Many of our CC members already have their college plans in place, but quite a few are still waiting for decisions. On behalf of Dave Berry, Sally Rubenstone, our whole counseling team, our great crew of volunteer mods, and AnthonyG (who keeps our servers running and worked over the weekend to get our big new server online), I want to take this opportunity to wish the best of luck to one and all!
For many of our CC members, this time of year marks the start of an exciting new life chapter, and we’re proud to have been a part of the process!
The hardest part of this time is seeing the many rejections and waitlists garnered by even our most qualified members - when colleges reject nine out of ten applicants, most with superb qualifications, though, I guess it’s to be expected. Our sympthies for those bits of unhappy news, but there is a bright side: the vast majority of students who don’t get into their first-choice school end up so happy at the college they do attend that later, even if given the option of transferring, they prefer to stay where they are.
I want to chime in and wish all of you students who are waiting for admissions decisions today good luck. I know at this moment, you are all caught up in the admissions frenzy which has built up over a long period of time and it is paramount in your lives right now. PLEASE know that if you don’t get into your top choices, it is all going to be OK! It seems so important at the moment but truthfully, if you attend another school that was not your favorite initially, it almost always ends up that a student is happy at that school. All this admissions angst will be long gone and life will go on and a lot of great times at college are ahead. For those who have applied particularly to highly selective colleges, a denial is not a testament to your worth. Given the very low admit rates at such schools, they must deny some candidates who are every bit as qualified as those whom they admitted. Rejections go with the territory of elite admissions and have to be expected given the odds. Rather than examine the outcome at any one particular school, look at your overall admissions results. If you had an appropriate balanced list of colleges, you likely have a few admits. Explore those options and embrace them. Things really turn out all right in the end. You will move past this angst and it will be a long distant memory next fall when you are happily engaged at your college. And give yourselves a pat on the back for all the hard work in HS and the immense amount of effort that goes into applying to college. This part is going to be over and the real fun is going to begin no matter where you land. Keep the faith!
I’m going to weigh in with a “right back at you,” Roger. It’s a “.com” so there’s probably some element of profit going on here, but regardless, I can’t describe how happy I am to have found this resource. And both from what I can see and from what we’ve briefly talked about, the CC team is continually working on making it even better.
Thank you for giving so many of us an invaluable resource in the college search, admissions, decision, and - let’s face it - “support-group” process.
I’ll hear from the Ivies in about 80 minutes. I’m not expecting much, but I’ve always been a “high-hopes” kinda guy. Good luck to all.
Thanks a MILLION!!! This was our 1st time going thru this and I never expected it to be as difficult, time consuming and STRESSful as it was. I could never have done it without the support of CC. We were even able to handle the hurtful rejections knowing we were not alone. I agree with the above post about CC ‘being an invaluable resourse’! I will surely pass the word to the ones just beginning this journey. Thank you again.
Congratulations on getting into Tufts! They accepted just 25% this year. Tufts is my alma mater and I loved the school and it had been my first choice. I now interview perspective applicants for Tufts in fact. My husband went there too. I hope you consider going and have as a great of a time there as a Jumbo that I did.
I’d really like to thank CC for helping me with college.
Searching this board is the most helpful thing ANYONE can do.
This is better than any counselor.
As a first generation student, I started my senior year not knowing anything about colleges (e.g. I thought USC was part of the UC system!!)
But with aid of this amazing community and helpful posters, I’ve made so many informed decisions regarding colleges and the whole college process that I’m really grateful for CC.
Wow, '08Holla, that’s a great story! We may need to add something to the product description like, “Now includes admission guarantee! Works in minutes!” Congrats!
And thanks for the kind comments, Halcykon et al, it’s that kind of feedback that makes the time all of us spend here worthwhile!
