My CC Journey

Applying to College Admission Stories
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Hey,

The college admissions process is over for me, and I’m lucky enough to say that I’m going to Yale. I just wanted to post a reflection about my time on CC and to make sure people know that if you work hard, great things happen.

First, I’ll give a little background about myself. I go to a small charter school that has a great environment but average academics. Our first graduating class was 06, and we’ve had 2 kids go to Chicago and Duke, but everybody else stays instate. That would probably have been my journey had I not found CC.

I joined this board March 2008 as a sophomore. I had seen CC before – May 07 specifically – while looking up some stuff for AP biology. This time I was here to seriously prepare for AP calc and AP euro. In my school, nobody had gotten a 5 on more than one exam, and I wanted to prove that I could do it. This board had a ton of useful advice, and I did end up getting my double five’s.

Over that summer, I read up a lot on Ivy League schools, extra curriculars, and SAT stuff. My dream school had always been MIT, but that’s because everybody told me I’d do great at MIT. I spent a lot of time on CC reading up on SAT advice, reading about different schools, and being anxious for the class of ’12 and ’13!

This board has been like another home to me. For those of us who “grew up” on CC, I’m sure we can all relate to getting up at 4:45 AM waiting for SAT scores, sharing advice on exam prep, talking about extracurricular and eagerly discussing where we will go for college. Most of us know the excited feeling when somebody says we have a good shot at HYPSM even though we know their words are meaningless. This admission season I got to know MANY posters who I can recognize not only by their stats but also by their personalities and quirks. These people are family.

CC taught me how to become a great applicant, but it also showed me something much deeper. Before we get into that though, I just want to talk a bit about the application. It’s VERY IMPORTANT not to get discouraged. Ever. I got a 2290 on my first take on the SAT, as a senior mind you, and I felt that it was not good enough for HYPSM. I got a 2310 on my re take, and my super scored was a 2370, so I knew that I was set. There was only a 1 month gap between them, and the only thing I changed was my approach. When I first took the SAT, I just wanted to get a 2400. I fell pretty short, but this didn’t discourage me. On take two I tried to surpass my limits, and I got the extra points where I needed them. Don’t ever let negatives hold you back.

[For people who aren’t used to the SAT prep forum: You probably feel I’m an idiot for not liking a 2290. That’s okay. If you’re not a regular, I don’t think you can fully appreciate the process haha! 2290 is a terrific and amazing score, but I knew that I could do better, so I did]

I don’t really care too much about specific stats and you can look at my topic history if you’re interested in my stats, but I just want to say that most of my academic success has been due to CC. I’ve taught myself AP classes through resources here, and I’ve gone on to teach others in my school about what I’ve learned. It’s so important to share and help others grow, because you grow as a result.

The more important thing CC taught me was the lesson that most people miss until its college time: the person makes the school, not the other way around. A lot of you guys were Ivy hopefuls and were shot down, and some of you expected to get into 1-2 and got into most of your top choices. All I know is that if you work hard, you will succeed no matter where you are. I put together an application that 4 Ivy league schools felt was good enough to accept, and I went to a place where there have been zero Ivy-acceptances in its history. You can do great too.

The truth, however, is that it’s not about getting in; it’s about the process. I grew tremendously as a person because I aimed for the very top and did everything I could to get in. It’s not an acceptance or a rejection letter that qualifies you. By even aiming for the very best schools, you have built a persona that will bring you success throughout life. MIT, my top choice, rejected me. So did Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard. It’s no big deal. It’s the person that makes the school, and I’m planning on doing great in life. You should too.

For the class of 2014: best of luck everybody! All the people I have met are terrific and will lead great lives. You are the best.

For juniors/sophomores/younger: Try to develop yourself and always improve. Do things that make you happy and schools will recognize you for it. Don’t do what a school wants you to do. Keep focused on being a better person, and you’ll be good.

For parents/adults: Thanks for your presence here. A lot of you guys have terrific experiences and information that was very useful to me and it’s really nice to know that there are people rooting for you even though you don’t know them. I really appreciate it.

With that, I have one final request. I wish more seniors would write things like this. I wish we had an entire sub forum right here called “Senior Reflections.” A place for people to post how their journey was, and to give advice to the future. If any mod reads this, please see if it can be done – it would be really helpful.

I still have one month left to study for AP exams, but after that my high school life is pretty much over. Still, I’m going to stay active on CC and help others through their journey. If anybody ever wants to talk, just shoot me a PM. I’m here for you all like you all were here for me.

Yours truly,

An0maly

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<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/686425-lessons-learned-during-admissions-cycle.html?highlight=FortunaHope[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/686425-lessons-learned-during-admissions-cycle.html?highlight=FortunaHope&lt;/a&gt;

<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/432489-all-things-i-learned-princeton-these-most-important.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/432489-all-things-i-learned-princeton-these-most-important.html&lt;/a&gt;

^ The above two are examples of reflections that are great to read and very informative, and more CC people ought to do them!

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hi An0maly,

i came across your thread whilst browsing the forum and i couldn’t help but notice how mature and hardworking you are for your age. when i was in high school, not a single one of my peers acted the way that you do. i am super impressed with you based on this thread alone (i haven’t seen your stats yet). i am currently in an admission process myself, and although i am vying for transfer admission, i have found your words to be of much comfort. good luck with all of your future endeavors :slight_smile:

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I hope when I’m a senior (next year)
I can post something like this too.

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Excellent post, An0maly. :slight_smile:

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Great post. Thanks for sharing

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An0maly,

Amazing post. Have fun at Yale!

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Thanks guys. Spread the word! Seniors, get posting.

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Thanks for sharing, An0maly, and congratulations on your acceptance! No doubt you’ll be busy come this fall, but we do appreciate your pledge to continue your contributions to CC. Members like you bring so much value to our forum, and we thank you for being a part of our community!

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Your hard work and experience is definitely very inspiring to us and we have been lucky to have had you to help others out. Good Luck in college! Hopefully someday, I’ll have my own post like this :slight_smile:

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that was beautiful :’-)

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Great post, an0maly! I do hope the mods take your suggestion. Best to you in your future endeavors!

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An0maly, I don’t want to hijack your thread, but this is going to get more views now that it has been moved to FEATURED DISCUSSIONS, and I thought I’d post this in case anyone else wanted a great CC story.

I’ve always been an above average student; no more and no less. I had pretty good grades, but nothing out of the ballpark, or so I thought. I spent my ninth and tenth grade years at an very poor high school. It was the norm to come to school with teachers in mini skirts, students drunk or high, and grades made up for the grade book. I thought this was the plague of schools everywhere. In my grade-inflated high school, getting a 3.8 was no accomplishment: it meant you had a brain in that box.

My sister graduated from college in '09 with $65,000 debt, even though she went to a directional out of state university. I thought that was just the way of things. When I came to CC, I thought that George Washington University was my reach and that I’d be lucky to graduate with less than $40,000 debt. Now I will (most likely) attend Stanford University and graduate with $0 debt.

The most important information I garnered from CC is that I wasn’t just an above average student. I didn’t know, prior to visiting CC and learning about QuestBridge, that the dull parts of my application could actually be assets. I don’t really have any ECs because I spend all of my time working. It turns out that working 20 hours/week to support your family from your fifteenth birthday onward is something to be proud of. I learned about fee waivers, free visits, and most importantly, QuestBridge.

I met new friends on CC. I got a lot of advice. I have even received gifts.

I remember waking up at 4:45 am - just like An0maly - to check my SAT scores. The entire game changed when I got my scores back that day. With the help of CC, my SAT scores had skyrocketed and my prospects changed. I stopped considering schools like Virginia Commonwealth and starting looking at Yale, Stanford, Rice, and Chicago. If I hadn’t had CC, I’d be going to GW next year… praying to get out of there with less than $40,000 in debt.

So thank you, CC.

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Great post, An0maly and applicannot!

I still have a long way (relatively speaking) till college, but I promised myself when high school does end, I would post definitely something like this. If it wasn’t for CC, I doubt I would continue to give it my all and try making my four years in high school all that it can be. It’s great feeding off the energy and motivation in this forum.

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This thread is REALLY INSPIRING.

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Great post, I love your attitude and sincerity. I feel like Yale should be honored to have you, not the other way around, as you truly, from this post I can tell, deserve it.

Me, I got rejected from Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and waitlisted at Northwestern and UPenn (my first choice! :frowning: </33 But that’s ok, I was accepted at another top-notch school: University of Chicago.

I self-studied Psych and became the only person from my school to get a five that year, and one of two in the history of AP Psych at my school. CC is great, people are friendly, and now I know a great deal about colleges and admissions.

Great post, best of luck to everyone!

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I joined CC a bit later than most–as a second semester senior. But I’ll say this. Waking up on April 1st was twice as fun after realizing a great number of CC hopefuls were anticipating the same results as me. Reading other people’s stats and all of the countdown and motivational threads made the experience much more intense, and much more memorable. It has been a short, but incredibly inspiring ride. :] Thanks CC.

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Good for you :).

Personally, I wish I hadn’t made as big a deal out of the application process and put so much stress upon myself. It’s definitely an important part of life, but there are more important things that I wish I had paid better attention to. I’m happy with where I’m at now and I did fine in high school in academics, but it came at a cost, which I sort of regret…

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Yes you got rejected by princeton harvard and MIT…big deal…you got into Yale

congrats and great piece. i hope this isn’t supposed to be a sob story (i don’t think it is)

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I come from a poor country where only few know what SAT, Princeton or Yale means. There is a meager number of applicants every year and we have had almost no students who, after studying in our country’s education system, were admitted to highly prestigious schools in the US. Unfamiliar with almost everything that had to do with the application process and with very high hopes, I embarked on my journey on CollegeConfidential.

It was a great pleasure to find here an extremely helpful community that could make countdowns to SAT score release dates with the same enthusiasm “ordinary folk” would have for an approaching new year, and also to meet a whole boardful of people who had a lot in common of that which is quite uncommon.

CC has been of immeasurable help to me and I cannot thank enough everyone that makes CC a great place that it is. To future applicants, you can succeed anywhere anytime!
-An avid CC-er accepted at his dream schools!