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<p>this post has a lot of fail in it.</p>
<p>I went to a college that was a pretty major reach for me. I earned a very respectable GPA, loved my classes and profs, and did not feel especially overwhelmed by anything but the senior thesis requirement (which was hard for everyone). I was generally very happy attending my college and went onto a masters program at a top university. YMMV, of course.</p>
<p>Depends on the major. If you are a big reach in a quantitative major I think there will be major hurdles.</p>
<p>People coming in at the 25th percentile of their college class going into an Engineering program that fails out 30% will have significant problems. I’d say with a high certainty that that person will not graduate in the 75th percentile of their class.</p>
<p>In fact, I tend to think it’s easier to graduate from schools like Ivies than major weedout engineering programs like Cal/GaTech/Purdue.</p>
<p>I have to admit compared to most of my friends I feel odd. The internationals of them almost all went to some private, international school and did IB or A-levels. The Americans took a ton of APs. I went to a crappy local school in my country, where I was somewhere in the top 50 % (school didn’t rank). A lot of my friends are fluent in 3 or even more languages and lived abroad… It isn’t just GPA and such but also socio-economic background. Even though about 80 % of the students at my school receive some kind of aid, the majority can still be regarded middle-class, and especially with my immediate circle of friends I feel alienated because I am not of that kind of background.
But then I also remember that I got in, with a lot of financial aid, while a friend from my country, got waitlisted at first, even though she could pay and had a perfect GPA. So maybe I did deserve to get in. And it is not like I am doing badly in any of my classes. I am just not the top. Which I never was in high school so it’s hardly anything new.</p>
<p>wow, thanks so much everyone for the detailed replies and different insights. i got a likely letter from cornell today, i have a 3.8 gpa and a 1800 SAT score so it was a definite reach. i’m still waiting on brown, columbia, harvard, and stanford. i’m not going into an extremely difficult major, i’m going into business. i haven’t really thought about grad school yet. </p>
<p>from what has been described it sounds like college is what you make it and no one spends much time comparing high school stats. i have a big heart and strong ambition, so i think i’ll be okay with the workload and gpa. </p>
<p>_silence: i think i’m going to be a lot like you when i start out, how did you make yourself comfortable? peterparker and geomom, thanks for opening me to a new perspective :)</p>
<p>Here’s my two cents:</p>
<p>While I have noticed that some students clearly distinguish themselves as so to speak, the ‘top’, I will agree that most students don’t vary significantly in academic ability. In terms of excelling gpa-wise it seems more to be about your tolerance for a larger workload. Some kids find first year incredibly easy because they’ve pushed themselves incredibly hard in high school while others take time to adjust. Not like you can’t get high grades coming from a less rigorous program but just that there will be more of an adjustment process and you’ll have to be especially motivated :P.</p>
<p>To me, it comes down to study habits.</p>
<p>I like how this thread talks about how scores aren’t all that important 
Confirming everything I believe in :D</p>
<p>Part of it depends on what your definition of success is, if your goal is to get mostly As, yes it will be tough, but if your goal is to graduate after 4 years (and the school accepted you), then yes the school thinks you have what it takes to “succeed” there.</p>
<p>Both Ds are at reach colleges (athletic hooks). Older D quickly found herself over her head academically - she was in courses that were far too difficult. She also found out a lot about herself in that first semester - eg. she wasn’t as smart as she thought she was and she had really poor study habits! She improved the study habits (somewhat), but mostly learned to be very careful in selecting her courses. She is now doing fine. After watching her older sister struggle, younger D was more careful and started with the easiest schedule she could put together. She had a much more successful start. </p>
<p>I would suggest using care in putting together your first semester schedule. You can always increase the challenge later. Neither of my Ds will be an honor student in college, but they both love being among such talented and diverse classmates and are very pleased to be where they are.</p>
<p>Some anecdotal evidence that might make you feel better. I go to Wesleyan. I have 3 friends whose stories might interest you:</p>
<p>Friend #1: Got into Wes RD, but it was the ONLY school anywhere near it’s ranking he got into. He had a good SAT score, but bad grades and ranking, for Wes – definitely a reach. He floundered a bit freshmen year because he didn’t have a very good work ethic, and picked some math-heavy classes. Then he found his stride as a social science major, and is pulling a 3.6+ GPA, with a MUCH higher major GPA.</p>
<p>Friend #2: Was waitlisted. Got of the waitlist. Is now one of the top five students in the class, number one in her department. To be fair, she may have been waitlisted for idiosyncratic reasons, so Wes wasn’t THAT much of a reach, but she wasn’t an auto-admit, either. </p>
<p>Friend #3: Was waitlisted, not for idiosyncratic reasons. Got of the waitlist kind of last minute. Is now in the top 10% of the class.</p>
<p>So…not only is succeeding possible, excelling is! I’d say all three of these people have done very well (and friend #1 probably would be pushing top 10% if it weren’t for some undiagnosed health issues, which effected his work ethic freshmen and some of sophomore year).</p>
<p>I think that one of the biggest things that people battle is the fact that by going to a top school, they’ll be giving up status as valedicotrian, the genius, and best athelete, the science fair winner, and overall the best. At top schools, EVERYONE is a top person in their own way. Never feel like you don’t belong, because you are truly one of the top students to be selected.</p>
<p>Once you get to college your high school GPA and SAT scores cease to matter. No one goes around asking you what those were and they don’t determine your success at college once you get there.</p>
<p>Medians are high because competition is high. At top schools people WILL pull all nighters and/or do whatever it takes to do well in classes.<br>
People work really hard and are dedicated to academics over other aspects of college life. That’s not to say college life is not enjoyable at top schools, but there is definitely more dedication to academics than the average state school. Clearly this depends on what major program you are interested in pursuing, too.</p>
<p>I think the whole “inferior” thing is a crock. It’s bunk. Poppycock and balderdash. I grew up with a URM who scored in the 800s (that’s COMBINED!) on the verbal and math of the SAT but was admitted to Brown University through some kind of minority potential deal. From Day One they kept asking him if he needed tutoring in this or that and he kept declining help. Later he would laugh about it. He said the whole Ivy League thing is totally overblown. Not only did he not need help, despite his educational disadvantages, but he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown. I saw him again when we enrolled in the same law school. He got less than 900 combined on the SAT and rolled through Brown like it was a second rate community college. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that easy for him, he had to work his butt off. My point is, it wasn’t HARD. He put in the work and got better results than almost every one of his white bread, prep school, 1600 SAT scoring classmates. </p>
<p>The only thing high standardized test scores show is that the student is really good at taking standardized tests.</p>
<p>@angelfish13
As on the academic part I just constantly remind myself, that even though most of my friends have had much better academic credentials, they also come from another background, and sometimes a whole different culture. I think what helped me a lot, was the knowledge that by getting into a good college I got a chance to do better, and not repeat high school. Which I am not. I found out quickly enough what I can handle and what not, and I know how to balance my work. I am not the top 5 %, but I am also not rock bottom.
As far as different socio-economic background goes, I have to admit that I sometimes have a hard time dealing with it, but it’s the one thing I can’t really help, and I also constantly remind myself, that they may be able to afford more things, while I can at least say that I put myself through college.</p>
<p>@Plainsman I call BS. High standardized test scores don’t just show that you can do well on standardized tests, they also show that you have excellent skills in the subjects that are being tested. In the case of the SAT CR+M, those skills are reading comprehension and basic logical math. These are also skills that are used over and over again in college. </p>
<p>I could believe someone that got an average SAT score doing well at a highly prestigious university, but an 800??? That’s not just below average, that’s WAY below average. If he was so good at school that he could zoom past his fellow students at Brown, why couldn’t he score better on a simple math and reading test?</p>
<p>angel: clearly you viewed yourself in that top group of colleges (likely letter from Cornell, still waiting to hear from brown, columbia, harvard, and stanford). Since you’ve only shared a few stats, there’s “something” about you as an applicant that you feel would fit into those schools (ECs, recs, URM, athlete, special passion etc.) that balances any weakness. Focus on those positives. That’s what I tell my son. He got into his reach and his weakness was his lack of APs on his transcript. This year hasn’t been easy, but I don’t think it’s a piece of cake for most freshman.</p>
<p>Actually, 3.8UW gpa is quite impressive. The SAT is just one test.</p>
<p>Hell no. I’m a 26 ACT and a 3.3 UW GPA and I feel I can run with the big dogs anywhere. Most of them at least</p>
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<p>Either Cornell is not a reach, or you wasted a lot of money.</p>
<p>Since you got into Cornell, I would bet the first one.</p>