<p>I dislike how we’re all told (at least I was told) that an 1800 was a “bad” SAT score… And that in order to get into a college such as UCLA or Northwestern, you NEED a 2200+ on your SAT’s… What a lot of people on this website don’t realize is that the admissions office has their own way of looking at students during the admissions process. Not one person on this site (unless he or she is an admissions representative) knows for sure if someone will get accepted or not and I don’t think it’s right for someone to say that I would get rejected immediately to UCLA with an 1800 on my SAT’s.</p>
<p>"I don’t think it’s right for someone to say that I would get rejected immediately to UCLA with an 1800 on my SAT’s. "</p>
<p>I suppose there’s truth to this. But would it sound better if someone says a stats set like that is an extreme outlier or some other sanitized phrase to soften the blow?</p>
<p>It may not sound as harsh but an objective analysis of the bell curve of stats would indicate the same thing, no? I agree there’s no need to be brutal but one should be looking for sugar-coated medicine either, IMHO.</p>
<p>I was discussing with another poster about lower end of stats for the Yale applicant pool. I asked what he considered an outlier composite ACT. He said 24 whilst I argued 29, in my experience. Basically he would still encourage people scoring 24 or above to apply. Probably 70% of my HS graduating class scored better than a 24ACT. To me, that’s a travesty.</p>
<p>T26E4, I have to say, I somewhat agree with you. I just hate being told that I might not be good enough</p>
<p>I’m a little miffed that I’m not as far ahead as I could be in math. :\ Gaaah, why did I get that B in Algebra?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Lol, part of the reason why I don’t know if I’d be happy going to Berkeley/UCLA. From my OOS school, 11 of 12 seniors who got in were asian…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is an exaggeration, but would someone with a 600/2400 SAT and a 1 on the ACT, a < C- GPA in the lowest level classes, 200s on SAT subject tests, no AP tests, no EC’s, an ORM, multiple disciplinary problems, bad recs, and an application started on the day of the deadline and finished in an hour get in to Harvard? I am not an adcom but I can say with 100% certainty, “no.” There are occasionally posters who have stats so far below the range of a school that it’s pretty easy to say for sure that they will get rejected. An 1800 for UCLA is not a surefire rejection, though, by any means.</p>
<p>So, here’s my rant:</p>
<p>1) I have the kind-of stereotypical Asian parents who only cared about grades for most of my school years. They only recently realized that grades aren’t the only part of college admissions and are now constantly lecturing me for not doing more “stuff” in the past three years, BUT when I did ask them to pursue more activities back then (summer programs, part time jobs, research competitions, etc.), they told me to shut up and focus on school when I was doing fine.</p>
<p>2) I’m mad at myself for not being more aggressive in looking for more ECs to do before. Maybe if I had presented myself better to my parents, I wouldn’t be looking at my reach schools as forever a dream.</p>
<p>3) Mad at myself and my parents for not taking more challenging courses junior year. Parents insisted on me having a full lunch period the entire year, so I traded AP Bio or AP Chem (which I was both interested in) for French, which I ended up dropping this year anyway.</p>
<p>4) Mad at myself for screwing up the PSAT and not getting Semi-finalist.</p>
<p>5) Mad at some unfair and biased teachers I had over my four years for giving me lower grades and acting in a discriminatory matter to me and some of my classmates.</p>
<p>6) Mad at a summer research professor ditching me at the last minute, so I was unable to have a research project for competitions.</p>
<p>7) Mad at my parents for forcing me to apply for all the Ivy Leagues WHILE believing that I can get in most of them without any hooks (I might be academically qualified, but so are many people applying there), refusing to support my applications to match schools, and refusing to pay college tuition if the school is too far away from home or not an Ivy/MIT/Stanford.</p>
<p>Man, that felt good to vent.</p>
<p>My mom has only ever heard of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and I’m not even applying… My sister goes to one of them, so my asian mother wants to show me off too. Honestly, she’s never asked for my grades EVER, and she even sent me back to China for five years. What right does she have to show me off anyway? My college list is full of schools I like, and my mom Doesn’t even know what schools I’m applying to haha. </p>
<p>People should really stop complaining about the opportunities they didn’t have. Going to a top school doesn’t mean everything.</p>
<p>I really hate it when kids incorrectly use impressive and high-sounding language to sound like better writers, and it works because none of the teachers or students are smart enough to call them on it. For example, one kid in my class has a reputation as this amazing writer with an incredible vocabulary, yet constantly does terribly on SATs and things of that nature because they are simply faking it all the time.</p>
<p>I understand when people call for the end of the SATs and standardized testing, but situations like this are reasons why we are always going to need them.</p>
<p>I hate how it is 12:30 on a Sunday night and I still have 3+ hours of homework to do just because I wanted to have a day off yesterday (Saturday). </p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>
<p>You Asian kids are hilarious freaking out about this stuff. If you cannot be successful without going to your dream college you couldn’t be successful even if you went.</p>
<p>I hate how ivies seem to lie about their admissions policies. ._.</p>
<p>^ Please share with us some of the untruths you’ve discovered.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I hate how everyone expects so much from me. My guidance counselor, my teachers, my classmates, my parents, my relatives, my friends, my friends’ parents, and probably even my school chancellor. They all expect me to get into some ivy league school, and I’m deathly afraid of disappointing them. I mean, my family is talking as if I already got into certain top schools and speculating about moving with me to wherever I go for college. I feel suffocated.</p></li>
<li><p>I hate having to ask teachers for recommendations. I accidentally offended my English teacher because I thought she blew me off when I asked her to write a recommendation for me. I didn’t talk to her about the recommendation later, but she wrote it anyway. She thought I was being insensitive and rude and lectured me about it. I alone know how much time, effort, and, yes, money, I spent soliciting recommendations from teachers. For the teachers who I knew would write my recommendations, I treated them like Gods. </p></li>
<li><p>I hate how I can’t focus on anything because I feel so distraught about college applications. I can’t seem to focus on homework or studying for tests.</p></li>
<li><p>I hate how my AP French teacher gives remarkably low grades that could destroy my academic record. </p></li>
<li><p>I hate worrying about the mid-year report.</p></li>
<li><p>I hate worrying about the B on my transcript for the notoriously hard Precalculus accelerated class I took junior year (avg grade in class was C-).</p></li>
<li><p>I hate how I am spending an inordinate amount of time on CC instead of doing something useful, like college essays.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I do not like when some people say “race does not matter” in selective college admissions.</p>
<p>I WISH selective colleges release admission data which include DETAILED ADMISSION RATES BY RACE.</p>
<p>It does matter – the private colleges themselves say so. As for releasing race specific admit rate data, that’s a lose-lose situation. It would only engender criticism – nothing is to be gained. Won’t happen.</p>
<p>
@zapphey Wow, that’s harsh. If you really have no hooks, and the stuff you described above is true, there’s a good chance you won’t get into an Ivy/MIT/Stanford (not trying to be rude, just realistic). In that case, you should really start preparing your parents for that possibility now so they don’t refuse to allow you to apply/go to a non-Ivy school. Or else come April 1, you could be in a lottttt of trouble.</p>
<p>I’m getting way to anxious waiting for decisions! I’m about ready to hop on a train, and go to every school I applied to and demand they make my decision right then and there! Hahaha I love my weird imagination. Only got 2 decisions so far (West Virginia University and Rider University).</p>
<p>Anyoneelseneedto bent about anything? Tough times for us colleges hopefuls</p>
<p>I agree with you BUgebs</p>