<p>If you dont get in, it isnt a personal reflection on you as a person. When I didnt get accepted to some schools, it just made me not want to go to them anyway~ everyone should be somewhere where they feel appreciated.</p>
<p>Plus, I really dont believe in a "top" for colleges exactly-- they vary so much in personality, etc, plus each of many schools excels in different areas. Worry less about the schools reputations and just find a place that you really like (visit! talk to current students!) that has strong academics for your major. <em>But</em> whatever you do, don't let CC discourage you from applying annnnywhere~ most of the people on this website, for some reason, have insanely insanely high stats, and I agree that it can be disheartening. Still, thats what college app. essays are for- work on yours a bit, make it good, unique, you, and it can be your chance to shine.</p>
<p>You'll do fine, no matter where you go. But I agree completely that you should give anywhere you'd like to go a try.</p>
<p>"yeah, i kno what you guys mean....i guess its almost like i don't even want to see if i can make it to the top"</p>
<p>^this is too bad. why such a lack of motivation...at least it comes across that way...it never hurt to try</p>
<p>and it's true - a college acceptance is simply an external validation. think about it - whether or not you get rejected or accepted, you are still the same exact person. and being the same exact person, you will (or will not) succeed no matter what school you go to.</p>
<p>also, i only took AB calc in HS, they offered BC but you had to take AB first (our school is wierd) and no kids from my grade took BC this year. h/e, my school canceled our AP physics class senior year due to underenrollment, so I studied it independently and took the AP exam. i was also the only one to take SAT II physics and i got 800 score...so they basically want to see effort and motivation and will not punish you for the school you go to</p>
<p>i dunno, i come from a school where teachers r really racist toward me and don't care about students at all. No one believes in me here even though i've recently gotten 700+ on my SAT IIs ( no one even knows what those are here) all frm self studying..abs. no credit to my school. I dunno, i guess i feel like im going to stay at the bottom no matter how hard i try. I've though decided im going to apply to MIT and Caltech as my only reaches. Blah maybe they will see how hard i've tried to make it up the that level.</p>
<p>not really. you don't know my stats, b/c i don't give them out except in bits and pieces, where it's really relevant...they weren't bad, but they weren't jaw-dropping. honestly, at this point i barely remember them. also, of course, there's so much more to your app besides your stats. you sound like you've worked hard in spite of your educational situation, and that's not something to take lightly.</p>