Actually, Draugnar is right. Your application is scanned for buzzwords, any nationally or state recognised program is a good bet. all of the Honour Societies, Future Leaders, Boy Scout Eagle (sorry girls, but you already have a leg up,) and usually any academic award that is given for you region/state.

Awards given through your local area only matter in-state, and if you're going to a big school, they don't care if you played sports (unless your team was nationally recognised or you are getting a scholarship)

And lol @ yearbook.

Thats not right at all. You making up technical mumbo jumbo to succeed at academics.

No, there are no dorms, it's a community college. I mostly decided to go there because a friend introduced me to a bunch of people.

"Why would anyone want to go anywhere but MIT?"

Because for the price, especially for undergrad, MIT isn't worth it a lot of times.

@473x4ndr4,

I obviously have no idea what your actual situation is, but there's no reason why you can't try to transfer there after a year.

@Onar - I am a grad of the community/tech system as well. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing from your point of view, but there it is. I lived at home and drove to SOC (a state-funded technical and community college) for just over 2 years. It was a 2.5 year program, but I took extra courses and went to school in the summer so that I only had one course left after the first two years.

They can give you a very useful and practical education. I'm going back to finish my bachelor's soon (43 and going back to school <shudders>) because to get even farther, I need at least the BS, and may go on to the MBA program afterwards if the time needs for the BS are as little as the university is telling me (work experience and certification credits are great).

So be proud and get the most out of the community college. It isn't like they represent it on TV.

One of the best things that ever happened to me was not getting into fancy colleges. If you're got a drive to do something, it won't matter where...

OMGNSO - bad luck, what subject? And you actually looking at Warwick? Its very nice here. I wonder how Ghost's applications going...

:agree PatDragon

I expect Ghost is going to Camebrige or Oxford if he is staying in the UK
also My sister got denied from UCLA but transfered there... She isn't sure if it helped or hurt because she would have come out of UCI with straight A's but came out of UCLA with some failed courses...

The Bears - I actually study at UChicago and work at the admissions office. Hit me up.

I know what Ghost's aiming for, but I'm not sure how far its got.

Well, I plan on eventually getting a doctorate in either teaching, english, or psychology. I'm still not convinced what I want to do with myself.

Go psych, Onar. I loved studying psych and sociology. One of the first electives not IT related I took at SOC was Psychology 101. It started with a lot of what I had studied in my HS Psych class, but expanded on it. And it also helps that you like playing mind games (don't all Dip players?).

American universities? Pshhhhh! ;)

I didn't go to a university, DHJ. Never claimed to. I went to a technical collegfe. That being said, I'd put MIT's best against anything the best university in Europe can produce technology wise, and John Hopkin's or Harvard's best Med grad against anything Europe produces as well.

Doesn't Pitt do analytic philosophy better than anything in Britain at this point?

the legacy system is the worst...

Oh, and Julliard for Classical Music and Dance and Berkeley School of Music in Boston for Jazz. I'll take their best over anyone coming out of any conservatory in the UK.

music and dance, eh

are you trying to tell us something

I don't hide the fact that music was my original intended career, then I wised up and decided on IT. I'm a jazz and classical musicisna (trombone, flugelhorn, frend horn, and other brass instruments along with piano and guitar). I paid my way through college teaching students trombone and french horn at the local music store between classes and when I wasn't working at Waldenbooks, Radio Shack, or pulling the security night shift for Wackenhut on riverboat row in Newport, KY.

Oh, and I went to CCM at the University of Cincinnati for a time.

@ Alexandra - That sucks!!! seriously though i strongly believe that everything happens for a reason so you obv wasn't meant to go to that uni. I didn't get in to do my teaching degree last year, as my criminal bureau check was delayed but i got in this year and guess what, i've ended up choosing a completely different uni to the ones i was looking at last year - so def for me there was a reason for it all, and now i'm a year older, wiser and ready to teach. That uni was just obviously not the one for you - you'll easily get into the one that's right for you!! GOOD LUCK!! What course are you doing btw?

Apologies for the really bad English - I'm going to teach Design & Technology not English Language don't worry!!

wow, biddis, haven't seen you in a while.

and Onar, you should def get a Psych degree. The only down side is that if you really want to pursue it you need to get a PHD in it. Plus the average salary isn't huge.

Coming from a freshman at my last choice of schools, don't worry about it.

I'm betting you had your sights set really high, like Ivy League or some other highly commended school, and why not, right? It was admirable of you to apply, and you should never regret actually applying. Myself I wanted to get into NYU, USC or GWU. That didn't happen, and you know what, it's okay.

I'm at UT (University of Texas, Austin) now, and I love it here. It's going to *university* that counts, not really *which* university. There are tiers of schools, to be sure, but I'm sure you're a good enough student to still get into a well regarded school, even if it isn't your top choice, and even if it isn't Harvard or something.

People almost always end up loving where they go to college if they go in with the mindset that their school is the bomb. And often, even if they don't. I'm proof of that. My advice would just be to go to a fairly large school with lots of resources, but beyond that, it really really doesn't matter beyond the actual location of the school meeting with your approval. And by that I mean really really petty things like climate and culture of the city you're in.

I personally wanted an urban school, and hopefully in a warm climate at that. But I didn't want to stay in my home state of Texas, so I looked down on UT. Turns out UT is everything I wanted, I was just bitching because it wasn't my "dream" or whatever. The truth is, I'm still getting all the benefits of being away from home. The way I see it, just because the *optimal* situation didn't happen, doesn't mean the alternative is a *bad* situation. It can still be amazingly good, and even better, since to be honest you really won't know what it's like until you get there.

Just go to a school with high self-esteem lol, and that's most all of them.

Plus, Texas is bigger than France, so like.... I'm still far from my house ;)

You wouldn't believe the perks lol

Should have gone to Texas A&M. I've seen pictures of some of the Aggie girls in (and out) of their school spirit wear. <grin>

Well, I don't plan on getting a career for the money, I'm doing it for the love of my (future) profession. I would love to teach someday. If not, then Being a counselor/advisor/psychiatrist would kick ass.