Rant/ are any of you like me?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Now that junior year is almost ending for me, most of my classmates have already established themselves pretty well in school.</p>

<p>Many of them have won national awards like Scholastic gold keys, INTEL talent search finalists, and so on. A lot more of them are captains in sports teams, presidents of various clubs and honor societies, editors of the school newspaper, and directors of school productions... you get the point.</p>

<p>Sometimes, I hate myself so much for not caring about EC's during my freshmen and sophomore year. It's actually impossible to get a leadership position if you join something junior year (in my school of 3500) and it's hard to establish yourself in a sports team if you are not naturally good at sports/have been playing since three years old.</p>

<p>I wish I could turn back time and restart from September of my freshmen year and not quit the theatre community because it was getting in the way of my 5pm episode reruns of friends. I wished that when the president of this particular club asked if anyone was interested, I would have raised my hand and not care that I was a sophomore and had no knowledge of the school whatsoever. I wished I had the courage to try out for speech and debate instead of procrastinate on finding a monologue and then not trying out because I didn't have one. </p>

<p>Ugh.... so many I wished & what ifs.</p>

<p>Now that college search and stuff like that is coming up, my friends are all talking about their spectacular ECs and I'm just like.. well... I'm part of this, but no one knows I do because I'm not important anyway. And I'm stressing out so much because my grades aren't even that good, but I really want to go to a high ranking college.</p>

<p>.... You all have such amazing stats.... I'm jealous....
I can't wait until I graduate high school and watch all my friends get into my colleges while I get rejected from my state university. (sarcasm)</p>

<p>Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh</p>

<p>/End of rant.</p>

<p>P.S. I don't expect you all to read this whole thing, but if any of you have been/are in my position, please tell me how you coped with it and how the college process went.</p>

2

<p>You’re fine. The race hasn’t even started yet. Get into the best college that you can and prepare yourself for the long distance run that will likely last 40 years. BTW, most kids are just like you. GL</p>

3

<p>I’m in a similar situation, I guess.
I’m shy and felt generally disliked during my freshman and sophomore years, so I didn’t join anything. I went to a few club meetings but everyone seemed to have a ton of inside jokes and the teachers advising the clubs didn’t give a damn about me because they hadn’t had me in a class. The only things I’ve done for a long time are piano lessons and volunteering at the library, and I suck at piano because I never practice.
In tenth grade I was in the school play and participated in the science fair, but I didn’t do those this year because the school play took too much time and I couldn’t think of a science fair idea because I’m too stupid. This year I joined two clubs but I didn’t get leadership positions and I won’t be able to do clubs next year because I’m taking all dual-enrollment classes at a college that isn’t particularly local.
I just had no idea that ECs had any relevance to anything until last year. No one tells you that you have to basically already have a career in order to get into a reasonably prestigious college. I thought leadership and internships and things like that were things only “exceptional” people did, and I didn’t consider myself an exceptional person.</p>

<p>(I’m 17 and I already feel like I’ve wasted my whole life…not because of ECs or college or anything, but just in general. I’ve started to regret things, mostly things I didn’t do when I had the chance. I feel like every decision I make is going to come back and screw me over. And it upsets me because I’m still very young and if I’m like this now I don’t know what will happen when I’m actually old.)</p>

4

<p>I didnt do much my freshman year, but I’ve made up for that this year. You just gotta get out there and do things. I’m sure ill join more things junior year (not for college but things I wanna do.) it’s never too late to get leadership positions. Like our current student body secretary (class of 13) just moved here in the middle of his junior year.</p>

5

<p>Life would be a very sad place if people had to throw in the towel in junior year saying: I give up. I do not have a chance to compete anymore, no college will accept me because I have no time to do anything meaningful. Let me tell you that this is not even the tip of the iceberg of all the thing you will have to do and conquer in your life, so start by cheering up and making a plan. Summer is a great time to do an internship, shadow a professional, volunteer, tutor,in other words: keep busy. Senior year is still a great opportunity to mentor younger kids, organize some food drives, do something good for your community. Time is always there for those that want to find it. Good luck.</p>

6

<p>Honestly, where you go to college is not going to determine whether your life is successful or not. I’m sure you will get into an amazing college that is good for you. Most people do not go to HYPS or care if they do. It’s just College Confidential and this is an exception. You still have time to go and join clubs if you want to. It’s not too late. Being involved and not being a leader is better than not doing anything at all. And if you want to be a leader than take initiative. Do you see a unmet need in your community? Then do something about it. Or is there a club you want to have that isn’t at your school? Then found one. Also, you never know when something senior year will impress adcoms. I started a community service project this year(my senior year) and put it on my apps but I didn’t expect it to impress them at all but in one of my acceptance letters, they specifically mentioned the project as impressing them.</p>

7

<p>You should found some clubs like I did…</p>

<p>By doing that, I’m club presidents of 5 clubs and captains of 11 competitions (i.e. Quiz bowl) :O</p>

8

<p>You people are amazing and make me feel so much better.</p>

<p>But I don’t know what I can do. There are 300+ clubs at my high school already and there is already an astounding amount of competition for certain spots.
Grades don’t really come first at my school, popularity does. I tried out for the editor of the school newspaper and I heard over 600+ people applied for the spot. Then this popular girl, who’s captain of the cheerleaders and only wrote two articles got the spot even though she didn’t even hand in a teacher rec or have an interview because many people vouched for her.</p>

<p>I am signing up for some summer programs now, but I don’t know if I’ll be accepted. If I’m not I guess I’ll just be going back to the same place where I have been for the past two summers… tutoring middle school kids…eh.</p>

9

<p>I feel your pain. I totally completely regret not doing Cross Country, Track or Basketball freshman year or this year. I was only “OK” at them and my ego was way too big and I had too much pride to be on JV. But I never even tried out, so i’ll never know. But I may to cross country next year and do ASB.</p>

10

<p>if your down on yourself, stop thinking about undergrad and make sure that you work so hard that you will get into HYPS for grad school…undergrad is not the endof the world</p>

11

<p>Transcript + scores are way more important than EC’s for all schools besides the tippy top.</p>

12

<p>I feel like I wasted my high school years though. I’ve been such a hermit and now, even if I do want to join start a club or join a sport, it’ll have to wait until senior year.
I’m so stupiddddddd argh.</p>

<p>And I don’t really want to get into any Ivys… Besides brown, but that’s a reach for everyone.</p>

<p>I just think that even with no ECs… My grades aren’t comparable to my peers who are so amazing at everything.</p>

13

<p>Don’t fret. I think you’re looking at this all wrong. I almost gave up at the end of junior year. My friends are mostly of the 2250+/4.0 type, and though I connect to them on an intellectual level, they far out match me as students. But don’t think “why”-- think “how.” Undergraduate school is just the beginning. You’ll have plenty of chances to prove yourself throughout life. Start somewhere and if anything, start now. You might think there’s some sort of impenetrable wall between yourself and your friends with all those ec’s. There isn’t. Go out and do something for yourself, not for others or for college. If you find something you are passionate about this year, you’ll already be ahead of the majority of kids out there who don’t know what they want to do.</p>

<p>In any case, you don’t need to be an Intel award winner to go to a good school (and a good school is one that is a good fit for YOU). </p>

<p>See this as an opportunity and you will thank yourself maybe a year from now, maybe thirty years from now. Character building is, imo, one of the more important things I’ve learned from my own failures.</p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T999 using CC</p>

14

<p>As for your question about how the college process is going, I would have to say it’s gone pretty well. I won’t be going to any ivies, but there’s always grad school for that. I’ve gotten into uw seattle, ut austin, ucsd, and am making the last push this week for cmu and Berkeley. No shame in being rejected.</p>

<p>Last bit of advice: set a long term goal for yourself and never forget it. It’ll do wonders.</p>

<p>Sent from my SGH-T999 using CC</p>

15

<p>I’m just like you! My family is low income, so we never had money for dance classes or sport teams. I always wanted to try sports like field hockey and tennis, but high school is very large and competitive so you MUST have experience to make the team. I’m currently a sophomore and I regret not joining debate, MUN or newspaper.i really wish I stuck with something and became good at it, instead of hopping around and trying whatever.</p>

16

<p>I feel like maybe you just think you’ve got no chance because you’re comparing yourself to your classmates, who just so happen to be extraordinarily above average. You must go to an awesome school because in my decent public high school (2200 kids, average act of 25) no one has even heard of INTEL or any other sort scholastic competition. Sports and club positions aren’t that competitive, and acedemic competition only exists within the top 5%. And from what I know from friends and family who go to other schools, this is normal. People from my school still get into prestigious universities (okay, not HYPSM, but top 20s). Maybe you just go to a really competitive high school. All that means though is that more than likely you will all be going to good colleges. Amd anyways, state colleges really don’t care much about extracurriculars at all. People on college confidential act like state universities are soooo bad, but some of them are actually really great and would accept you even though you haven’t cured cancer;)</p>

17

<p>I guess there’s no use self hating and ill just make the best out of the three months I have left.</p>

18

<p>What I’ve learned thus far (as a senior with pretty much no school-related extracurriculars to speak of) is that if you’re going to do something, make sure you actually want to do it. Yes, varsity stu-co president valedictorians tend to have a better shot at getting into “top” schools. A huge part of that is not that they juggle fifty different commitments, but that they show initiative and passion (along with capability) in most of those activities. And if they don’t truly enjoy their fifty million roles, a lot of those VSCPVs, I have noticed, are miserable. (At least at my school.) Schools notice that stuff. They really want you to be passionate about something, not involved in everything. (Please note that it can be both; this is not a unilateral assertion.) So if you absolutely adore animals, go help out at an animal shelter. If you like sharing your knowledge, be a tutor. If you hate either of these things, DON’T DO THEM. And if you have no major interests to speak of, then put yourself out there and try something new. Get back into drama - if you enjoy it. See if you can pick up an internship in a vocational field that you’re considering. Take guitar lessons. Art classes. Writing workshops. Figure out what fits you, what you want to try - and do it. You still have a year. Don’t worry so much. Try to enjoy it, and besides, whatever happens is what was meant to happen.</p>

<p>That’s not to say don’t try. And by all means, feel free to say, “Screw you, random Internet stranger!” and try out/apply for every extracurricular position that comes your way. That works for some people.</p>

<p>And try not to compare yourself to everyone else quite so often. We all do it; it’s nice to have an idea of how we “stand” in this little race of ours. But (especially in your reference group, it seems) there will always be the group of VSCPVs blowing everybody else out of the water. They’re always there. I admire their tenacity. But they don’t make you any less than you are. Be confident in what you’ve achieved, and if you feel dissatisfied - make a change.</p>

19

<p>Don’t compared yourself to others. I am guilty of that myself and it gets you no where. So what if you don’t have ECs? Big whoop… I didn’t have many either when in high school. I was president of our tiny Amnesty International chapter and did track freshman year. That was it. </p>

<p>I honestly don’t think it even matters. I was accepted into a noncompetitive 4 year college right out of high school. Went there for 4 semesters before transferring to a much nicer university because I kicked butt there academically. I then graduated and got an awesome job right out of college. Seriously, ECs?? They mean nothing. I didn’t need them to be successful during or after college.</p>

20

<p>A lot of my problem, at least in my freshman and sophomore years, was that I didn’t want to do extracurriculars because I was (and still am, really) shy and none of the ECs interested me because they all involved talking to people and were thus scary and non-fun.
People on here are always saying to just do what you want to do without thinking about college applications, but without the pressure of college applications I would never have felt the need to do anything at all, and I would just have gone home and sat in my room every day after school because I was too scared to join clubs or sign up for stuff. Caring about college apps was the only way I could push myself into things.</p>