@Studious99 Same, except I’m Asian (and I’m not even bitter about it like a lot of people on CC!)
More annoying than that: when freshmen and sophomores only talk about college in class and won’t shut up. Please. Stop. AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH.
I hate my school. Who backstabs their friends over stupid club officer elections? It’s not like that ONE EXTRA leadership position is going to get you into your dream school. Don’t get me started on the cheating here.
Maybe I should head over to the rant thread. Or fix my sleep schedule. Then again, I’ll probably need to stay up past 2 when school starts again anyways.
My school is the exact opposite. Counseling is almost nonexistent and the farthest they will go is perhaps change your schedule if they messed it up originally, but even that is unlikely. Though we are the most academic school in the county, more than half of each class does not plan on attending college at all (which, of course, is fine, though it makes it difficult to find guidance for those who do want to attend!) and those who do only gun for in-state colleges. Teachers only offer help if your life goal is to go to University of Florida but if you want to go out-of-state you’re by yourself.
@loquatical My school isn’t cutthroat about clubs, but for sports it is a different story. Last year on swim team, a parent fixed the voting so her son could be captain. Her explanation for this was that it would help her son get into the Naval Academy. It didn’t lololol.
Just wondering, would anyone here ever consider a service academy? They have good benefits with the stipend and the no debt, but drawbacks with the required service and rigid rules.
@loquatical Awesome thing is is that you don’t need to be an officer of 4000 clubs and captain of 6000 sports teams. You need meaning in your EC’s, and you need to enjoy them. Unfortunately for me, I was led into believing the common misconception that the more you do, the better your chances are. It’s our junior year, and we have limited time left lol. But I’m trying, and I hope that gets me somewhere.
I know being black is good for admissions, but if I do end up getting into a good school, I’m scared that people will totally disregard my academic record and EC’s and instead attribute my success to affirmative action. It’s a scary thought.
The thing is though, there are so many people who seem rounded, who have done internships and written papers on their projects, who have taken 9+ APs, who truly seem to enjoy their ECs and are actively involved in them, but they STILL get rejected. I know that there isn’t an exact formula that one must follow to get into an Ivy League or another highly lauded school, but when people who everyone expects to get into these schools get rejected, you start to wonder that getting into mostly any college is a complete crapshoot.
@photogeek8 The problem is, Ivies not only want to see that you’re passionate and involved with your ECs, but they also want to see proof of achievement, especially on a state/national level. The lack of achievement is what holds back a lot of 4.0/2400 applicants, who are still in the same crapshoot as all the other thousands of high scorers applying.
ugh my school. the people there are just sooo competitive. i literally saw a girl refuse to help another girl with sat math, because she saw her as her “competition”
@picats3141 tell that to the SciOly captain (did well at nationals) and International Science Olympiad medalist from my school that got rejected from Stanford a couple years back. He’s actually a super nice and humble person too.
I think a lot about admissions is personality. Top schools want to accept genuinely good people and a lot of the 2400, 4.0, science fair winners are extremely cocky. On all of the results threads, these types of people always write “I couldn’t have done anything else,” or “It’s all based on luck.” Well judging by the way they see college admissions, it’s no surprise they got rejected- they wouldn’t add to the schools’ communities whatsoever. There really is a pattern and college admissions are NOT based on luck.
@loquatical Yeah, I mean I don’t really have an explanation for that, assuming his GPA and SAT were top notch as well…also, one “horror story” data point can’t refute the fact that many, many applicants with similar world class achievements get accepted at a far higher rate than the average 4.0/2400. But who knows, Stanford is known for being notoriously unpredictable, even moreso than the rest of HYPM. (Just curious, where did he end up going??)
“We’re fully aware that the process is… I don’t want to say flawed… but is making minute distinctions… There are times honestly where I’m not sure why I put my hand up or failed to put my hand up… I’m kinda going with my gut here.”-DEAN OF ADMISSIONS Amherst College
@deeeznuts I’m really skeptical of the editing in that video… If it’s accurate I’m sure more prestigious universities don’t make decisions like that. Hopefully lol