<p>I hate being an ORM with great academic stats and still knowing that I will get rejected from many top schools for reasons I will never know.</p>
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<p>I’m sorry about your situation but I’m sure a lot of kids who take advanced classes are self-motivated and their parents may not have helped them with their homework.</p>
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<p>At most or all of the top 25 schools, this is the complete opposite- essays are hugely important and a bad essay will get you rejected. I wish stats had more weight at these colleges.</p>
<p>To the poster above me, I don’t think I “deserve” a slot at any college, and I don’t deny that affirmative action is a good thing, but at the same time the fact that I myself will probably be rejected for reasons like “affirmative action” or “stereotypical ECs” despite the fact that my ECs are what I enjoy doing instead of just doing them to get into college still is not a happy thought.</p>
<p>@T26E4: Why should we get off of it? This is a thread for ranting. And sorry we’re not able to distinguish ourselves because all we do is study math and play tennis all day. Sorry we can’t write essays as amazing as yours. Sorry we can’t get into every school we apply to. Sorry we’re not as good as you. You make some great points I’ll admit (although I NEVER believed or said that I “deserved” a slot in X school), but you don’t need to be so cocky</p>
<p>More…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I hate how a high GPA/low SAT kid gets the benefit of doubt and is a “bad test taker” while a low GPA/high SAT kid is automatically a “smart slacker.” </p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when peoples’ GPAs are ridiculously inflated by easy schools. </p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when people write about their “passion” for school. Those people are so full of BS. I mean, who actually ENJOYS going to class every day and would rather do that than have free time? </p></li>
<li><p>I hate how a kid with a 1.0 GPA or 900 SAT can probably get into Harvard if his/her parents donate several million. </p></li>
<li><p>I hate it when people think that getting into an Ivy makes them “set for life.” Strangely enough, those people are usually socially inept, which probably makes them screwed for life unless they stop being so pretentious and start talking to people.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I wish I could chill about my son’s apps and college list.<br>
I wish I could stop fretting over: too large, too small, close to home, too far away, undecided or choose a major, the list goes on and on.</p>
<p>When I talk to my son, who lives away at school, he tells me not to worry, and that everything will be finished in time. I wish I could have his laid-back approach. But, what if he’s forgotten something and it will be too late when he remembers or I remind him?</p>
<p>My vent = not working hard freshman year and beginning of sophomore year walking out with a 3.2 UW/3.4 W GPA. There goes my shot at the ivies. In junior year I got a 3.5 UW/4.0 W but that combined with my freshman year is only enough to get me into a good state school. Maybe NYU, NEU or BU as a high reach.</p>
<p>I HATE HOW FRESHMAN YEAR COUNTS AS MUCH AS ANY OTHER YEAR. How can they get a feel for what kind of student you are by looking at you acclimation to HS year. Junior year shows your true capability.</p>
<p>I hate going to a preppy little school where I am taking 6 AP’s and pulling my hair out to maintain a solid average. I hate how everyone in my town is always judgmental of everyone because they did poorly on a test, or aren’t going to a top 30 university, or because they don’t have a brand new mercedes in high school, and feel it is a right that their parents spent 50 grand on their first car instead of being greatful. Life Sucks, lol…</p>
<p>Though, one could argue I would much rather be stressed and going to a decent top 70 school than some thug who may or may not go to community college. If someone brought that point up I would have to agree. ;)</p>
<p>I hate how I got all wrapped around in this admissions game as a freshman. Now I’m a junior, and I wish I decided to just aim for UC Berk instead of Harvard. But now I have to stick it through and hope for the best.</p>
<p>~Lost high school experience and its likely I will get rejected from all ivies. Dam it. ._.</p>
<p>I’m also ****ed at the admission choices. I’m only speaking on behalf of my school and my personal experience, I realize that its not like this everywhere, but the only students who got into top tiers for the past couple of years were major cheaters and just complete horrible people. They would snitch on their friends, who were a higher rank than them, to get them suspended and stripped of their rank. They would cheat on every assignment, every final, everything. They lied on their application. They got accepted to many top tiers. The truly great, really smart students that I know of went to Berkeley. =P</p>
<p>If I don’t get into my top choice, I will lose someone I care about more than anyone else in my life. Maybe if I had just come out and been blunt with it, they’d see what I do. And maybe they’d give me a chance - even if I wasn’t the most qualified. But part of me feels they’d never understand, and it would look superficial, and maybe I made the right choice. </p>
<p>And yes I would also like to vent about my freshman year. My school has Fcked me because even though I was in the top 5% of my class, my grades were Bs, Cs, and Ds. Severe grade deflation i freshman year has probably ensured that I wil not get into any top US college.
And I hate that I am an international even though my father had the chance to become American.</p>
<p>I’m a junior, but I already feel the stress kicking in. ALFJEIOAJFOIAEWJFOIJWOIFJOIAFJOIEWJFOIAJFLKASJLFJWIOEFJOIJEIOAFJOIWFJWOIEFJAOIWFJOIAWFJAOIFJAOIWFJOIAWEJFIOAWJFOIWEFJOIWJFIOAWJFOIAJFOIWEFAJKSCKNENCUIEWNFIU2ENCIUBIUTGQHAWEIUFHIUFJ29ITU08924HFSDIUWHC9824HW’fjoFAHFKAWEHFIhiJIFHAIOWJFIWOJFoijfaioPOIJAojfiajiofajweoifjioffjioawjioajfJFAOIFJEWOIFJAOIWEFJAOIWEPFJKCLNEUIVHIUEA843UR9023UTIKJDSAFKMCA;LZJOWAIFJA9EWJFPAEJFPAWOFJIWOEF</p>
<p>^ the I’m taking 7 APs and am crazy stressed out rant.</p>
<p>I’m sure he did meaningful ECs but was not motivated to do them by how impressive they might appear on an Ivy league application. All too often we hear of kids asking what ECs they can do Junior year to distinguish themselves. You need to do what you love and do it well - well intentioned chat room participants can’t answer that for you.</p>
<p>Understand that the kinds of kids on CC are competing for the more selective colleges in this country and the ones shut out of top 50 schools are still ending up educationally advantaged compared to high school graduates across this country and the world. How impressive is it to end up at a state flagship or better when your parents and siblings are high school drop-outs? The top tier schools use holistic admissions and will “advantage” a kid who came from a disadvantaged environment. Through your essays and LORs the adcoms know you had to flip burgers while others did SAT prep and took European vacations. Read these threads and you will see poor kids complaining they didn’t have the guidance and resources to compete with rich kids, the rich kids complaining about advantages given to URMs and first generation kids, and middle class kids complaining that they get neither advantage. Just like the ridiculous threads we see of kids complaining that their parents only earn $200K a year and that is not enough to put them through college without some financial sacrifice, a little perspective needs to be taken here. That is what T26E4 is telling you.</p>
<p>No doubt this process is more stressful today than in my time but we anxiously awaited our admissions responses too (by snail mail no less). Best of luck to you all.</p>
<p>the most important semesters in terms of highest to lowest are
junior sem 1 and 2
senior sem 1
sophomore sem 2
sophomore sem 1
freshman sem 2
freshman sem 1</p>
<p>I hate how a really good friend of mine is going to get into my dream school because her family friend is a top alum and said to her “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get in.” …don’t know why she admitted that to everyone but whatever.</p>
<p>I don’t delude myself into thinking I deserve to get in and by her getting in that somehow reduces my chances or that she took my spot. I also don’t think she does not deserve it, because she is smart and her stats are on par with mine (she has a tiny little bit higher GPA, but I have a higher SAT, and our ECs are equal) so there’s no reason for her not to get in. But it just sucks that she knows she’ll get in while there’s a huge chance I won’t get in and have to deal with this stress. And she gets that extra leg up just because her dad has a friend in the right place. And then since I’m in literally almost every class with her I’ll spend the week after December 15 listening to everyone congratulate her while I sit 2 seats over pretending I don’t want to cry.</p>
<p>There is a good chance that this alum thinks he/she has more power to influence admissions than really exists. Unless the alum is on the board of directors/school corporation or is a multi-million dollar donor, then your friend is deluding herself and you are unnecessarily getting psyched out.</p>
<p>@YaleGradandDad yeah, that’s what I thought too. But apparently he said the same thing to 3 other family friends over the last few years and did pull through for them. And I’m not so upset that she’ll definitely get in and I likely will not. That’s fine. I’m just upset that I’ll have to hear everyone congratulate her in every class and pretend to pity me while I try to act like I’m not upset.</p>
<p>I hate how people take classes for the SAT and how people spend so much time studying for it. I did literally no studying and got a 2200. I wanted an accurate representation of my intelligence. How come people cant just accept the scores their brains naturally earn? Paying the way to a higher score stops the SAT from giving an accurate, standardized representation of applicants’ intellect. </p>