High School Seniors, where are you applying?

[Reincarnate]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Freaking right - sometimes (actually, all the time) I feel that college admissions have become a competition rather than an honest assessment of finding where you truly belong. Even I'm treating it as such - the pressure to get into a top Ivy or whatever is strong to the point where the name of the institution matters more than its personal value to you.

And here I am, finding ways to stall from editing my CommonApp essay. >.>

It's a stressful ratrace even after college

[OneHandNow]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

We're almost there guys! Just gotta click that submit button and see those green triangles on commonapp.org.

Then we can stop worrying for 4 months. Love you all, hope to see you guys sometime in college if we get into the same schools.

[Arch0wl]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

I didn't know Reincarnate was Rubix. Interesting. I suppose this was obvious from his signature, but then again I never look at signatures.

Arch0wl, where do you go? or did go..?

I don't want to disclose the exact names of colleges I've been to because they're small. One was fairly selective; my current one is not at all. However, I like my current arrangement a lot. It is most certainly easier here, and while I did have to remember far more for tests at the previous college, I don't think I learned as much. In having to squeeze out every extra bit of knowledge from books and lectures, I lost the time I previously had to read on my own, which was a huge source of learning in itself. (I buy used textbooks on Amazon to read them at IHOP for fun. >_>)

What going to a really selective college does do though and why I would recommend everyone do this for at least a year is that it puts you in an environment where higher-level thinkers are the norm and not an elite. If you came from a high school where you were part of "the smart kids", this will really turn your world upside-down because you will realize how much of your identity and behaviors to reinforce that identity were founded on this separation from other people. You will definitely do some soul-searching afterward when you try to redefine yourself in ways that don't include the adjectives "intelligent" or "hard-working." But if you go to a large state school this may not happen, and you may never get out of your identity bubble until it's too late.

Also, I think that you learn a lot in selective colleges not because the classes are hard but because everyone wants to learn and they are not afraid of talking about the things they've learned or they things they are currently learning. My best friend at the selective college was a transfer from Imperial College London, and I learned a ton from him. This is true for a number of people I know.

[infinity.]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

I didn't know Reincarnate was Rubix. Interesting. I suppose this was obvious from his signature, but then again I never look at signatures.



I don't want to disclose the exact names of colleges I've been to because they're small. One was fairly selective; my current one is not at all. However, I like my current arrangement a lot. It is most certainly easier here, and while I did have to remember far more for tests at the previous college, I don't think I learned as much. In having to squeeze out every extra bit of knowledge from books and lectures, I lost the time I previously had to read on my own, which was a huge source of learning in itself. (I buy used textbooks on Amazon to read them at IHOP for fun. >_>)

What going to a really selective college does do though and why I would recommend everyone do this for at least a year is that it puts you in an environment where higher-level thinkers are the norm and not an elite. If you came from a high school where you were part of "the smart kids", this will really turn your world upside-down because you will realize how much of your identity and behaviors to reinforce that identity were founded on this separation from other people. You will definitely do some soul-searching afterward when you try to redefine yourself in ways that don't include the adjectives "intelligent" or "hard-working." But if you go to a large state school this may not happen, and you may never get out of your identity bubble until it's too late.

Also, I think that you learn a lot in selective colleges not because the classes are hard but because everyone wants to learn and they are not afraid of talking about the things they've learned or they things they are currently learning. My best friend at the selective college was a transfer from Imperial College London, and I learned a ton from him. This is true for a number of people I know.

This has a lot to do with my desire to go to a top-tier school. I've kind of just coasted through high school, because I know I can and still be in the top 5%, but I know at a tough school, it'll be very different.. especially places where i'll start out below average best on my test scores.

[Reincarnate]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Yeah, one of the main reasons selective colleges are hard is because the people you compete against are harder competition. Class averages are tougher to hit, and therefore you're forced to gain a deeper understanding of the material if you want to succeed. There's also a stronger "achievement aura" permeating the institution, where most of your peers have a fair bite of ambition to them. Studying your ass off / striving to do well doesn't make you feel like an outsider because everyone else is doing it, unlike how things were in high school.

[infinity.]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

also, i just sent in my applications to cornell and chicago, if anyone wanted to read some essays haha.

[OneHandNow]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Chicago! That's a fun one to do.

[benguino]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Chicago! That's a fun one to do.

I'm not familiar. Enlighten me on their funnyness.

[Reincarnate]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

UChicago tends to have very wacky essay prompts...

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/essays/

[infinity.]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Find X was so fun.
Talked about delta x more.

[OneHandNow]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

UChicago tends to have very wacky essay prompts...

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/essays/

ESSAY OPTION 1
Find x.

ESSAY OPTION 2
Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?

^ Those two appealed to me the most.

I actually wrote for both of them, but submitted Option 2!

Talked about.. hehe. I can't tell you (yet).

[justin_ator]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Applied/Accepted:
St. Xavier University (Orland Park, IL) [offered $20,000]
Missouri University of Science and Tech (Rolla, MO) [offered $10,000]
Colorado School of Mines (Golden, CO) [offered $12,000]

Not going to do St. Xavier, however, because I'm doing engineering and they don't have it, soooooo...yeah.

These things will likely change for me though, because I have new test scores and some other changing factors as well now.

[Rubin0]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

The rat race seems to go on forever. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited that I'm done with my undergrad and if I'm relieved. My answer is always a HELL NO. Now I have to worry about getting into the grad school that I want to. And then I have to worry about my doctorate. Then I have to worry about actually getting a job that would make all these hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on my education worth it.

[Reincarnate]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

The rat race seems to go on forever. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited that I'm done with my undergrad and if I'm relieved. My answer is always a HELL NO. Now I have to worry about getting into the grad school that I want to. And then I have to worry about my doctorate. Then I have to worry about actually getting a job that would make all these hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on my education worth it.

It feels a lot like a constant competition. Do well in high school, get into a top school, do well in college, balance it with work and other activities and a healthy social life, network, potentially pursue grad school etc, land a good job, maintain finances effectively, consider marriage/settling down while also maintaining a decent promotion chaining, etc. It's just this constant need to do better and achieve more.

Really, all I want to do is raise a modest family, pursue various hobbies, and live without worry... and be able to travel, eat good food, and spend time with friends. Sometimes I feel like that goal shouldn't feel so difficult to maintain, but I guess that's just life for you. You don't need a lot of money or education to do these things. But without intellectual stimulation, I'd be so deathly bored with life.

[Reach]

Re: High School Seniors, where are you applying?

Yeah, the only advice I can give some of you is to relax a little bit. I know that's easier said than done, but the stress isn't going to stop when you hit university. Your highschool grades will be forever meaningless once you hit university; now it's all about the undergrad GPA. University is tough, way harder than highschool (depending on the university), and maintaining a high GPA is pretty stressful. Then there's grad/professional school applications, which can be brutal depending on the field. Then there will be stress to perform well there as well.

D: !