<p>I’m sorry you missed it 26e. There are reruns in the summer, if you can wait that long. </p>
<p>I find Lost to be a very intellectually stimualting show. It’s got the whole mix; sci fi, philosophy, human emotion, etc.</p>
<p>Glad I “intellectualized” the thread:)</p>
<p>I’m off to piano lessons, to be yelled at by my angry russian teacher (haven’t had much time to practice) :(</p>
<p>This weekend I MUST…finalise essays 1 & 2 (can’t edit much, must fly blind :(), figure out what the point of my second essay is, rewrite my penn prof Q, re-arrange my activities (made varsity soccer, yay :)), fill out FA stuff, pay, send in rec 1, send in signature form… this is worse than i thought</p>
<p>26e, try to get your essay looked over! I actually asked a friend to look over mine (he’s an excellent writer) and he caught a lot of the grammatical mistakes and awkward word arrangement that spell check doesn’t pick up. He’s also adding comments and suggestions. I don’t think you need to feel too conscious if you don’t get it revised over and over again, since adcoms probably don’t scrutinize essays. It’ll be a huge letdown after I have invested all this time into my essays just to find out that I’m rejected <em>SIGH!</em></p>
<p>KRABBLE!!! you’re killin’ me. stay positive, man! that’s a song, no? the streets? idk, but seriously, you’re bringing me down! don’t worry, be happy…doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, dodididodidee. 
:)</p>
<p>honestly. i’ll write you a supp. rec if you’ll just pretend that you THINK that you MIGHT get in. you’re good enough, so knock it off…</p>
<p>It sucks because literally 15 or more people from my school are applying ED. I think 8 people got in last year, but none of them were Asian males (I don’t know if any Asian males applied to Penn last year). I’m having a hard time actually imagining them accepting me, unless they’re looking for average students.</p>
<p>P.S.- Ugh, I’m sorry… all I do is have nothing but self-pity on myself, but it’ll be easier to tell you guys, my friends, and my family that I got rejected if I don’t get my hopes up too high.</p>
<p>yeah, that sux. but all you can do is put together the best app you can muster, send it in, and hope they notice that you are a great guy, a great student, who REALLY wants to go there. my point is this: stay positive, and distract yourself by crafting the most insanely perfect app ever. Then GET A GIRLFRIEND to distract you until december</p>
<p>It’s annoying because some of the applicants from my school are a little too <em>confident</em> about getting accepted. They have the credentials, the grades, and exam scores, but when they talk about it (everyday), it annoys me to death. I mean, today, one of my friends/another applicant literally said, “I’m smart… blah blah blah” You can only imagine what type of person this is! ARGH! Who the heck says something like this about himself.</p>
<p>EXACTLY. And my theory is that Penn especially is more apt to reject people that “know” they will (and “deserve”) to get in. And so they probably haven’t worked hard on the essay like you, and arent on this board figuring out every minute detail of the app, like you. Which gives YOU an advantage.</p>
<p>I don’t know for sure whether the other applicant got his parents to write his essay or not (I was just venting lol…), but I don’t see how adcoms could tell whether an applicant is a brat about going to college or genuinely grateful. I’m hoping that I’m the latter, but I keep telling myself that having blue-collar working parents will get me an advantage, especially since they work less than 20 minutes away from Penn campus (lol), but I’m sure that barely gives a boost, since I attend an average-or-so public high school in a dominantly white neighborhood.</p>
<p>K, you need to write a positive, uplifting admissions essay about this. if it’s good, you can stick it in there, and in any case, you can start trying to feel better about your situation. </p>
<p>idk, just spouting 
i feel for you though. everyone does</p>
<p>Congrats on varisty soccer, 26e;)</p>
<p>Like KRabble, I’m been feeling really down this last week seeing everyone talk about Penn and their chances. I don’t know, I just feel mediocre compared to these seemingly-perfect kids. I’ve had to go through so much to get to where I am, and I feel like some of these kids have just had it so easy…you know, the chauffer mom who picks them up and drives them places whenever they need, always getting lucky and getting what they want, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m venting and wallowing in self-pity, lol. It just sometimes feels as if my life is one big disappointment after the other. I hope this won’t be the case with penn. </p>
<p>Also, I hate Calc. It is the bane of my existence.</p>
<p>OK, I’m done:)</p>
<p>Yay, soccer. I’ve even been promised 2.5 minutes a game. I’ll take it! I don’t mind, considering i’ve only played 20 matches since the end of eight grade, which is my case of one disappointment after the other. Actually, they’ve had club soccer down here that has expanded, always topping out so that the maximum age is ALWAYS one year younger than me. 
Oh, well, I’ll play for PC. </p>
<p>But anyway…Yeah, it feels like that, but you just have to ignore it. I don’t know if all, none, or some combination of us will get in (i hope we all do) but I’m on the edge of a breakdown from stress (exagerration of course). But you just have to stay positive, and not let it get to you.</p>
<p>O right, one of my rich white friends was bragging about how his dad is going to buy him a really expensive apartment in downtown Philly (he’s already assuming he’s in). His dad’s some sort of real estate lawyer who has all these connections, so he can cut a deal like that. Anyway, his going to essentially tear the apartment up and remodel it. Very uncool!</p>
<p>Helix, I know how you feel. I remember when my parents used to tell me that I used to be the smartest little boy they ever met. And they’re still naive enough to believe that. There are kids in my grade who get 800s on SAT IIs without opening a prep book, yet I can’t do the same. I now notice that all of my A’s in school are mostly low A’s, and that doesn’t make me feel good when my peers get some pretty solid A’s in the same classes.</p>
<p>I’m now feeling like complete crap. I’m convinced that academic performance is strongly dependent on income and parents’ education as well. Within the top 5% of my class, nearly all are white with incomes of well in the 6-figure range. They all have nice, shiny cars with million dollar houses. I can understand why you wouldn’t believe me, but there’s a section in my district that is filled with million-dollar houses and rich people, while the rest of the district is pretty mediocre and modest comparatively.</p>
<p>I’m not blaming anyone, but I seriously do not know anyone (or at least not many) who was brought up the way I am and has gone to an uber prestigious school (Not like prestige is important, but I’m trying to paint a picture here! Any school is as excellent as you make it to be, but for the sake of this argument, bare with me…) Both of my cousins went to Penn because of some pivotal factors: they were smart (yeah, but that’s a given), their mother (my aunt) is a doctor at a Penn hospital (not sure how much of an advantage, but it’s gotta be some sort of push), and their father is also a pharmacist at a Penn medical center. A friend of mine went to a pretty good private school (the typical good private school, not Andover or anything) around this area, and he got into Penn (though he didn’t attend). I only know of female Koreans who have gotten into Penn from my school, and literally in the past 5 (and probably more) no Asian males have attended Penn (probably because none have been admitted or none felt qualified to apply).</p>
<p>I was naive to believe that income, race, etc. were detached from the opportunities you will have. It takes a significant amount more effort to achieve the same things as the guy with educated parents. O well…</p>
<p>P.S.- Venting again, of course!</p>
<p>venting is good. but if they’re rich that’ll come through, and hopefully they’ll notice that while they have a lot, or have done a lot, they’ve had a crapload of opportunity as well. hopefully we’ll get judged not on what we’ve done, but on what’ve we’ve done with what we’ve had.</p>
<p>is “we’ve” a word?</p>
<p>KRabble, there will always be rich and always poor… my parents came here with like $100 and I think I’m like top 2 or 3% in my wealthy, white, suburban high school.</p>
<p>lack of money only INCREASES the drive to succeed.</p>
<p>but money is a catalyst to success. money provides things that lead to the (artificial) appearance of greater intellect, which is not necessarily founded in reality</p>
<p>I doubt adcoms will understand the difference between me and a rich applicant from my school. Since we go to the same school, I’m sure they’ll assume we had the same opportunities, neighborhood, etc. I’ve spent most of my weekends helping my parents at their store (especially during the summers) and I have a feeling that may be a major thing that deterred me from winning an Olympic Gold medal or Best Mathlete in the Universe Award. I just keep pitying myself.</p>
<p>By the way, I couldn’t be a super activate participant in school activities (though I have been able to join several clubs over the years), because my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when it was still in its late stages. She lived with us during this time, and it was hard enough to leave her at home unattended, but it was the hardest thing in the world to take her to a home. I don’t plan on telling adcoms this, because I really don’t want them to pity me or feel that it is an excuse for my lack of super duper uniqueness. </p>
<p>Pity me, please!</p>
<p>but that is exactly what makes you super duper unique</p>
<p>and you don’t want my pity, or anyone else’s</p>
<p>notre dame > byu</p>
<p>KRabble - I understand that you don’t want to write a self pitying essay, but it is important that the adcom know if you have overcome these types of obstacles. To me, the best way to do that is to have your GC or teachers refer to it in a recommendation. I think that the fact that you are first generation college is a HUGE hook - adcoms love that, and coming from PA is too. Regarding your cousins - parent working at Penn hospital is a major, major hook. My friend’s dad worked there too, and he would have had free tuition to Penn no less. Don’t give up hope, but don’t put all your hopes in one place - I’m not.</p>