@MWolf you hold some truth but I also beseech you to also realize that there is also some fault in that. There are a lot of people, including myself, that learn to learn, but grades are clearly important so if course it’s hard to also not place importance in the grade. I personally do things, including my volenteer work, because it’s what I want to do and what I believe in. I put hours and hours into my work and I’m proud of what I do, staying up and going sleepless many nights in order to succeed. In my school there are a lot of teachers who don’t teach because they have tenure, so my work and process is all a testament of myself and work methods. This process of applying to college is like us showing schools what we are proud of, and them rejecting us is like saying someone else did more or better than you, so it makes you feel sad because you know you have things to be proud of, but the school doesn’t see it as enough.
“I personally do things, including my volenteer work, because it’s what I want to do and what I believe in. I put hours and hours into my work and I’m proud of what I do, staying up and going sleepless many nights in order to succeed.”
Wouldn’t you have done those things even IF someone had sat you down freshman year and said, “You won’t be attending a T10 college”? Wouldn’t you have still tried your best?
You know there are 10-15 public flagships out there referred to as “public ivies”, right? For all we know, the OP could be attending one of those. And certain programs at those colleges have acceptance rates similar to T20 schools too.
My 2 cents worth: One person’s Safety school is another person’s Dream school.
Where you go for Undergrad will not define you, it is what you do with the opportunities you are given that will make you successful.
Best of luck.
@Groundwork2022
There are classes that it would be easy to learn for the sake of learning because that’s what we are passionate in, but we won’t be in love with every subject we have to learn. I believe in a strong GE, but There are certain things in life we just have to do because we need to do it. However even if I was told I wouldn’t go to a top school I wouldn’t have worked any less because that’s who I am, and there are many people who would do the same. I never want to look back and think that I didn’t try my best.
And I know there is truth in the idea that we end up where we are meant to be, but I don’t think life is fair like that. I think bad things happen to good people, and I think sometimes schools reject people even though it would have been the best for them. I believe Schools accept based on what they think is best for their student body, not always what is best for the individual, but there are too many variables involved to ever prove this. I also believe that Even though college is what you make of it, there are schools that have more opportunities and Resources than others to help their students whether that be because of connections of money. We all Know we will only go as far as we choose to, but we also want the best platforms to start from.
Does that make sense?
Similar situation here- applied to several reach schools and the multiple rejections and waitlists are frustrating. An unhooked applicant unfortunately just has to hope for the best, but you didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. The rejections are more reflective of the abundance of qualified people that apply to these schools.
One of our cats died yesterday and just rejected for NYU, is anyone else questioning their faith right now lol?..