It's that time of year again. Panic begins to set in as you wait to hear about acceptances. Why? So what if you don't get into the college of your choice? Does that mean the end of your future as you know it?
1) Please read: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-how-to-survive-the-college-admissions-madness.html?_r=0 and discuss what is your experience like.
2) Reference something from the article that you relate to or disagree with and why.
My parents had me read one of Frank Bruni's articles last year when I started thinking about college. I felt the same way about both articles: comforted. It's true: denial from a college doesn't mean that you're not smart or you didn't work hard enough. Just look at the student, Matt, mentioned in the article. He had an impressive high school career with more accomplishments than the average student. Even though he had "high SAT scores; participat[ed] in sports and music; [earned] a special prize for junior-year students with the highest grade-point averages; [was a] member of various honor societies; [logged] more than 100 hours of community service," Matt still was rejected from Yale, Princeton and Brown. Denial from a dream school doesn’t measure the value of a student's worth as a person. I think that was the point of the article, and I think it’s an invaluable lesson.
ReplyDeleteFrank Bruni is doing a talk at the Grand Army Plaza Library on March 10 at 7:30pm. Check it out:
http://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/frank-bruni-college-admis-central-library-dweck-cen-031016
The college process takes a toll on almost every single teenager in America who desires to further themselves in the future. College education puts you ahead of the game and is a necessary component for most entry level positions that pay higher than minimum wage. Adults stress the importance of going to a "good college" during the beginning of your junior year and by "good colleges" they mean the Ivy League, but then they contradict themselves and say that it's okay in your senior year when you've been rejected by that same "good school" that you applied to. It's enormously stressful. After all, most students believe that they must get into these schools because it is there worth. When I was rejected by UCONN, I was a little devastated. Like Jenna, I felt worthless. I figured that something was wrong with me, that I was not good enough to be a Husky. Despite the drawbacks of going to a large school such as that one, I realized that in their rejection I became a little stronger than I am today. Not only that but in their rejection I realized that I was better off going to another school, Western New England and I'm overall happier with my decision.
ReplyDeleteWell UConn must have idiots working in the admissions department. That's all I have to say.
DeleteOne of the things which I can definitely relate to in the article is how rejection made them strive. Being rejected hurts whether it go from failing a test or being rejected from a school which a person really hoped to get into. the territory which comes with being rejected is that drive to do better or that lesson in which you learn to accept it and keep pushing forward to your goals. When it comes to college rejection, it can be the hardest because a lot of the time, we try to choose the school which we think embodies our dreams and aspirations or which we believe will be the key to our future. Through this we come to realize that what really is the key to our future is ourselves and that through our hard work at any school we can get to where we want to be.
ReplyDeleteFortunately I was accepted into my first choice for college, but while applying I made sure to cover my bases. I applied to several other colleges that I knew I could get into, and a back up school that my parents could afford.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a daunting process, and waiting for acceptance letters was very stressful. College is a big step for most people; it’s what we have been working toward our entire academic career, from elementary school to high school. While I definitely think that it is important to attend a good college, I also believe that not getting into your first choice isn’t the end of the world. There are plenty of good schools out there, and many different ways to receive a stellar education. Sometimes, the work and effort put into one’s work is more important than the name of the school. IVY Leagues are great and have a lot of prestige, but today, most employers are more concerned with what you can do rather than where you got your degree. Another fact to consider is that there is always the possibility of applying to graduate school. Lots of students go to an “okay” college for their Bachelor’s, then apply to a more prestigious university for their Master’s. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this.
Also, Jenna’s story proved a good point.
Often times people think that they will hate their college experience unless they go to a specific group of schools. This isn’t always the case. College is college - it’s a place to learn. From that, we decide how our experience is going to turn out.
I think that in the end, hard work, persistence, and versatility are the most important assets for anyone to have in order to succeed.
Just thinking about college is so stressful. It seems that everyone already got their life to together but me. Everyone knows what they want to do in the future and who they want to be. So far, almost everyone in my class got CUNY acceptances but me. I know that CUNY schools send their acceptances from Feb-April, but I'm getting worried that I'm not going to get into any colleges and I really don't want to end up taking a gap year. I try to stay positive but sometimes it just gets to point when I start to get a mental breakdown by just thinking about my life, future and career.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, " How to Survive the College Admissions Madness", I couldn't relate from my experience because I have not received any notifications from colleges yet but I could say is, that the anticipation is dreadful. Just hoping and waiting if your going to be able to attend the college of your dreams or not is nerve racking and exhausting. But, what I am learning for this experience is to always stay positive and be confident. If you keep on thinking negatively, then your self-esteem would go down and you would start to lose faith and confidence in yourself. Faith and confidence is two of the many things you need to succeed in life and it would make you feel more accomplished when we use those two things to conquer obstacles on every challenge that you proceed.
Excellent Briana. Keep your head up.
DeleteIn today’s world, getting accepted into a “good college” is apparently what measures teenagers’ worth. No one seems to look at all of the hard work you have done or how great of a person you really are. It all boils down to the numbers on your transcript and the “congratulations” on certain acceptance letters.
ReplyDeleteBut, like Peter, I didn’t apply for the Ivy Leagues. Going to such a big school with standards almost impossible to keep up with didn’t fit me. I didn’t feel like spending 4 years of my life crying over my mountains of homework or feeling ashamed around all the brainiacs if I got anything lower than an A-. And I knew there was no way i could afford it and I’m not one of those people who send themselves and their parents into debt because of a fancy name. I knew I could be so much better off at other schools. It’s not that I lowered my standards or settled for less, it’s that I found the best option for me and luckily my top school accepted me with a scholarship to match.
I can’t really relate very much to this article, because I wasn’t rejected from any of my schools. But, Peter is the one who jumped out at me the most because of our choices to avoid the Ivy Leagues. Jenna also related to me a bit because I also had a low SAT math score compared to my english scores, but I learned to accept it and my schools accepted it too. It feels terrible to think that we were rejected because our grades weren’t good enough. Our grades aren’t who we really are. And I feel like more people should realize this fact and the fact that how many college acceptances you get or from what college you get accepted to doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you feel like that is the school that will help you grow into the great successful person that you are destined to be, and a fancy named school with a high price tag isn’t the only college that can do this for you.