I, like many students currently on College Confidential, was obsessed with the College Admissions Process. I posted countless threads, chance me’s and watched hours of youtube videos. I took at least 5 Standardized Tests and applied to roughly 20 schools. By the time I committed to a school, instead of being happy, I was mad, unhappy and mostly bewildered. I thought that my life was essentially over and that my dream for the previous 4 years was dead. If there is one thing that I wish I could tell my Senior Year self, it would be a quote from Friedrich Schiller: “To live is to dream and to dream pleasantly is to be wise.”
For context, my dream started just over 4 years ago when my family and I went on a tour of the West Coast to look at schools. Before this tour, I wanted to go to Berkeley or UCLA. But, during these visits, I fell in love with a different school, USC. There was something about the school that just felt right to me. The campus, the people and the traditions spoke to me. At this point, entering my Junior year of high school, I had blown most of my chances to get into a “Elite” university. Growing up, I had received straight A’s my entire life until around the 7th or 8th grade, when I began to experience mental health issues and my A’s turned to A-'s and then to B’s. This continued throughout the first year and a half of High School and my GPA hovered around a 3.4 or 3.5, which isn’t bad, but wasn’t up to my previous standards or the standards of a school like USC. I finally got straight A’s for the first time in year during my second semester of my Sophomore year. After falling in love with USC, I dedicated myself to doing everything I could to having a chance at getting into the school.
Over the next two years of High School, I raised my final GPA from around a 3.5 to a final GPA around 3.75 unweighted. I spent months preparing for the SAT and got a 1500. I had given myself a small chance to get into the school. So, I sent my application into USC and around 20 total schools. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out how I hoped. I was rejected from all of my dream schools, but was fortunate enough to still get into some prestigious schools such as UCSB and UCSD. Ultimately however, I decided to attend Loyola Marymount University in LA even though I am from the East Coast.
Though I loved LMU, that dream was still gnawing at me in the back of my brain. I knew deep down that I would not be satisfied with myself unless I realized that dream. So, I dedicated myself to my studies and worked incredibly hard for the next 6 months. Ultimately, I applied to transfer to 10 schools:
USC
Michigan
Boston College
Villanova
UVA
Tulane
NYU
Pitt
GWU
Wisconsin
Slowly but surely decisions came back, and I was accepted to 7 schools, waitlisted from UVA and rejected from Tulane, and was only waiting for USC. On the day my decision came, I looked at the “Status Update” icon on my computer knowing that my dream for the past 5 years was potentially going to die. Words are unable to express the pure, unadulterated joy that I felt when I read the word “Congratulations”.
Now, a year and a half later, I am a Junior at USC in my second year here and love it. I am still yet to get anything less than an A- in college and am hoping to attend Stanford Law after my years here are done.
Never ever ever give up on your dreams. Don’t let anyone put your dreams down or tell you that they are impossible. If you had told my high school counselor 4 years ago that I would be where I am today I know they wouldn’t believe you. Dreams are essential to pushing us forward and are what has caused our world to continuously progress and evolve for centuries. Whether it’s making the sports team, winning an award or getting into a school, never let those dreams go. Cherish and treasure them and allow them to drive you. I am beyond grateful I never gave up on mine.
