/10 so hopefully that helps.
^ You have applied to enough schools. What is your list?
Please read my post again. Applying to more and more colleges is clearly desperation. Do you think they are going to admit you because they sense your desperation? The reaches you applied to care about interest. It stands to reason that other colleges care about interest too. A rushed application probably isn’t going to be a great application, if you are going to apply to more and more reaches in the hopes that one will admit you. There is no point taking the ACT now. Applying to more and more schools isn’t going to miraculously change your grades and test scores.
Your dad is sending you advertisements. That is all those emails are. They are trying to sell you a very expensive product worth many tens of thousands of dollars. Your dad is being sucked in by the ads becasue he thinks it means they want you. Maybe they do, but please remember ALL colleges want as many applications as possible. The more they can reject, the better it is for their ranking. Your dad is being quite naive.
What is this business about fear of rejection and you not getting into college? YOU ARE ALREADY ACCEPTED! You have more going on here than just being worried. Your post above is extremely negative. Stop comparing yourself to other kids in your school. Your grades are what they are because those are the grades you earned. You have no clue what was in someone else’s application that got them into NYU. I think you need to visit your school counselor so you can ease your mind. Your counselor is aware that both grades and test scores matter so yes, telling you to apply to Fairfield was good advice. Your counselor wants you to definitely get into somewhere. Your GPA is match for Fairlfied, your SAT is above, so it is probably a safety. Stop focussing on your test score, because that isn’t what the college will focus on, though it will help.
And talk to your parents. Ask your dad to stop sending you emails. Tell them how stressed out you are. Tell them your worries. High school will be done forever in a few months. You will probably enjoy college more, because you will be in an adult environment. You are going to get in at the college that is right for you. If it’s GWU, great, if it’s Fairfield, great. You will eventually learn to like your college. Be happy that you have been accepted somewhere. You won’t be one of those kids posting in April that you didnt get in anywhere.
This OP makes me sad. If you already “don’t like school” the last thing you probably need is to end up at what you think is a “good” (famous? Football?) school. Many of these types of schools are not the best fit for a student who struggles with motivation and/or lacks direction. That said you don’t mention your financial situation so I don’t know if a small liberal arts school would work for you. Why did you mostly apply to reach schools? Anyway it’s all water under the bridge at this point but it’s not the end of the world if you end up at a school that is not your “dream” school. If nothing else you can spend the next year soul-searching and looking for a place that’s a better fit. Then you can transfer. What do you want to study? I agree with the other posters that you should stop applying–mainly because it sounds like you are shooting fish in a barrel instead of going about this with scientific precision. That’s just wasting money. Years ago the advice was 1 safety, 1 reach and 3 in the middle. I think this over-application trend is really making it difficult for schools to get an idea of what they can reasonably expect their yield to be and probably complicating the financial aid process for everyone. My guess is that you are just amped up and anxious about the schools you haven"'t heard back from yet. Let it go. We are ALL anxious and feeling impatient right now. Try to keep your mind off of college applications. Watch some movies, read a book, go outside if you live in a place where the weather isn’t horrible. Once all of the acceptances are in, focus on choosing a place where you think you can be happy–not just a place that you think will impress other people.
Congrats on your acceptances! Allow me to voice a slightly different opinion. You have to live with the results of your decision, and you are free to apply to wherever you want. If your logical mind says you can afford it and do a good job, what do you have to lose other than the application fee? If you get into your preferred ED, you’ll be happy enough to forget about the $400. Mow some lawns this summer to make that back if you are concerned.
It’s your life, you have to trust yourself and your own judgement and research.
I do agree with the other posters that you should try and relax, cut yourself a break. Life’s a marathon, not a sprint.
OP: 2 bits of advice…
1). Reading between the lines, it sounds like you are afraid to be left with only your 2 acceptances in the end. Does that mean you’d rather not go to them? Or does it mean you think you may have only applied to reaches and those 2 safeties? If that is the case, you may want to carefully choose 2 match schools and then be done.
Do not apply to any school that emails you. That means nothing (unless the app is free and easy to complete). Only apply to things you are interested in.
2). You sound a little depressed. Keep an eye on that or talk to someone at school about it, ok?
Now, to let us help you, @00110011 , list the schools applied to far, your GPA/scores and what you are looking for in a school, and what you can afford. We can help you decide if you need to do anymore. That way you can feel confident in your decision to stop or apply to more!
My guidance counselor is useless he doesn’t even know my name. I live full time with my dad and he works a ton so I don’t talk to him that much. I don’t speak to my mom and I’m not close to my dad at all and he thinks that school isn’t stressful at all so I won’t be speaking to him. I applied to mostly reach schools because all of the colleges I like are considered reaches.
I am scared that I will only have my 2 acceptances and I don’t 100% know that I want to go there,I have my doubts about both.I’m not depressed I just have no purpose right now unless I get into a college that I want to go to.I can’t deal with the guilt of not studying and then getting a bad grade because that will be responsible for me not getting into college and I can’t deal with that.I went to a therapist about something else but she was not helpful at all and I am not a fan of talking about my feelings so I stopped.
I have a 3.85 GPA 680-Reading 790-Math
Bucknell,Conn,Fordham,F&M,Gettysburg,Hamilton,Lafayette,Northeastern,Tulane,Union,Denver,Miami,Richmond,USC,WFU,W&L
So you have a 1470 and 3.85? Pretty darn good!
I don’t think these are huge reaches for you. I think you will get into most of them if the rest if you app is as good. I’d say stop applying unless you are really interested in a school. You are good.
But I didn’t do any ap classes last year.I am doing two this year but I don’t know if that makes a difference.My school is number one in the state and is really difficult but I don’t think colleges care.
Many kids don’t take any before Junior year. It’s ok. I hope you can relax just a bit. You can’t make yourself crazy with this stuff.
I second what HRSMom has said. A few of those schools seem like reaches, but some seem like matches as well. I have no doubt you’ll get into several you love if your essays and EC’s etc are good. You seem so invested in this that I am going to believe that they are. I think that the tediousness of waiting is causing paranoia for you. Once you’ve submitted your applications there is nothing much else to do but relax and continue doing well. You’re totally entitled to watch some Netflix at this point. That’s what I’m doing as well. It’s going to be okay you just have to try and trust that.
Back in August you said your GPA was 3.6. Obviously 3.85 is better. So have you got straight As, or is 3.85 your weighted GPA? How many APs or IB total? Course rigor will matter at many of the colleges you have applied to. And yes, everyone likes the reach schools the best, no surprise there. Everyone wants to get into reach schools. Lots of people apply for limited spaces, that’s why they are hard to get into. No one can ever be totally certain they will like their college until they get there. You must have applied to the schools you are already accepted at for a reason, so try and remember what that reason is.
There is nothing to be scared of. If in fact your cumulative GPA is 3.85 UW, that’s great and you will surely get into several schools more. If it’s 3.6 UW, you will still likely get into at least a couple of them. You do not need to apply to anymore schools.
Your list looks balanced, your stats are very good- you should get several acceptances out of that list. And unless you are looking for an extremely liberal school, or a very very intense studious vibe, you are going to like a lot of the schools on your list.
Chillax.
Spending senior thinking about career paths and what impact you want to have on the world/society/others and less about college. College is only a stepping-stone, not a destination. You’ll likely live another 50+ years after college so spend more time figuring out what you can and want to do then than where you are the next 4 years.
It is very hard to relax when I don’t think I will get into my ED college. I know of 15 people that applied there,there is probably more but I can’t think of them.One girl in my study is in AP Calc BC and some took APs their sophomore year which isn’t even formally allowed.She was complaining about how she got a 1580 on her SAT.Compared to everyone that applied I am stupid.
I decided I just can’t care about it anymore.Thank you for your encouragement but I just am not feeling too great about my chances.All I can do now is wait.
All I can do now is wait - YEP