Try Harder!

[ucbalumnus]

@ucbalumnus

@TiggerDad

All for what? As one of the students in the documentary ruefully stated after all the college admission dust had settled, paraphrasing, “Why did I have to work so hard for four years to end up at U.C. Santa Cruz when I could have done the same without all the hard work?” A legitimate question to ponder on.

This type of sentiment is not too unusual on these forums.

Right on cue, this post shows up:

How to not feel disappointed about the college I’m going to?

i’ve been a good student in high school. took 8 ap classes, had good grades, worked very hard for a good SAT score, etc. i was in the “gifted” program in elementary school, and since then my parents have always said stuff like “you’re going places” and “i wonder where you’ll end up.” now, as a senior, i got a little too cocky and ended up getting rejected from 9 out of 13 schools. i applied to good schools all over the country, but now i’ll just end up going to a midwest state school that so many people at my school go to. i’ve disappointed myself and i feel like i didn’t live up to my parents’ expectations— i think we both saw myself doing something awesome across the country, going my own path and having an amazing time doing it. but now i feel like i’m barely leaving this place, not to mention going to a school that pretty much anyone can get into. i just feel like a failure, and i wish i could do-over my whole application process.