Stuck in one position...HELP!

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Hello CC’rs,</p>

<p>I am not reviving an old topic, but here to revive what the buffons on these forums mislead students who are very capable of attending universities of their dreams to believe they are not cut out to the statstics. </p>

<p>From the beginning of my post, it was clear that some people immediatly raised their eyebrows because of one dang test score, and knew that this suddeny means I am an automatic reject. Heck, I read some posts again, and that fact that some people recommended a community colege path shames me how much people’s standards are. Anyways, today, I am here to show that ANYONE no matter what GPA or SAT/ACT score you have recieved you can go ANYWHERE.</p>

<p>On December 26th at 11:52 PM PST, I submitted my application to Carnegie Mellon University and uPenn. Today, I am here to confirm I was ACCEPTED to both schools, with practically full rides to both schools (school aid + fin. aid + outside scholarhips) and have instantly exceeded my “expectations” according to the various posters on these forums.</p>

<p>Anyways, I am not bragging, nor give a hell about it - I am here hoping a future high school student who feels discouraged because they are below a certain number from their dream school DOES NOT mean you are done with in life. I pulled it all off, but it was not easy, staying up all night for 4 weeks straight making my essay PERFECT (Perfect, as in making sure every character had a flow) and made sure I explained my story. </p>

<p>I am ashamed to see how many parents are confused with admissions process and what their expectations are (I applaud you all for having high expectations) but I hope you realize when you enter the real world, numbers are JUST numbers. Just like that, I left my numbers just NUMBERS, and instead ACTED to show I am serious about my admission.</p>

<p>This post may be confusing, and once again I am not here to brag about getting into practically the top engineering schools in the world, but I am here to put some light on future applicants to believe in yourself, if you have a dream, you must want it as much as you want to breath. YOU CAN DO IT.</p>

<p>To the posters - I am not mad, but I am laughing at what was expected. I don’t give a damn what the next comments will be “it was a fluke” “you are lucky”, I wanted to be admitted to these schools as much as I want to breath, and I did just that.</p>

<p>Good Day.</p>

22

<p>Congratulations! That is wonderful news. So which one are you going to pick?
In this case, I think it proves that those institutions really do have “holistic” admissions. They will sometimes overlook bad test scores if the rest of the application is very solid and there are potentially extenuating circumstances.
In general, students *should *feel free to dream and should apply to some schools that may seem out of their range based on GPA/test scores as long as they also apply to other schools where their odds are better and where they can afford to go. If you read the posts, especially recently, you see too many students who only “dreamed” and now are stuck with nowhere to go at the last minute.</p>

23

<p>I am in a struggle to decide where I may end up going! </p>

<p>I am now down to UW Seattle and uPenn. Ideally, UW Seattle is a full ride, and is just nearby. I have till May 1st…but luckily, I have a bottom two.</p>

24

<p>Congrats~</p>

<p>Curious…did you end up retaking the ACT or SAT? If so, what did you get?</p>

<p>Since you’re low income, what is UPenn expecting you to pay?<br>
Would you be able to pay for transportation to UPenn? If so, go there.</p>

25

<p>I only retook the ACT, and did slightly better (3 points better). Moral of the story is, ACT/SAT is only a number, not a decision maker. Sure, low scores means you are a bad test taker, but where in the real world would anyone take multiple choice questions in a limited amount of time? The tests itself are inflated, and really disturb me. Worst way to measure someones knowledge, in fact I strongly believe measuring someones knowledge cannot be done in a test.</p>

<p>I have practically a full ride (covered tuition) for uPenn from an private scholarship. Ideally though, I got directly into my major for UW Seattle…which would require less output essentially (as I don’t need to worry about getting into my major). Overall, I am still hearing back from uPenn’s financial aid office about possible merit aid I am still eligible for. If I don’t receive anything great, odds are I would attend the UW.</p>