<p>@collegechica I was surprised at the venom in your tone, when you ranked UChicago behind the Ivies, Duke, etc. So I took the liberty of looking at your past posts. This came from you right? In the thread, “What is going on? have people lost their minds?”?</p>
<p>“Why do people keep comparing cornell to schools like Berkeley, Michigan and Rice? We are an ivy league school. Our peers are Penn, Chicago, Duke, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth. We are ranked in the top 20 schools in the world. We have some of the best hard sciences programs in the ivy league. We are not a state school! Give us the credit we deserve. With the opening of the new york campus Cornell will begin to rise to its rightful spot in the rankings, the top 10. Just wait for it. We’ll see how many of you compare us to rice and emory after a few years!”</p>
<p>Cornell is a good school. My dad attended Cornell, and he’s one of the brightest people I know. He never cared about the prestige of his school, just the experience he took back with him. He knew that it wasn’t the school’s name that truly mattered, but the education one receives and the success one has after attending the college. He had no such insecurity about going to Cornell. Why? Because he’s successful now. It’s people who fuss incessantly about Cornell’s name who cheapen the school’s brand. Stop being insecure, I respect Cornell.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand why you’re so hateful of UChicago’s “yield protection”. You think because the people who got in had lower stats, they were less accomplished than those who had better stats? Let me tell you something. In high school, I had a very clear choice. I could pursue a specific interest, or lose critical time in sacrifice for better grades, better scores. And compared to some of my competitors, I started this interest late. I was years and years behind my counterparts. Nonetheless I chose to develop this one strength, and developed it well. I became very good at it and won numerous, highly prestigious accolades, none of which I will name for fear of identification. However, certain grades suffered. I studied for SATs two days before the test. Was it worth it? </p>
<p>I’d say it was damn well worth it. I got into UChicago doing what I loved to do. I’m not the only person who I know in the Class of 2016 who is very specified. Most people who were accepted have a specific interest as well. They aren’t as well-rounded as HYP students, but looking at the incredible amount of passion they have, I think that they will succeed in their fields.</p>
<p>I think my grades could have certainly been higher had I spent more time and effort. They were far from abysmal, but they weren’t spectacular either. But there are only 24 hours in a day. My only regret is that I hadn’t known about this interest earlier, when I was in elementary or middle school. </p>
<p>So please, stop acting condescendingly and presumptuously. I can’t speak on behalf for the rest of my peers, but what you say is offensive. I think I got in through my own merit, my hard work, and you don’t need to downplay what I did to get to this university.</p>