During February of my junior year, I missed a Forensics tournament because I was sick. I decided to spend the morning researching some things about the ACT, and in the process stumbled upon this site. Looking back, I am incredibly grateful that I happened to be sick that day. As cheesy as it is, finding CC and its wonderful community of passionate and neurotic kids changed the direction of my life.
I’d always assumed I would go to our flagship state school just down the road. Our high school feeds kids to that school; ~20 students out of our class of 120 will attend next year. I met the admission requirements with a 7th grade ACT score, and knew my 4.0 and ECs would most likely give me a place in the Honors Program. I was satisfied with this until I started to detest everything about high school. My sophomore and junior years were emotional nightmares, and made me want to escape my small town and the college full of classmates that I was “supposed” to attend. When I found CC, I realized that this was actually a possibility.
A year and a half later, I am a member of the Georgetown University Class of 2015. Without CC, I wouldn’t have found Georgetown, let alone had the courage to apply. Seriously, thank you guys. Your posts helped me refine my application, not miss deadlines for once in my life, and showed me how many extraordinarily talented and mature high schoolers there are in the world. I can’t wait to become a Hoya and make the most of the wisdom shared on this site. I would have had a good time at the state school, but would have never been able to experience the internships, opportunities, and connections with like-minded people I will have as a Government major at Georgetown.
As far as regrets go, I wish I had applied to more schools. Georgetown is absolutely perfect for me, but I got lucky with financial aid. Also, no one is kidding when they tell you to only apply to safeties you’d like to attend. I applied to Minnesota Twin Cities and Baylor because the apps were free and easy, but the acceptances were meaningless in my decision process. I regret applying to so few schools that I wasn’t rejected anywhere. I feel like I didn’t reach high enough; my best friend applied to Yale and was rejected but the fact that she applied is extremely commendable in my eyes. One more thing: DO. NOT. PROCRASTINATE. That is all. Thanks again.
YoPongo, what a great post! I also found CC accidentally I am also very grateful for what I have learned this past year!!! I am glad that you reached out and had big dreams for yourself Have an amazing four years at Georgetown!!! You deserve it <3
You sound like a very bright young lady. Congratulations. Georgetown will be a wonderful education for you. I have to agree with your post. College Confidential was a life saver for me. I poured over this site for endless hours during daughter’s sophomore and junior year. The insight I gained is immeasurable. Since I don’t have a college degree, I wanted to give our daughter the opportunity to have the education I didn’t get. Our daughter applied to 11 schools and was accepted to nine of them. She accepted at Penn State University Park class of 2015. She will study Immunology and infectious disease. I too can not thank College Confidential enough. Best of Luck to you your bright future at Georgetown YoPongo! ~ Now back to the C/C threads to help find a college for our other daughter who is now a junior… :~)
Well written! I agree with you 100%. I am home schooled, so college admissions bring out the magnifying glass on us on everything we do, so this site has helped TREMENDOUSLY to know what to do, and not to do. If I haven’t find this site-I would have been screwed. If I found it like later in my junior year, it would most likely be too late to do anything, and then, eventually screwed. So, thanks CC!
Congratulations on attending Georgetown! Wonderful school.
Thanks for taking the time to post your story, YoPongo! It’s been ten years since we started CC with the mission of helping students achieve their dreams, and feedback like this keeps us going!
Congrats on Georgetown, and best of luck in the fall!
I don’t think you should be too worried about not reaching higher. I was accepted to my current university early decision, and so I will never know where else I might have been accepted, but it has turned out to be perfect for me (I’m a rising senior there now.) you can only attend one university at a time, and there is no way you’re short-changing yourself with the quality of education Georgetown has.
I’m glad CC has been so positive for you. I think it’s been good for me too, probably in ways I can’t figure out just yet. best of luck next year!
I too feel so grateful to have found CC accidentally! As a mom of three bright kids, the insight that I’ve gained here so far is PRICELESS! Just today I was wondering how to help my son strengthen his vocabulary skills for the PSAT/SAT and I said to myself “let me see what the students on CC have to say.” I really trust their input! So after spending a little time on CC and reading different opinions and approaches, I went on amazon and ordered the materials that the CCers seem to put the most faith in. I really appreciate how the CCers (parents and students) are so open and honest and so willing to be helpful.
I have found CC to be a wonderful supplement to the standard
web sites of various colleges. CC information fills in many of the
gaps adding a valuable perspective by parents as well as current
students at the colleges. On numerous occasions I have copied
a thread of interest to me while at the office taking it home for
my daughter’s review. She will be applying to colleges this year.
College Confidential was both a blessing and a curse to me whilst I was applying! I am an international student who has already left high school, so the process of applying to American universities was completely new to me and it took a lot of research to figure out how to go about it. College Confidential was one of those resources. However, I knew that without a significant scholarship I would not be able to attend university in the States (as an international student I am not eligible for financial aid). So when other students were starting to hear back I would check CC compulsively every day to see who had got those scholarships, who had heard back, who got in and their stats/situation, the pros and cons of all the schools I applied to…I honestly could not stop checking!!
Thankfully I did get a scholarship and I’m pleased to say I will be flying over to Los Angeles in August to study film and television! Yay!
Good luck at Georgetown YoPongo and congratulations!
I’d like to chime in and add to the chorus of grateful contributors. This site is just the resource it set out to be and so much more. It helped us navigate what seemed so daunting we even considered getting a paid counselor, which we can ill afford. Not needed!
In the end DS wound up just where he and we always hoped he would. But along the way he had offers he didn’t know existed, and places he seriously considered. The whole kit and caboodle was made much more bearable by seeing that at every stage others were sharing the journey and helping each other along the road.
Thank you, College Confidential. We’re not done with you yet!
Yeah even though I kind of found CC a little late, it has been so useful and I think it will continue to be useful in helping me with th process of transferring in a year or two. My parents are foreign and know hardly anything how to enter university level education in the US and I’ll just say practically all my college questions have been answered here. Thanks college confidential!
I am also very grateful for what I have learned this past year!!! I am glad that you reached out and had big dreams for yourself 
It’s a great resource.