To undergrad applicants that didn't get admitted to their dream school

Applying to College Admission Stories
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I know that for many students, the feeling of getting rejected by that school they have been dreaming about for years can be devastating. For many, it even feels like the end of the world when reading that “We regret to inform you…” letter. I have seen so many really good students get rejected despite having 4.0 GPAs and extremely high SAT scores. Sometimes I am just shocked at some of the stats of people getting rejected from MIT, Stanford, Berkeley and so on.

To these people, I want to tell you despite your disappointment, it is not the end of the world. I’m sure most of you were still admitted into very good schools. Now, I’m sure many of you don’t want to read another “you did your best and you should be proud” speech so I’ll just skip that and get to the part that concerns you.

Even though you think your dreams just went flying out the window, I want you to know that this was not your last chance at your dream school. I’m sure that many of you, being top students, are planning to attend graduate school. I want this to be one of your motivating factors while in undergraduate school. You may think that if you didn’t get in the elite club the first time that your chances are no better the second time around. But I’m telling you that you would be so very wrong. I am not just posting to give you some false hope BS. I will provide you with my own story in hopes that it helps you guys make better decisions than I did in and after high school.

When it comes to high school students, I was as bad as they came. How bad? I was a straight F student. I simply did not care and refused to do anything that was assigned to me. And those Fs magically became Ds at the end of the year to keep the school from looking bad. You laugh at people with 2.xx GPAs. Imagine having a GPA of less than 1.00. My high school diploma is proof that the public school system is broken.

I was no better after high school either. I mostly played video games and got into trouble with my friends in between working bottom feeder, part time jobs. After a few years of this and eventually hitting rock bottom (I will leave it at that before all respect for me is lost), one day, I suddenly realized what a loser I had become. I had lost everyone’s respect. All of my friends had finished college and I had still done nothing with my life. I was so ashamed and was so tired of being looked down upon. I knew that I had to do something about it immediately. So I got a full time job and enrolled in community college while saving up money. My friends and family thought it was some kind of joke. Some told me I would never finish college with a degree. After a few years, I transferred to a relatively unknown state university and enrolled in electrical engineering school. I worked my a$$ off for three more years and finally graduated as one of the top students in EE college with a GPA >3.9 with nearly perfect GRE quantitative scores, undergrad RA experience and a published paper. I also got letters of recommendation from some well impressed professors. And then I applied to some top engineering schools.

And then, it finally happened. I received my admission letter to Stanford electrical engineering graduate school. Yes, the worst student you could ever imagine got into a place like Stanford. I don’t say this to brag, but to let you know that if I made it into a school like that, any of you guys can make it into the school of your dreams. You have so many opportunities to take advantage of right now. Opportunities that I threw away when I was a teenager. I did not get grants or scholarships that most of you will receive. I did not get to go straight into a well know school.

Believe me when I tell you that the next 4-5 years will fly by. You should take every opportunity to not only be the best in your classes, but to be the very best you can be in your field with a passion. Show your competing class mates that they never really even stood a chance against you to begin with. Get in with a research group. Seek research awards. You do everything you can now, because this really is your last chance to get in to your dream school. You do this and I guarantee, you will have your pick of top graduate schools. Which I might add are easier to get into than undergraduate schools. And your graduate degree is usually the most important one on your resume.

Anyway, you are all better students than me so I know you will achieve your goals if you are willing to work for them. Some of the best times in your life will be in college so have fun (not too much fun though). Good luck to you all.

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Wow that is impressive, congrats on turning your life around.

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thanks, that was really encouraging :slight_smile:

4

Wow, that was a very inspiring story. It’ll be great to tell your kids one day. I don’t even know you and I feel proud of you! Good luck at Stanford and in life!

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Great story - Thank you for sharing! I have a 10th grade son working to rescue is grades after a year of off and on illnesses. Your wonderful story gives me hope. Congratulations! :slight_smile:

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Thank you all. Your comments mean a lot to me. I wasn’t really trying to impress everyone as much as I was trying to encourage hard work and determination.

I could not believe how much terrible advice people gave me throughout my college career. You will likely hear things like “nobody cares about GPA once you graduate”, or “you don’t really need a graduate degree”, or “a brand name school won’t do anything for your career”.

But I can assure you all that working to be the best WILL pay off in the long run. A high GPA makes things so much easier when it comes to getting research funding from a professor, grad school applications, internships and jobs straight out of college. Being one of the best also comes with a reputation that other professors and students will remember; People that can recommend you for job openings in their company. It’s a huge aspect of networking that people never consider. And I can’t speak for the other majors, but in engineering, grad school is where the “in depth knowledge” is actually acquired. Undergrad mainly focuses on theoretical fundamentals.

Many will make the point that employers only look at job experience and that’s why GPA, grad degree, and brand name doesn’t matter. True that those things mean less further into your career. But those are huge boosts when starting your career. And a lot of these people don’t realize that the start of your career plays a huge part in where the rest of your career leads. Most people that I see that have had mediocre careers were people who started off mediocre. And most people with great careers started off with a great job right out of college or even during their internships.

College is your best opportunity to acquire as many “career advancing tools” as possible. What you do now will trickle down for the rest of your working career. Don’t pass up even one opportunity to gain an advantage. You will likely regret it for the rest of your life when you recall what you are vs what you could have been.

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Kudos to you Jerski! A remarkable effort on your part!

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What a wonderful story. Sometimes (often?) things really do turn out for the best. Congratulations to you.

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That is a very inspirational and uplifting post! After being out in the “real world” you could appreciate the importance and value of an education in a way you could not have without that life experience. I’ve been out of high school for 25 years, had some fails on my transcript (from personal issues, and mixed with As in the classes I was interested in) and my SATs were from the “old” system and less than average (again, personal issues). I was so thrilled to be admitted to what was a big “reach” school in my situation, with an acceptance letter that said it was the most competitive admission year in the school’s history. Also, it was even more satisfying because a “safety” school had said they wouldn’t even accept my application at my age without transfer credits. Moral of my story? You (speaking to any student out there) are more than letters or numbers on a piece of paper. You are an individual, and if you are passionate about pursuing your education, as was the OP, a quality school will recognize, appreciate, and latch on to that. I agree with the OP, don’t give up on yourself - there are opportunities to transfer or continue your degree if you didn’t get into your choice school first time around.

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Thank you for sharing

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Fantastic post

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Really amazing and inspiring story!

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Seeing as I got rejected from my dream schools, I would like to say thank you. Though it doesn’t help the pain of being rejected, it makes me a little more determined to work even harder in the future. Maybe I will transfer. Maybe I will go to my dream school for grad school. Thank you.

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Jerski,

What a wonderful and thoughtful person you are to share this to help others.

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Thanks so much for sharing your story. I never cared for brand name schools like Harvard and Yale, but I do just want to get in somewhere. I haven’t really thought of graduate school, but thanks for the eye opener.

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I was an “O.K.” high school student. When I got into college, for the first three years I didn’t take it seriously at all. I ended up with a 2.66 and got denied from my dream school as a transfer student, to be quite honest they didn’t even look at my application. I think I was one of the first ones to get denied(SDSU; its also my hometown). About a month ago, I got accepted int Cal State Northridge, although it’s not my “Dream” school, it was in my top 3. Cal State Northridge is a good school, and I’ve realized that maybe it’s just not the right time for me to go back home just yet. I’m going to make the best of my last two undergrad years at Northridge, and hopefully by the time I graduate my GPA will get high enough to where SDSU will at least look at my application and give me a chance for graduate school.

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This is a magical tale of the American dream and all my support and congratulations go out to you. I just want to ask a question as a Science Research Teacher of that broken system. Why was it broken? It held you accountable. You continued to fail till you found your groove and a work ethic so strong you wrote to others to inspire them. I am just curious; curious enough to improve what I do for my students. I want to make sure you are the student I inspire to achieve before you languish in your room. How would I do this?

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@Jerski in the end college is college. Doesnt matter where you go. Jobs only care about the experience. I had a matth tutor that went to cornell but he went to be a become a saturday school tutor and he after 3 years he still cant find a real job. The least important factor is the school you went to. If you try to pioritize it first employers see is that your nothing arrogant fool that entitled to any job all because you wen to harvard .As for gpa how can they tell you what gpa when you have a degree in your field of choice? On top of that only 5 percent only go to ivy league and practically the education is the same thing in each college. If this is the case then the over 60 percent of college graduates will be utter failures in life. Most doctors I know never went to a top school for undergrad they went to average cuny and suny. So guys dont stress out when you dont get your dream school because it doesnt matter in life. The only reason why you go to these brand names schools is for easier networking ,but you dont need it if you are good at researching and have great speaking skills. Look at the richest people in this country, most of them never finish college,went to average schools, or were utter failures in high school. It what you do in life that counts and it not pleasing your professors

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I know that this thread, but this message can help seniors at the moment, and can help future generations, so I’ll bump it.

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Very inspirational! I hope you’re enjoying stanford :slight_smile: