<p>@Carbajalia, Dude, you need to let it go. If you sounded as priggish and entitled on your Harvard essay as you do on this forum, then that goes a long way to explaining why you are on the outside looking in. Going to Harvard is not your birthright. Sounds like you tried a little too hard and admissions folk can sniff that out. When you go to Berkley or whatever try to keep it real. And best of luck to you. You will land on your feet for sure. </p>
<p>@midwedward, literally the same thoughts are going through my head right now…</p>
<p>@sarasic, you go girl. Don’t look back. Getting in to Harvard is hard. Getting through is not. You will do great.</p>
<p>@coachc13
Wait, I thought we were supposed to try on college essays… Are you insinuating that people shouldn’t try i.e. they should “play it cool” because the admissions committee is like, “Hey, out of all are applicants, this guy played it cool. We definitely have to admit him over the guy whose essay was an orgy of intellectualism.”</p>
<p>Yes, an orgy of intellectualism. Self-aggrandizing much? </p>
<p>@carbajalia
You shouldn’t have to try to be who you are. You don’t yet know who you are so you are trying to be something you think they will like. Let’s face it. They sussed you out. Go to college somewhere and try to grow into yourself.</p>
<p>Ok brah, obviously we don’t know each other but from your post it sounds as though you think I went out of my way to sound “smart” in my essays. I can assure you that this was not the case; my everyday conversations with my best friend revolve around such topics as Hobbes’ state of nature and the irony of Marie Antoinette’s misattributed “Let them eat cake.” It may sound pretentious to lots of our classmates and random people on CC, but the truth of the matter is that him and I are intellectuals through and through. We wanted to convey this on the apps because it certainly a unique quality to have, but it sounds as though this was misinterpreted as the actions of “try-hards who think throwing around Enlightenment-era philosophical ideas will get them accepted.” </p>
<p>@carbajalia, you said it, I didn’t. I can hear the Admissions counselors ■■■■■■■■■■ at you now. Play some video games or try to get laid like most HS students do.</p>
<p>10 char</p>
<p>And wow @satman1111, well you will definitely do great things at any college. You will probably stand out even more at Rutgers, so don’t fret, and that financial aid is awesome.</p>
<p>@Matthew, being an intellectual is fine; considering yourself one is distasteful. Admissions officers are not stupid. Another upper-middle class White kid who had every advantage including SAT test prep and thinks he is all that. No one wants to go to a school where every kid is either white or asian.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as an 18 year old intellectual; instead, 18 year old pretentious, over-privelaged boys clearly fill that gap. @carbajalia, get over yourself. </p>
<p>@coachc13 Assuming I’m an upper-middle class White kid who had every advantage says a lot about your character actually. And I actually self-studied for my standardized exams and did well. The word “intellectual” was coined to distinguish people like us objectively, not to come off as an arrogant, entitled person that deems his or herself more worthy of a college acceptance because he or she likes to discuss Freudian Psychology over ESPN… Your subjective reasoning is the very flaw of your argument.</p>
<p>Hey! I like ESPN and I’m going to Yale! I must be a peasant!</p>
<p>Upper-middle class? Why sir, this is effrontery! I’ll have you know that I’m the upper half of the 1 percent, can’t you tell from my arrogance and sense of entitlement? Landed gentry, if you must know. Those urban capitalists are so distasteful. The countryside is the only locale in which us gents of the classical style can get a breath of fresh air in between readings of Cicero and Thucydides. Then it’s out to the polo field where my retinue of servants prepares horses for my sister and me. And then we ride those elegant creatures until sundown, only returning to the stables when our stomachs demand some appeasement in the form of filet mignon and cavier.</p>
<p>@MikeNY5 I never said the so-called “intellectual” I described didn’t like ESPN, I said through an example that he or she would possibly rather discuss Freudian Psychology or something over it. I really like ESPN too, but would I rather talk about it over something I am more passionate about? No…</p>
<p>@mikeNy5, congrats! @carbajalia, reread your last post and consider why Harvard was not interested. You and your doppelganger will be fine. You are probably smart enough to succeed anywhere. You just didn’t make the cut at Harvard. And I am watching basketball as we speak and only killing a few brain cells.</p>
<p>No, but in all honesty, you and several others are acting inappropriately. There is no need to prove your intelligence here. This is the internet; for all we know, you’re a 40 year old guy living in his mom’s basement.</p>
<p>You got rejected from Harvard. So what?! 94% of qualified applicants do. Please, just take the rejection with grace and understand that there is no need to feel defensive.</p>
<p>EDIT: By you, I mean @mathew5 </p>
<p>I reread my last post several times before posting. Thomas Jefferson did the same thing with all his personal letters before sending. Coincidence? Nah. Just two gentlemanly scholars, me and Tom. </p>
<p>Seriously. If you read that and thought I was serious you must have been reading too must Victorian literature. Wilde is good, but not that good. </p>
<p>@carbalia Good luck at CUNY</p>
<p>@carbalia, ok time to step off. Best of luck to you in the future. i suspect you will find your way.</p>