A couple of things stood out for me:
“I self-studied for 11 AP Exams that nobody told me to study for. So why did I do it?? Don’t ask me because I have no idea!!!”
Really? You must have some idea. I hope that it’s a passion for learning, because that’s an incredible accomplishment: self-studying for 11 AP exams. Wow! You should be very proud! If, on the other hand, you thought that was the path to acceptances at highly-selective universities, well, …
“I was going to go to Rice or UT anyway, but still”
If I understand correctly, you were admitted to Rice and UT-Austin. That’s fantastic! UT-Austin is a premier public university and Austin is a wonderful college city, especially for music (SXSW!).
And have you even visited Rice? It’s a amazing school! The students there are routinely ranked among the happiest in the US. It has a beautiful campus and is very well respected, especially in Architecture, Music, Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology. Go to Owl Days! You will NOT be disappointed at Rice.
@whatisyourquest Me studying for anything in high school had actually nothing to do with college. I didn’t start thinking about college admissions until junior year.
I honestly don’t know why I made myself study so much. Maybe it’s some psychological reason. Maybe I was like that at first because the summer before my freshman year there was this whole conflict with my parents (won’t get into details because…well you won’t even believe what happened). Or maybe I was insecure and just wanted to be really, really good at anything. Since I wasn’t too good at sports, I decided maybe I can be really good at academics. So, yes, I ended up Valedictorian because studying became my sport in a way. I don’t know.
Yes, I visited Rice with the Vision program and got a great scholarship, but…I don’t know if it’s a good match for me. It’s a great school but for some reason it didn’t click when I was there. I felt more sad than happy. Maybe it was just Houston? Or maybe it was just bad timing. UT is more comforting since I have my brother less than two hours away in College Station and my family is almost two hours closer than they would be if I were in Houston. Also, Austin is great.
Actually, your list of rejections might be a powerful teaching tool for future applicants at your school. Some people find it unbelievable when one of their school superstars doesn’t get accepted at these prestigious places. Your experience points out a harsh reality of applying to reach schools not matter how perfect your stats are. And you are not alone, yours is not the only thread today like this.
Feel your disappointment, cry, complain, whatever, then shake the dust off and celebrate that you are going to college next year, and that you have a great foundation for being successful at that college. Order a t-shirt or sweatshirt. Wear it proudly. Celebrate what is instead of what was never going to be in the first place (not the rejections/but the no intent to attend anyway).
Congratulations!
Also, most of my friends are going to UT, which makes it even more comforting.
What a hard and painful lesson to learn. My heart goes out to you, and to all the students who are feeling the same way tonight. And there are a lot of them; you are not alone, even though you feel like you are.
The bright side, if you can stomach hearing a bright side tonight, is that you have learned about following your interests and finding your authentic self at an early age. You have a golden opportunity to take your own advice- got to UT and discover your interests, explore, take chances. You can still be an excellent student, but you can find other things that’feed’ you, too.
In a way, I feel sorry for some of the kids who got into elite schools. Hopefully most will branch out and try new things, but there will be those who will continue doggedly running that hamster wheel of perfect scores and straight A’s to jump the next hurdle- the special program, the honors recognition, graduate school. Those kids may not learn the lessons you’ve articulated for another 4, 6, 8 years. They may be like my Ivy educated friend, who realized at 30 that she never wanted to be a doctor, but was just trying to impress people. Her entire 20’s wasted on something she didn’t love.
So @rasofia, I am truly sorry for your sadness and embarrassment (btw, people at your school may be kinder than you think- they’ve faced rejections, too). But you have all the abilities and heart and, now, self knowledge to go forth and create a fantastic life for yourself. I’m betting on you!
@NorthernMom61 To you and all other people who have responded, I appreciate your responses more than you can imagine. Thank you.
@salmoncakes Thank you so so so so so much!! I’ll update you in four years lol. Hopefully by then I will have found my true passion. Better late than never.
Congratulations on being Valedictorian and remember that no one can take that amazing accomplishment away from you nor can they take away all the things you learned and how hard you worked and your raw determination. And it is ok to be disappointed or hurt at this time after getting denied from some crazy difficult schools. But after you take a day or two to be angry and sad and frustrated, pick yourself up and dust yourself off and be so very grateful for the opportunity to attend an amazing university like UT. It is highly regarded, highly ranked and will afford you a wonderful education and life experience.
Go with your head high, proud of your accomplishments and excited to face a wonderful future. And If you want to be an engineer - it is a phenonemal place to do this. Focus on what you want to achieve with this next journey of your life even if it is to discover what it is you want to be “when you grow up.” Now is the time to embrace the next part of your life with your eyes open to opportunities and what you can learn both from books and in the world around you.
First off, don’t feel embarrassed or ashamed! You should feel very proud that you are a valedictorian. I am a sophomore in high school and if you think people are going to think of you poorly, just remember that us at CC are proud of your achievement. Go to UT and be a BOSS over there! You have an amazing future ahead of you, don’t let your college decisions base what people think of you. Also, getting wait-listed at schools like Duke and Yale does not mean you have been rejected. I am almost certain you will get off the wait-list in May. You are very talented and smart, don’t regret the past.
Enjoy the rest of senior year!
Very few high school students know what their true passion is. My son thought he loved physics, found he only liked the math part of physics, switched to statistics and although he is still a statistics major, he has added computer science as a second major, after falling in love with programming when he took a required course.
The wonderful thing about going to a great university such as Rice or UT is the chance to discover and pursue your interests. One thing is obvious, you love learning and you are a hard worker, and all good things start with that!
be “sick” tomorrow and stay home. cry your eyes out tonite as long as you have to. binge on Netflix all day tomorrow while stuffing your face with foodstuffs of questionable nutritional value.
take the weekend to mentally and psychologically regroup.
go to school on Monday not giving a rat’s behind what anybody thinks about the situation.
have a great 4 years at UT and crush it in the classroom. love the school who loves you back.
Thank you!! @apple1893 @Yomama12 All of you that have taken the time to comment are truly wonderful people. Absolutely wonderful people.
@Wien2NC Funny thing is I’m actually leaving school a bit early tomorrow to go to a UT reception.
Netflix is a great idea though lol. Thanks!!
Let’s do some math.Across the United States there are 26,407 public secondary schools and 10,693 private secondary schools. If each one has a valedictorian, that would be over 36,000 kids like you. It takes a lot more to get into those schools than that and I am astounded you did not know that. I’m sorry it has taken so long for you to realize that there is more to life than getting into a big name school, especially if you don’t know anything about them. But it is not too late to get a life. Decide you are going to do something other than study for a change. Serve others. Use your strengths. Start a blog. Get a job. Anything but whine. And wherever you go to college, decide that you will take advantage of every opportunity. Bloom where you are. Good luck.
I’m going to try to avoid the Harvard question as long as possible, but eventually I’ll have to admit it if they keep asking. It’s okay though. I’ll just ignore everyone’s words/thoughts.
You sound like a friend of mine. Valedictorian, yearbook editor, newspaper editor, top swimmer, graduated 3rd in her class. On graduation day she still didn’t have a school to go to. She got accepted into a bunch of great schools only to find out there was really no money to pay her tuition. Somehow, her parents thought she’d get full rides because she was such a rock star. They were naive about college and totally unprepared financially. Once she got over her shock, my friend got in her car and drove 45 minutes to her state U where she met with an admissions guy. He just stared at her transcripts and awards. “Yea, we’ll accept you,” he stammered. She got some loans, FA, work study and, with a full time job over the summer was able to scrape enough money for attend.
You know what? She was a rock star there. She double majored, was a top student, won lots of awards and got into a truly hot, internationally renown graduate program. She’s among the most creative, fun, intelligent people I know. And she’s very, very successful in her field.
This is my long-winded way of saying you’ve got an incredible future in front of you. You’re going to a great university. You’re smart, hard working and you’re going to be a rock star.
Just don’t say so in your Valedictorian speech. It won’t go over well 
@Willow613 I did know that…and I kind of knew this would happen, but I was somehow in denial…and it still doesn’t take away from the humiliation. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I will attempt to live differently at UT. I’ll take advantage of the clubs and programs they offer and try to find my passion.
first, <>. This is a sucky day for you, no doubt about it.
- Not a stupid rant. Feelings are never stupid.
- If you had chosen a different path for yourself (ie not tried for four years) you'd still have regrets. They'd just be different regrets. We all have regrets.
- The people who will judge you for where you go to school are not worth worrying about.
- You worked really hard to become val. That's a good life already, and a great accomplishment.It will prepare you for all the craziness that's going to come flying your way later in life.. Don't assume others have "lived a better life". It's just a different life.
- Just because you didn't do leadership stuff, or sports stuff or EC stuff, it just means your path is different. If you had gone back and done all those things and hated every minute of it, would you be happy today? There's no telling.
- This won't feel good now, but looking back on humiliating moments feels less humiliating when you have the grace of time and space between you and the humiliation.
- Don't go to UT thinking you're too good for it. It will poison your experience. Go thinking that this is my new reality, and where is it going to take me? Because you have a lot of choices, and you're probably a little tougher and wiser than many of the kids around you because you've already had this very tempering experience.
@katliamom Wow. That is very inspirational. She sounds like an amazing person!
Thank you for sharing that!!
@MotherOfDragons Trust me, I know 100% I’m not “too good” for UT…in fact, UT’s engineering program is probably 100% too good for me! I know that there are just as many smart people in UT than in any of those big schools. I never planned on going big though because kids in those schools are just…ridiculously smart or insanely talented. I wouldn’t have the guts to surround myself with people 100x smarter than I am. At UT, I know there are tons of kids like that…but it’s comforting to know a lot of my friends will go through it with me there.
Also, thank you for all your advice!!! You are amazing.