<p>Around this same time three years ago, I was anticipating decisions from various area schools, including Harvard. </p>
<p>I knew I would never get into Harvard, as the odds were against me. I wasn't ranked within the top 10% of my class. My extracurricular activities were scarce. There wasn't much that was compelling in my application, save my personal essay (and even I barely remember what I wrote about). My recommendation letters were generic copy paste jobs from teachers who could care less. </p>
<p>Ultimately, as I sat there in front of my computer on March 31st, 2009, I knew I wasn't going to make it. And I was right.</p>
<p>At 5:00PM EST, I was told that my application to Harvard College had been rejected. </p>
<p>I ended up settling for the school down street from my house. I commute there every single day for classes. In the aggregate, I realized that the rejection letter from Harvard was right - it didn't matter where I attended school, it only matters what I do with that education. </p>
<p>Being aware of how difficult it is getting into Harvard, I hope many of you are aware that it doesn't matter where you go to college, or whether you go to college at all. There are many ways to finding happiness in life, and I hope many of you will go on a path that suits you best. </p>
<p>Just another two bits of wisdom from a university student who was in your shoes three years ago...</p>
<p>Out of the 27 people who applied to Harvard in my high school, one girl made it. Another girl was waitlisted and was ultimately rejected. </p>
<p>I later learned that a childhood friend of mine was accepted. </p>
<p>Really, though, college is overrated, as you will quickly see. You go there, have a great time, and realized that you have actually learned very little in an academic sense. Do you grow as a person, however? Absolutely. But, is it the only time you will have fun and grow as a person? No.</p>
<p>Personally, though, I see college as a means to a career. It doesn’t matter where you go - it’s what you do with the opportunities presented to you. Harvard sounds nice on a resume, but I know of people who make more money than I ever will with associate’s degrees from community colleges. </p>
<p>There is more than one path to prosperity and happiness. It doesn’t have to go through HYPMS (or whatever the acronym is).</p>
<p>This is a nice sentiment, but unduly flattens the differences between colleges. While this:
and this:
and this:
are absolutely, indubitably correct, and so a rejection from Harvard is not and should never be a crushing blow to someone’s dreams, it’s not wrong for students to hope for admittance.</p>
<p>Also, this:
does not have to be true of one’s college experience if you do not want it to.</p>
<p>I get what you’re trying to say, and you’re dancing on the border of a good and accurate piece of wisdom (“you will be okay no matter what happens, since college is far from the be-all, end-all of existence”), but I think your rhetoric takes it into the level of “you will be okay no matter what happens, and so you shouldn’t even care about your admissions results, because all colleges are equal.” I see why perry finds that depressing (I do too!). I think your advice would be more helpful with just a slightly different emphasis, acknowledging that some colleges are better, more fun, or places that make it easier to follow your dreams than others, so hoping for good admissions results from all the colleges to which one applied is reasonable, and that an applicant isn’t foolish for feeling disappointed at rejection. The disappointment shouldn’t be overwhelming, for all the good reasons you list, but to be able to attend a college that will make you happy isn’t an unreasonable hope.</p>
<p>Although I agree with exultationsy, I think it’s a little unfair to point out what the OP should have said. It’s his/her opinion, take it or leave it, end of story.</p>
<p>As for the topic at hand, as difficult as it is for me to completely accept your advice right now (honestly speaking, no one applies to the big league without actually accepting they won’t get in, no one), eventually I think I’ll learn for myself that there’s a significant amount of truth to it. But, speaking of opportunities, it’s undeniable that going to an ivy league school opens much more doors than any other college would.</p>
<p>Though I’ve always lived on the principle that if a door’s locked, you can always break in anyway ;)</p>
<p>Again, I am trying to de-emphasize this supposed difference between the top colleges in this country. Is there a difference between Fitchburg State and Harvard? Absolutely. Harvard has more opportunities and resources for the average student. But, as you climb up the ladder (in terms of university rankings), there are easily hundreds of universities in this country that offer the same opportunities that Harvard or an Ivy League school do.</p>
<p>I daresay a university like UT Austin offers the same opportunities, that say, a university like Harvard or Yale does. </p>
<p>It’s what you make of them that counts. </p>
<p>It’s one thing to hope, but another thing to expect.</p>
<p>@leo Analyzing and insightfully qualifying a piece of wisdom has nothing to do with “telling the OP what he should have said.” It’s about giving other readers a tempered perspective. Just as the OP can liberally share his opnion, so, too, can his readers.</p>
<p>I don’t wish to be cold-hearted, but if the OP says that he sees colleges as just a means to a career, then perhaps the Ad Com made the right choice. While Harvard students do use it as a steppingstone, Harvard and a college education is an end in of itself, not merely a way-station on the path to a career.</p>
<p>Well etondad I am not sure what you mean by a college education being an “end in of itself”. Kids with that mind-set go into a university thinking that after college, life somehow mysteriously ends and therefore they don’t plan for the inevitable life that follows. </p>
<p>I think the OP has a point. College is not an end, it is a pitstop that refuels, nourishes, and guides you on the way to something bigger. Yet in reality, opportunities in life are never linear, you can get to the same location through another path or through another pitstop. </p>
<p>Maybe his perspective would have changed if his circumstances had been different three years ago but really I do not think it is your right to judge how good of a decision the Ad Com people made.</p>
<p>My admissions essay mentioned nothing about careers at all. Ultimately, in the aggregate, I was a weaker candidate than many other people who have applied and would have been rejected regardless of my mindset. Of course I wanted to get into Harvard. Everyone who applies does. </p>
<p>When I was in high school, no one knew what they would be doing or how they will become functioning, independent adults. </p>
<p>During my senior year of high school, the recession loomed large on everyone’s minds, and suddenly, liberal arts degrees didn’t seem so sexy anymore. Vocations became sexy. Every adult I spoke encouraged me to get a vocational education of some kind. Ultimately, I settled for a vocational program, and I’ve learned a lot within that program. I will most likely be gainfully employed after graduation. </p>
<p>Most people have at least sixty years left to live after college. Education is rarely ever an end to itself - it is an enabler, a way to allow people to achieve great things - big and small, public and private. I am simply telling Harvard aspirants that even if they do not get into Harvard, they will make something of their lives, provided they take advantage of the opportunities presented to them throughout life, both at the university and outside of it. </p>
<p>Life is a process of continuous advancement and improvement. It never stops at any point during one’s life - and it certainly doesn’t require attending the right university for the optimal result.</p>
<p>I think the original poster’s sentiments are certainly a valuable contribution to the ongoing dialogue about the value of the “brand-name” educations.</p>
<p>There are thousands upon thousands of people who go to Harvard, Yale and Princeton and take something away from their four (or so) years that can’t be measured in career success or monetary value. But the same can often be said of someone who goes to a community college.</p>
<p>Life is, in the end, what you make of it. You can be happy or sad, you can have a lovely family life or be as lonely as Scrooge, and very little of it can have anything to do with where you went to college.</p>
<p>I am probably extremely old compared with the general demographics of this forum as a whole. But I do have the experience of someone who graduated from Yale, went back for a second bachelor’s at Scripps College, has raised two kids and had a reasonably successful career. Believe me, the people I know who are the happiest (or even the richest, if you care to measure success that way) did not go to the elite colleges at all.</p>
<p>I think the original poster is to be commended. He/she is just trying to impart the valuable information that please, people, don’t lose hope because you didn’t get into Harvard (or any other top college). Be happy with your life, it’s the only one you have.</p>
<p>The OP is just trying to cheer people up and give them a positive outlook on things that the majority of hopefuls on CC must come to terms with (which I thank them for)-- why must things be analyzed and torn apart so much? Gross.</p>
<p>“You should include some colleges are better than others,”
“Even though I don’t know you, I know the exact reason you were rejected lol,”</p>
<p>No.
OP is just saying that we can all be happy. Everyone cheese-grating this utterly desensitizes and bitters things, the reason why CC and these particular sub-forums have the reputation it’s often cursed with.</p>