Is it really that hard to get in?

unalove
Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:55:19 +0000

If this internet forum provides you with a place to vent, let it be. Personally, I think you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your psychological health to measure yourself up to somebody else.

As I’ve mentioned before, admittance is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Some are currently biting their nails and tearing out their hair over financial aid, wondering if this dream is worth the damage to their pocketbooks. Some of my friends can’t even go to college-- I have a friend who learned he had cancer right after he completed his first year of college, and now, rather than playing Smash Brothers and drinking beer with his buddies, he’s at home, depressed, going through rounds of chemotherapy, unsure of when and how he will finish school.

The time in my life after I received my admittance to the University of Chicago in December and before I went to school was not a particularly happy one. I was excited for my future, but I was scared to talk about it with my friends for various reasons not worth discussing here. I began to feel more and more detached from my high school and began spending more and more time alone. I had the acceptance, yes, but I still felt defeated by friend and family circumstances. Knowing I was attending a college the next year, specifically a college located in Hyde Park, was not of much comfort.

Keep in mind that a lot of people come to the U of C and learn how smart they aren’t. Succeeding at this school takes a lot of self-confidence and an ability to separate academic criticism and personal criticism. So even those of us who are admitted and are able to attend, we we still have disappointments to deal with.