What if I can't be number 1?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>I know you are expecting an emo, depressing thread with some little whiny kid talking about how he is never going to go to his dream college. That thread is not mine. This thread is rational. What I am about to say is rational and truthful. </p>

<p>In order to get into a dream college like Yale, you have to have almost perfect grades in the most rigorous coursework possible, you must have extreme SAT scores that are in the 2300-2400 range, you have to be very deeply involved in any and all extracurricular activities, you need to demonstrate leadership somehow, you need extreme teacher recommendations from teachers who know you very well and are close enough to you to tell stories about you, and you need essays of steel. </p>

<p>That is no lie, that is the truth. No matter what anyone says, that is the truth. You may be told otherwise, but that is just to make you feel better. It is better to accept the things the way they are and do your best to deal with the circumstances. </p>

<p>Now, I say you to, what if I am not number 1? What if I have the most rigorous coursework but I never make straight 100s, only mid-low 90s and the occasional 89? What if I don't make a perfect score on the SAT, rather a score that, around here, would be appraised as simply o.k? What if I am too busy doing work for my rigorous courseload every night and weekend to attend every single extracurricular and be as involved as I can be? What if I am not a person that is popular enough to assume a role of leadership, not able to associate with jocks and nerds, and shy girls all at once? What if I never take the time to suck up to my teachers, there are never any significant teacher to student relationships around here ever, and I just can't speak up even when I know the answer and nobody else does? What if I can write an essay so profound and abstract that it is regarded as stupid and tossed aside? </p>

<p>Please, do not try to deny that people other than only the best get into Yale. We should have never thought to think deeper than the way in which we thought in the beginning: 20,000 apply, 1,000 spots open, a few thousand valedictorians. Who gets in? Literally speaking, the best of the best. </p>

<p>Don't tell me I care too much, don't tell me I am depressed. 1, I care too much because I want to, and 2, this is an analysis, not a feeling-sharing session.</p>

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<p>Reading through the fog of your depression, I can tell that you are a smart, hardworking and ambitious student who takes tough classes, gets good grades and scores well on standardized tests. Looks like you will end up at a great college, maybe Yale, or some place else that is a lot like Yale. The country has at least 50 colleges that will offer an education roughly similar to the one you’d receive at Yale. And that is the truth. And it is a reason to celebrate.</p>

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<p>^word. It sounds like you have your head on about life. Just keep giving it your best and you’ll never regret that.</p>

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<p>What school do you go to?</p>

<p>At my school, when I wanted to get into Yale, I had to be number 1. Literally, it was a must. But, I went (am still going to, I guess) to a little rural public school in Wisconsin nobody’s ever heard of. If your High School is nice, you might not have to be #1.</p>

<p>You do, however, have to be involved. Because there will always be people who can pull of the grades, tough courseload, and ECs.</p>

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<p>In response to vicariousparent:
Wow, it seems like I have surprised myself even in creating a paradoxical effect through seemingly-abstract rhetorical work. From my writings you have contracted that I, having disproved myself of gaining acceptance to such a prestigious institute such as Yale, am worthy of admittance to such a university? And what of these 50 similar colleges you speak of? I thought one would simply believe that I am stating the inevitable possibility of getting into a place like Yale. </p>

<p>As to what school I go to, it is a crowded public high school, not well-known in any way. The freshman class is currently about 900 students. My rank is in the top 10% and I find that nothing to be proud of. The top ranking positions are all asians (the majority of students are white, lots of hispanics and blacks, lots of asians but less than other races).</p>

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<p>What if you aren’t “number 1” and you don’t get into Yale? You will go to another university and go to class and make friends and learn a lot and go on and live your life and forget about Yale by the end of your freshman September.</p>

<p>You sound like a smart kid, so don’t give up on your Yale dream or anything. But it’s not the end of the world, really.</p>

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<p>Wow, I find myself completely agreeing with the OP, although I would never have the guts to express it in such a torrent of anguish. the specter of rejection and thus failure is so goddamn daunting sometimes… :(</p>

<p>OP, if it’s any consolation, I think you have a good chance, if your adamancy and familiarity with what Yale wants are anything to go by. loved your 'essays of steel" remark :)</p>

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<p>I know you don’t want to hear this, but you’re wrong. You don’t need perfect scores to get into yale nor any other top ivy. I applied to 10 schools, the best of which being Amherst, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and I was accepted to them all. My ACT Score was a 32 and I had mid 600 SAT IIs. In fact for Harvard which told me to send a third, I sent a score that was in the mid 500s. I was still accepted. It’s NOT about being perfect or “#1,” whatever the hell that even means. It’s about making yourself seem unique and desirable, that you offer something else other than your perfect scores and immaculate GPA. Even then though, chances are slim for anybody, so why worry?</p>

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<p>The non-athlete kids I have seen get into Yale the past few years, from both public and private schools, have been a mix of tip-top 2400 valedictorian types and those just below that level who bring a lot of integrity and passion to everything they do. And they do a lot, intellectually and socially – not everything, because no one can do that well, but a few things. You clearly don’t have to be #1, but I think you do have to stand out, to be someone peers and adults respect for meaningful qualities (intellectual ability, leadership, creativity, integrity). You have to be “one of our best kids”, at a minimum, in a context where that means “one of the best kids anywhere”.</p>

<p>What if, at 17, you are not quite that sort of person? Then, yes, maybe you don’t go to Yale. But there aren’t so many of that sort of 17-year-old around, and as others have said there are many, many colleges that do a great job of offering educational opportunities to smart, hardworking, ambitious students. People on CC go absolutely nuts about the differences between Yale or Harvard and practically everywhere else, but the similarities are way more important than the differences, and there is no place you can get to from Yale that you can’t get to from community college, much less a good public university or LAC.</p>

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<p>So true. If only the youngsters on this board would realize that this is not just some sort of BS statement. It is the plain truth.</p>

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<p>SheenR, Yale is not the only place to get a fine education. You may well be right that it takes only the tippy-top kids, as reflected in their records at age 18, but those records are hardly a reliable predictor of how the rest of their lives will go. Do your best without making yourself crazy, apply to a range of schools, and you will doubtless get in somewhere that suits your abilities and interests.</p>

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<p>questcrew,</p>

<p>You are a liar. I am not wrong, I am right. A simple look at your statistics reinforces the truth, the truth which I speak and which you so unthoughtfully attempted to strike down. The truth which you claim is false, and you are in no position to use yourself as an example of your claim, which has most likely never happened contrary to popular brainwashing. You only used your subpar SAT score as an example because that is the only thing about you that is subpar. You took 8 APs, are valedictorian of 680 students of your school with an undefeated 4.0 UW GPA, you are a debate champion with a freakish plethora of other awards pertaining to your fields of interest, you have a measure of distinctions which a normal student would consider to be of hyperbolic extravagance, you have demonstrated leadership, you have put in a countless amount of hours in volunteering, and to top it all off, you’re black for christ’s sake! You didn’t have to do any of this to the extent that you did and you still would have gotten in to everywhere you applied. Call me stereotypical, but we all know that the blacks and hispanics have to put in so less effort to become successful. I am a minority in the U.S. as well, but I am doomed to being categorized as white. You’re a debate champion, so argue with me. Oh wait, you can’t. You know you have no place in this thread to tell people that you don’t have to be perfect to get into top colleges.</p>

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<p>Um it is true that you need to be very qualified to get into a school like Yale. But SheenR, it seems that maybe you should chill out a bit. Getting into top colleges is not really that important.</p>

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<p>hrmph1,</p>

<p>It is not a matter of getting into a top college, it is matter of getting into your favorite college, the colleges which you truly want to go to. The people who try to get into “top colleges” are just making it harder for people that truly want to go to those colleges to get in. Furthermore, the importance of college is what you make of it. Some people care, some people don’t, quite a simple concept it is, and I wish that most people fitted the latter category. Sadly, our society is driven by the need to succeed. One cares more about how others view him/her than he/she views him/herself. All hopefuls like us want to go Harvard and Yale and Princeton and Stanford. If we get rejected, most likely all of us would see the problem as an admission’s officers clouded judgment. Some more humble would blame themselves and think of themselves as less worthy than others. We need strong reform that weeds out the weak from the beginning.</p>

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<p>Oh, spare us. 99% of students’ favorite colleges are the top schools. I doubt you’d be looking at Yale were it ranked alongside schools like the University of Tulsa.</p>

<p>And also, you don’t have to be perfect to get in. You just have to be exceptional.</p>

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<p>What are you talking about?</p>

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<p>I’m just blabbering, but I think that Germany has a superior school system because it doesn’t follow the “obligatorily educate the masses for so many years” model of the U.S. school system. Instead, only those who truly want to succeed continue on through education, while those who are weak are weeded out in the beginning. It is not educating the masses, it is cultivating success from the very beginning. It is why the items of luxury that we grow up hoping to acquire from having a successful job in the future come from Germany or the general area, i.e. all of the German automobile companies, so many successful people and researchers who have been German, swiss watch companies, etc.</p>

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<p>Do you not realize how much more is produced by the United States?</p>

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<p>SheenR,</p>

<p>I am concerned for you. You are only a high school freshman, but the college admissions process seems to already be driving you into an unstable state (as indicated by the tone of your posts).</p>

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<p>^ I share the same sentiments.</p>

<p>And fortunately, my HS is so competitive that a ranking anywhere between 1-20 puts you in a good spot to apply for Yale. Our 19 and 3 got accepted this year with no hooks.</p>