I now that there are a lot of students whose dreams are to get into an Ivy or equivalent. I was one of them years ago.
Perfect SATs, perfect GPAs, good ECs…add the fact that I was part of an over-repped minority…needless to say I was “dinged” almost everywhere. At the time, it was a shock, but soon I got over it, went to another great school on scholarships, graduated, and traveled and worked all over the world. I’m not that successful, nor am I unsuccessful, but lets be real here. We can’t all be Elon Musks can we?
Since the truth is that 90% of you aren’t going to get in, and an unknown number of you will become depressed because of it, you should begin preparing by click on that link above. If it doesn’t work, google: “Malcom Gladwells Big Fish in a Small Pond.”
Trust me, the admission staff aren’t going to miss out on any real potential Einsteins like Terrence Tao who can teach Harvard profs mathematics, so if you got rejected…you probably belong to this crowd of people who are very smart but not that smart, not that spectacular, and not that influential/rich. Therefore, make the best out of it and excel at another school! I guarantee you that you can still become successful in whatever you want to do later on in life.
Forgive me if I burst any bubbles or dreams. It is good you aspire to the elite of the elite, I commend you for that. However, don’t let any rejection get you down because at the end, you are still a highly gifted individual who will succeed (if you want to work hard, that is) without needing any seals of approval from elite universities. Sure, maybe Goldman Sachs only hired from HYP (example only), but is working for another firm so bad?
Even if you get in, I still have words of advice for you: there will be TONs of people smarter or more talented than you. For the first time in your life, you will likely feel average or dumb, but that isn’t true as you shall read in the link. Be prepared for it, and don’t let it get you down either. Personally, I’ve known quite a few smart folks (but not genius material) who got into elite schools only to revert back to state universities because they felt too average.
So enjoy senior year. But (any) college should be much better!