To all my fellow 08ers and those following our footsteps!

College Search & Lists
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<p>Sup everyone, I’ve been here for nearly three years, and noticed a shocking and a bit unnerving pattern. As always around EA/ED decision times people are getting accepted (grats), deferred (hang in there) or rejected (the point of this post). I notice that many people feel that there lives are over if they get deferred/rejected. This post is not here to help you get that extra edge, but rather to help all of us realize that we don’t need a specific college.</p>

<p>First off, around this time people always say the same things, “I wish I would have applied to more schools” or something to that effect. I think what all of us (and the juniors of next year) NEED to know is that you need to have a list not just well rounded (matches, safeties, reaches), but ensure that you like ALL of your schools. I was recently rejected at Uchicago. First off I realize that no one is a guarantee at a top tier school, and secondly I LOVE all the schools on my list (in fact, two of them moreso than chicago). This enabled me to get over the rejection in about 2 minutes. I moped around then realized that I’m already in a safety I adore (PSU) and still have four more decisions on the way. If you love every school in your list you can successfully get over rejections, applying to a bunch of schools you just think you should go to will not ensure your happiness.</p>

<p>Secondly, stop taking rejections as a judge of your character. You send in like four pieces of paper, there is no way that’s enough to cram 18 years of experience, so stop putting it as if colleges hate YOU. Maybe they didn’t feel you wouldn’t fit there (and maybe you wouldn’t have, look at wutang, he hates his school even though it has a ton of prestige.), maybe they had a more competitive applicant pool, or maybe you were just having bad luck. Realize the following:</p>

<p>LIFE ISN’T FAIR AND THAT’S GREAT NEWS.</p>

<p>If life was fair we wouldn’t have this admissions process, we wouldn’t have to compete, we wouldn’t have to excel in life because NOTHING WOULD CHANGE. You need to take ALL types of fortune, good or bad, as a learning lesson. If you had bad fortune USE that to inspire you to reach new heights, STOP MOPING.</p>

<p>Finally, there are COUNTLESS examples of people going on to do INCREDIBLE things at “regular” colleges or NO colleges at all. The difference between people who succeed and those who settle for mediocrity is not the school they went to, it is their determination, and their iron will. I know I will go on to do great things because I have already declared it to the world, and I always have. Anywhere I go I will go on to succeed, and I think ALL of you guys need to adopt this mindset. I see some of you with 2290s, great ECs that really help people, and then call all of it a “waste” when you get rejected from a school. You guys need to realize how far YOU all have come. From the lowly kids we were, to the future of our country, of our WORLD. We are the next step in evolution, and instead of hiding we need to do all we can to continue to mold our world for future generations.</p>

<p>P.S. In the immortal words of snoop dogg:</p>

<p>I’m going to go up to the stars, and I want you to meet me up there.</p>

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<p>Great post. I agree with everything you said.</p>

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<p>Holler. Except I don’t see why you can’t be mad you didn’t get into the school you wanted.</p>

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<p>thanks that make me feel better. I already got rejected by 4 schools so far.</p>

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<p>that’s hard core…hope oyu have better luck later.</p>

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<p>What I mean is, of course you will be disappointed if it’s a school you really wanted to go to, but when you have a nice diverse selection of schools that you like just as much, the blow isn’t nearly as bad. I knew even if I got accepted I would still have a hard choice come april or may because I love all my schools, and I think that’s as major part of the equation to keep all of us balanced because again, we put pressure on ourselves because we know its up to us to carry the world into the future, and while this is great, we also need to realize that there are multiple methods of achieving this goal.</p>

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<p>sigh…all my decisions are march/april.</p>

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<p>great post!!</p>

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<p>That’s crazy it’s a featured story o_o. Anyway fellow, good luck and hang in there, remember, success is everywhere, it’s whether we are willing to embrace it that remains to be solved.</p>

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<p>hyaku, well said. Moderator: I just bookmarked this page; meaning I’m gonna show others.</p>

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<p>I just realized the post has a type in the featured discussion as Xtop lol.</p>

<p>Also fellow, the wait is tough as hell right now, but remember that april is the latest. If you really want, find a good safety school with rolling admissions (Penn state, I believe rutgers, etc) that you would actually ENJOY attending and if you are a pretty strong student (which I’m sure you are considering you are on CC) then you will probably here back within a few weeks and you can rest easy knowing you have some place you actually want to go, and hell you may even end up liking it better. After talking to more people about PSU and other schools, I realized that my reach wouldn’t have fit me as well as I thought, and my safety would fit me ALOT more then I thought. Also remember that big state schools have honors colleges, connections within the state (and often surrounding states. I.E. PSU is known throughout jersey, new york and PA), and often times costs less which means LESS debt for grad school. I’m just realizing that as kids we need to start thinking about our future in conjunction with how our decisions now are going to affect that. If you get accepted into your #1 school and you have to pay full ride, maybe its NOT worth it when you can attend grad school there. You have to weigh the pros and cons, and as I make it through this process alot of CC is helping me to realize this incredibly prevalent points.</p>

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<p>Well said! I think we all totally needed to hear that.</p>

<p>And honestly, there is nothing that irritates me more on these boards than people counting up how many community service hours they have and only using them as a gauge for which schools they can get into. It’s community service. I hope you learned more about the community from it than about your admissions prospects. I hope all the studying that went into your astronomical GPA actually sparked intellectual curiosity. I hope the weight of the envelope that comes to your mailbox does not define you. You are worth more than the name across that hoodie.</p>

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<p>Ugh, totally agreed on the community service thing - one thread started with “How many hours of community service should I do to get into XYZ University?”.</p>

<p>Agreed on the post topic too - I made the mistake of applying to a safety I don’t like, so I’m still hoping for other acceptances, but as long as you would be happy at your safety school, we really shouldn’t fret so much about the others.</p>

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<p>Yea i was about to do the same maea, if I can suggest, maybe look into some state schools in places you may like, as many of them have rolling admissions and can provide EXCELLENT opportunities depending on where you wish to work post - undergrad.</p>

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<p>That makes me feel about 209348032984 times better. Thanks hyakku. I am in love with 5 of my 6 schools, and the one I applied to on a whim as a super-safety. But I would be as happy at the U of Texas at Austin as I would at Brown, I think. Wow. Perspective. It’s nice :)</p>

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<p>this posts has helped me think of countless things to say to some of my friends…</p>

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<p>Yea that’s one of the bigger reasons I originally made it, I never realized how many of my friends underestimated themselves. Some of my friends with 3.7 W GPAs and solid 1800 SATs are applying to school that are 1400-1500 schools, those are all great if they WANT to go there, but most are doing it because they don’t think they can go anywhere else, and that’s the value of a safety or two that you LOVE, because then you can feel free to sort of stretch out and reach for schools that if you got accepted in you’d like, but if you didn’t you always had that great safety to fall back on. Like I said, my safety is nearly my number one, and is certainly where I’ll be going if I don’t get into USC.</p>

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<p>upenn does hate my school tho</p>

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<p>Wow—thanks so much for this post. It really encompasses what I feel about this whole admissions craziness. It makes everyone so obsessed about getting into that “perfect school” that it strips us of our realizations that we are amazing people no matter what. It is nothing pompous to know deep inside that you’re a special human being. It’s just sheer strength. If you have the ability to look past these rejection letters and still smile and love yourself the way you have before, you are strong and yet determined. Rejection hurts all the time. But in reality, it’s the school that is losing–not you. Wherever you may go, you’ll excell and utilize that education to learn for the sake of learning, not to get that perfect ivy league diploma. I’ve experienced rejection already and that hurt because I expected the school to realize my potential. But i’m not going to stop believing in myself because there are certain qualities that make me more special than those with perfect stats. </p>

<p>It’s the personality, the heart, the ambition, the perseverence that make me different—I know there are many more people like me out there. Don’t lose hope! You will succeed no matter what these crazy admissions outcome comes to be. Don’t let society crush your dreams. Just be yourself!</p>

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<p>Nice post.</p>

<p>I’ll be sure to re-read your post come April.</p>