One part of general student culture I find interesting

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>I've been reading through some of the threads in this Harvard forum, and I'm surprised how surely some posters expect rejection from Harvard. I've seen it in my high school as well (replace Harvard with a number of other prestigious schools). In most of the cases I sense that it's a coping mechanism but in fact it carries over into your internal mindset as well - you set yourself up for failure so that when it comes, you aren't completely crushed and dejected. And if it doesn't come and instead an acceptance somehow falls into your inbox, you will be ecstatic and the victory will be so much sweeter. A win-win, right?</p>

<p>I'm not sure. I think that in the long run, it's not a healthy mindset to have. Fundamentally pessimistic and self-deprecating, this rejection mindset won't help when a real challenge rolls by, one that requires ingenuity as well as constant self-sacrifice and optimism. Now you might look at how small the Harvard acceptance rate is - around 7% and maybe even lower this year, and you might despair, but remember that later, the percentage of great men and women - highly successful entrepreneurs, great writers, innovative scientists, and visionaries - is much, much lower in the general population, and even among students in HYP. The majority of those who graduate from HYP will mesh with the background and in objective terms, live another person's life. </p>

<p>So this is my two cents on why I don't think pessimism is the best option when confronting your college decisions, even if you can't do anything about those decisions anymore. Why not think, "They better take me. I strong believe in myself and what I've done. Who cares if there are 30,000 people ahead of me in line?" What do numbers mean anyway? You guys are already at the top of your classes, SAT charts, and one more step is just too incredible, too unbelieveable? Then again, perhaps the acknowledgment of an impending rejection is simply an outward display. I'd like to hear your thoughts.</p>

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<p>That's what I did for MIT. I set myself up for what I believed would be a guaranteed rejection because I felt it would be easier.</p>

<p>And Noitaraperp aren't you the person who posted in the ivy league decision checking order thread that you believed everyone who posted there wouldn't get into Harvard? Doesn't that kinda belie what you are saying right here?</p>

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<p>Honestly, it's better to be realistic. You can be hopeful of getting into Harvard, which I'm sure everyone who applied that was serious about it thought they might have a chance for one reason or another, no matter how small.</p>

<p>I applied to 13 schools. 2 safeties, 2 matches, and 9 reaches. I expected to get into my two safeties, and maybe my two matches. Here I am, and i've gotten into UMich and Cornell, two of my reaches, when I didn't even expect to get into my matches hardly. i didn't say "There's no way I'm getting into UMich or Cornell" I just felt like it wasn't very likely. I don't feel I was being pessimistic, I just saw it as being realistic and not setting myself up with super high expectations that would likely not be fulfilled. Heck, being super optimistic that I would get into WUSTL failed me. I got WL'd there. </p>

<p>It's not setting yourself up for failure, it's being realistic. What happens to all these kids whose parents tell them they're amazing and that they can get anything they want, etc, or those whom are told "oh of course you'll get into all your colleges, you're amazing and you're different." The fact of the matter is many of them will be crushed, and will wonder why they're "failures." As someone who fully expects to get rejected from Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown, (although I do believe I still have a chance, the odds are just against me), I'm prepared to take the rejection in stride. </p>

<p>There's a difference between pessimism and realism. Pessimism is the guy with a 2300 who wants to retake the SAT because "he can do better." Optimism is the guy with a 2300 that says "hey, I did my best, and although I've got a shot, I'm not gonna get my hopes up too high because the odds are not in my favor."</p>

<p>With schools like Harvard, or any of the other amazing schools, expecting rejection is simply being realistic, not pessimistic.</p>

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<p>It's better to be realistic. Overconfidence never gets anyone anywhere and it only makes someone look stupid when he's wrong.</p>

<p>We like to say that we have no chance because it's easier and because it's more realistic. Like you said, we are setting ourselves up for failure, so that we won't be disappointed and depressed. It's easier to accept a rejection when we think it's coming, then if we believe that it's not coming because we will take a greater fall then. </p>

<p>This is a defense mechanism for us! We say, "We're going to get rejected anyway," when in reality, we have a small flame of hope that we will be that one mistake and that we will get in. We just can't let anyone else know that in case we get rejected and have to take a fall from our small optimistic route that we will get into Harvard. Because if we didn't believe that we had a 0.000000001% chance, then we wouldn't have bothered applying at all.</p>

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<p>I disagree,I do set my expectations for success at a realistic level, (''Harvard is possible, but daaaayum."), and that itself makes me work harder.</p>

<p>I don't think there are many applicants that say "Well, I'll probably be rejected, why work at all?", and then still apply.</p>

<p>We're not so much assuming failure, as we are distancing ourselves from the outcome; to create the "win-win" scenario.</p>

<p>No person could function without SOME proportional expectation of action - this is the same.</p>

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<p>I think the healthiest mindset is to believe in your abilities if you have really done something in school to believe in (if not, resolve to do something in future years that'll make you proud). And to go in neither expecting rejection nor expecting an acceptance -- believe that you can get in, and you may or may not, depending on your fortune.</p>

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<p>^ Amen to that.</p>

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<p>I'm being realistic by expecting a rejection from Harvard. Based on the applicants from the based who I've seem admitted (in general), I'm not nearly as qualified. Do I think I will succeed at Harvard? Yes, and I think I'll thrive. Do I think I deserve to go there? Yes, very much so. But, yet, what you think ultimately doesn't matter and you need to compare yourself to the other ~29,000 applicants. Its too hard to get in, so expecting an admission is just not realistic and not a smart choice in my opinion.</p>

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<p>Hope for the best, expect the worst.</p>

<p>Says it all, really. :)</p>

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<p>I agree python!</p>

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<p>^ "Hope for the best, expect the worst."</p>

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<p>Is that how you did it?, lolz0rs.</p>

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<p>You never exceed your own expectations.</p>

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<p>@ No2EULA: ^ Maybe I'm missing something obvious here, but what point are you trying to make?</p>

<p>Edited: Lol, how did you know I was a Python programmer?</p>

<p>for i in post:
if i == "I am a Python programmer":
break</p>

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<p>^ You'll enjoy this webcomic.</p>

<p>It's like xkcd, with actual drawings.
Abstruse</a> Goose Batteries Included</p>

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<p>Thanks ^^. I assume you're a Python programmer too? We nerds often have a shared sense of humour.</p>

<p>The girl who was programming in the first comic reminded me of myself, lol.</p>

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<p>^ I try working at compsci, but I just get frustrated coding. Like, I just make careless mistakes too often. (The same thing happens when I get bogged down in heavy computations. SCREW fifth order PDEs, lol)</p>

<p>My true love is Math/(Linguistics.)</p>

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<p>I've no idea what fifth-order PDEs are (I haven't even applied to college yet) but they don't sound too fun :). I'm busy working on a pre-college handwriting recognition project right now. In my opinion, Python's pretty fun, although that might be because of the great book I learnt it from. It's called "Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science " by John M. Zelle. You should try and find it in your college libraray, if you're interested in programming ^^.</p>

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<p>Positive thinking is powerful only to the extent that it motivates you to appropriate action. Thinking positively is not some magic talisman. It does not produce results you didn't work for. Therefore, optimism leading to diligence is helpful before applying and irrelevant afterward.</p>

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<p>Sometimes, you'd be surprised at who gets accepted. I don't mean that in the sense that these people are not qualified, they are, I just mean that in the sense that their stats etc will seem within the range of possibility (no cancer cures, no really unique ec's, etc)</p>

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<p>It was just a hypothesis, and I didn't say that they shouldn't be optimistic.
Just trying to generate an thoughtful conversation with this thread.</p>