How I Got Into College

In My Humble Opinion
1

So I’m watching American High on PBS the other day. It’s this documentary where the cameras follow 14 teenagers in a suburban Chicago high school around for a few months. Most of these kids are spoiled little bastards with huge chips on their shoulders, but that’s another thread.

Some of these kids are seniors and are dealing with getting into college. By golly, you’d think getting into college was the hardest thing anybody ever had to do! The way these kids stress and agonize about it, and then cry and sob when they get their rejection letters.

Really, people, how hard is it to get into college? Let’s look at Rastahomie’s experience:

I applied at 3 colleges, and got accepted to all 3. The application process at College #1 & College #2 went like this: 1) Fill out this application; 2) Send a check. College #3 wanted a couple of references and an essay, but it was no sweat.

By the time April of my senior year rolled around, my mailbox was stuffed to the gills with offers from colleges all across the midwest. Some of these schools wanted me so bad they were sending me three or four mailings a week, offering me free tours, offering to send recruiters to my home, etc. It was really surprising how bad they wanted me, because I was a mediocre student with a just-slightly-above-average ACT score and a pretty well-documented attitude problem.

And then there’s the Army. The Army bugged me day & night for about 6 months. They sent recruiters, uninvited, to my house on at least 3 occasions. I remember once looking the recruiter straight in the eye and asking him, as I sat there in my Megadeth shirt, long hair & pierced ear, if I was the kind of guy the Army really wanted. Apparently I was, because he didn’t leave.

Anyway, getting into college was no sweat, from my standpoint. Is it really that difficult these days? How many hoops did all of you college-educated or college-enrolled Dopers have to jump through to get into college?

2

I recall the Navy was still bugging me to enlist and go into nuclear physics SIX YEARS after I graduated.

Anyway. Same here: I applied for maybe 2 colleges. Got my scholarships. No biggy.

3

When I applied to college, there were no on-line applications and few word processors. Typing my applications and my essays was a total pain, for one thing. The college at which I ended up enrolling required not just two teacher’s recommendations, but also one from my English teacher addressing my writing ability.

Obviously, it depends a lot on the colleges you apply to. There are a lot of colleges our there who sweat getting their class each year, and many which have an “access” mission to they are not selective at all. Apply to those, and it’s not going to be hard to get in. Their applications may not even be that difficult to complete.

Whether or not college admissions is selective or difficult, a lot of ambitious, driven high school students hear continually that “You’ve got the have good grades to get in! You’ve got to get great test scores if you want to go to a top college! You’ve got to show leadership!” The “story” about college admittance is all about how hard it is to get that acceptance letter. That comes from parents and guidance counselors and the colleges encourage it too. So naturally, I think many (not all, of course) seniors sweat it. Judging by what I’ve seen of this High School, it’s an environment where college admittance would be a big, big deal.

Many colleges try hard to increase their applications so that’s why you might see so many colleges coming on strong via mailings, sending recruiters, etc. That doesn’t mean that every student so solicited is going to be admitted, of course. They just want a better pool to work with, and more people to turn down. It can yield a better class, up their selectivity rating, and win points with the trustees.

Anecdotally, this year’s applicant class (nationwide) was strong. Few if any of the top-tier schools enlarged their enrollments. That means it was tougher to get a place in the best schools this year. Yield has been high so no one is going to their waitlists. This is what I heard secondhand from someone who attended the AACRAO conference.

4

Applying to college is no big thing…you just do it. Same as applying to grad school (now if I can just convince myself that it is a good idea and that I want to go now, rather than later). its what you do in college that’s the hard stuff…if not, you’re at the wrong place.

5

I thought it was a big deal at the time (everything looks like a big deal when you’re seventeen, and any sort of rejection hurts like hell). Looking back, I suppose it really wasn’t.

If I had known a bit more about the system and the value of money, I would have stuck to Virginia state schools and saved myself a lot of grief. As it was, William & Mary (where I ended up) was my third choice. #1, Brown, was obviously out of my league, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I won’t name my second choice, but suffice to say that the interviewer was one of the most unprofessional and downright rude people I’ve ever come across. Had I been a bit older and wiser, I would have realized this was a sign that I should look elsewhere. Oh well, live and learn.

Grad school was a different game altogether – I spent a small fortune applying to schools I probably shouldn’t have bothered with, but I’d learned not to take any of the rejections personally.

6

Being a grade thirteen student in Ontario, I am currently going through university applications.

Anyway, I know people who have low averages (mid 60s) who have applied to 20 different colleges and universities(at great cost to themselves) just because they’re afraid of rejection.

Studi

7

I applied to 8 different colleges because I’m scared of rejection. My friend applied to close to 20, just to see how many acceptance letters he’d get.
It’s not that big of a deal. I applied to 8 schools, was accepted into 7 of them (Damn Berkeley!). My friend was accepted into all 20 (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Pepperdine, Brown…etc).
I guess it’s scary to some people because it’s the “great unknown”. I’ve been counting on this all my life, so I wasn’t very concerned. I knew one of them had to accept me. (Well, ok, I was guarenteed a spot into the UC System)

8

I tried for one college, UCSD & I got in even though I didn’t meet the requirements.

They have about 26,000 applications per year & 3,000 get in.

By the fourth year, 75% of first year students drop out.

9

I applied to Northwestern, Stanford, CalTech, and MIT. I didn’t get accepted into any of them, so I ended up in my hometown school, the U of Iowa, which had a rule that they’d accept anyone who was born in Iowa and graduated from an Iowa high school with a GPA greater than 3.0. I was so disgruntled at the low standards of the classes I took (in some cases, I was repeating work I’d done as a HS sophomore, even though I was in the Honors program), and so crestfallen at being stuck in my hometown that I goofed around, blew off my classes, got bad grades, and dropped out after 2 years.
I was 38 when the recession hit California hard, I was unemployed, and my mom convinced me to go back and finish my degree. During that discussion, she dropped a bomb on me. She said “oh, didn’t you know? Back in 1975, MIT said they would allow you to transfer when you were a junior, if you kept your GPA over 3.0.”

GODDAMMIT!! Why didn’t she TELL me that, back when it would have made a DIFFERENCE!!! OOooh I was mad enough to spit nails. I still am.

10

When I was applying, I applied to 5 schools. Colby College, Bowdoin College and the U of TN at Chattanooga(safety). I didn’t get into Bowdoin, but ended up at Colby, and I think I was happier there than I would have been at a school with an active frat system.

I really didn’t stress about it-there was never the thought that I wouldn’t get into Colby-I thought of it as a semi-safety, even though it’s gotten much more selective.

Eh, I dunno-I may have strayed from the topic. But college entrances are not something to stress about in my book.

11

Well I’m jst a few months away from big time applying to all my colleges and let me be one to say that getting into a good college is a big deal. The atmosphere is super competitive and good grades and test scores don’t always cut it at the top tier schools. Kids have to work overtime looking for qualifications and experiences that will help them get in and they don’t always make it. I doubt the competition is going to let up ever either. More kids are going to college and there aren’t any more great colleges to accept them.

12

Well, for me, at least, the college application process was probably about the most stressful time in my life up to that point. I mean, for twelve years, we were being fed the line that everything we were doing in school was for the purpose of getting into a good college. My parents were depending on me not to make the same mistakes they did. We were praying for financial aid, because there was no way we could ever afford the full tuition. We were all operating under the (false) assumption that if I didn’t get into a good college, I’d be fast-tracked into a career mopping the floor at a porno theatre. So yeah, I was a friggin’ wreck. So were most of the people I knew (honors kids, applying to Ivies and suchlike). Was it justified? Nah. But hindsight’s 20/20 and all that.

13

I tried to stay calm during my college application process, and I was more successful than my parents. My father bugged me about it every day, insisted on checking all of my application forms for mistakes multiple times. I just calmly filled everything out, got it off on time, I knew that I woulod be accepted at some places and I didn’t really care if the best schools rejected me.

My two back up schools, the University of Kentucky and another liberal arts college in Ky only required the application form and the fee, but I still needed recommendations and essays to be considered for merit scholarships. The other five schools that I applied for all required essays and recommendations. Princeton was the most demanding, they needed three recommendation, four long essays, and some shorter ones. After all that work, they didn’t even admit me. :frowning: I got accepted at a decent college in California, though. :slight_smile:

I also recieved tons of junk mail from schools all over the country. To make matters worse, my dad disagreed with me over which schools I should consider. Whenever I got mail from some school that he liked but I didn’t, he would sned them a reply card requesting even more information, which just gave me more junk to throw out. One school that I wasn’t remotely interested in, Carleton College in Minnesota, sent me more than 50 separate mailings.

14

I applied to one school, the University of Connecticut.

I got accepted to one school, the University of Connecticut.
Now I’m kinda kicking myself that I didn’t aim higher, actually…

15

I only apply at the closest university. An application and a fee was all it took and they accepted me. I never sweated through any of it.

Then again, it is a state college :stuck_out_tongue: and my standards aren’t as high as most people.

16
  • sent letter to University of Windsor in Ontario.
  • got accepted.
  • talked to my parents and realized I’d get better financial aid if I went to an American university.
  • in a mad rage, sent application and check to Michigan State University.
  • got accepted.
  • went to MSU.
  • never looked back. I hear now that U of Windsor is a pretty crappy school, anyways. MSU isn’t at all prestigious, but we have good study abroad programs and badass research facilities, which was just what I was looking for.
17

I didn’t find college applications too stressful – I figured that if I didn’t get into Harvard (and I didn’t), I still wouldn’t have a problem getting into the U of Michigan (or MSU, for that matter). And I had a better time at U-M than I probably would have at Harvard. :smiley:

On the whole, if you’re applying to college you can always find some place that will accept you.

Grad school applications, OTOH, were very stressful, and much more rigorous – and out of the five schools that I applied to, I only got accepted at one (U of Chicago). Luckily it was one of my first choices… :wink:

But I have to apply for doctoral programs soon, and that’s going to be nerve-wracking, although this time I have a better idea of how it works.

18

Well actually it is…people make a big deal out of it, especially nowadays…I mean, you’re definitely supposed to apply to more than one…

I’m a junior in high school and we’re just learning about the whole process. One usually applies anywhere from six (minimum) to nine (maximum) colleges. About two to three from each category- safety, range, and reach…

I know I’m prolly gonna be accepted someplace, there ARE a lot of colleges out there, but still…the whole thing just seems so judgemental, and even though I know, deep down, it’s the college’s loss if they send you a rejection letter it still doesn’t feel good to get one.

Besides. in the great scheme of things, life, the universe, everything…it’s not so big. I mean, thousands of years from now, no one will even remember you, or what college you went to. :slight_smile:

Anyway, I haven’t seen American High yet so I wouldn’t really know how they’re acting.

19

Well this seems like the perfect opportunity to let everyone know I was recently accepted to UCLA for the fall 2001 quarter, and I’m pretty damn excitied about it.

Anyway I applied to 3 school as a junior level transfer student from Moorpark Community College and I got into all 3 (UCLA UCIrvine UCSan Diego)

Just to let you know how competitive freshman applications are, the average GPA for a freshman at UCSD this year is a 3.99 and 54% of the applicants had over a 4.00. My transfer GPA was 3.85 and the average for transfer students was a 3.29 (SD sent me a nice littel student profile pamphlet)

I think UCSD was like the #5 public school in the nation a little while ago, so just think how competitive some of those private schools are.

20

I applied to 5(or 6, depending if you subdivide one university between the two campuses I applied). Got accepted to 4(or 5, but if the University accepts your first choice campus, it is given, if the standards at the other choices are lower, that you are accepted to the other option also). The fifth was Cornell University, a long shot. It accepted me as a transfer student, meaning I will do my first year at another university(University of Florida, in my case), do some core courses, and if I maintain a 3.0 GPA, I can go to Cornell in 2002. The hardes part for me was writing the essays, since English is not my first language and I am really lame in composition. That, and trying to prove the universities(by taking the SAT II in biology) that the C I got in biology did not mean I was a mediocre student in science(my stated major was/is animal sciences). I knew I would not be accepted at Cornell, so I did not feel bad.