Why College Confidential Will End You -- And what you can do about it.

Applying to College
1

Hi there! After being recently accepted REA in Stanford University Class of 2015, I wanted to sum up how this website did not actually help at all in my journey through the college admissions process. In fact, I made this entire account for the sole reason of telling you all this, so please do listen.

It is my firm belief that beyond test scores, grades, and ECs, elite colleges are really just looking for an individual. A person who understands, appreciates, and explores their perspectives in the world. An individual who is not afraid of chasing their dream, and HASN’T JUST SPENT THEIR ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE WORKING DESPERATELY FOR HIGH TEST SCORES AND GPAS.

And I believe that that is the issue with college confidential. Students are constantly compared to their *statistically superior counterparts who are living their supposed dreams at schools with big names and reputations . In chances posts, students post statistics about themselves in order to foresee the future of their acceptance. These desperate students are so overly concerned with their futures that they don’t take the necessary time to appreciate themselves and live their lives to the fullest!

And believe me, I was there. During my sophomore year, I spent most of my free time on sites like College Confidential. And it ruined me! I lost my self confidence as a student, I started doing more of what I thought I SHOULD be doing as opposed to what I really loved doing. I became extremely arrogant in an effort to hide my insecurities about what I thought were low test scores and GPA values. And hell, it’s easy to get trapped here. It’s damn easy. And I believe that college confidential not only perpetuates this negative feedback loop in students, it really thrives off of it.

By appealing to the stressed out, overworked, and success-crazed high school students of today, College Confidential has become the enterprise that it is today.

Which gets me to my real point of this post:

For the high school student who is afraid of what is to come. For that student who thinks they are inferior because of lower test scores or “easier” curricula. For that student who feels insecure in being themselves as it feel it will hurt their “chances”. Never stop pushing, and never cease to be yourself. Don’t compare yourself to the others on this website. For, in essence, this site concerns test scores, admission statistics, and course loads. It does not, in the slightest, concern your character and the strength of your individuality. And that is what colleges are truly looking for. Hell, that is what anyone is really looking for.

All that really matters is that you do your absolute best, stick to what you believe in, and be proud of who you are.

The rest will always follow.

2

As a parent who has found CC to be a wealth of information across a broad spectrum of issues, I would suggest that it is the “chance me” threads and similar threads about “I have a B, do I have a shot at top schools” that are best avoided. There is much more here than endless comparison of stats.

Most adults suggest an approach similar to yours when identifying schools-- have something you do outside of class that matters to you, don’t obsess about the perfect transcript or test score, don’t obsess about Ivies, top 20s or other lists. Identify your safeties and matches, then consider the reaches. Talk with your parents now about finances.

Of course, we parents can preach this, but having it come from a high school student is likely to have more impact. You sound like a well-grounded teen, good luck as you move forward!

3

stats?

4

These threads always seem reassuring, and congratulations on the awesome acceptance – I’m jealous!

But how do you know what colleges are looking for?

5

We tell people this all the time out here. You must have been obsessing over the threads for the HYPS schools and the Chances Forums if you haven’t noticed that.

6

Literally dying right now

7

It’s not CC as a whole, it’s the Chances forum. Be smart, avoid it, and you’ll be fine.

8

Your advice is very good OP. (But I’m guessing you had very strong stats, too.) Congrats!

9

How recently were you accepted to the Stanford class of 2015? The class of students that will start as Freshmen this year is the class of 2019.

10

^most likely a simple typo, used to writing 2015 for hs stuff

11

@Justonethought1‌

You are certainly welcome to your opinion, but I am mostly troubled by your statements as to how you took the posts on CC so selectively. It is clear that you completely ignored the hundreds or even thousands of posts that tell applicants exactly what you are saying; that while stats are important, what these highly selective schools look for beyond that are students that have true interests and characteristics that will enrich their university. The way you paint the CC membership as monolithic robots giving a single point of view is so clearly wrong that it is obvious to me that you didn’t really use the site very wisely or comprehensively.

I am curious as to why you would have used the site before without an account, which means you only could have read posts but not posted yourself to get advice or feedback, and only now created an account to give a negative opinion about CC. You clearly didn’t even try to get the full experience if you never posted while you were actually in the pre-application stage of your life. To me, at least. that makes your criticism ring a bit hollow.

But whatever the case, congrats on Stanford and best of luck in college.

12

@JustOneDad‌

I think it is obvious they meant the class that enters in fall of 2015. Let’s not nitpick.

13

Ya know, no one forced you to use CC. If you didn’t like what your were reading, you could have just stopped. Yeah, there is a lot of stupid stuff on here, particularly in the Chances section. But there is a lot of good information too.

14

I don’t get when people post “this site blows” - why even bother? It’s not like someone was ambivalent and now your post will clue them in and help them live their life CC-free.

My favorite advice from CC:

  • different people’s FA experience
  • comparing who is applying when to where
  • whether my kid’s grades are low match or high match for a particular school

My least favorite advice from CC:

  • chance me threads obviously, especially when the OP gives little info
  • racial or ethnic group threads, especially international ones complaining about “school X only takes 10 kids from our country” like really they have an exact quota
  • topical news, it seems that people have strong views and go back and forth with no progress or discussion

I found the advice regarding filling out the CSS Profile and FAFSA invaluable.

The OP sounds like they were weak and looking for an excuse to drink the koolaid. And thinks everyone else is that way. The OP should realize that a lot of kids are on here temporarily for one or two issues, and that parents spend a lot of time on here comparing notes. Parent involvement is hugely different compared to 20 years ago.

15

As a scientist, I try not to make assumptions.

16

First of all, I would like to thank you all for the feedback on the post. Looking back, I do believe I was being incredibly harsh and over-generalizing against CC. And for that, I do apologize. Personally, I did not spend much time outside of the chances and HYPS posts, and I believe that that was the reason for the negative stereotype I gave the site earlier. I’m glad that many parents are vocal about their children’s education, it’s just that this site in particular destroyed my self-confidence and personally did not help me – as an actual high school student – at all really. Yes, I do recognize this as a fault in my usage of the site - I guess I just wasn’t looking for the right posts. But then again, these posts were the most popular and the ones that had, by far, the most views and replies. This means that these posts, perpetuating false stereotypes and what not, were the ones really reaching high school students. And that thought scares me, hence me writing my post. I can only imagine the thousands of other teenagers that are going through similar circumstances that I went through just a few years ago who could use some real help in determining what is worth and what isn’t worth their time and energy. I know I really could have used it.

Anyways, I’m glad that you have, in a large sense, restored my faith in this website and (indirectly) humanity. I guess what I’m asking now then is for you to be more vocal than you already are in expressing these positive beliefs so we can destroy all negative ones in their tracks. Less about chances, more about hope and potential.

17

Apology accepted, @Justonethought1. Good luck on your college career.

18

That would seem to end the discussion, yes? Closing thread.