<p>Everyone here seems to think that you need a 2400 SAT and a 4.0 UW GPA as well as gobs of awards, leadership positions, etc. to get into a top school. This is utter BS. </p>
<p>During HS, I participated in absolutely no extracurricular activities (other than my dabbling in programming/CS)won no school based awards, I'm not a URM, and my GPA was a paltry 3.44 UW. I had good SATs (2350), but there are a bunch of people with high test scores. Yet I got into Tufts, Brandeis, BU, and WPI (along with a lot of really awesome state schools), which aren't ivy, but they're certainly good schools. And I know people at my school with 2200 SATs and class ranks in the single digits who didn't get into Tufts.</p>
<p>My secret to getting into these schools? My application. I am genuinely interested in getting a good education and becoming a computer scientist, so I wrote about my passion for the subject and how from what I've done on my own, I realized that I wanted to get a formal education and eventually a career in it. I've never won the IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics), nor have I published any research or even written anything groundbreaking. I'm just a reasonably bright guy who wants to learn and hopefully make my contribution to the field. And I think that because I didn't try to be more than what I am -- A STUDENT, NOT A GOD -- that I was accepted into good schools (I don't know if I'd have gotten into any top 10 schools other than Columbia and Harvard -- which I was rejected from). </p>
<p>You don't NEED to be perfect to get into a good school. And Ivy league/top 10 on US News aren't the ONLY good schools out there. You all need to stop obsessing over this crap and just pick a school that has the program of study that you're looking for. Are you going to college for the name on the building? Or are you going to get an education, meet new people, and have a good experience? After 4 years, college ends, but your life doesn't. And if after that time, all you can say is that you have a degree from a fancy school then, well, that's not very impressive. </p>
<p>Am I full of crap? Am I right? Somewhere in between? Discuss.</p>
<p>You don’t need to be perfect. All you need to do is take the most rigorous curriculum. After that point colleges don’t care about the rest of your application. Obviously, you took the most rigorous curriculum to get to the schools you got into.</p>
<p>I did have a rigorous curriculum, but I also didn’t really have good study habits when I took my first AP classes, so my grades in those were bad during my junior year. I have improved to As my senior year, but it’s a bit too late </p>
<p>Those Tufts rejects had just as rigorous a curriculum as I had.</p>
<p>Obviously your story goes even furthur to prove my theory. It’s obvious: grades do NOT matter, rigor DOES. Rigor is EVERYTHING, and if you don’t have rigor, you may as well be dead. </p>
<p>I have suicidal thoughts every night for not taking the most rigorous curriculum. It has been the worst mistake I have ever made in my life. Now it’s too late and I feel as if it’s all over. </p>
<p>If you are an 8th grader reading this, listen to me now: YOU MUST TAKE THE MOST RIGOROUS CURRICULUM. Do NOT think “Oh, gee, I may get an F in this course LOL IMA TAKE REGULAR”. Do this and you will not get into a good college (you’ll be lucky to get into community college). Even if you get an F, colleges don’t care and will admit you on the spot if you take the most rigorous curriculum. Do NOT make the mistake I did. Honors/AP courses arnt’ even that HARD, and the teachers give out higher grades anyway. But aside from that, all colleges care about is rigor.</p>
<p>That’s unhealthy. Perhaps instead of worrying about college, you should get some psychiatric help. </p>
<p>Don’t even feel bad if you’re going to a state school because, you know what? A lot of kids – even very bright ones – go to state schools. Just because you didn’t get into college XYZ because your curriculum wasn’t “rigorous” enough, doesn’t mean your life is screwed. Just pick a school that is accredited, fairly reputable, and then do your best there. </p>
<p>No, I am not even qualified to go to a state school because I have not taken the most rigorous curriculum availiable. If God is in my good graces, MAYBE I can get into a community college, but it would have to be low rate, crappy, cheap, and badly taught. And that’s ONLY if I am lucky. Most likely, my life is screwed because I didn’t take the most rigorous courseload. </p>
<p>Maybe I do need a shrink but I know the truth more than you. I have not applied to colleges yet but I do know that I am going to be rejected everywhere because of not taking the most rigorous curriculum availiable.</p>
<p>No, student B would win. Assuming these two are from the same school, A’s transcript would not even be looked at because it is so mediocre. You obviously know nothing about the college admissions process. It’s first rigor, and if you survive THAT test, then they check the other stuff, but they would never consider rejecting someone with the most rigor. It is the KEY component to every application.</p>
<p>^ You are overreacting. It is extremely unlikely that you won’t get in somewhere. What exactly is your oh-so-terrible course load? <em>sorry for derailing the thread, but the OP already made their excellent point and I’m trying to prevent a suicide here :P</em></p>
<p>My courseload is 100% pathetic. I wouldn’t DARE post it here. Why do you think I’m so depressed. MAYBE I’ll PM it to you, but only if you PROMISE not to show ANYONE (yes, it is that embarassing).</p>
<p>Actually, I think urmom you are missing the point of the Op post. It was the passion and genuineness of the application that seems to have added so much. Certainly rigorous curriculum is a factor, but if you have done well, perhaps an essay, in part, on what you have learned from your decision to not take it, your genuine interest (if you have that) in getting a college education to pursue your passion (if you have one) and what your perspective will bring to that college and your your college experience. There’s a lot of life ahead, and everyone makes choices, some of them ill advised. get over that and move on to making the best of what you have done. Self pity is not an attractive quality, whether you are looking for a college admission, a job, or a friend. A genuine appraisal of your choice and the impact that has had, your perspective on it, might show a maturing student ready to take on greater challenges. (IMHO)</p>
<p>I’ll have to stand with noimagination on this one. I looked through your posts, urmomgoes2colege, and I notice you’ve taken at least four AP courses: AP ES, Gov, Bio, and World. Something like that. You’re not screwed. There are plenty of kids who don’t take any APs and get into state schools. Case in point: One of my friends has taken around the same amount of APs as you have and she did well in college admissions.</p>
<p>You won’t be rejected everywhere. Unless you’ve been taking Basic Skills and Introduction to Underwater Basket Weaving and absolutely no math, science, english, or history, then you’re not screwed. Considering you’ve posted threads indicating that you are thinking about applying to places like Cornell, I think all of this is a very large hyperbole on your part.</p>
<p>By the way, I think urmomgoes2colege is full of ****. I looked into more of his threads, which seem to be about AP courses, submitting research papers, how he will “ace” college chem, etc. </p>
<p>■■■■ of my thread; I was actually trying to make a legitimate topic for discussion.</p>
<p>Wow, finally a “common person” preaching what it takes to get into a good college. Oh wait, hes not common! This guy scored in the 99.9 percentile of all SAT takers, No **** colleges are going to want someone with a 2350 on their SAT even if their academic record isn’t stellar. I’ll tell you how not to get accepted to good colleges. Take this guy’s advice, and then be in the 90th percentile on the SAT!</p>
</p>