<p>Thanks Alexandre
I agree with your analysis
My Harvard essay was good
And my Duke essay was better
I am really just worried about Duke RD. I dont think I am gonna get in Harvard, so I am not stressing over that.
However, I do resent the comment about working at chick fil a velocity.
I have a very respectable job. I would rather work for a christian corporation that actually respects sunday as the Lords day.
Everyone has to start somewhere and I like my job because I get great hours and the pay is respectable, so you are WRONG in that aspect velocity.
Oh yeah, and you mispelled ESSENCE, escence is NOT a word.</p>
<p>oh dumb ****… I should have applied to Duke becuause i have 1370 sat 3.9 uw and a TERRIFIC essay.</p>
<p>You’ve still got time
The deadline is Jan. 3rd!</p>
<p>I’m assuming you go to Brookland-Cayce, right?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What competition did you win to be Academic Team State Champions?</p>
<p>Yeah I go to Brookland Cayce…
How did you know?
We won the USC Challenge 3A State Championship last year. I made sure to qualify with 3A on college apps.<br>
Where do you go?</p>
<p>BC
Hey. I am a Mom and a graduate of Furman who was not raised in the South but I do know your hometown. Listen, I went to school with some Cayce kids and I even have a friend who was a SC Honors Prof so I know it has a decent rep and you will get an education there…but here is my two bits…</p>
<p>Quick! You have great stats for entrance to many wonderful life changing schools which will introduce you to people from all over the USA without the Duke admissions grind. Why are you only looking at a long shot swamped with equally qualified applicants? Duke is not a sure thing although I think you have a shot and agree you should go for it! Your problem is that you are applying only to the schools people talk about near your current world, the world you are actually qualified to leave, and Duke and USC are opposites in student body makeup. Find a school with many of Duke’s attributes and not the extreme admissions issues and get out an application. The money can be weighted in April when you see what happens. It really does not cost that much to fly home.
What about Wake Forest, Emory, Rhodes, Dickinson, Vanderbilt, Colgate, Colby, St Mary’s of Maryland? Think about it. It’s not too late. You may not get the big scholarships you have made a valiant effort to obtain-- but some schools are well endowed and excellent with small classes and full profs and good links to grad schools…University of Richmond for instance.</p>
<p>Duke is highly intensely selective and very diverse and the contrasting SC Honors plan is too easy and familiar to really make the best of four prime years of your life. I know your folks will push you toward the state plan. However, poverty for school tuition is a tradition that can be noble and temporary with great payoffs to come later. You can assume some loans yourself and you may be surprised with aide if you go to a state the does not get Carolinians much. What else matters at your age but growth, and you have shown ambition in high school. You will find plenty of not-rich kids who are patching it together at the expensive schools but they are running on intellectual joy and don’t care. It took us ten years of monthly payments to pay for a Grad School at Vanderbilt but the real payoffs came quickly in personal growth, breadth and stretch and financial payoffs do arrive later. Return to Columbia for grad school and get a great job in lovely Charleston when you are 25. This Mom says get to work pronto and get two more applications to interesting selective (not crazy selective) schools out before New Years.
Whatever happens…best wishes of course.</p>
<p>Faline, I have been trying to tell BC the same thing. He is somehow very attached to the honors program at USC, but I think he will have more opportunities presented to him if he goes to a schools like Michigan-Ann Arbor (most likely he would get into the honors program) or the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>I know Ann Arbor and Chicago are super life-enhancing experiences and that he is competitive. But perhaps his interest in his home town university means that if he coul leave familiar Carolina, he might be happier in an undergrad-friendly cohesive school. That is why I was looking at LACs. I think Chicago (one of my dream schools) would be a huge thrill but also daunting for an 18 year old. </p>
<p>BC, we Sages will just sit here and chat about you now.</p>
<p>Sages? LOL At least we try eh? I guess that hanging out on this forum and communicating with the applicants, you start caring for them. I love this forum!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input guys.
The thing is I love the south. I know Harvard isn’t in the South, but it is in a city as close to being like Charleston as can be.
U Chicago’s campus is ugly in my eyes (no offense to anyone). I am really attached to USC. I visited many large and small schools and USC gave me by far the most personal attention of any of them which surprised me. Plus I dont’ want to waste $70 at a bunch of schools applying that I don’t want to attend.<br>
I visited Furman and I thought the campus was beautiful, but I don’t like the one road in, one road out, planet furman thing going on, but that is for some people. Just not me.
Thanks</p>
<p>Hi BC:
Yes, there is a planet Furman issue 
and I made a feeble attempt to transfer out after six months but I just didn’t have the support system to do it or the willpower in place at that stage in my life. Wonderful faculty though, remember them always with love and appreciation. Greenville is also a more vibrant city now.</p>
<p>Anyway, sounds like you are satisfied to be possibly USC bound as you have no Duke alternatives you are interested in.</p>
<p>I am beautifully satisfied to be USC bound. I love the campus and the “at home” city feeling. Well, it is home. The one qualm I have with Furman faculty is the one qualm I have with all faculty…too liberal. But oh well, no changing that.</p>
<p>SAM is right.</p>
<p>Alexandre, it is people like you who give false hope. BCgoUSC has mediocre stats. There are people who are BETTER qualified with BETTER extracurriculars. Seriously, one look around this entire forum will tell you that this guy is mediocre. There are people who seriously 0wn others. Unfortunately, there are more and more of them, and a below 1500 SAT is not impressive AT ALL for HYPMS, or even Duke. It doesn’t matter that Duke’s average SAT is lower than his. I got rejected Northwestern Early Decision and my SAT (1510 combined) is higher than their average. Also, a class rank 7/240 is mediocre when compared to most people who get into HYMPS and even Duke, somtimes. As for his ECs…nothing actually stands out. There isn’t anything like RSI or varsity football. </p>
<p>YOu are right, that the essays matter. But then again, college application processes are so ridiculously random. I’ve seen people who could NEVER have made it into Ivy league schools, get in. I have no explanations. NO ONE does. But to state that HYPMS is not hard to get into is RIDICULOUS. Stop spreading lies like that. People come her for sincere advice, not garbage.</p>
<p>Sunday, the Lords day. Too bad it started from Roman paganism. =/</p>
<p>Xerxes, I do not disagree with you entirely. College admissions are indeed random. But you place too much emphasis on SATs. SATs mean very little in the large scheme of things. I had a 1540 on my SAT (when Harvard’s mean was 1360) and I didn’t bother applying to Harvard because I was not a strong enough candidate overall.</p>
<p>Are BCs chances with Duke good? Of course not. Nobody’s chances at Duke are good. Why do you think so many of us, myself included, are urging him to apply to schools that are less selective than Duke? </p>
<p>But is he mediocre? No he isn’t. He is your typical Duke applicant. That means he stands a 25% chance of getting into Duke. It is his job to separate himself from the competition by making himself unique and by articulating his dreams and his aspirations. </p>
<p>One thing I urge you not to do is to use the students on this forum as a measuring stick. Students who frequent these boards are the top 25% of the applicants to most universities. For every Duke applicant with a 1500+ on her/his SAT, there is an applicant with a 1290- on her or his SAT.</p>
<p>At any rate, I don’t think it is necessary for you to call people names. But given your recent disapointing news, I will not respond to your tone. Best of luck to you with the rest of your applications.</p>
<p>I agree with you that the people posting on CC are indeed excellent. I am the only person I know who even knows about this.</p>
<p>My essay was exactly what Alexandre said, I articulated my dreams. I am a varsity wrestler which is much harder than varsity football xerxes, so I do resent that comment somewhat. Wrestling is the most athletic sport of any I know. Also what is RSI?</p>
<p>Duke would have met 100% of your demonstrated need. If they did not meet enough, you can rescind your ED agreement if you got in. You’d probably end up paying the same amount of money at Duke as you would at USC.</p>
<p>To be honest, Duke ED really was your best chance to go to one of your “Big Two”. I’m sorry, but even though you’re good, it’s going to be much tougher to get into Duke RD.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>I disagree about the financial aid. I have already received a full ride to USC and due to a state scholarship, I will receive a $4,500 check back each month because I will have a surplus of money. I think that 100% of Duke’s Idea of need is not quite $4,500 given to me every semester.</p>