<p>want* oopsie</p>
<p>1) There are an infinite number of superior applicants, but most of them are just as insecure as you are, so don’t feel intimidated by the Chance Me threads</p>
<p>2) Getting in won’t make you feel better about yourself if you have bad self-esteem; I’m living proof</p>
<p>3) The admissions process is a minefield of inconsistency and ambiguity, which is why doing your proverbial homework is essential in this hyper-competitive age</p>
<p>4) The application process can actually be fun: treat it like a game of chess and take charge of every component of your application </p>
<p>5) The application process may be unclear, but applicants have a great deal of control (more the case with transfers) over their fate if they prepare their applications diligently and intelligently</p>
<p>6) Affirmative-action and standardized tests are like the Electoral College: debates flare over their relevance and fairness all the time, but they’re not going away anytime soon, so accept them as fixed entities and move on</p>
<p>7) Don’t fight City Hall: if you have to complete certain courses, send certain information to colleges, or take certain standardized tests for admission, don’t spend time b1tching about them and instead prepare for and conquer them</p>
<p>I’ve been on the forums since the fall of 2007 (when I was applying for transfer admission) and I have to say, even in spite of some of the neuroticism, elitism, smack-talking, and colossally bad advice floating through these forums, there are some truly great nuggets of wisdom to be found here and some equally great people giving advice on admissions. (For that matter, who among us has never been accused of any of those things on here? lol It is college admissions, after all, and they have never been more competitive or high stakes.)</p>
<p>Coming on here definitely made me feel worse about myself at first given how many ridiculously overqualified applicants there are posting their stats, but I soon realized that we’re all essentially in the same boat: there’s always a bigger fish and each of us wants to achieve a difficult objective (i.e., admission) and seeks to arm ourselves with information that will help us do so (and perhaps comfort us in the process). I definitely realized one other fish metaphor: there is always a bigger fishbowl. I thought I would feel better about myself if I went to an Ivy, and here I am, two years later at Penn, and constantly fretting over people referring to it as “Penn State” or the fact that I didn’t get into Harvard. You create a lot of your own happiness and satisfaction, so take control over your academic situation and your life; make it work if it’s not already working. (Hence why I’m a huge advocate of transferring if your current school isn’t a good fit, but that’s a different story.) A fat envelope really is the gold medal John Candy refers to in Cool Runnings: “If you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.” Cliche, but spot on. Go for it, but don’t feel inadequate if you don’t get it: there are simply too many [over]qualified students for too few spots. </p>
<p>In terms of the process, CC is a veritable wikipedia of admissions information, and consequently, it’s up to each person to sift through the nonsense and decide for herself which is helpful and which is not. Let’s face it: we all speculate and give opinions on matters at times where we’re not even sure of what reality is, so take people’s advice with a grain of salt and consult multiple sources. When in doubt, go with your intuition and common sense. I find that the more concrete a piece of advice, the less likely it is to be uniformly true. Most admissions scenarios are necessarily subjective, vague, and inconsistent, so try not to take people’s advice or chance estimations as gospel; remember that adcoms are made of human beings. (Not to imply that they are arbitrary, because they are anything but; just that they are subjective and unpredictable at times.)</p>
<p>I will say, however and IMHO, that CC made me realize that transfer admissions is a far more knowable and predictable process than freshman admissions. I can only speak for the Transfer forum, but I can say with reasonable certainty that there is excellent, sound advice to be found there. More broadly, though, I urge anyone who has basic questions about freshman admissions as well as those who are considering transferring to make a CC account and scroll through some of the forums on here. Similarly, find credible members and ask questions! You’ll be surprised at how liberally people give away their advice, and it’s often very helpful. (Regarding essay editing, there are an astonishing number of bad or clueless editors [but also solid ones] on here, so take their advice with requisite salt and be wary. Very hit or miss.) </p>
<p>This is a wonderful (and FREE) resource, but more than anything, you can meet and interact with people who are going through the EXACT same process and thus have the same questions, frustrations, and insecurities that you do; and also people who have gone through the process before and have “been there,” so to speak. This site made me discover how much I enjoy helping other transfers (and also freshman applicants) and how rewarding it can be to work with a student on his application over a period of months and see the improvement as well as tangible results come decision time. </p>
<p><em>whew</em> Sorry for the longwinded post. </p>
<p>Now where can I buy one of those CHANCE ME T-shirts?</p>
<p>I learned to my great relief that there are still many people out there who know the difference and even better, who care about the difference between your, you’re, to, too, do and due.</p>
<p>Before CC:
Hey if I get a 1800 or so on the SAT I’ll probably be on the right track. My 3.5 GPA is pretty damn good too.</p>
<p>After CC:
I’m stupid…</p>
<p>I learned that CC is a terrible way to learn about yourself.
I haven’t posted, but the things I read about people bringing down their 2200+ SAT scores. People fussing about 3.8+ GPAs.
You can only as much as you can. Don’t overdo yourself just for college because then you’ll never be able to handle college, itself.</p>
<p>Sometimes I wonder whether the people who seem really affected by the CC elitist mindset (^^ QuesoDeLaNoche) are right, if people who are always first to denounce this way of thinking are right (^ parisrosaries), or if neither/both are!?</p>
<p>I think the path of moderation is best - CC has taught me that the top spots in the world are extremely competitive, and that I am lucky to even have a shot at them. I’ve read posts by many international students who are certainly intelligent enough but are often placed on an uneven playing field just because they aren’t American yet. </p>
<p>This competitiveness showed me that attending a California state school wasn’t enough for what I wanted to do with my life, and it gave me the motivation to fight the uphill battle to transfer to a (much) better school. At the same time, I still enjoy all of the parts of life that lie outside of the classroom, and I haven’t let this “Ivy-or-nothing” mentality consume me. </p>
<p>Of course, life lessons aside, probably the most important facet of what I learned from CC was the concrete facts on what I needed to do to get into a selective University (cancer-curing and novel-publishing hyperboles aside).</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I have learned a lot more about the admissions process.
I have read posts by a number of people who are too obsessed with name brand and are very arrogant with a “know it all” attitude when discussing college topics.
Finally, and most importantly, I have met some wonderful people, many of the CC posters, I think, who really care about others and who add insightful comments to threads.</p>
<p>Before I got off Caltech’s waitlist, I was sure I’d be off to Duke. Everyone around me and the community, the rankings, payscale charts, promoted Duke and I was happy as it was portrayed to me as one of America’s leading & prestigious universities</p>
<p>At CC:…I couldn’t believe some posters bashing Duke left and right…I remember there was a dude here who was deciding between UMich, Stanford and Duke (when he got off both Duke and Stanford’s waitlist).</p>
<p>In real life, people would tell this guy to visit each, he can’t go wrong, etc, etc. But instead, what I heard on these forums was: “Dook sux. Pick Stanford because its better. Its HYPSM duhh” I mean yeah, Stanford is more prestigious, but is the prestige difference between Duke and Stanford that big? Is it significant? And what about UMich? UMich is like THE most awesome public school there is. And people bash that and tell this guy to blindly pick Stanford.
The guy eventually picked Duke over Stanford because he didn’t like the environment at Stanford. UMich was too close for him.</p>
<p>Even after getting off of the waitlist for Caltech, I see posters blindly telling me Caltech = antisocial. CC puts Caltech in MIT’s shadow. Or even more entertaining, they come up with HYPMSC.
I refuse to be part of a self-crowned CC “elite” snobs that are apparently better than “lower ivy leveled” universities.</p>
<p>Even the Ivy leagues that aren’t HYP are now called “lower ivies.” My girlfriend noted that she and her family would kill to get into Cornell, a “lower ivy.”</p>
<p>CC does put HYPSM on a pedestal.
On a good note, I’m really glad to have met VERY HELPFUL posters like molliebatmit, mathboy98, jessiahl, eatsalot, BenGolub, etc.
But I’ve met WAAAYY too many douchy posters especially on the college admissions forum.</p>
<p>I also like HSL because its very chill.</p>
<p>On CC I’ve learned tons of things such as SAT strategies and college pre med programs.
Although I never really wanted to attend an Ivy, now I kind of regret never thinking about going there due to CC.
I’ve realized there are a ton of people on CC that are outrageously intelligent and have tons of EC’s, straight A’s, and 2300+ SAT scores, and outshine me.
In a way they serve as an inspiration for me on how to be during college.
I totally regret finding CC towards the end of junior year in HS ;[</p>
<p>I learned that my ECs are not very good. >_<</p>
<p>But it has also reinforced my belief that my grades and scores are good…</p>
<p>Haha OP, your conclusions for 1 and 2 are off. I had LOTS of Bs and some C in high school, and still made it to top 20 (no legacy or anything). It depends on what the college looks for in an applicant.
But then yes, through this site, I realized that there are people with scores and stats that are like off the roof, yet still don’t get into their dream schools.</p>
<p>College Confidential puts your ambitions into perspective.</p>
<p>Even though I’ve only been here a short time, I’ve greatly come to appreciate this forum for its ability to provide motivated students the knowledge to do better. Yes, it is horribly inconvenient to learn that for a good chance at an Ivy League institution a score of 2300+ is preferred, and that one’s ECs have to be impressive to a great degree, and that generally one has to show immense intellectual capability. But heck, I’d rather know these things than not.</p>
<p>CC discourages for sure. It’s depressing to know that this much work is required in the Test Preparation and College Admissions process. But where CC shines is in its ability to motivate people to rise to the challenge and work so diligently to achieve their ambitions.</p>
<p>"It opened up my perception on how hard it is to get into top schools. I know many kids who haven’t gone through the admissions process who are delusional into thinking they are going to get in their dream school. This site will definitely open up your eyes. "
-I second that to the fullest. I have been at a CC for 2 years now and when it came time to apply as a transfer student my view on college changed tremendously! I used to believe that there was nothing wrong with a B, when most top schools require at least a 3.5! And for the admissions process, I have friends just finishing their 1st at CC who are blowing CC scholarship money and pellgrant money on this and that thinking moving out and supporting yourself at a university will be just as easy as living at home
I guess it hits all of us at a different time
</p>
<p>It’s made me feel a lot more nervous about my chances at Princeton.</p>
<p>Despite the whole perfectionist mentality of some of the posters, CC has given me an amazing wealth of information about the whole college application process and it is one of my number one sources for some of my more obscure questions. :)</p>
<p>-SATs + standardized tests are easy thx to CC
-GPA is your own, side responsibility(high gpa is pretty much the norm here so nothing special)
-Quality>quantity ECs
-Lots of smart ppl are open minded</p>
<p>I feel like I have no chance of getting into a top 20 school. CC honestly just confuses me and contradicts my guidance counselor. My GC told me he thinks I’ll get into most of the schools I apply to, including an Ivy or 2 at least but meanwhile silverturtle’s chance thing says I have a <1% chance of getting into Yale so I’m sure my chances aren’t much better at other top schools. I guess my GC knows the subjectives more than people on this site, but uggh it’s REALLY discouraging.</p>
<p>I’ve learnt that when they say “The truth hurts”, that it really does.</p>
<p>Being on here is a humbling experience. A 2200+ SAT score may receive oohs and ahhs from classmates, but it’s certainly nothing to brag about on here.</p>
<p>As far as colleges go, I was never interested in getting into a top school, so CC has simply been a great resource for me to hear about first-hand experiences at schools that I’m interested in.</p>
<p>I’ve lurked for a while, while parceling together pieces of information from different threads.
A lot of people warned me about the misinformation that spreads here. I think that the admissions processes isn’t quite as stat-oriented as people on CC believe, but that’s okay. There are many threads that help us make decisions from deciding which SAT II’s to take to the atmosphere at a certain school and that is what makes CC so special and useful.</p>