<p>I was just thinking. In today's world, students are starting to fight so hard for their education(I am talking about the smart people). Really, unless you have researched your colleges, you aren't getting in. Think about it. 2000 asians apply for MIT. They all have research, and 1600's and 4.0's and valedictorians. They know that failure is not an option. There parent's are pressuring them. I mean, the top 10 at most competitive high schools are willing to do almost anything to improve/hold rank. Kinda reminds me of Eminem's "Lose Yourself." </p>
<p>I mean, it feels at times like you gotta be a genius to get in. Not only that, but luck has a huge impact. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>I think there are people in the world who will see through the numbers and titles and look at the person's passion. MIT does this (perhaps for only 5%, 10%, 30%, 1% of their total admissions, but it does happen), or so I tell myself. A kid with perfect everything and research and factual, analytical knowledge because he is wrapped up in the idividualistic culture we live in and because his parents have been pushing him since birth will sometimes NEVER be able to even reach the pinnacle of love, life, and sweet joy that some of us already possess from letting ourselves be teenagers instead of little scientists. Whereas a lot of applicants have facts, only some have context. The shoe-ins have both, but in the MIT adcom's eyes the latter will win out in those imbalanced applicants. </p>
<p>If people can bemoan the loss of a value, then the value must still exist. Hope remains!</p>
<p>yea i must say i was devastated when i got my first B in french junior year, and have only myself to thank for slacking. i think i dropped out of the top 2% with that one.</p>
<p>I got a C in gym (for staying out of swimming five days for my period instead of four, whicih is the max they allow--and girls, seriously, for some of us that's ridiculous, right? No one told me of this rule, and even if they did at the beginning of the year, they could of at least have said, "Hey, it's your 5th day, are you SERIOUSLY still bleeding from the vagina?") third quarter freshamn year and it had a mental effect on me. I managed to get that back up to an A, but I let my math (my easiest subject, and the one I could do the most slacking off in... you know? Hubris.) slide and got a B for the semester in that. Bah.</p>
<p>I AM A FERTILE YOUNG WOMAN. I CANNOT HELP IT IF I SPOUT BABY FOOD LONGER THAN YOUR SCHEDULED TIME FRAME. I WILL PROTEST YOUR BUOYANT SEXISM ALL THE WAY TO MY GRAVE.</p>
<p>ok, ok, enough about menstruation, eh? :D between that and the girl writing an essay about it on another part of the forum and how it altered her math ability, or whatever. kinda odd.</p>
<p>Of course it's perfectly normal. I don't have a problem with it. It's just coincidental that you mentioned it here as well as another poster writing a complete essay about it. People in that thread thought it would not be a good essay topic. No need to rant - I was just making an inopportune parallel. :o</p>
<p>miT says it doesn't hurt if your school doesn't rank. They probably know where you should be anyway by decile/quartile (if your school does that) and GPA.</p>
<p>it can help in competitive schools to not rank. for example, my school has a 1224 avg SAT, so if we ranked, we'd murder each other, and colleges would think a 15/300 person is worse than he/she actually is.</p>