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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 18 2013 07:14 kafkaesque wrote:
Are you guys really serious about the colleges taking race into consideration?
I can't tell if you're jesting, but I can't believe that this would be legal or tolerated...
There aren't allowed to be quotas or anything of that nature, but it is pretty commonly accepted that given a white student and a black student who are otherwise equivalent prospects, the black student is far more likely to get accepted to a college.
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I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal...
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On March 18 2013 07:32 kafkaesque wrote:
I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal...
Have you not heard of Affirmative Action? Its a relatively common idea in the US since there is a large African American population that has been historically marginalized.
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On March 18 2013 07:37 packrat386 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 07:32 kafkaesque wrote:
I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal... Have you not heard of Affirmative Action? Its a relatively common idea in the US since there is a large African American population that has been historically marginalized.
That only leads to behaviours like "stfu, you are only here because of your gender / coulour / citizenship / etc. ..."
I have heard that some feminist even are against gender quotas.
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Cayman Islands24199 Posts
if you are good enough you'll get into a good school. the content of undergrad education is not that different, you can still get in good grad schools if you put in the work.
choosing to demonize minority students is something that would disqualify you from admission if exposed, probably.
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On March 18 2013 07:32 kafkaesque wrote:
I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal...
But not quite kafkaesque, I assume.
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On March 18 2013 07:48 Saumure wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 07:37 packrat386 wrote:On March 18 2013 07:32 kafkaesque wrote:
I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal... Have you not heard of Affirmative Action? Its a relatively common idea in the US since there is a large African American population that has been historically marginalized. That only leads to behaviours like "stfu, you are only here because of your gender / coulour / citizenship / etc. ..." I have heard that some feminist even are against gender quotas.
And I'm sure there are some black people against affirmative action. Just to be clear, the courts have set a precedent that universities (and I believe businesses also) CANNOT set quotas for how many people of each race they want to accept. Usually affirmative action is practiced just as a slight edge given to marginalized minorities, i.e. maybe a kids SAT scores are a little lower than most people that they accept, but he grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and has been disadvantaged because of his race.
There really isn't any rational discussion to be had about whether or not certain communities are disadvantaged, at this point its only a question of what we want to do about it. I think affirmative action to help combat the detrimental effects of racism and sexism is a perfectly legitimate approach.
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On March 18 2013 08:17 packrat386 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 07:48 Saumure wrote:On March 18 2013 07:37 packrat386 wrote:On March 18 2013 07:32 kafkaesque wrote:
I did not expect that.
Call me naive, but this really, really surprises me. Absolutely surreal... Have you not heard of Affirmative Action? Its a relatively common idea in the US since there is a large African American population that has been historically marginalized. That only leads to behaviours like "stfu, you are only here because of your gender / coulour / citizenship / etc. ..." I have heard that some feminist even are against gender quotas. And I'm sure there are some black people against affirmative action. Just to be clear, the courts have set a precedent that universities (and I believe businesses also) CANNOT set quotas for how many people of each race they want to accept. Usually affirmative action is practiced just as a slight edge given to marginalized minorities, i.e. maybe a kids SAT scores are a little lower than most people that they accept, but he grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and has been disadvantaged because of his race. There really isn't any rational discussion to be had about whether or not certain communities are disadvantaged, at this point its only a question of what we want to do about it. I think affirmative action to help combat the detrimental effects of racism and sexism is a perfectly legitimate approach.
Here is the thread about the Supreme Court case against AA, though its for all the wrong reasons... my view is that AA is all we have to combat racism, though the imbalance is such that it is more likely to help some black kid from a relatively privileged background get into a school rather than one from an actually disadvantaged one.
(oh hey, that thread was started by same guy as this one)
There was an article in the NYTimes today (or recently?) about how high achieving low income students choose local or public universities instead of the so-called "elite" ones as well because of finances. What the author neglected to mention is that financial aid is a joke-- "fully met need" usually means they'll give you a couple grand merit aid, and then like 20K+ in loans per semester. I find it ridiculous that giving a loan counts as "aid"-- it's money you have to pay back later at a higher price. At least for me, that's pretty hard to swallow.
Anyways, in higher education schools often have unofficial "soft" quotas. They set a goal for what kind of composition that they want the incoming class to be-- characteristics like geography, ethnicity, majors, etc. They may go over-under a bit for some kids, but generally that's how its determined.
Try not to derail the thread anymore though (._.)
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On March 18 2013 05:43 darthfoley wrote:Congrats to all! I was rejected EA from Harvard. Waiting: Stanford Cornell Northwestern Amherst Middlebury Rice Vanderbilt Richmond F&M Dickinson Credentials: + Show Spoiler +Pros:
-3.71UW/4.57W GPA (out of 4)
-IB Diploma Student
-5 years living abroad experience
-Bilingual
-4 year football player; 2X captain (led our team to first winning season in 13 years)
-3 year track&field 1X captain
-Studied for a month in France as part of the Tufts Summit European Center Program
-National Honor Society
-Foreign Language Honor Society
-5 AP GOV, 4 AP USH (as a freshman)
-Attend a minority majority high school (avg SAT score is 1540/2400)
-Football accolades (1st team all county blablabla 2X years)
-Great rec letters
-Very good essays (e.g - "Sleeping With Monks: A Personal Adventure")
-VERY good alumni interviews
-Helped out a lot at community events for the school, PTSA, summer camp, etc.
Cons:
-1940 SAT (made me want to kill myself lol)
-620 French SAT2 (i'm much better speaking than writing/grammar)
-600 Biology SAT2
-Caucasian
The one thing about the IB program, the classes are two years long. I had only had the first year of biology before I had to take the SAT2, so I had not learned neurobiology, hormones, etc. which show up very frequently on the SAT2.
The SAT really fucked me up. I see so many people with nigh perfect SATs, and SAT2s. It's really depressing. I did many interviews, which only helped my apps because i'm an extremely personable..person. In fact, the Stanford interviewer said that he'd do anything in his power to help me get accepted. His family is legacy and he seems to be quite a successful alum, so i'm hoping beyond hope that I somehow get lucky and get accepted. I'm trying to play football in college, which is one reason why I applied to 4 D3 rigorous schools.
This is like going to be my exact stats for next year, except definitely much better SAT's (sorry) and not so much living abroad, but I'm asian so that's even worse. Same sports (very likely going to be captain in both too), around same gpa, etc. Really interested to see what you get+ Show Spoiler +
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Affirmative action makes me want to shoot myself in the head. On topic, being a freshman I am just starting to see college letters come in the mail and it makes me really excited. The only one that is actually notable is Columbia Engineering, and that really isn't that good. (I think?)
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On March 18 2013 08:57 autoexec wrote:
Affirmative action makes me want to shoot myself in the head. On topic, being a freshman I am just starting to see college letters come in the mail and it makes me really excited. The only one that is actually notable is Columbia Engineering, and that really isn't that good. (I think?)
Columbia is like 4th in the country... or it was when I was applying to school.
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On March 18 2013 08:58 ticklishmusic wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 08:57 autoexec wrote:
Affirmative action makes me want to shoot myself in the head. On topic, being a freshman I am just starting to see college letters come in the mail and it makes me really excited. The only one that is actually notable is Columbia Engineering, and that really isn't that good. (I think?) Columbia is like 4th in the country... or it was when I was applying to school.
Really? After a quick check to Wikipedia it seems that their Engineering was 4th in the country as of February 2011. O.O Well that makes quite a bit happier! :D
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On March 18 2013 08:57 autoexec wrote:
Affirmative action makes me want to shoot myself in the head. On topic, being a freshman I am just starting to see college letters come in the mail and it makes me really excited. The only one that is actually notable is Columbia Engineering, and that really isn't that good. (I think?)
Affirmative action is a bit of a bummer, but I'm not sure if it's really as huge of a factor as some people make it out to be.
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On March 18 2013 08:58 ticklishmusic wrote:Show nested quote +On March 18 2013 08:57 autoexec wrote:
Affirmative action makes me want to shoot myself in the head. On topic, being a freshman I am just starting to see college letters come in the mail and it makes me really excited. The only one that is actually notable is Columbia Engineering, and that really isn't that good. (I think?) Columbia is like 4th in the country... or it was when I was applying to school.
Their overall ranking is 4th. Their engineering isn't ranked nearly as well.
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well, good luck to you people, im glad we have open universities in germany that dont make people go through such a stressfull ceremony.
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You're right. After checking the link, the page was to an overall ranking. I think the actual rank of the Engineering College was 15th.
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can some one clarifies AA to me? is that the equivalent of positive discrimination?
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United States17077 Posts
Is it possible to get into a good college in America without playing sports?
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On March 18 2013 10:02 crazyweasel wrote:
can some one clarifies AA to me? is that the equivalent of positive discrimination?
It's the same thing. Except that it is more politically correct to use AA. In the same sense that some people are "challenged" (see here)
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EPT
