<p>Everyone here who wants to go to a summer program---as a veteran of the process--- don't do it. Don't risk your grades, happiness and sanity.
I decided to apply to three programs. MITES, TASP and SAMS; All of these programs were free because my parents refused to fork over any money for expensive programs.</p>
<p>I applied to MITES,proofread my app 60 times and examined it over and over again.
April , I recieved my answer:rejected.</p>
<p>Tasp was the most horrible experience: In late february/march they accepted me for an interview and Ifelt hope. the essays I created had been crafted over hours and weeks to create interesting and original thought. I was hopeful and excited. I went for the interview.
Three days before my birthday I recieved an email from TASP, "it is with regret that we..._ fill in the rest.
On my birthday, I recieved the official paper notification of my rejection. My birthday was horrid.</p>
<p>SAMs was agonozing- (note: to any future applicants- their office is disorganized at best.)
SAMS said that they would send acceptances and rejections MAy 1st. They didn't send them until Monday, May 3rd. ( apparently forgot) Their admissions office was unhelpful and unresponsive. Even today, I have not recieved a formal acceptance or rejection letter. I called them to find out I was rejected. Plus, all of this happened the week of AP exams, so I couldn't concentrate. I was, naturally,rejected from SAMS.</p>
<p>So now, I stand, a tripple reject who before the college application process has even started , feels hopeless demoralized and depressed. Add to this I have nothing to do this summer. To all future sophmores and freshman do NOT and I repeat do NOT apply to summer programs. There is someone they are looking for and it isn't you. So avoid the pain the agony, the crying yourself to sleep on your birthday and the all round misery. Forget about it. YOu suck. Your gpa sucks and all your achievements (one person had a 3.9 GPA) don't matter a **** to them.
You know that song " i'm only gonna break your heart" ='s a summer program. But they will not only break your heart ; they will crush you entirely.</p>
<p>Acceptees to summer programs are not unicorns. They exist. In fact, they’re just normal, super talented kids. Sure, nobody should rely on acceptance to programs like TASP, MITES, Clark Scholars etc, because the reality is that the probably won’t get in. But there’s no harm in applying, is there?</p>
<p>And it’s not too late to salvage your summer. =) You can start your essays in advance, you could look for an internship or a job, you could start a community service project; you could even take courses at a community college. All is not lost.</p>
<p>In terms of your last disenhearted paragraph…Just because you aren’t accepted to a program with a 2% admitted rate does not mean you won’t be heading to a good college a year from now. (Note that “good college” /=/ HYPSM alone.) Additionally, a rejection from a program/college doesn’t necessarily reflect on you as a person or on what you will become. Remember that come next year. =)</p>
<p>“they’re just normal, super talented kids. Sure, nobody should rely on acceptance to programs like TASP, MITES, Clark Scholars etc, because the reality is that the probably won’t get in. But there’s no harm in applying, is there?”</p>
<p>Exactly, what i should have taken note of. “super talented” I am not. </p>
<p>Good college for me right now means Rutgers but… I’m afraid because I’ve already been rejected over and over. I feel like regurgiatated cud—which reminds me i’ve got to study for AP Bio.</p>
<p>Well, it’s not like you immediately know whether you’re their version of “good enough;” that’s why you apply in the first place. And it’s important to remember that aside from being talented (which I’m sure you are), luck is a VERY important factor. Maybe they just wrote the right essay or lived in the right place, had the rights views on the world etc. It’s a very complicated equation.</p>
<p>And I hate to admit that I rolled my eyes and went “Oh, please” when I read your comment about Rutgers. Don’t be silly. There are plenty of good colleges out there, and by good colleges, I mean both Tier 1 and Tier 2. I’m assuming, since you thought you were a good candidate for these programs, that you have a solid GPA and PSAT, as well as dedicated EC’s. Forbidding a total essay screw-up, I am sure that you WILL be accepted to a respected, challenging university.</p>
<p>I was rejected to two of the three programs you applied to, and I didn’t apply to any others. I thought I had ok chances, too. Don’t worry too much about rejection. Most people who go to top colleges never went to these super-selective summer programs, and most top colleges have acceptance rates higher than the acceptance rates of these programs. Being rejected doesn’t mean that you’re not special. People with 2400s got rejected from these programs. Also, the process of applying was educational in of itself: it taught me to not procrastinate so much in the future, and to spend more time writing better essays. I’m sure you also learned some things that will be helpful in the future. </p>
<p>Anyway, if there’s nothing else we get out of the application and rejection process, at least it’s practice for being rejected for real next year. In the long run, it doesn’t really matter that much.</p>
Aside from this being just plain false in many cases, I caution you against discouraging an application process that, for the many, many people who ** choose ** to get the most out of it, is a very formative experience in itself.</p>
<p>There is plenty of anecdotal evidence present here on CC that summer program admissions decisions do NOT predict college admissions decisions. Several of the people in my TASP were rejected from at least one school, including me. One line on your application does not wave a magic wand of acceptance, I assure you. I hope, and believe, that you will be able to find a college that is a good fit for you and will offer you a great education–whether that is Brown or BYU or UT or whatever. Ultimately, that is what college is about, which most people forget.</p>
<p>Also, I think it should be noted that your reaction to this should be a red flag to a greater issue, in that this indicates that you are letting others determine your worth as a human rather than defining that for yourself. I’m sure you’ve heard this plenty of times before, but letters starting with “I regret to inform you…” and the numbers and GPAs and ECs and [whatever the hell other CC terms all of us use to quantify our existences that you want to insert here] ** don’t ** define you. I’ve been rejected from many, many things, but that doesn’t make me who I am. I am the opinions I hold, the music I like, the words I craft, and the art I create. I am not my rejection from College X, I am not my rejection from Prep School Y, I am not my rejection from Essay Contest Z. </p>
<p>I hope that beyond the college admissions game that you can learn that your happiness is far more important than what a handful of people on a panel think of you. I hope you can define you and take back the power you’ve given to others.</p>
<p>Man, I applied for SAMS thinking I had a decent shot and got rejected today. SAMS was the only program I applied to. I’m in the same situation as you are. But don’t sit there and whine about how terrible you are and how you’re not going anywhere in life and all that bull$hit. You are honestly taking these rejections WAY too far. You weren’t what they were looking for. Okay. Neither was I. Neither was the kid with the 2400 who got rejected from SAMS. Neither was a vast majority of students who applied for the other summer programs with some of the most stellar stats one may ever see. I bet you are honestly a very qualified candidate, especially with getting an interview for TASP (That takes skill by the way) and will have no problems with applying to college.
You honestly need to just get past this and find something to do this summer. I’m gonna take some summer college courses and get a job. You can do one of those or find a professor at a college nearby and do research or something. There is something you can do.
In the long run, these programs will probably give you some good memories. But overall, these programs do not matter as much as you are making it out to be.</p>
<p>Hate to say it, but I do agree with JungleFever.</p>
<p>I am actually a triple reject (from WTP, MITES, and Clarks) for a long time. I didn’t cry. I was just super dejected for a day or two and then I got over it. And when I did get over it, I received an email from SSP that I am accepted. </p>
<p>And even if you don’t get accepted, so what? There are so many other opportunities. You can start a project in your community. Go volunteer for a whole summer. Get a job. Do internships. Read some quality books that you don’t get to read during the busy school year. Get a head start on college applications. There are so many opportunities. And if you are lucky, there are probably local universities offereing classes over the summer.</p>
<p>I would actually make this an even stronger statement: with a select few exceptions, all of the people from our TASP were rejected from at least one school. I was rejected from three, including my top two choices. They are completely separate admissions processes that look at complete separate things. </p>
<p>I would also like to add that you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of by taking an interest in your education, which is primarily what summer programs are. The VAST majority of students would never be interested in <em>gasp</em> learning over the summer, so that fact in and of itself is something that you should cherish and preserve about yourself. In addition, the fact that you were a TASP finalist shows that you have some serious writing and/or intellectual chops to go along with that desire.</p>
<p>But, as embeezy said, this is NOT about admissions decisions, or what college you’ll go to, or anything like that. You will get a great education, I absolutely guarantee it. It might not be at a prestigious school, but there’s no reason it can’t be, either. Prestige isn’t worth ****. I turned down two far more prestigious options for the school I’m going to now, and I know many people who did the same, because they felt that the schools they’d chosen would fit their future plans/educational goals better. </p>
<p>YOU are YOU. Try as hard as you can to forget everything external when you’re evaluating YOURSELF. And I feel like I’ve said this a million times, but panels evaluate applications, not people. Not. People. Even if they WERE evaluating you, mere evaluation doesn’t define you as a person. To sum up my thoughts on this “Go 'head, switch your style up, and if they hate then let 'em hate and watch the money pile up.” In my personal opinion, you should strive to go through life thinking you’re the baddest mother on the face of the planet as much of the time as possible. Try to build up your self confidence based on things that are uniquely you and can’t be represented by convenient acronyms and numbers. I wish you the best of luck, and I suggest you talk to someone you trust about this–your pattern of thinking will straighten out the more you expose it to people that care about you, it certainly happened to me.</p>
<p>Just, breathe. I hope this rant made you feel better. <em>hugs</em></p>
<p>It’s okay, the summer program thing is not even a good indicator of college admissions, and it’s very impressive that you got an interview with TASP at all. I’ll admit that it is depressing to get rejections, and it sometimes does make you question your self-worth. I’ve already been rejected from a TON of things and will continue to be rejected, but it’s just part of life, and doesn’t have any bearing on your worth or future accomplishments. Everybody’s been rejected from something in their lives, but still gone on to have great success. </p>
<p>Also, ignore the nastiness on this thread. I know it sucks and hopefully the good rant made you feel a bit better.</p>
<p>The only thing I have to disagree with is that freshman & sophomores should still apply to summer programs. The fear of rejection isn’t a good reason to give up trying.</p>
<p>I disagree that there’s been nastiness in this thread. I think the majority of the posters have been trying to make the OP feel better and take a realistic look at his situation. </p>
<p>I dunno if this was just a ranty post that you’ll regret in the morning, the kind people make after an absolutely abysmal day. Either way,a coupla things: having been waitlisted or rejected from two of the same programs as you, yeah, it sucks. I do have plans for the summer - but merely because I applied to programs with a range in selectivity, which gave me some leeway. You applied to the equivalent of HYP and didn’t get in. Does it suck? Yeah. Does it mean you’re a worthless person? Absolutely not. </p>
<p>Think about it. There are BILLIONS of people that are happy, people who have never been to - or for that matter, heard of - MITES, TASP, or SAMS!</p>
<p>At the very least, you’ve learned the importance of having safeties - just in time for college apps! Hopefully, though, you’ve gotten stuff simply out of applying. You’ve practiced essays and worked on how to present yourself in the best possible way. You might not yhave been the exact combination of what those programs were looking for, but chin up, man! You’re gonna turn up at some place you love - we all are.</p>
<p>@cataclysm: the nastiness I was referring to was directed at the drive-by comment that was aimed at being…well, hurtful. But I agree that majority of posters have been supportive :)</p>
<p>I can totally feel your pain. I was straight out rejected by TASP the first time around (not even the interview round, so you did better than I did) and I’m anticipating a rejection from Bank of America Student Leaders since someone already posted on the FB group that they had been accepted into the Orange County market.</p>
<p>Personally I have to say if you were really intent on applying to such selective programs, you should have a backup plan in case of the likely event that you do not get into any. Personally, I feel that if I had chosen to apply to these programs (I chose not to waste my time), I would have gone into it knowing that to be accepted would be only somewhat more likely than winning the lottery, and that they could not be relied upon for my summer. I feel that you have gotten yourself into this situation, and now you are overreacting because you regret it. While it might be nice to apply and see what happens to those programs, it is silly to count on them.</p>
<p>“a ranty post that you’ll regret in the morning, the kind people make after an absolutely abysmal day.”</p>
<p>Cataclysm, you sum it up exactly.</p>
<p>You guys are probably right. After all, I probably shouldn’t be off encouraging people not to apply to programs; they may get it; they may not. I’m sorry, the last three weeks have been truly awful and i guess i’m just tired and a little depressed.
either way, sorry everyone.</p>
<p>There is one main mistake I made though that I want to preserve for all future posterity.
JUST because you recieve an acceptance to the interview round of TASP, doesn’t mean you will get in!!!</p>
<p>I saw that I had a 50% chance and I thought, " that’s a better chance than I have of making it to HYP, Uof Chicago or any school in the top 20. How could I go wrong?" It did. So, everyone who gets there (next year) do not suffer from an attack of hubris.</p>
<p>Whatever happens this summer, if anything works out I <em>might</em> post and I’ll see what happens. Maybe it’ll get better- maybe not. But i can’t waste your time anymore.
Thank you everyone.</p>
<p>Don’t worry … you are not wasting any one’s time. You are learning.
The programs you chose to apply are ultra competetive and odds are worse compared to even some of the very competetive colleges.
You did go upto interview process … Pat youself.
Next time have a back up… safety
It is imporatnt to realize that you will be successful by doing something that you are passionate about - translation … you do this for years from 9 to 12 grade for a long term than do something for 4 to 6 weeks to impress someone or a college.
PS: I am not saying summer programs are not good … so long they align with one’s intereset they are wonderful … but not the only way of making good use of time.</p>
<p>As a fellow rejectee, I know how much it sucks reading the “We’re sorry, bla bla bla” letter and how upsetting it is not to have anything concrete to do over the summer. However, I think we should remember that, like everybody said, the panels who decide these things are not actually evaluating US, just our applications. Beyond the applications themselves, there were also a lot of factors that we could not control, especially in the programs with such a limited number of spots, like the ones you applied to.
Don’t despair! If you had the creativity/drive to apply to these programs, I’m sure you will find something awesome to do with your summer, even if it’s not structured.</p>
<p>Also, for future TASP applicants reading this, I would adivse not looking at the acceptance statistics at all because the 10% chance of getting an interview will just make you feel discouraged and the 50% chance of getting in after the interview round does not accurately reflect how hard it is to get chosen from that intense pool of interviewed applicants. Just be really realistic and have some sort of backup plan for the summer. Not even a program necessarily, but just something you would love doing.
In addition, getting rejected doesn’t change my mind about how beneficial it was to apply. I don’t feel like my time or effort was wasted at all. So, I would encourage people to apply to these types of programs next year. Just don’t get too invested. </p>
<p>p.s. thanks everyone who posted nice things on this thread. I think I needed to read them too.</p>
<p>I’m an SSP reject, and although I entirely expected to be, it didn’t really hit me for a while, and now I’m scrambling to make summer plans. But I’ll probably end up with a job to pay for flying lessons, which could end up being cooler than SSP anyway. I understand your frustration, OP, but as others said, applying to programs as competitive as the ones you applied to is worse than applying to many Ivies. Don’t be discouraged. I’m sad, but I know I can still get into a great college and have a great summer.</p>
<p>Over this year, after having dealt with rejection (from SSP and a member of the opposite sex ;)), I’ve come to believe that the only way to learn to be rejected is to just do it. And everyone is rejected at some point in his/her life. People like you and I will be stronger on April 1 (and around then) when we get some disappointing news (and some great news!)</p>
<p>Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was fortunate enough to be invited to TASP lo these many years ago, but I certainly haven’t gotten every job, grant, or award I’ve applied for in my more than five decades of life! The only way not to fail is to be so unambitious that your reach never exceeds your grasp. My advice is to be entrepreneurial, but develop a thick skin.</p>
<p>My son applied to TASP last year, had what seemed to be a great interview, but was rejected anyhow. I was probably more disappointed than he was because I knew what he was missing. But a few weeks after his rejection he got a wonderful summer job in his probable future career field, and has continued working there on weekends through his senior year of high school. He’s saved a fair sum of money and is much smarter and more mature about finances and work, and much more secure in his career goals, than he was a year ago. None of this would have happened if he had gone to TASP. I’m not an “everything happens for a reason” sort of person, but if you’re a smart person who keeps looking for great opportunities, you will find some good ones.</p>