EPTI'm majorly boned. - Page 3
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babylon
8765 Posts
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LosingID8
CA10828 Posts
On July 06 2014 10:09 ill_mind wrote: I am planning on continuing on. I'd like to work really hard in undergrad, but college seems so much harder than highschool. I always found highschool quite easy, in terms of paper writing, exams, etc, and I heard there are very few cases of excellence in subjects, and most people get 60s and 70s. I'm still thinking of applying to UCLA though. It's a holistic admission process, and it's not a huge Ivy league like Harvard, nor is it something top-tier UC like UC Berkeley. I feel as though my extracurriculars, participation in olympiads pertaining to my areas of interest (math, science) and other non-academic stuff may push me through. Sure, MIT and Harvard may be no-no's for me right now, but I might give UCLA a shot. Does anyone here have experience with UCLA? It's at the same time both a challenging school to get to, but something that seems somewhat reachable. Edit: Also, thank you for the responses everyone. berkeley and UCLA are clearly the top two UCs, not sure why you think UCLA is much easier to get in to. then again, as an international student, the rules are a bit different if you're full-pay. | ||
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419
Russian Federation3631 Posts
but the feeling of excellence and superiority will most likely be gone forever since I won't be able to attend any of the schools I listed above. relax mate it really doesn't matter I actually think that maintaining a good GPA in a decent state school is harder than grade-inflation infested "prestige" schools. If you're going to apply to grad school than it doesn't matter even more | ||
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zf
231 Posts
On July 07 2014 02:51 iamho wrote: You're only in high school and you already sound like a 25 year old law school gunner. You need to relax and grow up a little, chasing prestige is a never ending cycle that'll never make you happy. I know so many lawyers who graduated from top Ivies working in NYC V10 law firms who are still miserable and desperate for external approval. You must know a lot of Harvard grads.  | ||
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EatThePath
United States3943 Posts
Also, some perspective: consider that even if you fucked up completely and didn't get into any "dream" school, your bank account exploded, and your whole family died, you'd still have so much opportunity in front of you to change the world for the better and find happiness, given your self reliance, smarts, heart, and the privilege of where you live. Luckily, those things haven't gone wrong so you're quite well off, eh? p.s. It's healthy to express yourself and feel what you need to. Just don't overdo it on the self loathing, it's not you. | ||
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Flying Potato
United States77 Posts
Let me give you some advice. Stop worrying about this shit, it matters much less than we think it does. It drove me insane throughout my junior year, and it caused me much grief. Getting into a school, let alone undergrad, is not worth these feelings, I promise you. You will get a great education and have plenty of job opportunities available to you at a state school or some other slightly selective university all the same. Plus, if you have any intention of going to graduate school, you can work your ass off during undergrad and learn from the mistakes you made in high school. Don't live your life to impress others, live your life to impress yourself. Edit: I don't mean to sound like a jerk, I really apologize if I do. I just wanted to be honest with you. | ||
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Titusmaster6
United States5937 Posts
First of all, your potential is not "wasted." There is one thing that kills all talented and non-talented people alike, and that's LAZINESS. It doesn't matter if you have potential or not, just don't be lazy. Second, there is no "burden" being placed on you. You're a kid who is about to go to college. The world is a much bigger place, it does not know you and does not expect anything from you. YOU need to take charge of your own life, no one else will do it for you. Now, being the "best student [you] could possibly ever be" is not an end goal at all. This is NOT what you are trying to achieve. No one hires people because they are good students; people get hired because they have skills, capabilities, and personalities. Grades are simply an indicator (and sometimes a very weak indicator) of a person's general intelligence, work ethic, w/e. It's a good place to start, but is not the end all be all. What might be more helpful is for you to ask yourself what your goals are, then follow a path towards those goals. Don't get caught up in the details of what you need to do, and mistaking those as your actual end goals. Speaking of your goals, you're right in that you need to put serious work into your grades if you want to go to a "top" school, but if you think just getting into Harvard is the definition of success then you are dead wrong. Going to college is just the VERY beginning of you growing up, finding a job, and living a life. There are so many challenges and twists and turns in life that just being a good student, or being a graduate from Harvard is NOT ENOUGH. You must always be working, learning, and trying to do better. Do not make the mistake of making college the pinnacle of your life's achievements, that's fucking sad. Seriously, if you introduced yourself IRL like this: "Hi, I'm Joe. I graduated from Harvard and I think I can help." You will make a terrible impression and will most likely be told to gtfo. There's a lot more about this I could say but no need to bombard you with a wall of text. Plus, I'm sure others here have already given you plenty to think about. In general, I will just say dream bigger and set your goals higher. College is but 4 years of potentially 70 to 80 years of your life. Think about the big picture, don't let the little things you have to do along the way get you down. Of course this is all easier said than done. It took me almost the entire duration of college to figure myself out. TLDR: 1. RELAX, enjoy college (wherever you end up). Learn as much as you can; get some perspective. Make as many friends as you can because you will never get an opportunity like this again. Surround yourself with quality people, this will help you in life more than any piece of paper with the name of a prestigious university on it. 2. DO NOT IDOLIZE ANYTHING (person or otherwise) ENTIRELY, because then the best result you can hope for is a tie. If others can do it, so can you, and perhaps better | ||
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Titusmaster6
United States5937 Posts
On July 06 2014 11:00 Taf the Ghost wrote: Next, you've likely been sold on a steady diet of "School -> College -> Degree -> Job -> Success". He's a bit of Wisdom: it doesn't work that way. Your "success" is built off your Self-control and your Skill set. Then, how you can sell that skill set. School & Grades are hoop-jumping competitions. You have to be thinking about looking past that, which means actually learning skills from your classes and having work experience in the actual area you want to work in. If you're looking at a field that requires Graduate School, that's actually the school that matters. But each field, for which is "best", is different and takes even further research. Which is a slightly different topic. So, it's really about what you want to "do", the reasons for it and where you want to go. That's a much better way to select a school. I really like this. There are many paths to "success." This is one of the most important lessons you will learn. Believe me, I used to be exactly the same way, thinking there's only one way to be a doctor but actually working with so many real physicians showed me how wrong I was. I'm not saying just go crazy and do w/e, there are certain things everyone must do/go through, but be yourself, think for yourself, and act for yourself and you'll be much happier. Also, if you think only "top" students go to Harvard, and only "average" students go to other universities you're in for the shock of your life. | ||
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User15937
68 Posts
When I applied for colleges last year I had what I thought were un-rejectable credentials: 4.75 weighted GPA from a nationally top 25 high school, ranked 7th in class, 2270 SAT w/ 800 math, 35 ACT with three 36 sections, and two perfect SAT subject tests. However, I was the textbook isolated computer nerd-I had very little in the way of extracurriculars, and the ones that I did were stuff like the robotics club. I got rejected by ALL the colleges I applied to. EVERY SINGLE ****ING ONE OF THEM. (Except the state school, because it was literally illegal for them to reject me because of my class rank.) So really, grades and standardized stuff doesn't mean crap. Colleges want to see a well-rounded person, not a bunch of numbers pretending to be a person. I learned that the hard way. | ||
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ill_mind
Canada9 Posts
On July 07 2014 16:16 User15937 wrote: Really, up to a point, GPA, test scores, that sort of thing in general means very little. What colleges want to see more is activity, extracurriculars and not being one- or zero-dimensional. Plus, 9th grade really means nothing. In fact, having a poorer 9th grade may actually HELP you get into colleges-they will see you started working your tail off after 9th and like you for that. When I applied for colleges last year I had what I thought were un-rejectable credentials: 4.75 weighted GPA from a nationally top 25 high school, ranked 7th in class, 2270 SAT w/ 800 math, 35 ACT with three 36 sections, and two perfect SAT subject tests. However, I was the textbook isolated computer nerd-I had very little in the way of extracurriculars, and the ones that I did were stuff like the robotics club. I got rejected by ALL the colleges I applied to. EVERY SINGLE ****ING ONE OF THEM. (Except the state school, because it was literally illegal for them to reject me because of my class rank.) So really, grades and standardized stuff doesn't mean crap. Colleges want to see a well-rounded person, not a bunch of numbers pretending to be a person. I learned that the hard way. Thanks so much for the helpful advice everyone. I do see this a lot, universities want to see well-rounded, not one-dimensional people. I believe my credentials in terms of numbers are pretty solid, if you don't count 9th grade. 3.85~ish GPA on the 4.0 scale, (then again, assuming you don't count grade 9). My extracurriculars are okay, not the best though. I hear that schools such as Berkeley and UCLA look for some extracurriculars but still mostly focus on the numbers-- your SAT score, your GPA, class rank, difficulty of subjects, AP/IB, etc. I hold two leadership positions, leader of chess club, and I was a student counselor for some camping trip that kids had to go to. I won a math olympiad, and a math contest, as well as a computing competition, but all that seems too "nerdy". Leader of chess club, math competitions won... makes me seem kinda like a closed in nerd. I took cross country and track and field for 3 years, where you have to socialize, work as a team, and run and everything but... I don't know. I feel like I might give off impressions that might actually work against me when applying to holistic admission schools. Math competitions and olympiads and stuff work in favor of schools like CalTech and MIT, and even then, my feats aren't that great. I don't know what else to really participate in, or do... There's 1 year left for me to change stuff. :X Thanks again. | ||
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-Kaiser-
Canada932 Posts
On July 06 2014 13:43 Jerubaal wrote: The only salt I consume are the tears of my enemies. If you came across at all in your applications like you do on team liquid it's no wonder you didn't get accepted. | ||
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LlamaNamedOsama
United States1900 Posts
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