<p>Ugh, I just got really depressed and now I’m freaking out. In 8th grade, I got accepted to the best public magnet high school in the state (top 3 in the country). I had applied as a joke, all my friends were applying, and magically i got in. I turned it down, though, because I wanted a “high school experience”. </p>
<p>So today I just looked at that high school’s college acceptances on facebook, and 70 out of the class of like 200 got into Ivy League schoools!!! It makes me feel like SUCH a failure, I hate my regular high school, the classes are a joke, and the people are idiots…and now i feel like i made such a big mistake by not going there…</p>
<p>well there’s not much you can do about that now.
just work hard where you are and you will be fine. IVY’s accept students who do not come from the top schools. So you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>1- I’m not sure it was a mistake, but I am sure that you DID NOT “totally” mess things up; when colleges review your app they are much more concerned about YOUR record and much less concerned about what school you attended</p>
<p>2- going to an Ivy seems important in general, but whether a student will flourish at a college has nothing to do with what that college’s reputation is and everything to do with the "fit " between a student and a school, and that includes academics, social, athletics, student life, a whole range of things. For example, some students do better when they are the biggest fish in the pond; hard to be that at an Ivy. Another example: if you were interested in engineering AND you wanted to be a Big Fish, a school like Cal Poly SLO might be the best choice for you, since it’s one of the top engineering schools in the country, even though the general public doesn’ know about it.</p>
<p>3- Among the Ivies there are big differences in how they teach. For example, Brown is unstructured: no general ed requirements. Columbia is quite structured with its Core Curriculum. It’s ridiculous for a student who really needs structure to apply to Brown just because it’s an Ivy, because that school would not “fit” with what the student needs.</p>
<p>Maybe it was a “mistake” not to go to that school, or not … . there’s not enough info here about you for us to be able to make that determination. But what we DO know is that - going forward - you can make decisions that help to swing doors (of opportunity) open a little more for you or that close them a little bit for you. That perspective will help you immensely as you look at colleges that “fit” you as a person and as a student. </p>
<p>Hang in there, look forward and . . . Love Thy Safeties :-)</p>
<p>Lol the high school experience…that sucks you turned down a magnet school for this ‘experience’…aka dealing with incompetent proles 7 hours a day. Really stupid how much Hollywood hypes high school, when it’s basically the adult version of pre-K. It’s not the end of the world though, Ivies don’t set you up for life; and that’s if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Ugh I’m an idiot…and its not even that I want to go to an Ivy (Barnard is my number 1), just the principle of it is horrible,no one at my hs cares about grades, and my friends care more about partying than schoolwork…</p>
<p>Seriously, people romanticize Ivy League schools far too much. Are they good schools? Yes. Do they look good on resumes? Yes. Is it really necessary? Not at all. What you need to find (and this is going to sound cliched, but believe me, its true) is to find a school that “fits” you. It took me a long time to figure it out, but when you find that school that just clicks with you, it is a fantastic feeling.</p>
<p>Where were your parents on this? The flip side of going to such high calibre high school is you could be at the bottom half instead of top at your sub par high school. If you are a good student and have the ambition of going to a top college, you could still achieve it at your current school. Sometimes it is much easier to stand out at a lower tier school.</p>
<p>It’s okay!!! Not everyone at an ivy came from a top school. I sure don’t, but I will still be successful. As will you as well. </p>
<p>I wish I cared as much about college in 8th grade, I wouldn’t have taken stupid electives 9th and 10th grade if I was informed. But what’s done is done.</p>
<p>Lol I can’t change it, and it probably worked out for the better, because I’m getting better grades than I would have and have a much higher class rank.</p>
<p>Why would you necessarily have been one of those 70? Every one of those 200 kids was at the top of their middle school class–some of them suddenly fell to that bottom 130 that didn’t get into their dream school. </p>
<p>It’s fine. Seriously. You’ll be evaluated on your own accomplishments in your own school.</p>