Newly-minted Yalies, how was school today?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>Hey everyone!</p>

<p>Like quite a few of you, I was accepted yesterday. When I went to school today, my principal saw the Yale shirt I was wearing and started crying. The teachers who wrote my recommendations were ecstatic all day - one of them kept high-fiving me all day at random times. And my principal got on the announcements and told the school that I was on my way to Yale University next fall...it was an amazing feeling. I have never had such a hard time getting out of the building, I got stopped so many times - and then my mom and I went over to my old elementary school to tell a few of my old teachers that one of their students had gotten into Yale. It was incredible...even more so because few people from my school go to college, and the last time anyone from my district went to an Ivy was nearly thirty years ago (no one from my district has ever gone to Yale).</p>

<p>I know you guys had great days, too - what happened at your schools?</p>

2

<p>Ah, I felt like such a celebrity :). Everyone wanted to shake my hand and offer me their congratulations. It was so cool... Now we officially have two ivy leaguers on our swim team--and this from a school who hardly ever sends kids to top schools.</p>

3

<p>Well. I got rejected, and felt like a complete failure. Otherwise it was great!</p>

4

<p>umm, vivaldi, I don't think this was the greatest post to make...</p>

5

<p>Hey now - on other boards, they've had "Dartmouth/Brown/Columbia/etc. Class of 2009" threads. The title implied that it wasn't exactly something that a non-admitted person would want to read (just like the other threads)...I wouldn't want to offend anyone.</p>

<p>EDIT: and there is a "rejects unite" thread on here, too...that didn't seem controversial...</p>

6

<p>I've come to terms with being rejected. I feel no malice toward anyone. What I said was more of a joke, but, "The title implied that it wasn't exactly something that a non-admitted person would want to read..." please don't patronize me. Just because I'm a "non-admitted person" doesn't make me any less of anything. No matter, my congratulations on your acceptance.</p>

7

<p>I apologize, then, but that comment was certainly not intended to patronize or offend. This whole situation is rather overwhelming to me - I never would have expected to be in the position I am in now. If you read my first post on this forum, you might understand a little better, and if I upset anyone, I am sorry.</p>

<p>Yesterday, my mom cried because she (who didn't go to college) was so proud - I didn't know my emotional state would translate to perceived provocation or taunting on this forum. What upsets me most is that I seem to have upset others on here, something I never wanted to do. I simply didn't see a problem with having a thread for acceptees similar to ones on the other boards. If it would make anyone feel better, please have one of the mods remove this thread - it would be better than having people angry - and accept my apologies.</p>

<p><em>feeling awful...</em> :(</p>

8

<p>I think its ok to have an accepted thread. I do feel sorry for those who didn't get in, but every other school has a thread like this...</p>

9

<p>You're ok, Vivaldi87. This is a rough time for so many.</p>

10

<p>I apologize for overreacting. I was just feeling bitter, I suppose. Had I been in your position I would feel the same way.</p>

11

<p>I bombed my history final because for the past two weeks I've either been glued to CC or pacing and thinking about Yale. Thus I did not prepare well. On the plus side, my history teacher wrote one of my recs, and I told her I got in right before I gave my oral essay. She hugged me, and after I apologized for not being better prepared she said, "Well, yeah, but you don't care anymore."</p>

12

<p>I definitely failed my Phsyics exam today. Seriously. :( Bad!</p>

13

<p>Haha, I have a Human Ecology test that I should be studying for right now. Luckily for me, though, I don't have exams until after winter break (they should be around mid-January...). I told one of my teachers that I felt demeaned by busywork now. She agreed that I should be. :)</p>

14

<p>dont let yourself get too arrogant or ****y. Yale is too good of a school for that. Now, if you want arrogance just apply to princeton</p>

15

<p>Haha I got my calculus test back yesterday for my AP class and I got a C-! Whaaaaaaaa? It feels soooo good to not have to care anymore. Don't get me wrong though... a C- still sucks majorly and I don't want another one! :)</p>

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<p>Vivaldi87 and other accepted students: Congratulations, and don't let anyone make you feel guilty for enjoying this moment. It's not as if you're going around crowing, "Haha--I got in and you didn't!" Life is too short not to savor your triumphs. Others will have their triumphs too.</p>

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<p>I feel like a celebrity too. Although my school didn't go all out like Vivaldi's. My friends, teachers, counseler, and classmates made me feel very special.</p>

<p>(lol alright, that last sentence sounded very corny!)</p>

18

<p>It's been a great couple of days...I was the only one who got into H, P, or Y and the only one to get in early to Yale since two years ago when it was ED....everybody found out somehow, including the underclassmen...it was nuts!!<br>
p.s. I failed my physics test, too...very bad.</p>

19

<p>Oh, though I share in your joy and pride of an early acceptance (though not Yale and not ivy league ;)), and have no problem with admitted-students' threads celebrating their achievement and congratulating each other, I do understand the dissenting view. It is wonderful to have a thread for the admitted students, but it is a tad arrogant and egostistical to focus it on other peoples' reactions to your admissions decision. While being the first person in 30 years to attend an "Ivy League" school is certainly a wonderful achievement that you should be VERY proud of (I'm the first person my school has sent to this particular college in many years as well), gauging one's own happiness on the reactions of others is a volatile method indeed. I hope your school and principal - though rightfully proud - will not go TOO far in their celebration of you and in their bragging. It is simply rude to accidentally, but continually, put down the achievements of other students in your school (who may have gone to state schools or other fine universities, OR may have been unable to afford college) by over-celebrating one Yale admit. In your deserved happiness, please be considerate of others as well.</p>

<p>Regardless, I extend my sincerest congratulations to you and all of Yale's newly-selected Class of 2009.</p>

20

<p>Well, I noticed how far down on the thread list this thread had gotten, and I was tempted to leave it alone and let it sink into obscurity (as it has become something more resembling an unjustified attack on me by a few people), but I couldn't let myself go without addressing two things:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>sempiturn555: I am not being arrogant; I am being slightly tongue-in-cheek, if anything. My comment about feeling "demeaned by busywork" stemmed from the fact that winter break starts today for my school, and almost all we have done is busywork. I apologize once again - I should have clarified.</p></li>
<li><p>pebbles: Without having been to my school, having met my teachers/principal/etc., or talking to students here, how would you know if I (or my principal and teachers) were "continually put[ting] down the achievements of other students" here? For one thing, I'm not. My suburb is rundown and many students let that affect them negatively; those who do go to college typically end up at in-state schools for two reasons. One, the stereotype that students from my school don't amount to anything in life (and it is prevalent around the area) has contributed to an atmosphere in which college, if it is presented by the guidance department as a viable option, is limited to in-state schools - one of my guidance counselors made the comment last year that she didn't feel like helping a student apply to college because students from our district (to summarize) didn't belong there. Two, they just don't apply themselves, because people around here focus on the bad things about our district rather than the good things and because they know they can get into community college no matter what. I am currently working on a service project to help combat this, as I hope to help more people at my school understand the college admissions process (most people don't, by any means). I'm hardly an arrogant person. Two of the teachers who wrote my recommendations are retiring at the end of the year, and they feel proud for having helped me get where I am now before they leave. My principal, who is new this year, has been trying to get students here to ignore the stereotypes about us and to focus on their futures; in a way, she has hoped I could be a role model (although I wouldn't want to be considered such), and that's why she announced my acceptance.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I don't think it's particularly fair to criticize my teachers and principal for congratulating me in the hopes that it might have a positive effect on school morale (which it has), or to criticize me for being inconsiderate when I am (1) only telling people what happened at my school, not "gauging my own happiness on the reactions of others" [suggesting this, to me, seems equivalent to suggesting that I am shallow and interested in Yale solely for its prestige] and (2) going out of my way (see above) to apologize immediately if I thought I even slightly offended someone. I didn't realize that was inconsiderate.</p>

<p>If I had labeled my thread "EA Admittance: Special Cases," "EA Admittance in Low-Performing Schools," or "If your EA acceptance meant as much to your community as it did to you...," would you have considered it arrogant and inconsiderate? I don't see how telling people about my school's excitement and asking others if they had similar experiences qualifies as either of those two adjectives. Further, those who read my very first post on this board (from what I can tell) took this message in the way it was intended. Still further, I share newt's sympathy for those who didn't make it in, and I have said that on numerous occasions.</p>

<p>I apologize for my verbosity, which may or may not have sounded like a rant. I simply don't like it when, after apologizing repeatedly for something that wasn't malicious or condescending anyway, I am still called egotistical and rude. Nothing could be further from the truth. I don't like to make waves, and this is not how I intended to spend this time on CC...being attacked like this (even if it is in a polite, back-handed compliment sort of way) makes me want to leave.</p>