Their loss right?

what college? and it happened to me as well, i guess, but in a different way that really sucked.

don't worry about it mate. I got rejected from Cambridge and so ended up at Warwick which is easily enough work as it is!

I got accepted to nearly every college I applied to. But I can't travel due to monetary concerns... Now who has a sob story?

College? Me? I never gone to the college and me turned in just ok. >_<

that sucks onar :( My parents wouldn't let apply to my favourite college because they didn't think i had a chance in their program, even when all my friens and advisors new i had a legit chance to get in and succeed. i felt very loved

Most of the big schools use filtering programs, so most of your extracurriculars won't matter unless you've got the grades and test scores.
Onar, where do you live that is so far from any university?

With respect, they didn't find out what kind of person *everyone else* was either. When you're evaluating thousands of applications, the numbers are all they have to go on. That's why reference letters are so critical as a tiebreaking mechanism.

I live in Long Island, NY. I wanted to go away somewhere as far as possible.

Did you end up going to school closer to home?

I've worked with the sorting software for college applications and this is basically how it goes:

Does he/she have our GPA and test score minimums? If no, does he/she have an award/activity on this list or a reference from a name on this list? If no, then NO pile.

The only time you come out of the NO pile is if they need more freshmen and don't have anyone better.

Most universities don't ask for an essay anymore because they get so many applications that a computer does all the deciding and the application likely never reaches a human hand or eye.

But if your school did ask for an essay, they won't read it until the very end of the decision deadline and they need to choose between a very small number to reach their target freshmen level. Most likely it was scanned for grammar and spelling by a computer, and that can only count against you.

Geofram, right now I'm actually putting together my high school transcript and I was wondering what sort of awards/activites colleges generally like to see. Do you know anything about htat?

How were your SAT scores? I got accepted mostly on merit of those.

And, yes, the school I go to is actually walking distance from my house.

wow thats pretty sweet. What school are you going to?

In my day, any national program was good (Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, etc.) as well as activism in student government or any community volunteer programs if you were looking to get in without any sort of sports scholarship. I assume hit hasn't changed too much in the last 25 years beyond using the computers to sort through on a pure GPA with the and racial boost for being black or native american or another "minority." And yes, more-qualified caucasians are passed over so the public universities can fulfill their quota of minorities. It's wrong. It's racists. And it's total fucking bullshit. But it is the way of academia in modern society, unfortunately.

@Onar - they aren't making you live on campus? Most of the majors make freshmen live on campus even when they could drive, bike, walk, or take convenient public transit to school.

your mom goes to college http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On2BMf0E-uY&feature=related

@figlesquidge
Bad luck. I had my Cambridge interview last week, and it looks like I might be joining you.

I've applied to UChicago, Princeton, UVA, and College of William and Mary. I have a safety in Cornell. I got in there early. What do you think me chances of getting into the others are?

haha, you have a SAFETY of cornell? it's just as much an Ivy League as Princeton is last I checked. But I could be wrong.

Draugnar-
It has changed so, so, so much in the last 25 years.
So much.

I don't know to what program you're applying, Bears, but I've been to Cornell and UChicago, and Cornell was so much better from what I've experienced, just as a place I wanted to be at. Better food, for one...

Cornell is one of the lesser Ivys. I think its hard to compare to UChicago academically.

Food? You were choosing a college based on FOOD? Just go to McDs or the pizza joint. Forget the food plans. Eat what you want, when you want, and where you want. Or is that financially impractical?

People who went to Cornell are universally douches, from my experience. And I've had a lot of experience with them.

My father went to Harvard, but judging by my SAT, I don't believe the family can make a repeat performance.

Why would anyone want to go anywhere but MIT?

MIT kthnx

Because MIT is full of people that pick their nose and sit on it, allow it to culture, then serve it up as science. Or Falconry.