<p>When you’re forced apart between people of your age based on intelligence and all of those qualities that make a student. You know: studious, hard-working, etc. If you can regurgitate a dictionary during the SAT, you’re praised and all of those prestigious and high tier universities will want you even if you’re majoring in a science where a lexicon isn’t even applicable. You could be pushed, prepped, and spoon fed by your parents your entire life and in the end it pays off because you’re able to recieve a better education than others. </p>
<p>Those who have a genuine desire to learn and do something specialized, namely myself, are left out. I am probably not like you, I’m not motivated by a high paying job, and I have never been pushed to do something I didn’t want. You may consider that to be spoiled, but I can say without a doubt I am more independant than 95% of anyone I know. I consider myself a free thinker, I do everything that I do for myself by myself and not for a record or grade. </p>
<p>What I’m trying to get at is, you’re all socially inept tools. You lack experience in any area outside of academics. You haven’t experienced the difficulty of doing something without your parents being there at every step. I would rather go to a community college knowing that I am a complete human being than wake up at age 18 realizing that I’m an uninteresting, dull, personality lacking, sheltered baby.</p>
<p>Silly and ignorant post. You seem to think that everyone and anyone who succeeds and goes to a top-tier school does so because their parents make them and they are just robots. Personally, my parents don’t encourage me to get good grades. They rarely give me praise. I achieve for myself and having opportunities to fulfill my life goals. All of the academic things I"ve done without the help of my parents. Sure, they’ve paid for my standardized tests, some trips I’ve gone on (though I mostly got a job to pay for that), etc, but what I’ve done I’ve done independently.</p>
<p>Sure, there are people at ivy and other top universities that are simply robots without interesting personalities, but I would really, really doubt that the majority aren’t incredibly interesting people with interesting stories and remarkable motivation and talents. People who go to top universities have ambitions, and deep ambitions are part of an interesting personality. There really isn’t much more to say. I’d rather swallow a dictionary for the SATs than be a tool and say that all that do are doing so because they have no personality and are uninteresting and dull.</p>
<p>^^^ just like to point out that’s coming from someone responsible for such great threads as “Does reading DULL the MIND?”, “How many people have you beaten up?”, and “Sarah Palin is awesome”</p>
<p>I get good grades and all, and I generally don’t talk much to some of the people in my classes, so they think I don’t have social skills, but when I’m with my friends or meeting new people I do (my point is they probably just don’t want to talk to you).</p>
<p>I went to an Ivy League and was surrounded by people from very diverse socio-economic backgrounds and quite diverse and interesting experiences. Far from the regurgitation-for-tests crowd you seem to think everyone is.</p>
<p>I think you’re judging what you do not understand, or perhaps trying to compensate for not making it where your social network expected you to make it. Either way. lighten up and stop judging other peoples’ life journey. You don’t know why people are where they are.</p>
the last one is purely opinion based. You can’t compare that with the other two.</p>
<p>
I COMPLETELY AGREE. I mean seriously, I see all these people doing blah blah blah. Would they still do the same had their parents not forced them? Would they still do the same if it won’t earn them a degree from the ivies, 100k/year, or bragging rights?</p>
<p>They cheat, hire essay writers, fabricate stuff, with their parents behind their backs 100% of the way. </p>
<p>What’s the point in that? I would rather go to a community college knowing I decided and got in BY MYSELF. Those poeple who do AP calc in grade 7 with a trillion ECs are **mostly<a href=“there%20are%20exceptions”>/b</a> because of their parents forcing them to do it, guiding them, molding them as they like. Even if they get in HYPS, it’s not their achievement. It’s their parents, those essay writers, etc.</p>
<p>I would rather achieve something much less, knowing I did it myself. Ofcourse I’m still aiming for HYPS.</p>
<p>“It’s pretty rare that I see someone with both social and academic aptitude.”</p>
<p>Disagree. If you’re smart enough for college, you’re smart enough. If you get a degree, you’re smart enough. If a company gives you a good job, pity the poor dork that studied hard but wasn’t what the company was looking for. In the end, it’s not about the tests. And they have frats in them there college things.</p>
<p>LOL@1st post. Good luck on being better than everyone else.</p>