Hey Guys and Girls,
My name is Nick, and I am a freshman who just finished my first semester at the University of Pittsburgh. I wanted to take the time out to give all the stressed college seniors a piece of advice and a lesson that I hope resonates with people.
Here is the #1 piece of advice I could give to any high school student: stop looking at the rankings!!! I really don’t know how to stress his enough. Coming from an ultra competitive public high school in a college town, I let these rankings rule my thoughts for years, always ruminating about whether my stats would be enough. You guys, I have made it to college, and it is not that big a deal!!!
As a high school student with a 5.07 final GPA, 1500 SAT, 33 ACT and varsity sports on my applications, I thought failure to be anything other than a top 25 school. As silly as that sounds, I know how many of you think the same way. And as the months rolled by and I finally found out from all my schools by late march, I was confronted with a reality, that wouldn’t happen.
From the schools listed: William and Mary, University of Toronto, Emory university, Tulane University, Lehigh University; University of Pittsburgh; Allegheny college, I am not ashamed to say that I was rejected from Emory, a problem with my application got my entire review cancelled at U of T, and I was waitlisted at W&M, Lehigh and Tulane. My first thought was how??? How could I have possibly had that bad of luck. How were schools that I knew accepted kids with way lower stats waitlisting me??? It made no sense. But, as I kept looking over it, I really took a hard look at things. And what I found out was that far more devastating than me not going to those schools was that I didn’t get in.
Now, I have completed my first semester at Pitt, a school ranked 60th (or close to that) in the nation on US News, and I can say for certain that at no point in time did I take a second to look at the rankings. I was too busy being challenged by the workload, picking up a job on the weekend, and adjusting to school. All of my professors were very competent and versed in their respective subjects, and never did I once take a step back to think about how much of a failure I am for not ending up at a highly selective elite school like Emory. I love the city of Pittsburgh, I love the campus, and I find ways to challenge myself every day being in an environment far from home.
Lastly, I want to say how important the work that is put in is, regardless of what college you get into. The work you put in undoubtedly indicates your success. Hard work always wins out, as you are competing with yourself, and not those around you, for how well you do in life.
Sorry for this unguided rant, but I really want you students to know that I believe in you and that you will not be a failure so long as you put in the work to be successful, so stop looking at the rankings!!!
Please please please respond to this thread, any and everyone so I can respond to your comments with much better structured points that really articulate my intentions of writing this.