<p>extreme competitiveness sucks. That’s why the val is probably one of the coolest people I have known. So freaking chill. Everyone else, oh god. The ties for 3rd-10th place… I hate that ****.</p>
<p>I love my school. There’s no ranking, so nobody stresses about being ranked higher. People usually choose courses (AP’s, electives, etc.) based on what they can handle and what they want to take- along with what they think colleges want to see. Nobody obsesses about their GPA since in my grade, we’ve already known who the Val & Sal are going to be since freshman year. There’s like only 2 people with super high averages, and no one else even comes close. It’s not a very competitive environment.</p>
<p>Update… I still hate this school. Parents are a *****.</p>
<p>Val is one of the chillest people I’ve met.</p>
<p>well, my school doesn’t rank…but we do do ELC, which means about 30 (or less) people get a letter than guarantees them admission to a UC other than the big 3 (ucla, berkeley, ucsd). and supposedly it looks good if you apply to any of the said big 3. i don’t really know what the big deal about it is, but i went with a friend to see our counselors and we found out we were a part of the top 30 (top 4% of class) out of 650 or so. =) that made my day even though i’m not sure if this helps me that much for college apps outside of the UCs. </p>
<p>also, i’m not one of those people, and nor do i think my school in general is. in fact, i literally didn’t even think about colleges until the second half of junior year, nor did i hear ppl talking about colleges at all until like junior year, but that might be because i took a senior class in ap bio so i basically got to vivariously live through the college app process.</p>
<p>but as of right now, all the seniors (i’m a part of that group) talk about colleges in class and wear college shirts lmao. it annoys me because it’s a constant reminder of the commonapp etc etc. </p>
<p>once i get into the school i applied to though (hopefully!) i won’t mind at all =]</p>
<p>^^ Sorry. Hopefully when you’re seniors people will have calmed down.</p>
<p>It was sheer hilarity here when the new ranks came out. Despite the best efforts of the grade-grubbers, last year’s val is still on top. I swear I listened to them whine for weeks.
I actually kinda wish I went to a more competitive school. I’d take a little extra stress in exchange for access to the superior resources of the richrichrich school across town.</p>
<p>My school is so freaking poor. I’ve lost a lot of friends because I didn’t succumb to that val or nothing attitude.</p>
<p>Your school kinda sounds like this website.</p>
<p>It has hit our juniors pretty hard. It’s completely ridiculous how they have absolutely no life beyond their textbooks. They’re such nerds. Aiming high and doing well is absolutely great, but these kids have no social lives whatsoever. I really pity them and wonder how they’ll even make friends in college. Or actually, maybe not. They’ll stick to their same nerdy group.</p>
<p>My school is pretty numbers and fluff-ECs oriented. Those that do other stuff, get good grades, and are actually PEOPLE instead of “OMGCOLLEGE” robots are the ones that get into top colleges.</p>
<p>And the clubs I’m in, for some reason (Geography, Lit Magazine, Model UN are the main ones), have a high percentage of people going to Ivy League (and others similar :3). Though I’m not riding the Ivy Train (though I do want to go to Cornell) based on that, the people going to top colleges I’ve met are soooooooooooo chill. I can see how being chill can help with college admissions and life in general.</p>
<p>My school gives kids who are in the specialty center a gpa boost so its basically impossible for non-book nerds to get into the top 10% causing my 3.6 gpa to be in the 15th percentile.</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore and there are so many kids in my class who have their entire lives planned out (I’m going to go to Yale/Wesleyan/Dartmouth for theater and then blahblahblah and then I’ll have kids at around 26-30 and have two kids - not even joking). Their parents are all legacies or double legacies to top Ivies and freak out at the smallest things. One of the kids in my class got a 91 and 95 in the first two quizzes of our Honors Algebra 2 class and he asked his mom for a tutor. It drives me CRAZY.</p>
<p>I think I made the wrong choices at my school, it could’ve been a place I actually ended up really loving. If I had a child, I would support their choice of going to one of those top-notch prep schools (if they wanted to of course) since I used to want to go to one soooo bad before my mom said it was too late since I hadn’t been preparing for one.
Anyway, I hope every school I attend from now on, will be a pleasant experience for me. And that I will have a pet unicorn.</p>
<p>It’s my junior year. And I still hate this place.</p>
<p>^ At least you’ll be out of it in two years’ time…</p>
<p>I swear I do not want to see some of these guys anymore.</p>
<p>Except for like 3.</p>
<p>@MIT
You make good points, but don’t you ever feel like it’s worth it too? You’re getting arguably the best, and certainly one of the best, high school educations in America. I’m not demeaning your complaints of robotic or whiny classmates, but at least try to look at the bright side of things.</p>