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Lots of great things have happened to me over the last few weeks, and I kind of just want to spew it since I've been really excited about them.
First, a new gym opened around the corner from my house It may seem like a minor point, but I've wanted to work out as often as possible for a while now, and having a gym that's not complete shit right around the corner from my house is AMAZING. I can't drive yet, but I don't even need to. It's a 2 minute walk, and the gym is really reasonably priced compared to other gyms in my area.
Secondly, I'm going to college! Just got a bunch of my acceptances back within the last two or three weeks, and a lot in the last two or three days. I ended up doing pretty well on the standardized tests I took, and have gotten into 6 of the 7 schools I've heard back from (one of the schools deferred me, but I think it's more because they thought I wouldn't seriously consider attending the school), including my #1 choice. I've also gotten a ton of scholarship money so far and I have very good options where I'd graduate with almost no debt, which is really big for education in America. It's incredibly expensive (private colleges/universities are upwards of $60k/year often), and to have incredibly affordable options that I'd want to go to is really awesome.
I'm planning on studying biomedical engineering, and I'm really happy that I know 100% that I have good options. No, they're not Ivy League schools (although I could've applied to them if I really wanted to), but I'm really happy with the options that I do have and don't really want to go to *that* competitive of a school. It also came at a pretty nice time, because I have semester exams this week and on next Monday. Had I not heard back from these colleges, I'd have had to put WAY more effort into studying (I'd have to get at least a 95+ on almost all of my exams), but now I just need to do well enough (probably around an 88+). Unfortunately I don't have the time today to watch SSL day 2, but I get off starting next Monday so I've got that to look forward to.
Stuff has been looking very good for me in the last few weeks, and I'm really excited/anxious about what the next few months has. It can only go up from here, and I think the rest of my last year of high school should be very fun.
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yaaay!
Which schools did u get accepted to?
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On December 18 2014 20:24 Chairman Ray wrote:
yaaay!
Which schools did u get accepted to?
-Tufts University (probably going to attend if the financial aid is doable)
-Northeastern University ($16k scholarship and VERY generous need-based grant)
-The Ohio State University ($18k in scholarships; no financial aid package yet)
-WPI (no information about money yet)
-Fordham (minimum of $15k in scholarships; no financial aid package yet)
-SUNY Binghamton (nothing about money yet)
And then Case Western deferred me >_> If I had to guess, I'm pretty sure it's yield protection (basically they'd rather have a higher % of people get enrolled than have a higher average SAT/ACT score and lose a lot of people to "better" colleges), but that might just be me rationalizing getting deferred to a school that I was confident with getting into  . I saw a lot of people online got deferred there with stats similar to mine, and we all had pretty good stats, so I'm 90% sure that's what it was.
None of the acceptances except Tufts Engineering were particularly surprising to me. I had reasonably good stats and was a candidate for almost any school in the US, but most of the top schools just weren't that attractive to me. The only school in the country I still dream of going to is Stanford, but realistically even with my stats my chances go up to a measly 9 or 10%. I also applied to UVa, but the notification isn't until 1/31 and I'll be committed to Tufts by then. I'm incredibly happy with my decision though, and as long as Tufts is affordable I'll be thrilled to be going there.
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Congratulations mate! always good to read happy blogs :D
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Congratulations! That's great news! My fiancee's brother went to Tufts and he absolutely loved it, but tuition is really, really steep.
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Grats, bro. I was at a very similar juncture at your age, as I was deciding between NYU and OSU for undergrad. I'm now quite happy I opted for the state school, but everyone is on their own path. If you're at all interested in mechanical engineering, particularly automotive or bio, I have a number of OSU connects as one of my best friends from elementary school graduated from OSU with his masters in bio-mech engineering (his thesis was on walking/running stride mechanics as a function of knee stability and core activation) and another got his bachelors in auto and now works on super chargers for an Audi sub, so lemme know if you have any questions you think I can answer.
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On December 18 2014 22:48 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
Congratulations! That's great news! My fiancee's brother went to Tufts and he absolutely loved it, but tuition is really, really steep.
I don't normally advertise this, but I'm in the position of receiving a large amount of need-based aid. I got a huge grant ($28k/year) in addition to the pretty nice scholarship I got at Northeastern. I probably would've gotten an even better grant had I not gotten a scholarship, but that's a separate story. My family's net price calculator has Tufts at a very affordable price, and considering they only give need-based aid I think it will most likely be affordable. How affordable is one thing, but I'd rather incur a little bit of debt and really enjoy my four years of undergraduate experience than to feel like I made a decision based on money that I'd possibly regret later. Everyone has their own approach to it though.
If the school is affordable and I won't take on too much debt, Tufts is my #1 choice. I made a commitment by applying early decision and I don't want to break that commitment unless it's truly out of my family's price range.
On December 18 2014 23:15 farvacola wrote:
Grats, bro. I was at a very similar juncture at your age, as I was deciding between NYU and OSU for undergrad. I'm now quite happy I opted for the state school, but everyone is on their own path. If you're at all interested in mechanical engineering, particularly automotive or bio, I have a number of OSU connects as one of my best friends from elementary school graduated from OSU with his masters in bio-mech engineering (his thesis was on walking/running stride mechanics as a function of knee stability and core activation) and another got his bachelors in auto and now works on super chargers for an Audi sub, so lemme know if you have any questions you think I can answer.
If it gets a little further I may have questions about OSU specifically, but most likely I think that my choice will be between Tufts, Northeastern, and if I send out any other applications possibly Duke or Johns Hopkins BME (doubt I'll get into Hopkins BME though).
Thanks to everyone else! I know the blog section here can be quite depressing sometimes, and I'm just glad to have all this good news 
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It sounds like you have it all figured out That's awesome!
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Congratulations!
American college applications are so brutal compared those in Denmark. Here, you just go to a web site, plug in your social security number and check the boxes for what you want to apply to (I'm simplifying a bit here but much). The only reason it even took me 15 minutes was because I wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't do anything wrong... Also, because admission is only based on GPA (which I'm a big opponent of but w/e), most people almost know if they'll get accepted before they even apply.
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On December 19 2014 07:44 Zzzapper wrote:
Congratulations!
American college applications are so brutal compared those in Denmark. Here, you just go to a web site, plug in your social security number and check the boxes for what you want to apply to (I'm simplifying a bit here but much). The only reason it even took me 15 minutes was because I wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't do anything wrong... Also, because admission is only based on GPA (which I'm a big opponent of but w/e), most people almost know if they'll get accepted before they even apply.
our system is horridly complicated in the US. I'm still doing all my applications, which take hours and hours to do. Plus, there are tons of other little things that need to be done, such as paying for scores to be sent from the testing company to the schools, getting your school to send transcripts, and dealing with letters of recommendation. All in all, a terribly pointless hassle.
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On December 19 2014 16:56 aRyuujin wrote:Show nested quote +On December 19 2014 07:44 Zzzapper wrote:
Congratulations!
American college applications are so brutal compared those in Denmark. Here, you just go to a web site, plug in your social security number and check the boxes for what you want to apply to (I'm simplifying a bit here but much). The only reason it even took me 15 minutes was because I wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't do anything wrong... Also, because admission is only based on GPA (which I'm a big opponent of but w/e), most people almost know if they'll get accepted before they even apply. our system is horridly complicated in the US. I'm still doing all my applications, which take hours and hours to do. Plus, there are tons of other little things that need to be done, such as paying for scores to be sent from the testing company to the schools, getting your school to send transcripts, and dealing with letters of recommendation. All in all, a terribly pointless hassle.
Yeah, I applied to a few American colleges so I know far too much about that. It's even worse as a foreigner because it's not very common (at least in Denmark) so you basically have to figure everything out by yourself. And on top of that, some of the things you mentioned cost even more money and you have to take the ToEFL which is ridiculously expensive - something like 250$ for a 3 hour test...
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Congrats buddy!
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Even better news!!!!!!!!!!!
The Tufts financial aid package just came back. Without divulging too much information about the aid that I received, it's a great deal for my education. I'd be paying less than my state school and would come out with less debt than Northeastern wants me to take on. I'm incredibly thrilled with this extremely generous package, and I'm so happy to be going to Tufts. Thanks to everyone who's congratulated me so far -- the news I've gotten over the last five days has been incredible. I'm so happy that this process has really given me so many amazing opportunities, especially when so many people wind up heartbroken and depressed by it.
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EPT
