<p>Hi alanjoseph, I was in your position a year back and I know what it feels like. If you’ve done the most with your life that you could till now, and are happy and satisfied with that, and have decent grades in school and decent SAT scores(and NO, that does not mean 2300+ in SAT 1 and 3 800s in the subjects), you are a good applicant. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. I was in your position a year back, and thought myself a pretty terrible candidate. I was only in the top 10 or 20 in a class(not sure, school doesn’t rank) in a class of 600 and had only dancing as my one major EC, that too without any competitions, as my Guruji does not encourage participation till a certain point. I applied to Swarthmore, Wellesley, Williams, Amherst, Cornell, Columbia, Colgate and at the last moment, because of friends and parents urging me to, Princeton(my app was terrible, because I kept thinking, "well, an essay’s not going to get me through to PRINCETON). I got waitlisted at Amherst, Colgate and Columbia and accepted at Cornell(although I’ve been having problems with Cornell financial aid, that is besides the point here). I came from a school where possibly only one person in its history had successfully gotten through to a US college before and had next to nil knowhow. It was very easy to underestimate myself. I though most of these colleges, except perhaps Colgate, way way beyond my reach. Well, after having survived one admissions season, I can tell you, nobody knows who is good enough and who is not. Just do not disqualify yourself, or worse still, let CC disqualify you before the adcoms do. If you’re academically sound, and a poor aid-seeking Indian, go all out and apply to as many ivies as you feel like. I honestly regret not having done so. They’re the only one that will shell out serious money. As well as Amherst and Williams(but because of small class size, they’re possibly more difficult to get into than any ivy). None of us know what to do and what not to do. The ones who got in or the ones who didn’t. Although mynameisv, smellyharbour and pixie are known to dole out very good advice generally. Spend less time on CC, and more on your apps, apply to all your “dream”, “impossible” colleges, because nothing feels as bad as regret, and well, as they say in the ad, impossible is nothing.
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<p>PS. Sorry for long rant, but I’d like to prevent as many people from making my mistake as I possibly can. I am not, for once, suggesting that I’d have gotten into H, Y, Brown or P’ton(if I’d been more serious abt my app) had I applied. I’m simply saying, it couldn’t have hurt. Just find out for yourself. Do not presume.</p>
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