Is it just my high school?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Okay... not to come off as arrogant, but is it just me, or do non-CCers in general have absolutely no concept of the difficulty of college work and the competitiveness of the admissions process whatsoever?</p>

<p>So in November, I've talked to a kid who applied to MIT, and to my surprise, he did not apply to any safeties, as he was sure he'd get in. Come December 15th, and he got deferred, so he quickly applied to two "safeties," even though one of them has an acceptance rate of under 30%.</p>

<p>Another girl applied only to UNC, as she was sure she'd get in, despite having sub-par status, and by the time she wakes up to the possible truth, it may end up being too late.</p>

<p>Three other girls, who have stats even lower than the one mentioned above, are also hellbent in attending UNC. And they all believe that if they get in, graduating will be a cakewalk for them because they are all in the top 15% of the class, despite UNC being the most rigorous public school in NC with a student body composed of several valedictorians.</p>

<p>Two other girls from my school are just interested in the party scene, and have no idea on what they will major in, albeit they are not applying to any ultra-selective schools as above.</p>

<p>This may be common on CC, but most people at my school actually think I am sure to get into Harvard, even though my stats pale in comparision to the CC stereotype.</p>

<p>Two other girls here also have the "college will be a breeze" mentality... even though they are graduating barely with honors at my easy public school.</p>

<p>Something else that bothers me is how several college-bound kids here do not want to take AP-courses because they think these courses are too difficult. I mean, these are college introductory-level courses, which are supposed to be the easiest classes they'll take in college, so it will not get easier than this.</p>

<p>Thoughts? Comments?</p>

2

<p>My school is the exact same way, so many people think they are 100% going to get into MIT because they got a 2100+ on the SAT. I don’t think they realize how many people apply there with 2300+ and don’t get in lol. It’s really frustrating sometimes.</p>

3

<p>People don’t apply to selective colleges at my school, but when they ask me what I got on the ACT and I tell them, they say things like, “You could get into Harvard!”
And then I explain that that isn’t how it works, and they tell me I just have low self-esteem and need to have more confidence. </p>

<p>So they have those kinds of beliefs, but they’re not being put into practice.</p>

4

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<p>Took the words right outta my mouth. People tell me that all the time.</p>

<p>Only about 25% of my school goes on to a 4 year college, but the ones who do are mostly like the ones you describe, and I’m usually in classes with the ones who have the “I can get into any school I want because I’m in the top 10% of this school” mentality, but they don’t seem to get that it’s really not that hard to do well at my school since only about 1/5 of the entire high school takes AP classes.</p>

5

<p>Yeah this girl at my school gets like straight C’s and is like “I’m only applying to Cornell”</p>

6

<p>“only about 1/5 of the entire high school takes AP classes.”</p>

<p>My school, with 300 juniors + seniors, had 11 kids taking AP Bio this year.
I heard rumors that AP Chem only has 8 people. Not sure if it’s true.</p>

7

<p>I go to a magnet school within a public school and my entire magnet school class of 53 is required to take AP Physics B. All of the other juniors and seniors (about 700?) could take the class if they wanted to. There are 60 people taking AP Physics B at my school. So about 1% (7 people) of the juniors and seniors took it by choice lol.</p>

8

<p>People have asked me if I’m going to Harvard when I don’t even want to go to Harvard.
Also, people on my dad’s side of my family have asked if I’ve known where I was going before I sent in any applications. They don’t understand how the college process works at all.</p>

9

<p>People say, “Have you picked a college yet?” as if the point is to apply to one that you’re 100% sure you’ll get into. And that works if you want to go a non-selective school, but in the same breath they say, “Are you going to Harvard?”</p>

10

<p>@FastNeutrino</p>

<p>Sounds a lot like my situation. I did not apply to Harvard as it did not have a very strong program in my major, and a lot of kids at my school still think I should go to Harvard as it is “the best college in the world.” Personally, I’d rather go to MIT than Harvard, as it is more STEM-based. </p>

<p>And yep, I see a lot of people counting their chicks before they hatch. Two of those three girls mentioned above were talking about being roommates at UNC, which brings back to how kids at my school are overestimating themselves.</p>

11

<p>Also some people at my school apply to about 15 colleges which is fine, at least they have choices, but sometimes I’ll be talking about it with my friends and they’re like “how many colleges do you think you’re going to apply to?” (I’m a Junior.) And when I say I don’t know, maybe 7 or 8 they’re so surprised and say that it’s way too many and that no one needs to apply to more than 2 or 3</p>

12

<p>I’d apply to as many as I could reasonably afford to. I have favorites, but I don’t really care where I end up as long as it’s good in my major and has been successful at getting people into the career I want. The safeties usually don’t require a special essay so I’ll be applying to more of those.</p>

13

<p>It’s every high school! I have an awesome GPA, but decent ECs and an awesome, above-average-but-not-good-enough-for-schools-I-like SAT score (a superscore of 1820–I’m sure you’re all cringing).</p>

<p>My sister thinks I’m a shoo-in for any college. I keep telling her, “Oh, my SAT scores are below average at so-so college,” but somehow she can’t get it through her head. I’ve been stressing out over my essay because it needs to be amazing if I want to make up for my SAT scores, and my sister keeps trying to tell me, “Oh, but colleges aren’t going to deny you because you have an average essay because you still have an awesome GPA and SAT scores.” SHE DOESN’T GET IT!</p>

<p>My friend is like that, too. She’ll tell me, “Don’t worry about getting into any colleges. You’ll be fine.” Then I’ll give her the whole “my stats are below average” spiel, and she’ll just say, “Oh, well I really can’t see anyone denying you.”</p>

<p>NO ONE GETS IT! I mean, I guess the process of holistic, selective admissions is foreign to people who were never really into getting into top schools. Since they can get into average schools with their average stats, they assume that people with amazing stats can get into any amazing school, I guess. You can’t really blame them for it; they just never really needed to learn otherwise.</p>

14

<p>My biggest pet peeve was when people asked if I knew where I was going to college before I’d even heard back anywhere. :confused: It’s like no, it’s not as simple as just picking a college to attend.</p>

15

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<p>I KNOWWW! It’s horrible. At my family Christmas party, everyone asked, “OHH, wheres ares yas goings tas college?” NO. I DON’T KNOW. I HAVEN’T EVEN SENT IN APPLICATIONS YET.</p>

16

<p>lol one of my classmates said Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Georgetown are his safeties.</p>

17

<p>Some of these people with unrealistic college applications will just end up taking a year out and reapplying. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that - it’s very common in some other countries for people to choose to do that (I did!) </p>

<p>Surely the answer to these questions about where you’re going is to say “I’m applying to X, Y and Z, but X is my first choice, so I’ll go there if I get in”</p>