<p>Lately I’ve started to feel pretty desparate because it seems like I have no chance of being admitted to any of the colleges I plan to apply to. More and more often I have started to think about giving it all up and just focusing on studies in UK. What do you think, is it even worth trying (I have 18 colleges on my list) for an average (not even close to all those crazy Indians (no offense :D) with SAT 2400, 30 leadership positions etc) international from Europe to apply to some really good schools, fx Bates, Duke, Bard and Vassar with an ability to contribute only like 10k USD per year?</p>