<p>Is this just my family? Or do all parents think like this?</p>
<p>Today this morning, my parents blew up on me because I got rejected from all the Ivy leagues I applied to. I did however, get into Williams.</p>
<p>I have a 2300 SAT, a 3.6/4.0 GPA, 800’s on the SAT II’s, I have worked my butt off on EC’s and leadership, volunteering, tutoring, and so forth.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t enough to get into Harvard, and so my parents started comparing me to the kid next door who got into Harvard (an athlete), who they claim because he doesn’t play video games or watch TV, is a better than me in every way.</p>
<p>For some background information: my parents are blue collar workers who have always pushed me to succeed, and I have for the most part besides getting quite a few B’s junior year.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to feel about this. Should I be guilty for wanting leisure time? I respect and admire my parents, and I am grateful for what they’ve done for me. I’ll admit, I could have pushed myself even harder and give up leisure time to get better grades, but even so I’m rather confused. Williams is a great school (education wise), even if it doesn’t have a great brand-name. I’m also disappointed I didn’t get into Harvard, but shouldn’t this accomplishment be worth something?</p>
<p>Could any other parents or kids throw in their perspectives?</p>
<p>Your parents’ attitude is unfortunate, but you can’t change it.</p>
<p>The only attitude you control is your own.</p>
<p>Williams is an excellent college, and its name is highly respected among the people that Williams graduates tend to encounter in their future careers, such as graduate school admissions committees and potential employers who recruit at Williams.</p>
<p>Your outcome in the college admissions sweepstakes was a good one. Enjoy it, even if your parents can’t. They have a problem. You don’t.</p>
<p>My wife went to Williams and she would say you should turn down Harvard for Williams. In fact, she hopes our son has that opportunity in a couple of years. Do your parents realize that Williams is consistently ranked number 1 lac in the U.S.? It’s an amazing achievement to be admitted to either school. Perhaps they’re not aware of Williams’ status.</p>
<p>And you are mistaken to think Williams doesn’t have a big brand name. Even if the ignorant sometimes mistake it it for William and Mary or Roger Williams, the people that count, top flight firms, grad and professional schools, know it for what it is.</p>
<p>It may be that your family adheres to different cultural beliefs. Personally, if you were my child I would be very proud of you and realize getting into an ivy is really hard to do and is not a reflection of you behaving dishonorably. It is just they are really hard to get into. Congrats on Williams. Try not to be discouraged. You will be fine and your family will too.</p>
<p>I think you should be very grateful that you are being provided the opportunity to go to a college that will separate you from an environment where you are not valued as a human being and loved for your positive qualities. Threads like this make me very sad because no child goes into the application process wanting to see rejection letters. The truth for me as a mother is I find my heart filled with so much more love for my children when they are facing struggles than when they are soaring. Hugs to you OP. I hope you enjoy college.</p>
<p>WOW–No, most parents are not like that and I am very sorry your parents are. I think your parents need to understand the Ivy selection process better and realize that even students with perfect everything do not get into Ivy’s. Try to ignore the criticism as much as possible and have a great experience at Williams. Hopefully you being away from home and in college will help your parents realize was a great kid you are.</p>
<p>I always tell the parents of HS sophomores and juniors who hope to be Ivy bound to go onto CC right after admissions come out and read the threads where the kids recite their stats and whether they were admitted or not. It’s such an eye opener to see that kids with fabulous stats were rejected. Depressing, but an eye opener.</p>
<p>Do you happen to be an “over represented minority”? I ask because my D’s friend - who was an ORM with terrific stats - was rejected by the Ivies to which he applied, but Williams was all over him to attend. My take on it was the the Ivies had a lot of kids “like him” but that Williams didn’t.</p>
<p>My kids were applying to schools several tiers lower than the Ivies or Williams, but what I learned is that students have success when they apply to schools that want what they have. There was one kid from my son’s class who got into Harvard…great stats AND great football skills. The kids with great stats and great debate skills didn’t get in. They had plenty of those.</p>
<p>I’m a Williams alum, and in my day, I would have turned down Harvard to go to Williams, and a lot of my classmates who went to Harvard ended up being mighty jealous. </p>
<p>And guard your leisure time carefully! It is often the key to a happy future life.</p>
<p>Now is the time to give your parents all that positive info about Williams (successful alumni etc) so that they have something to say to their friends. They <em>know</em> why the Ivys are prestigious (cos they’re the Ivys, duh) but they may not know why Williams is. They need to be able to say to people, "Well, lots of people think the Ivys are the only way to go, but that’s only because they aren’t knowledgeable. At a small LAC like Williams, students have [advantagesXYZ] and did you know that {ABC/famous alum} etc.</p>
<p>You did great and you will love Williams. I hope your parents come around and realize how great of a school it is. Congratulations! I went on a recruiting visit with my son to Williams a few years ago and I wanted to enroll myself right on the spot!</p>
<p>Ivy admission is a lottery for most applicants. I’m sorry to hear about your parents’ attitude. Williams is a great school. No dishonor there at all.</p>
<p>Congrats on Williams! That’s a great school. Sorry your parents reacted so badly. One can only hope they’ll come to appreciate what a wonderful school Williams is.</p>
<p>I second what mini said about leisure time and a balanced life. I firmly believed that my son deserved some free time when he was home with us and also in college. You can have some fun and still do well in high school and college. Expecting perfection is unrealistic and unfortunate.</p>
<p>Please tell your parents that many college top 20 lists have Williams listed higher than 3 or 4 of the Ivies. There is a Wall Street Journal article that you can find on their website that Williams is Top 5 in terms of their grads getting into top med, law and business schools.</p>
<p>I like the idea of showing your parent written materials - lists from any rankings of colleges that cast Williams in a good light. WSJ, NYT, US News, whatever. That sounds like something that may impress them.</p>
<p>When I was a student at Williams, one of my classmates was the son of a taxi driver in New York City. A star at his exam high school, my classmate had been accepted at Harvard but went to Williams because a teacher convinced him it was a very special opportunity. His dad the taxi driver, a good man but not familiar with colleges much beyond Harvard, was very disappointed and confused. He had, of course, never heard of Williams. Being a devoted father, however, he dutifully put the Williams decal on the window of his cab.</p>
<p>That summer before his son’s freshman year, an elderly man stepped into his cab and asked if the driver had a connection to Williams College. “Yes,” he said, “my son is going there in the fall.” Turns out his fare was a Rockefeller, with a niece also attending in the fall. “Excellent school,” Mr. Rockefeller told him. “Your son must be a very bright young man.”</p>
<p>That settled it. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, you are very lucky to be heading to Williamstown.</p>