<p>Who here has to send out apps, or who has sent out apps and anxious about getting a decision? I know I'm one of those people!! Need a place to vent about your feelings or need a place to express your nerves and anxiety?!? This is the thread for you!!!</p>
<p>What’s really bothering me right now is this: I’m just as smart as the “top kids” at my school (and in many other schools) who have 5.0 GPAs, took 20+ AP classes, got 2400s on the SAT, took Calculus in eighth grade, etc. But I didn’t have the same opportunities as they did and so they’re probably all going to get accepted into way better schools than I am. </p>
<p>The opportunities that I’m talking about are mostly parental support and money. Mostly parental support. Their parents took an active interest in their education; their parents planned out their children’s high school careers and gave them the best opportunities possible. I feel like I lost before I even started - my dad is basically absent and my mother isn’t educated. I didn’t know to take algebra in 7th grade so I could take Calculus in high school and I didn’t know to learn Spanish in elementary school so I could master it. My parents never helped me on homework or taught me anything educational or pushed me further. I feel like such an idiot because I feel like my admission chances don’t compare to those kids’ and I feel like it’s not even my fault - it’s just that life isn’t fair. </p>
<p>Yeah. That’s my rant. Thanks for creating this thread.</p>
<p>Got a couple things to rage about.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I hate how GPA is so important in admissions. Every school varies in difficulty and grading scale – it’s ridiculous how some kids have 4.0s but can’t even break 2000 on the SAT. In my school it’s pretty common to get a B in an AP class but a 5 on the AP test and 800 on the SAT II. Man I should’ve chosen an easier school =/</p></li>
<li><p>I hate how stats overall matter so much in admissions (I have a 2200+, so it’s not like I’m a bitter 1800-er). So many d-bags and arrogant kids get into top schools. I mean, can’t colleges take into consideration someone’s personality too and not just how amazing he/she looks like on paper? I really think more weight should be put on essays and interviews in admissions. Why would schools want a kid who thinks he’s better than everyone else, even if he has a 6.0 GPA and 2500 SAT?</p></li>
<li><p>I hate how my parents think they’re “helping” me with admissions by always lecturing me on the importance of getting apps in early WHEN I’M DOING APPS. I’d rather work on my essays in peace rather than hear a 30 minute lecture T_T</p></li>
<li><p>I hate how a native American with an 1800 and 3.2 who lives in a mansion probably has a better chance at Harvard than a middle-class Asian with a 2400 and 4.0</p></li>
<li><p>I hate the band geeks in my school who think that their band ECs can easily get them into a top school</p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when people in the “chance me” forum act like they know all about one’s chances when they add “chance me back” to the end of their post >_></p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when kids in my school think that being in NHS makes them a shoo-in for top schools</p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when people are ultra competitive and stalk for others’ GPA/SAT/essays. </p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when dumb athletes get into top schools. This girl in my school got into multiple Ivies for track. She got a D or F in one of her classes last year and thinks that Beowulf is a monster who eats people while Grendel is the one who slays him. She also thinks that “H” stands for Helium and that a crucible is what Jesus was nailed to…</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^Touche. Sometimes I hate the whole process. I’ve worked my butt off for a long time, not just for college, but because I am a worker, and I would rather work and have at least a little to show for it than to waste time. But I feel like it’s all overblown. Life is short, and if I get accepted into these top colleges (or even if I don’t), I’m still going to be pressured to work my butt off for the next 4-8 more years of my life. Then what? The workforce? 50 hour work-weeks? Yay. Can’t wait.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to complain because it is a blessing to have these opportunites, but life is hard no matter what angle you look at it.</p>
<p>I completely agree with you guys. I hate it’s when (and this is happening to me) people say "oh you have a 3.0 UW GPA… You suck go to a community college… Absolutely not, if they new my background story, they would understand why my gpa is low. I strongly dislike people who judge people based on their scores. I may have low scores but I one were to talk to me for the first time, they would absolutely assume that I am in the top 10% of my class. My maturity level is high, my intellectual ability is great; unfortunately colleges may not give me a chance to display my talents.</p>
<p>I hate how this whole process is worked up into this cultural monster and the goal of every breath you take in high school. Every year they pound it into your brain just a little more, until you’re worked up into a crescendo of near psychotic stress the first half of senior year. It’s garbage, everyone (us, our parents, our teachers, etc.) should just calm down.</p>
<p>*haha… this whole college app process is really making ppl angry-I just made a thread this morning about how I hate our school’s stupid ranking system</p>
<p>anyways
- I hate the world but like 100% all the hates as listed above.</p>
<p>What irks me a little is that no matter what they say, highly selective colleges are ultimately being selfish when they pick and choose from among the thousands of highly-qualified applicants. They want graduates who will most likely make a significant impact on the world, thereby helping to bolster their own names. College is really a business, and in spite of what their admissions brochures/websites say, they all want to profit from their students. So here’s the secret to their admissions: they admit people who have the greatest potential to become famous/influential.</p>
<p>Of course, this is the way the world works and there’s nothing anyone can do to change that. But I’m just a little frustrated that these colleges’ brochures and websites make the whole process seem so ideal. A lot of kids get fooled by that. What they don’t understand is that the college is ultimately all for itself.</p>
<p>Oh man, here comes a rant.</p>
<p>First off I Can agree with nearly everything said in this thread so far. </p>
<p>I hate how much of an importance GPA is as an admission factor. Someone explain to me that out of my class of 206 that the top 40 kids have a 4.0+ gpa but cant break 1100 on the sat. Yet I am ranked 140/206 and got a 1220. Granted I’m pretty intelligent but due to an awful home life (Dealing with a verbally abusive mother and a neglecting father) my gpa struggled. The excuse of I’m a bad test taker gets thrown around so often in my school its ridiculous (when talking about the sat). Everyone can study their notes for a classroom test and get 5pts added to their final avg for not using the bathroom, but the SAT truly tests your true intelligence (In My eyes at least).
I feel like I was put at such a disadvantage at the start of freshman year. I was overweight, parents just divorced, and life was extremely stressful. I did the best I could dropped 60 pounds and tried to get a good gpa but with no avail. I just feel like there was something I wasn’t privileged enough to have and I missed out on. Everyday I have to see these kids who drive 2012 model cars that their parents paid for and applying to private schools that their parents will pay for and then there is me who works 25 hours a week and still isn’t able to afford a car. These kids take nothing for granted and feel like that new car on their 17th birthday is a right not a privilege.
I had literally no one to turn to. My mom was always on my case about grades and the only time I spoke to my father was when my report cards came so he could yell at me. Now I have a 3.1 the first Quarter of senior year and this is “Absolute **** for someone in senior year” according to my mother. I just wish that she would realize that school isn’t what it used to be when she didn’t even have to take the SAT to go to college and if you did a 1200 was good enough for Harvard. Now a 1200 is average for a state school. </p>
<p>Well I could just keep going but its late. I’ll edit this when more come to mind (Trust me they will). If anyone wants to voice their opinion about mine I’ll be glad to listen ;)</p>
<p>I hate how my parents don’t give a poop what I do with the rest of my life, as long as it doesn’t cost them a dime. I hate how they can’t even begin to understand the stress I’m under right now, with senior year courseload, applications out the butt, ECs, and job hunting plus their ridiculous expectations when it comes to chores and “family” stuff. I hate how nobody thinks I’ll be able to make it out of this small, stupid town even though I have really good stats from working my butt of the past four years.
I hate how everyone at my school is insanely competitive, and think they’re so much better than me because they’re in the top 1% but I’m ONLY in the top 3%. -<strong>-
I hate how I have no money for college and I don’t come from an education oriented household (my dad and my two brothers are high school dropouts) yet people who had access to tutors and SAT prep courses and understanding parents get special treatment just because they’re minorities.
I hate how being a moderately good kid has only effed me over. I hate how I do something small, like forget to sweep before going to bed, and it’s the end of the world but my brother can go on a crazy drug binge and run off to New Mexico and nobody even gets mad at him. -</strong>_-</p>
<p>Ugh, crazy rant lol. Feels good though :p</p>
<p>Good good!! Keep ranting! Haha that’s what this thread is for. I wonder what some parents think of this whole process. It’d be interesting to here their input and feelings.</p>
<p>I hate how when you transfer to different high schools you are limited in what kind of classes you can take especially APs, depending on how “full” they already are. Also, you might have to fulfill certain state requirements by taking a class everybody already took in 9th grade. So unfair! I would be val or sal in my current school if it weren’t for those limitations.</p>
<p>I am a parent, and while I’ve tried to be sort of low key, I’ve also pushed at the wrong time (like in the middle of getting a chem lab written up) and felt bad later. I posted a thread on the parent forum to give some of my cohort a little eye opener (with instructions not to hijack thread). Keep up the good ranting - it’s very instructional and will help me to know what not to do in the next 2 months. Yes - it was MUCH easier when we went through this. There is no relation between your academic experience and what we did even in “college bound” classes. There is no relation between the competitive admissions process even for state flagship schools and the ease that we were able to get into top schools (Penn and Cal, for my part). Can’t fix that part, but you have my sympathy and support. And keep up the RANT.</p>
<p>Another thing that I hate… When you look at the credentials listed on college board and you look at yours, some people say, “ugh I cannot get it; no way. My scores are too low!” that just ****es me off to no end!! Because those credentials are not set in stone! Just abbot everyone who has remotely acceptable scores have somewhat of a shot and almost any school in my opinion</p>
<p>I don’t get home until 10:30 pm now because of Hell Week. :c I barely have time for school work, let alone an essay! Ahh! </p>
<p>(we close this Monday so I’ll be okay then c:)</p>
<p>Ahhhhhhh!!! I’m dying for my decisions from colleges!!! I hate this process lol</p>
<p>NerdyAsianKid - Excellent rant! :)</p>
<p>But it brings up My gripe, which is that because of political correctness, MY kid can’t put in his application essay that he’s the kid that all the Asian kids in his school call when they need help with Physics and/or Math…</p>
<p>If he’d charge them for the tutoring, he could at least put it down as a job. Oh well. It’s been fun, and at least he got the experience and fun of helping others.</p>
<p>Why do things unrelated to admissions matter so much?</p>
<p>I lost the race game (asian)
I have no legacy
I have no hooks
I’m not in a rich private school that can send me to a top school - just public school here.</p>
<p>All of this was decided when I was born. Soo lame.</p>
<p>I hate people on this site that say people have a slim shot at a college when their SAT/GPA falls at or above the median. This is for schools that arents Ivies or similar schools but still in the top 35.</p>
<p>I’l be blunt with some of you entitled Asian kids. Get off of it. </p>
<p>Why do you think you deserve a slot into anyone’s private college? You don’t. The colleges themselves pick and choose. And it’s their friggen right to do so. I’m glad my HYP alma mater wasn’t 80% Asian. My experience would have been seriously diminished. If that’s what I was in store for, I wouldn’t have applied. </p>
<p>For the ridiculous point about an 1800 SAT native american living in a mansion pushing out the 2400 middle class Asian. Guess what sweetie. That spot wasn’t yours to begin with. Nor is the spot taken by the soccer or volleyball recruit. Or for the top kid from S Korea or Germany. Or the slot for the celebrity or development kid. Those slots aren’t yours. Never were.</p>
<p>You’re competing against other Asians and whites. And your ECs are tennis, math & science club, violin since you were in the womb? Wow – what a way to distinguish yourself…</p>
<p>So get off it.</p>
<p>And who am I? 1st generation Chinese, immigrant parents, SATs about the 30th percentile of my entering class. I took the ACT and SAT once each. Didn’t do a single EC because I was wondering what an Ivy admissions officer would read it. Didn’t care about class rank. (I think I was 10th or something – never found out, never cared). I was my own person. Still am. And I distinguished myself so much that I was accepted by every school applied including multiple Ivies. </p>
<p>What did I do? I washed dishes at a Chinese restaurant, took a cranking hard schedule and was a leader in my predominantly African American HS. And while every one of you will say your essays are great – mine really were (based on my results). I was able to distinguish myself. Can you say the same? </p>
<p>So please excuse the retching sound coming from me when I hear another entitled Asian whining about how “unfair” life is. Unfair? How about the over 2Billion Chinese and Indian/Pakistanis who would give a left nut to be at your high school – much less apply to a top college in the USA. They’d give their right one just for a green card to work as a dishwasher in the slimiest restaurant in your sweet suburb.</p>
<p>So take your whining and shove it. That’s my rant.</p>