Overall Advice:
You’re probably going to hear this from a lot of people in the next year or two, but really, don’t stress out. It sounds like hollow reassurance when you’re in the process, I know. But honestly, there’s no benefit to needlessly working yourself into a state of panic. All you can do is present yourself to the best of your ability and hope for the best. And in all likelihood, you will end up somewhere you are happy, where you can enjoyably spend four years of your life.
But of course, don’t go to the other extreme and be too lax about things. There are a lot of deadlines and a million little things to keep track of with college applications, from essays to test scores to financial aid documents (of which there seem to be a million…). If you don’t make a conscious effort to organize yourself, you’re probably going to forget something, which would be highly unfortunate. Even if it seems like you’re managing at the beginning, I still recommend that you make some sort of calendar (paper or electronic) just to ensure nothing is missed. I would also advise you to make a (professional) email for all your college stuff, and keep track of all your account usernames and passwords. Nothing worse than realizing the day decisions are released that you can’t access your account…
At any point in the college admissions process, remember that colleges are not judging you as a person. They’re judging what you put forward as an applicant, your essays, extracurricular activities, recommendations, etc. They are making their decisions based on a reading of your application folder. So you need and must strive to present yourself as best you can in that folder.
Also, when you are thinking about the college process, please do use common sense. Does it make sense that a B+ in gym would automatically disqualify you from Harvard? No (I can personally attest to this…). But does it make sense that admissions counselors will judge you against other applicants from your school? Probably. As applicants, we really don’t know what’s going on behind those closed doors. But I think it’s important to remember that admissions counselors aren’t some secret cult, minions subject to the will of an evil master, or a soulless machine. They’re living and breathing human beings who are really no different from the rest of us. Sure, there are tricks of the trade, but by and large I’d like to think that they read and judge people just like the rest of us do.
Finally, I ask that you read a couple of MIT blog posts to get yourself into a mindset which I believe will be helpful to the process. Sure, some of what is written here is a little sugar-coated admissions propaganda, but
I think the underlying philosophy is sound:
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/its-not-fair
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/the-difficulty-with-data
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/diversity-or-merit
You’re probably going to hear this from a lot of people in the next year or two, but really, don’t stress out. It sounds like hollow reassurance when you’re in the process, I know. But honestly, there’s no benefit to needlessly working yourself into a state of panic. All you can do is present yourself to the best of your ability and hope for the best. And in all likelihood, you will end up somewhere you are happy, where you can enjoyably spend four years of your life.
But of course, don’t go to the other extreme and be too lax about things. There are a lot of deadlines and a million little things to keep track of with college applications, from essays to test scores to financial aid documents (of which there seem to be a million…). If you don’t make a conscious effort to organize yourself, you’re probably going to forget something, which would be highly unfortunate. Even if it seems like you’re managing at the beginning, I still recommend that you make some sort of calendar (paper or electronic) just to ensure nothing is missed. I would also advise you to make a (professional) email for all your college stuff, and keep track of all your account usernames and passwords. Nothing worse than realizing the day decisions are released that you can’t access your account…
At any point in the college admissions process, remember that colleges are not judging you as a person. They’re judging what you put forward as an applicant, your essays, extracurricular activities, recommendations, etc. They are making their decisions based on a reading of your application folder. So you need and must strive to present yourself as best you can in that folder.
Also, when you are thinking about the college process, please do use common sense. Does it make sense that a B+ in gym would automatically disqualify you from Harvard? No (I can personally attest to this…). But does it make sense that admissions counselors will judge you against other applicants from your school? Probably. As applicants, we really don’t know what’s going on behind those closed doors. But I think it’s important to remember that admissions counselors aren’t some secret cult, minions subject to the will of an evil master, or a soulless machine. They’re living and breathing human beings who are really no different from the rest of us. Sure, there are tricks of the trade, but by and large I’d like to think that they read and judge people just like the rest of us do.
Finally, I ask that you read a couple of MIT blog posts to get yourself into a mindset which I believe will be helpful to the process. Sure, some of what is written here is a little sugar-coated admissions propaganda, but
I think the underlying philosophy is sound:
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/its-not-fair
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/the-difficulty-with-data
http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/diversity-or-merit
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