<p>So today I was talking to one of my senior friends, who will be attending a top school in New York.
(Not quite Columbia, but almost :))</p>
<p>She’s one of the most ambitious people at my school, and I admire her a lot.
We were just talking about college (what else would a second semester senior care about?) and college admissions came up. (Although she didn’t mention it, she was rejected by all the Ivies she’d applied to. It surprised me, because she had a lot of very decent EC’s, officer positions, prestigious summer programs, etc. I attributed her unfortunate rejections to the holistic admissions process. At first.)</p>
<p>So she was saying, “the only reason they could’ve rejected me was because of my SAT score.” “What’d you get?” I asked. I think she said 1970.</p>
<p>It hit me in the stomach when I realized she wasn’t even “competitive” for her dream schools. She never had a chance. Without thinking, I blurted out, “that’s really low!”</p>
<p>As soon as I said it, I felt like a total, total jerk. (Her face fell and everything. If I could’ve turned back time and shut my freaking mouth…) I can be a blunt person sometimes, but I honestly didn’t mean it. I feel terrible when I think about it. At my school, very, very few people can even score that high. I should’ve congratulated her. Now all I can do is faceplant and curse my stupidity. </p>
<p>Have you ever had embarrassing academic faux pas?</p>
<p>Hmm… nah, but I do enjoy ridiculing my friend who got a 34 and 35 in the ACT prep class and got a 33 2x on the real thing… and is upset with it. He is ridiculously upset with a difference of, maybe 2 questions wrong?</p>
<p>Yeah, test scores can really be some of the most screwed up part of admissions.</p>
<p>It reminds me of this discussion these two people were having. This girl was talking about college admissions, and she was a really nice, sweet girl. She had an unweighted 4.0, some incredible ECs, and an extremely likable person. And then she was talking to this one guy who really didn’t care about anything. He cruises by with Cs and Ds, and doesn’t really care about colleges at all. It turns out that the amibitious girl took her ACT four times, and couldn’t get above a 24. The guy comes to class one day talking about his 30-something ACT. </p>
<p>I felt really bad for the girl. She worked really really hard to get into colleges, and here she is getting beaten by this guy who pretty much took his test just for the hell of it in one take.</p>
<p>omg yes, and I always felt like **** afterward.</p>
<p>One time I looked surprised that someone in my class was extremely knowledgeable about something, and the teacher was like “What’s so funny, Maple?”</p>
<p>and then another time I was doing math homework with my best friend and I was like, “Wow, I didn’t know you hadn’t done that yet.” But he’s my bff so it’s like whatever. He did the same thing to me 10 minutes later when I did something stupid, so I paid my dues.</p>
<p>but yeah, it def sucks, because I really try not to be an arrogant tool</p>
<p>A few days ago I was talking to a friend who is in ap human geography. She is somewhat smart but she has been freaking out about the ap exam. I was trying to be supportive and I accidentally said, it won’t be bad, APHG is a joke the class is so easy and I’m sure the exam will be easy. It turns out she has a C in the class</p>
<p>Well i’ve managed to tick some people off by mentioning things casually (that I didn’t realize were such a big deal) and people getting jealous or saying that I’m bragging.</p>
<p>My only real faux pas is like a month ago, I was in 6th period sitting next to my good friend. We were talking about this guy in our graduating class who thinks that he’s the smartest person on earth (he really does.) Then I said “I can’t believe Terry thinks hes so smart. The guy’s an idiot-he has a 3.4 (gpa.)” My friend sorta looked down, and I didn’t realize what was wrong. Like 10 minutes later I remembered that my friend had a 3.4. I interjected that “You know Terry’s not an idiot cuz he has a 3.4. He’s an idiot cause he thinks hes smarter than everyone in the world.” Damage was sorta already done.</p>