I’d say no, seems kind of standard. But congrats on finishing your interviews! I hope they all went well.
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No.
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thanks : p i’m surprised it went as well as it did because i forgot i even had it until 2 minutes before it was supposed to happen by some sort of divine intervention LOL i was luckily only a minute late
I was so afraid I’d forget I set like triple reminders for every interview lol
i was insanely punctual about the first 3 or so and then i had a really bad interview and progressively became less enthusiastic
I had a bad one early on too, but luckily the next interview was really good so I got out of the funk.
Also, you’re a fellow junior applicant, right? Do you mind if I PM you? All my 10th grade applicant friends don’t understand the anxiety 
I don’t think you should read into anything. Seeing things as ‘good signs’ won’t change the letter you’ll get on M10, but IMO it can make you feel worse if you’re rejected. If you think you have a decent chance of getting in, then getting a rejection/waitlist letter will feel much worse (at least it would for me).
For example, I’m applying for 11th grade and, since the competition is so tough, I am deliberately underestimating myself so I will feel less disappointed on M10 (assuming a unanimous rejection). Even though I am a decently strong applicant (1500 PSAT, I founded a club, I have strong essays, and all my interviews went great), I’m estimating each school has a 2% chance of accepting me. That means the overall chance of a single acceptance (since I’m applying to 7 schools) is 13%. That is low enough that I am prepared for a rejection.
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I get what you’re saying, but I hope that wasn’t your mindset throughout the entire application process. I had a mini freakout right when I started applying (that’s actually when I found CC and fell down the stats rabbit hole) and was convinced I wouldn’t get in anywhere. Luckily I have some super supportive parents who shook me out of it (love y’all).
That kinda mindset can affect your essays and even your interviews. If you don’t have the self-confidence, or even just the naive optimism, you can’t really present your best self. Idk, that’s just what I think.
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yess go ahead i love yapping about this stuff
do not say this u are STRESSING ME OUT!!! if u and ur 1500 psat is screwed there is no hope for the rest of us…
I did this, but only after the process, if that makes sense.
During the process, I would hype myself up as much as possible. For example, doing the superhero pose in the mirror while giving myself motivation (which is lame, for some, Ik, but I did it during the breaks of the ssat and my score literally skyrocketed from the previous standardized tests sooo.) I reeeaaally doubted myself in the beginning, but my thought process was, if I continuously acted optimistic (though I really wasn’t), then it would become a habit, not just a show (like the Aristotle quote!)
Anyway, my motto (during the latter part of the app process I had pretty low self esteem going into it): Proceed as if success is inevitable.
I know this sounds fairly arrogant BUT, if we don’t think success will be the outcome (or don’t even allow myself to hope), then why am are we even applying? Just to prepare for college apps? For the heck of it? No! We applicants invested sooooo much time (and money) in this. Yes, in reality, getting in is very unlikely, but we deserve this hope, this chance, and at the very least our own belief. Sure you would fall further if you fail, but wouldn’t you fly higher if you succeed? Believing in yourself can seem like over-confidence or pretentiousness (I know you are not saying this, just pointing it out), but you have to be your own cheerleader in life.
All I’m saying is, it’s great that you’re being realistic, but as phantome said, I hope this wasn’t your mindset throughout the entire process. I like the perfect balance between realism, cynicism, and optimism. Yes, I care about bs, yes, I was my best self, but no, I am not putting my whole life towards this one goal.
Honestly, writing this feels like I am letting out a rant towards my past self rather than a simple reply. TO: alind, not all of this content is directed at you, I’m so sorry I just flooded you with this, I feel like there might be a sparkle of hope in your writing, if not, I believe you got this! And even if you don’t, then it’s not the end of the world. Life goes on, and we are all amazing people who’ve got our whole futures ahead of us.
I feel like a corny, sappy motivational speaker, but this is all I was saying to myself in the mirror 
I hope y’all don’t mind my speech, I’m really just procrastinating on studying for my upcoming test (different one) and I pray that no one was freaked out by this. Then again… this is the freakout thread 
. Idk what I’m doing, giving advice to people who probably don’t need it, I should really go study but instant gratification monkey won’t let me (those who know, know the TED reference)
(edit: I just posted this, and realized the length of it. Omg. Simply, omg. I can muster up so much time to write in this post but not one minute to work on memorizing heron’s theorem or whatever.)
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I’m transferring boarding school and my school requries me to pay a deposit which I have to pay by a date before the decision comes out to have my spot for next year. If I don’t, I have to leave. But if I do leave, I can’t get the deposit back. What should I do?
I’m was in the same situation as you. My family and I emailed the person in charge of enrollment and asked for an extension on the deposit deadline. That seemed to work for us. Good luck!
this is a situation in which you may have to forfeit the deposit. you don’t want to burn bridges in case you have to stay.
I do think I should clarify what I was writing about here. I would love to go to any of the schools I applied to. I really hope they accept me. That hope is why I am lowering my expectations.
Since gambling involves a lot of probability, I’ll use it for an analogy. Imagine betting a hundred dollars for a 10% chance of winning ten thousand more. In Vegas, they would kill for those odds. For me, being accepted would be like winning ten thousand dollars. The time investment I’ve put into my applications, even if I’m rejected, is a good bet.
I also want to taper my expectations because, since this means so much to me, rejection will hurt so much more. Since chance estimation can’t really affect the results, the only impact it has is on me; my guess at the probabilities will only affect the way I plan for the future, my anxieties over the next month, and my feelings on M10. Since I really want to go, and I am an optimistic person, if I don’t set my expectations low I won’t prepare myself for a unanimous rejection.
The low chances I’ve set are a mental fiction I have devised to bamboozle my brain into planning for the future where I stay. They are a trick that works because humans are bad at probabilities. Since I am very hopeful, I am probably going to overestimate even a small chance and get too excited for M10. I decided that 10% would be low enough that even knowing it was off and being biased would not get my hopes too high. I got to two percent by punching probabilities into a calculator until I found one that roughly resulted in 10%. By the way, this is a terrible way of finding anything and my result is probably very wrong. But, since chances affect nothing more than my mental state, it’s more useful than not.
One thing I did get from punching in all those numbers was realizing even a low chance individually is a high chance for what I’m aiming for. Even a 10% chance at each school brought the chance of one acceptance up to 50%. 20% brought it up to almost 80%. Even a low chance is a decent chance.
To be honest though, you never know. I physically can’t do sports because of my disability, and a lot of eleventh grade spots go to athletes. I hope, alongside all of you here that aren’t varsity athletes, that my academics and extracurriculars alone might get me in. I hope they can get all of us in.
A quote for us eggheads from the original, Adlai Stevenson:
Eggheads of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks!
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They refused to extend the date, what do you think I should do?
Just have to pay the deposit and wait for M10. Is there any other option?
Do you think I can call the schools I am applying to because they might understand what I go through as they also expect students to pay a deposit by a similar date.
What would that do? Just curious.
What do you think they can do. They will not be able to tell you their decision before M10 for TSAO. Other schools also will not be able to convey their decisions yet.