congrats! i'll second mailman in that their financial aid is great.
if you don't mind me asking, how do you know about cornell already? I thought they sent out decisions on the universal Ivy release date, March 28th
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college acceptances
- Thread starter Pernicious
- Start date
if you don't mind me asking, how do you know about cornell already? I thought they sent out decisions on the universal Ivy release date, March 28th
probably a likely letter or some other method of telling top applicants that they were accepted before the official release. if he got into chicago I wouldn't be surprised if cornell really really wanted him
edit: congratulations by the way! Uchicago and Cornell are both fantastic schools!
thanks! about cornell, like stathakis said, i got a letter from cornell a few days ago inviting me to a sort of diversity hosting program and explicitly stating, "you will be offered admission to cornell," so i'm pretty excited about it.
i'm still waiting for columbia and harvard, both of which should release their decisions on march 28th. all of the other schools that i applied to release decisions at around that date, so i'm a little nervous...
if you're qualified enough for a likely letter from cornell then harvard should be all over you. best of luck!
I don't think it's that simple. Duke and Rice gave me likely letters and large merit scholarships while "worse" places than Harvard straight up rejected me. Same happened for many people that I knew. One school may love you for whatever reason while another won't. It's really impossible (and stressful) to predict undergrad admissions beyond sports recruitment and national-level awards and honors.
That said, best of luck at Harvard and Columbia, Thursday. You've got as good a shot as anyone else.
I just found out a couple of hours ago that I got accepted to all of my programs for college, including my first choice, which is the Veterinary Technician program at Sheridan College in Brampton (my real hometown).
Honestly...I'm just so relieved and happy that I got accepted. While the first few months in Ottawa were cool, the past two years in Ottawa have been an absolute train wreck where I basically went on a 2-year failing streak in university, and spent shittons of money on a career choice I found out I had no interest in. This isn't even counting all of the personal problems I had while I was here, which definitely played a huge factor in my grades plummeting horribly. It all eventually led to me dropping out of university at the end of September, which is something I never ever thought I'd have to resort to.
All I can say is that I've finally found my dream in working with animals, because even through all the bullshit I've put up with here, even though she passed away in 2011 at 15.5 years, my doggy, and all of my memories of her have kept me going. I honestly want to help animals in any way I can, so I accepted the offer, and I'm gonna do my best once September 2013 starts. xD
Good luck to everyone else who's applied (or is applying) to college/university/other post-secondary education!
Honestly...I'm just so relieved and happy that I got accepted. While the first few months in Ottawa were cool, the past two years in Ottawa have been an absolute train wreck where I basically went on a 2-year failing streak in university, and spent shittons of money on a career choice I found out I had no interest in. This isn't even counting all of the personal problems I had while I was here, which definitely played a huge factor in my grades plummeting horribly. It all eventually led to me dropping out of university at the end of September, which is something I never ever thought I'd have to resort to.
All I can say is that I've finally found my dream in working with animals, because even through all the bullshit I've put up with here, even though she passed away in 2011 at 15.5 years, my doggy, and all of my memories of her have kept me going. I honestly want to help animals in any way I can, so I accepted the offer, and I'm gonna do my best once September 2013 starts. xD
Good luck to everyone else who's applied (or is applying) to college/university/other post-secondary education!
Officially am going to University of the Arts in Philadelphia next year, with about half off my scholarship. I'm really glad I'm going somewhere completely different from my mono-Christian, private school upbringing, and somewhere where people can actually understand my issues as an artist.
So since my first post in this thread, I've also received acceptances from Texas Tech University, Cal Poly Pomona, UNLV, and UC Riverside. Other schools I've applied to are Cal Poly SLO (rejected), UCLA, UCSD, and Arizona State University. I haven't gotten an admission decision from the last three yet, but I feel like I'm likely to get rejected by UCLA and UCSD because of how impacted they are. Still, I find it funny how mechanical engineering (my major) is impacted at CPP (at least they say it is) and I still got in.
I was at first going to go to Baylor, but even with the scholarships I got to go there, tuition would still be $30k+ per year (damn private schools), compared to way less than that to go to CPP (I think CPP's tuition is something like $7000 per year). CPP is closer to where I live and I'll probably get a comparable or better education there. However, I also got a $3,000 per year scholarship from Texas Tech, and Texas public universities do something where they waive out-of-state tuition if you get at least $1,000 in scholarships from them. If I go to Texas Tech, I finish my engineering degree in four years (at CPP, it'll take me five years). Granted, going to Texas Tech would mean much more travel so I'm leaning more towards CPP.
I was at first going to go to Baylor, but even with the scholarships I got to go there, tuition would still be $30k+ per year (damn private schools), compared to way less than that to go to CPP (I think CPP's tuition is something like $7000 per year). CPP is closer to where I live and I'll probably get a comparable or better education there. However, I also got a $3,000 per year scholarship from Texas Tech, and Texas public universities do something where they waive out-of-state tuition if you get at least $1,000 in scholarships from them. If I go to Texas Tech, I finish my engineering degree in four years (at CPP, it'll take me five years). Granted, going to Texas Tech would mean much more travel so I'm leaning more towards CPP.
UCSD decisions have been out for awhile, did you get wait listed?
Just found out I've been accepted to UNC Chapel Hill, which was my goal. I'll here back from Princeton (my reach) next week, but even if I do get in the price is a little much for a BA when I'm going to go for higher education. Either way, I'm excited!
Edit:
Edit:
Well from what I understand of Australian education (not much, don't kill me), its much more focused on vocation. I heard that you're encouraged to drop out of high school if you won't use the information, I don't know how true that is. Here, we're encouraged (pretty strongly) to stay in school, and the philosophy is that students generally don't know what they're interested in yet (I agree with points from both sides, but that's beside the point). There are some schools where you have to decide during applying, for example when I applied to my state school I applied to the school of engineering.
Stratos
Banned deucer.
so ive been wondering, if you suck at sports, is there any chance of getting into a good college like at all? I have a 4.46 GPA (second in class), 2300 SAT (plan on retaking it, 740 in math bc of two missed questions >_<), 240 PSAT, i'm an Eagle Scout, i've done track/xc every season since I was a freshman, but that's the extent of my credentials and i really feel like if I don't have a sport to offer, I'll never get into any college I want. To make matters worse, everyone I talk to about the problem is completely oblivious and is like "oh come on you can get into whatever school you want" which i just know is UNTRUE AS FUCK but they're all pressuring me and really do think I can get into MIT/CalTech/Carnegie-Mellon which makes it even worse; it's bad to the point where I freak out every time college is mentioned because I really don't want to get stuck going to UMD but I probably will just like every other goddamn person from my school who isn't an athlete. is there a shot for people like me / why is college so fucking unfair and when did it turn from a learning institution to spring training / is there anything I can do outside of magically becoming a good athlete that will make a college like MIT or CalTech want to accept me
edit probably worth mentioning i'm a junior
edit probably worth mentioning i'm a junior
Uhh there's definitely a shot for you to get into places like MIT. A sport isn't the only way to differentiate yourself. Show that you're unique (i.e. through a passion of some sort, something you did like a fundraiser, etc.) and you'll be alright. Plus, it isn't like you have to shoot for the stars or end up at your state school. You have a definite shot at getting into a great school, but apply to some tier 2s (UVA, BC, Wake Forest, Lehigh, NYU, Tufts, Emory , UMich to name a few) and you'll definitely get in. Don't stress so much... Honestly I also wouldn't waste my time retaking the SAT ... In my opinion it wouldn't make much of a difference (unless you got all 100 points back I guess).
there's always ITT tech. :)
first of all, becoming a good athlete has very little bearing on whether MIT and caltech accept you. It can help you with MIT since you meet their academic standards so if you run a 4:20 mile they'd take you, but at caltech it literally means nothing. I had better stats than you and was actively being recruited by caltech's track team, and would have been poised to break one of their school records as a freshman and several more down the road. they still wait listed and finally rejected me. mine isn't the only case like this and both the coach and athletic director told me they had literally zero pull with the admissions council. they just don't care about sports. like, at all.
now that that's out of the way, let me tell you another thing: there is little to be accomplished by worrying about whether you get into these places. if you belong/will be successful at a place like MIT or caltech then it goes without saying that you have to love math and science. if you truly love math and science, it will show in the extracurriculars you've done and the essays you write. just convey that love and you have as good of a shot as anyone else. your stats are good enough that they will give you a serious look. once you've done that, there is no more point in worrying. just do the things that you love, convey them in a charismatic way on your applications, and stop worrying after that. worrying further will only stress you out.
as far as "ways to guarantee admission," the easiest way is probably math and science competitions. if everything else is in line (i.e. academics and essays that show you love science), qualifying for USAMO or its equivalents in bio, physics, chem, robotics, etc. will significantly raise your chances. since you'd be taking these contests as a senior you no doubt would have to send a letter to the institution in the spring updating your status in them, but I know that caltech is small enough that they will be able to see (and therefore consider heavily) every update that you send them.
doing research and getting published is also a good way to differentiate yourself. if you can't do that, you could always look into the intel/siemens research competitions.
carnegie mellon is significantly easier to get into than MIT and caltech and your stats alone make you really really competitive to get in there. it's a very solid choice for the maths and sciences and I would say you've got a really good shot of going there, especially if you have good AP scores that you can report.
best of luck
yo
chill
First of all, your scores and grades seem great. That's always a plus for the list of schools you named.
Second, Cal Tech isn't really looking for if you're an athlete. I'm from Pasadena, their basketball team had a 10 year losing streak.
Third, don't stress out about which schools you will and will not get into. If you apply to enough places, you'll get in somewhere. And honestly, most schools aren't all THAT different, outside of size, location, majors offered, and whether the school is a commuter school or not (there are some other factors too obviously, but I think those are the big ones). You're going to get an education pretty much wherever you go. It will not be the end of the world if you get accepted to Brown instead of Harvard.
Let me repeat myself: you're going to get accepted somewhere, and you're probably going to get rejected somewhere. Do not set all of your hopes on one school, since that might be the one school whose admission officer is having a bad day when they get your app, or whatever. On the other hand, don't sweat which one of your "reaches" is going to reject you. If they reject you, they're missing out.
As for what sorts of things you can do to increase your stock for colleges, you can work on your writing ability. If you write well, then you can sell an admission officer on why their school needs a student like you. A lot of colleges put a good bit of weight into your essays. If you practice your writing abilities and can write an essay about yourself or your experiences that isn't boring, that's a huge plus. Being able to communicate something about who you are, what you're interested in, why you're interested in it, and what you can bring to a school can help make it a lot less likely that admissions officers don't see exactly what you're bringing to their school and why you belong there.
You seem to have a good variety of interests, with track/xc and Boy Scouts outside of the classroom. That's good too.
As I mentioned before, there ARE differences in collegiate experiences based on size, location, commuter status, and majors offered. Before you apply to a school, figure out whether you'd do better in a more close-knit community, or would rather have the amenities and often the more specific majors at a big school. Figure out whether you need to live in a city or near a city. Figure out if you can handle the cold or want to handle the cold. If you want to live with people and make friends that live on campus, try not to go to a school where everyone commutes.
When you find out more about yourself and about the school you're applying to, it makes it a lot easier to communicate in a way that makes it more likely that you'll get in. It's easier to sell yourself when you know what you have to offer, what the school is looking for, and how you bring that to the table. And can do that in a not boring way.
Think that's a decent post about stuff you can do. But seriously, relax.
Stratos
Banned deucer.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my nervous breakdown! you guys had some really helpful advice. it's nice to know that CalTech isn't really looking for athletes—one less deficiency to have to cover for, haha. also really heartening to know that Carnegie Mellon has more lax standards than the other two [though obviously it'd be nice to get into those as well! (and it doesn't mean i'm foolproof for C-M either)]. The school I come from has just had a long line of athletes getting accepted into schools they shouldn't and people who were far more deserving but not athletes getting rejected, so it gets me pretty worked up.
i'm definitely going to be looking into all of the suggestions that you guys threw out. I'm trying to improve my writing by taking AP Lang (what AP aren't I taking, though? lol) but all its taught me is how much more i need to learn about writing xD. the stuff stathakis suggested about doing your own research or getting into USAMO sounds super fun, but i don't think i'm smart enough to do that stuff (I'm on my school's math team, but we're absolutely nothing special lol). Still, i'll try do do it, and I'll definitely study my ass off for my AP exams come May so I can post straight 5s (being a junior ive only taken stat and world which were both a lot easier than Chem or Lang will be)! And as for what DLE said about knowing where you fit in, I definitely want to go to a smaller school, which is what has me nervous since smaller schools seem to be either really good or really bad, and there's not many in the middle x_x. I've already visited MIT and loved it, but I'll definitely have to check out CalTech to see what they're looking for! ugh why does applying to colleges have to suck so much if you're not an athlete who's already committed and knows where they're going by early junior year :(
i'm definitely going to be looking into all of the suggestions that you guys threw out. I'm trying to improve my writing by taking AP Lang (what AP aren't I taking, though? lol) but all its taught me is how much more i need to learn about writing xD. the stuff stathakis suggested about doing your own research or getting into USAMO sounds super fun, but i don't think i'm smart enough to do that stuff (I'm on my school's math team, but we're absolutely nothing special lol). Still, i'll try do do it, and I'll definitely study my ass off for my AP exams come May so I can post straight 5s (being a junior ive only taken stat and world which were both a lot easier than Chem or Lang will be)! And as for what DLE said about knowing where you fit in, I definitely want to go to a smaller school, which is what has me nervous since smaller schools seem to be either really good or really bad, and there's not many in the middle x_x. I've already visited MIT and loved it, but I'll definitely have to check out CalTech to see what they're looking for! ugh why does applying to colleges have to suck so much if you're not an athlete who's already committed and knows where they're going by early junior year :(
Pwnemon what are you planning on going to school for? I assume since you want MIT really badly it's some sort of tech or engineering? I'll do a shameless plug and suggest my own school (Lehigh). It's very, very good for engineering and business and has been consistently ranked as high as some of the juggernaut schools in terms of graduates getting hired and salaries. It's also a smaller school, like you want.
Ehh, not really. In fact, the current Government has made a big deal out of a correlation-causation error and made it a part of their political platform that EVERYONE GOES TO UNIVERSITY. They said "Hey, successful people all went to university, so everyone should go to university so everyone is successful."
That being said, the other parties have made the trade school thing a big focus of their paltform too, but you're really not encouraged to drop out from school - lots of kids do it without a job or apprenticeship lined up, and struggle, but generally it's expected that you go to university.
Our university admissions program is centralised by state, though. You don't apply to each place individually, you submit a list of preferenced courses (e.g. BSc at School A, BEng at School B, etc., and then you get your top preference based on how you rank against other students in your state (top ranks get first pick).
If you're planning on computer science, go for Carnegie Mellon. It's currently the best school for undergrad recruiting for computer science, and it's tied for best graduate programs. Plus you can walk right in from undergrad given you had a 3.0+ gpa.
It's tough though.
Oddly enough I can't choose computer engineering or electrical at CMU since the spots for the incoming class are filled up and I registered as undecided. I should be able to find a spot if I do decide to enroll. However I am still undecided on a major so I don't know if computer science interests me.