<p>I'm sure it has happened to all of us at least once or twice. Some person who doesn't know you that well learns that you're a rising senior and asks what college you want to go to. You tell them the truth that you really like some crazy selective school like Harvard or Yale. Then they just give you a look like "keep dreaming" and end the conversation.</p>
<p>Eventually, just to avoid conflict, you wise up and start saying schools that are on your list but not your top choice. Currently, I tell people Georgetown, Emory and then slip in Yale so they think it's just a dream and not the school that I actually plan on applying early to. What schools do you tell people?</p>
<p>P.S. I know Georgetown is a crazy selective school as well, but in my experiences it goes over much better and doesn't give off the same vibe as saying "I really want to go to Harvard".</p>
<p>I totally know what you mean. About this time, people in my school start ragging "Where are you going? What are you majoring in? You mean you don't KNOW?!" I'm even one of the "smart kids" and I feel uncomfortable saying Yale's #1, with Harvard or Duke up there if I get the Navy ROTC scholarship. I usually say, "Oh, you know, IU Bloomington has great Biology and Music departments, and I was sort of thinking USC, but that's in LA and I don't much like big cities. Maybe Amherst, or Scripps, and I'm applying to Yale...so where do you want to go?"</p>
<p>Give a lot of fillers and ask them their own preferences as soon as possible (or if they've graduated, say, "Where did you go?" or if you know already, "So how did you like [blank]?"). I've found they're not really listening anyway. The same technique works for, "How are you doing today?" and "What's up?"</p>
<p>I just told them the closest most popular school in the area. You know.....what they didn't pay attention to anyway. I surely didn't broadcast the school I really wanted.....why drum up unnecessary crap from folks who don't know or care?</p>
<p>I've never been asked where I'm applying to...usually people ask what school do you want to go to...in which case, I switch it up sometimes but I usually tell whatever's closest to the truth at the time (My top choice has been changed about 5 times now) - MIT, Columbia, Harvard, etc. I usually say..."well...if I can get in, I'd really like to go to ____" If they think I'm arrogant or overestimating myself, they ought to learn to stop judging people based on a single sentence. But, if the person knows absolutely nothing about me other than that I'm a rising senior, I'll sometimes say, "I have no idea; I'm looking at so many schools, it's hard to name my top choice."</p>
<p>I say "Right now my list is about 15 schools" so they don't question further. And truthfully, it's really two definite schools and 13 possibilities, so it's not exactly lying. :D</p>
<p>More so, I have to find the courage to tell my counselor and teachers (who'll write me recs) that UChicago is my number one choice when my scores aren't quite up to their par. Ugh. I'm scared of the people who matter in my application process thinking I'm out of my mind more than I am what my peers think. Cause honestly, I don't care what they think. They can go off to huge public known-for-partying universities like they want to.</p>
<p>they ask me "are you applying to harvard?" because their impression of me since freshman year was that i was harvard-caliber. the truth is i've lost my competitive edge, but my reputation has been the same. i just say loyola university chicago, because that's where i'm most likely headed anyway (full ride, employee benefits). and i don't have a problem going there. i already know many of the students, and i visit the campus regularly. i can definitely picture myself thriving and paving my own trail.. because it's a bit conservative, and i'm liberal. i will have to stand up for myself a lot.</p>
<p>People always ask me at my volunteer job and I either say: "Well... Cornell... University of Chicago..." and they usually cut me off by then. But, lately I've decided to just say "MIT... Caltech..." </p>
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I don't do that at all. If people ask, I just answer honestly. I didn't realize a lot of people are shy about their picks.
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<p>It's not really being shy; it's kind of trying to be modest. For me it is also that I don't want to get my own hopes up and keep thinking about those great schools because I probably won't get in anyway.</p>
<p>I usually say, "Stanford's my reach, and I'm also applying to Santa Clara in CA - I've also got a bunch of East Coast schools on my list."</p>
<p>What do you want to major in? "Oh, I'm thinking Engineering, but I haven't decided on which one."</p>
<p>Just my luck, I was at a Nationals game and somehow I got into a conversation with the elderly couple sitting next to me. Apparently, the husband was an engineer, so I got a long description of a the different fields.</p>
<p>I hate that question just because i'm not too sure and I don't like adults going into a whole "oh wow, that's an expensive school" or "oh wow, that's a pretty tough one" ooooor the looks of "well, that's a **** school, you must be pretty dumb." I just am like "oh, I don't know, maybe American University or stay local and go to Miami University..."</p>
<p>I used to hate those questions but they're getting to be quite amusing.</p>
<p>I tell them that I'm applying to McGill, Dal, UBC, some other Canadian unis, and a couple foreign universities (i.e. Harvard, NYU, Oxbridge). I used to care about what they would say - "oh that's hard to get into or too expensive", but now I just think they should stop being such judgemental people! Where I go really doesn't concern them, so why should I play myself down for people I don't care about? The people who really know me would never say those things - they would say,"Good luck, I know you'll do well wherever you end up", and a lot of them have said that already. I think that if people are so judgemental that they criticize your dreams, you should forget them and keep dreaming. ;)</p>
<p>As for my major, I sometimes say poli sci because of MUN, but if I'm feeling creative I just say what ever I feel like to freak people out... one day I'm a brain surgeon and the next I'm majoring in fashion design or women's studies. It's especially funny with people who know you a bit and are pretending to be nice when actually they are really serious and judgemental about these things. The screwed up look on their face when they have to say,"Oh, how nice, art history?" is priceless.</p>
<p>I say UT Austin, or else I'm going to Canada for college then becoming a wanderer in Europe. They usually have a weird look and stop asking then.</p>