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For those top students who are disappointed by rejections and probably experiencing academic "failure" for the first time, just keep a few things in mind:
1. Assuming you applied smartly (ie not just HYPSM) you will likely gain admittance to one of the top universities in the country.
2. Your college doesn't define you, it's what you make out of your opportunities, and believe me they are endless at any top school.
3. Even if you feel like you're "settling" by going to a "lesser" school than whatever your dream school was, chances are that you'll find a ton of people at that school that are more driven, more talented, and more intelligent than you. Don't underestimate the caliber of students at any of the top schools or else you'll suddenly find yourself an average or below average student.
4. Once you decide on a school to attend, forget about the rejections or other schools you turned down. Don't wallow in misery and bitterness that you aren't attending your dream school. If you give your school a fair chance, you'll probably end up loving wherever you attend. |
On March 28 2013 04:12 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2013 03:26 babylon wrote:On March 27 2013 19:23 Recognizable wrote:
I looked at the SAT today. It seems like a pretty bullshit test. I don't even know what they want to test. General intelligence? Well why not just go for an IQ test? It seems you can practice plenty for this SAT. It also seems that they don't even want to test your Math skills because the questions are very basic and basically anyone can understand the material. Idk, weird test. It seems that the only thing important about the SAT is that it is a standardized test and everyone makes it so it's easy to compare. Wait until you look at the GRE. The math gets easier, the vocab gets twice as obscure. The best way* to practice is to sit in B&N with a coffee (feel free to treat yourself to a frap or some extravagantly sugary drink) and to just do practice tests for 2-4 hours a day (depending on your schedule). Don't forget to go over your answers and to read the explanations. Don't waste time reading the stuff in the practice books before the tests and such; you'll learn as you go, and it'll stick better. For SAT ... I remember liking Princeton Review, but I dunno if that's because it was easy or actually helpful ... Barrons is typically good, as well. I don't remember, really; I just grabbed books off the shelves. The key to acing these tests if you have adequate background in math and okay reading skills is to just know what the test-makers are looking for. I can't stress this enough, esp. for the verbal section. *By "best," I mean cheapest and most effective (for me). Many tutoring centers prefer using the CollegeBoard study books (the big blue books for SAT prep) over other ones, although certainly multiple books can be useful.
Think it's definitely good to get used to a wide variety of questions (and personally, I've always found the fake practice tests in other books more difficult than the actual test, which gives you a great confidence boost!). However, if you can get access to older tests, that's a great way to go as well.
Also, someone else said not to sweat it for the GRE. I still recommend sweating it a little bit, seeing as how it's occasionally used to determine funding allocation for grad students within a department ... would suck if you only have three years of funding instead of five years 'cause you missed a few more questions than your classmates.
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On March 28 2013 04:27 babylon wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2013 04:12 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On March 28 2013 03:26 babylon wrote:On March 27 2013 19:23 Recognizable wrote:
I looked at the SAT today. It seems like a pretty bullshit test. I don't even know what they want to test. General intelligence? Well why not just go for an IQ test? It seems you can practice plenty for this SAT. It also seems that they don't even want to test your Math skills because the questions are very basic and basically anyone can understand the material. Idk, weird test. It seems that the only thing important about the SAT is that it is a standardized test and everyone makes it so it's easy to compare. Wait until you look at the GRE. The math gets easier, the vocab gets twice as obscure. The best way* to practice is to sit in B&N with a coffee (feel free to treat yourself to a frap or some extravagantly sugary drink) and to just do practice tests for 2-4 hours a day (depending on your schedule). Don't forget to go over your answers and to read the explanations. Don't waste time reading the stuff in the practice books before the tests and such; you'll learn as you go, and it'll stick better. For SAT ... I remember liking Princeton Review, but I dunno if that's because it was easy or actually helpful ... Barrons is typically good, as well. I don't remember, really; I just grabbed books off the shelves. The key to acing these tests if you have adequate background in math and okay reading skills is to just know what the test-makers are looking for. I can't stress this enough, esp. for the verbal section. *By "best," I mean cheapest and most effective (for me). Many tutoring centers prefer using the CollegeBoard study books (the big blue books for SAT prep) over other ones, although certainly multiple books can be useful. Think it's definitely good to get used to a wide variety of questions (and personally, I've always found the fake practice tests in other books more difficult than the actual test, which gives you a great confidence boost!). However, if you can get access to older tests, that's a great way to go as well. Also, someone else said not to sweat it for the GRE. I still recommend sweating it a little bit, seeing as how it's occasionally used to determine funding allocation for grad students within a department ... would suck if you only have three years of funding instead of five years 'cause you missed a few more questions than your classmates.
Yeah, the GRE is pretty much just the SAT on steroids.
I'd slightly increase the level of seriousness you take the former, especially if you didn't perform extremely well on the latter.
And I agree with you that taking practice tests is extremely important, as many students have bigger issues with the format than just the content.
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CA10832 Posts
btw, good luck to all the USC applicants! apparently acceptance letters were mailed out yesterday. hopefully you'll be getting a bright red folder soon 
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I heard that UC Berkeley (all UC's?) freshmen decisions get sent out tomorrow! Good luck
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i hear emory decisions are out (rather the emory facebook page says they are). anyone?
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Accepted to Mizzou! Had a 29 on the ACT.
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Anyone get accepted to CMU?
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On March 28 2013 09:56 Disregard wrote:
Anyone get accepted to CMU?
Got in to their math PhD program but probably going elsewhere. Might want to specify department/level though.
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On March 28 2013 10:05 SharkSpider wrote:Got in to their math PhD program but probably going elsewhere. Might want to specify department/level though.
QQ come here! CMU math all the way.
Except for the whole it being in Pittsburgh thing - that's not so great.
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On March 28 2013 04:17 Pokebunny wrote:
Grades - 88 average (3.3), but my school is pretty much the top in NYC and doesn't calculate class ranks or GPAs. I wish I went to an average school, woulda been easy 4.0 :/ (it's Hunter College High School for those who know of it).
No real achievements/accomplishments other than my SC2 career, which accounted for most of my extracurricular activity, between coaching, streaming, competing, casting, and writing.
Dude, you go to hunter college? That school is pretty amazing from what I hear. I know for a fact y'alls science bowl team is pretty good, they wiped the floor with us at nationals :/
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On March 28 2013 10:58 packrat386 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2013 04:17 Pokebunny wrote:
Grades - 88 average (3.3), but my school is pretty much the top in NYC and doesn't calculate class ranks or GPAs. I wish I went to an average school, woulda been easy 4.0 :/ (it's Hunter College High School for those who know of it).
No real achievements/accomplishments other than my SC2 career, which accounted for most of my extracurricular activity, between coaching, streaming, competing, casting, and writing.
Dude, you go to hunter college? That school is pretty amazing from what I hear. I know for a fact y'alls science bowl team is pretty good, they wiped the floor with us at nationals :/
Ehehe. HCHS destroying the world. D:
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I thought top school in NYC was SITHS =) Not a lot of TL'ers in CUNY, like myself.
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On March 28 2013 11:27 Pokebunny wrote:Show nested quote +On March 28 2013 10:58 packrat386 wrote:On March 28 2013 04:17 Pokebunny wrote:
Grades - 88 average (3.3), but my school is pretty much the top in NYC and doesn't calculate class ranks or GPAs. I wish I went to an average school, woulda been easy 4.0 :/ (it's Hunter College High School for those who know of it).
No real achievements/accomplishments other than my SC2 career, which accounted for most of my extracurricular activity, between coaching, streaming, competing, casting, and writing.
Dude, you go to hunter college? That school is pretty amazing from what I hear. I know for a fact y'alls science bowl team is pretty good, they wiped the floor with us at nationals :/ Ehehe. HCHS destroying the world. D:
They were really nice about it about though. Like everyone on the team remembers them as being the nicest team during the competition. They wiped the floor with us in an incredibly humble and sportsmanlike manner.
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Guys, for grad school, how did you make your final decision on where to attend? I'm jammed up on my final two schools and can't make up my mind. Losing sleep over this. It's so much harder to reject grad schools than undergrad since you're no longer "just a number," and everything's more personalized.
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On March 28 2013 14:06 Disregard wrote:
I thought top school in NYC was SITHS =) Not a lot of TL'ers in CUNY, like myself.
Alright, well I don't have any stats to back anything up, but Hunter/Stuyvesant are pretty much the big names as far as I know :p
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Princeton's coming out today.
7.29% overall acceptance rate. 5.44% for regular. GL erbode. Percents are down from last year (big surprise).
1931 accepted.
1395 on the wait list.
GL erbode.
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l10f
United States3241 Posts
Good luck to ivy applicants! Go Big Red!!
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fingers crossed for my 1% chance at columbia
GL all TT
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Wow Columbia with the 6.59% admissions rate. Crazy.
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EPT
