Rejection, Rejection, and oh a Waitlist! great

urgh. I suppose it is appropriate to categorize me as a stressed and unaccomplished senior. I have been working my ass off throughout high school, taking rigorous classes and performing exceptionally well on the SAT test. Apparently the banal 'Hard work pays off' did not apply to me.

I applied to a top school early decision and was flat out rejected. "Alright" I told myself "Hopefully better luck next time." I was then devastated when I was rejected/waitlisted from the remaining top schools I applied to. My safety schools offered a generous stipend; however, it is hard seeing all your facebook friends flipping a shit "GOT INTO --!!!!!"

Whatever. I just needed an audience to vent to other than my parents.

 

That sucks man, I am sorry to hear that. I am probably the opposite of you. I don't work hard, but I am plenty smart. Waiting to get my act back, but on the practice tests I scored anywhere from 24-31

 

curios, what is your overall gpa and what colleges were you looking at?

 

Money plays a big role when applying to top schools, if you come from an unwealthy family most likely you will be put on a waiting list unless you literally took all honors classes and passed with flying colors, along with many activites! I would strongly suggest taking the back up schools offer either way an education is an education.... You don't want to attend a prestigious school and be in debt the rest of your life!

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I was rejected from all of my schools with the exception of my safeties and waitlisted from one (I actually don't hear back from them until the end of May). Don't let it bother you. Worst case scenario, you go to one of your safety schools for a year, do well, then transfer out to your target/reach school.

Hang in there.

 

You are going to get a good education no matter where you go. It is impossible to tell if you are actually going to enjoy a school until you are there. You have safety schools, so go to one of those and you might love it. You'll also most likely be at the top of your class (which would be hard in a stretch school) so if you want to transfer it should be easy.

 

Personally the term 'Hard work pays off' has a very big flaw in it.

I'll give examples:

Hard work in basket ball doesn't mean you'll become a better golf player.
Hard work in Mathematics doesn't mean you'll become a better English student.

Stupid examples? Yes, the point is that hard work itself is not the determining factor, you need hard work in the right area and the right approach.
I have a friend, who studies probably 10-20 times more than me and he still get's C's B's but it is getting a lot more A's during the easier tests. While he may be able to retain all the information he's studying he just cannot apply it. I told him to just do some English Comprehension or logic questions cause no matter what you can commit to memory the teacher doesn't care as long as you prove it in your answer.

It's unfortunate you didn't get in your desired schools, but don't give up hope there. Bordering on what SuF said you'll get a great education at whichever school you decide to enroll, as long as your happy.

 

Waiting to see if you have been accepted into college is stressful enough while trying to maintain/bump up your average and it really is a shame that you didn't get what you wanted though you worked hard. I'm guessing you're still young so I'll say this: you have your whole life ahead of you and this one speed bump won't doom you to utter failure at life. If you are doing as well as you say you are than those schools don't know what they are missing out on, try applying again if that is the school you really want to go to, many people get in to schools like that after multiple tries and continue with their education perfectly normally. Don't give up!

PM me if you want to talk privately or want advice.

 

I'm finishing up my second year in college now and although I thought I'd regret going to a "safer" school that was in my home state instead of branching out and going somewhere "far off and big", but it turns out that its not that big of a deal really. All universities are named that because they have become accredited, so as far as under-grad goes, it doesn't really matter that much where you go as long as you perform well. Also, these "safety" schools might not be as lame as you think, I know when I took the thought out of my head that I needed to travel a long distance to get to a good school, I realized that the university I'm attending now is quite good and that a lot of people have traveled a long way from other places to go here, so just because a school is in your back yard doesn't mean it isn't a good place to get an education.

As other's have said, if you are really set on going to another school, just do a year and then transfer. ALOT of freshman quit or do poorly, even at those "prestigious" schools that you want admission too, so if you can show you performed as well as you are saying even with the Highschool/college transition, they will be alot more likely to take you, because they will have more room in the higher classes (alot of people drop out after first year) and you have shown that you can deal with college stresses and still maintain good grades, you won't be a problem for them and you will make them look better so they will want you alot more.

Either way, just do well no matter where you end up, don't let your location affect your grades because if you don't do well it doesn't matter where you are you aren't going further in the educational system, and work hard towards the next step (professional or graduate school) because when you get to that level the school starts to matter a bit more, so look into what type of people they accept, what kinds of scores turns there eye and go for it the next 4 years, YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Hope I didn't ramble too much and I hope I helped, good luck man!

 

This is incorrect; almost all of the most prestigious schools are need blind, meaning they do not know your financial situation. If you give 15 million and a library to the school, of course your kid is going to get in. But generally it has absolutely no impact.

I'm sorry you didn't get in. The one tip I have for younger people reading this thread is that if you are flat out rejected from your early decision school, it means you aren't academically capable in their eyes. You should therefore review your college pool for regular decision and make sure your schools will be wanting to take you.

Good luck on the waitlist.