<p>I feel overwhelmingly ashamed of myself. I’m 24 years old, haven’t received my college degree, and I’m financially exhausted.</p>
<p>I’m currently attending a community college in hopes of transferring to Southern Methodist University as a Computer Science and Finance major. While I do look forward to attending SMU, I have learned that the school (thanks to CC) is not remotely respected (nationally) compared to schools such as Duke, Notre Dame, U of Chicago, etc. This upsets me as I had a former friend who is a a recent Notre Dame graduate, and the ‘prestigious’ of his school compared to SMU makes me feel inferior and “less than” the Notre Dame graduate. Mind you, there’s no guarantee that I’ll even be accepted to SMU, and if I’m forced to attend a public university, such as a state school, I will feel even more ashamed of myself.</p>
<p>I wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life in high school. If I did, I would have been a stellar student and made it into a top university. Yes, I’m aware that SMU is very well-regarded in Dallas/Ft. Worth, but I dread the responses of people from the east coast, particularly New England, who would laugh at my degree from SMU.</p>
<p>I’m doing what I can to improve my intelligence. I’ve purchased several books on increasing cognitive performance/raising mental acuity, ebooks by Cal Newport on how to make straight “As” and succeed in college, acquired a gym membership, and initiated efforts to increase my vocabulary and writing skills. I do all of this because I feel ‘dumb’ - I don’t have any accomplishments to support my intelligence. I feel as though I have no value.</p>
<p>Perhaps I can get another chance at obtaining the ‘gold’ with attending a top graduate school, such as Stanford/Duke/UChicago Law. However, my SMU undergraduate degree will improve my self-esteem very much as the locals here erroneously equate regional prestige with academic excellence.</p>
You’re using CC for a sample? As in, a bunch of high schoolers who haven’t even gotten into most of the colleges they’re so excited about? Come on. As my “location” implies, CC is often far from the real world.</p>
<p>It’s never a great idea to compare yourself to others, despite the “mine is bigger than yours” mentality on this forum. Focus on YOUR strengths, abilities, and goals.</p>
<p>SMU isn’t extremely famous, perhaps, but it’s well-known enough. I’ve heard rave reviews about its anthro/arch program, for example. I hope you get in. :)</p>
<p>Realize, also, that it’s more about how you do as a student than it is where you went to school. Focus on yourself, and, as has been said, really… this place is mostly full of social outcasts anyway. Focus on your own strengths, because they’re what’s going to get you far!</p>
<p>SMU is a fine school. Many of the people you will meet through SMU are highly successful business owners and have contacts throughout the country. If you can get your degree from there, you should walk away with your head held high. No one, including employers, cares where you went to college once you get a little work experience under your belt.</p>
<p>the most important tip given to you: don’t take what’s said on CC seriously… then again since i said that on CC, you won’t take what i said seriously, and would probably continue taking seriously what i just told you not to take seriously. </p>
<p>anyhow, i do not believe people need to have their life planned out before they go to college. things change, your mind changes, the world changes… plans usually don’t work out or change. i just hate it when i hear someone not going to college just b/c they don’t know what they want to do. you can take your whole life and not really know what you want to do with yourself. and in reality, i think most people aren’t even that sure of what they’re doing. but the world can’t stop for you, so just keep going.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation. I want to study pre-med and eventually attend medical school yet I feel that my intellectual abilities are not superb enough to succeed in such a high academic institution. Like you, I did not have an impression high school resume. It was so bad in fact that absolutely no college would accept me. I’d feel ashamed of myself that my seemingly dumber friends would gain admissions to prestigious universities when I would see nothing but rejection letters.</p>
<p>One of the nice things about starting off in a community college (which is my only option) is that you can redeem your punitive high school record by succeeding in a two-year general education program. After that, transferring to the school of your choice is not as difficult as a first year freshmen. If you’re worried about your college choice after you’ve finished your two years of community college, then why are you choosing that school? If you feel the need to participate in a more accelerated program at a prestigious school (I don’t know much about SMU so I’ll take your word), then why not try to gain entry into those schools? Nothing is holding you back so long as you have excellent grades before transferring. If you truly want to attend SMU, then others’ opinions on the matter shouldn’t matter because college choice should be about your own personal strengths and needs. Besides, college choice doesn’t make a huge difference in job opportunities so long as you did well and have a good resume. </p>
<p>Don’t sell yourself short due to feelings of intellectual incompetency. I can relate to the stress you are under because I’ve been told my entire life that my intelligence is sub-average and that my ambitions are futile due to my lack of innate ability and reasoning skills. You need to pursue regardless of your feelings otherwise you’ll feel worse about it in the long run the more you wait and the more you demoralize your worth. I know it’s hard to raise above negative commentary or your own self esteem but no amount of advice will get you over this hurdle unless you put it past you and work towards your goals. Intelligence is definitely malleable and if you are taking the steps necessary to raise your intellectual understanding then you are in the right path to succession.</p>
<p>Just have a little faith in yourself and your abilities. The more confident you are about your intelligence the more compliments and recognition you’ll receive : )</p>
<p>^That’s exactly what I’m attempting to do - redeem myself from a high school record of being unfocused and given to mediocrity.</p>
<p>It’s not that I’m worried about getting into SMU - but the school surely doesn’t ring bells of recognition and prestige such as Notre Dame, Duke, Stanford, etc. In fact, every time I think about my former friend who went to ND, I feel ashamed of myself for being a failure up to this point in life.</p>
<p>Thankfully I’ve been told that as a transfer student, my high school record will not be a factor in the admissions process except to verify my foreign language requirement.</p>
<p>I really hope I can get into SMU, so I can yet again, redeem myself and position myself into a top graduate school (such as Stanford Law).</p>
<p>Better than annoying the people you know in real life. Trust me, if most people talked about their problems in real life no one would give a damn and even ditch them for any sign of emotional vulnerability. At our age, socializing equals fun and otherwise makes others sarcastically think, “What the hell is your problem?”</p>
<p>^I guess, but most of these posts don’t seem to be focusing on self-betterment. You guys just like to wallow in misery by these repetitive threads. Sorry, I feel no compassion but I tend to not feel so when people aren’t making a more active stake to improve their life’s surroundings.</p>
<p>We’re all at a privileged point in our lives where we can afford such things as a college education. We are living a world’s luxury! To me, whining about a lower-tier school doesn’t deserve sympathy. There are plenty of people who would love to be in any of our shoes. Just be grateful for what you have, don’t pity yourself for it and work towards making things better for yourself and others around you.</p>
<p>^ I guess you’re right, but in this economy we can’t afford to take whatever lame career path we’re offered. I mean, of course you take any job you can, hoping that it is not dead-end at the meantime, but in today’s competitive world only the very lucky or the very brilliant are taking all the lucrative spots. It is sad to see a widening economic gap with a smaller and smaller percentage of people being considered wealthy while the rest are stuck in some banality where they were better off just getting a high school diploma and working their way up to a middle-management retail position which saves the headache of finding a job and secures you. </p>
<p>It is true that one should work hard to get to where they want to be, but sometimes that is not enough and many paths get in your way. </p>
<p>Yes, there are starving and poor people throughout the world who cannot have an education, but should one just always think of that when their opportunities are locked because they went to a crappy school? Then I guess you should keep quiet when you get the flu or stomach pains because someone out there has terminal cancer.</p>
<p>Summary: Why should we think about someone who is tangibly distant in our thoughts when it feels like all our peers within our vicinity are doing better than us?</p>
<p>Helping the poor and volunteering is a great idea, but it won’t solve your own problems.</p>
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