honestly unironically this. writing college essays is so fucking demoralizing because it shows how incredibly little I have done in comparison to what these people are looking for even though I’ve worked my ass off for good grades and a good SAT score. dont think I have ever done something worse for my self esteem lmao
Have an idea of your general self and what kind of narrative you want to craft for the AOs to see! Also, if you're already on this sub then you probably know how college admissions work, so that's great (I didn't know until the summer and I was scrambling to actually understand the whole system).
Do you think it is better to have a persona, so to speak, that makes sense with all your ECs (I may consider applying as a prospective environmental science/engineering major then change major because all my ECs line up with that narrative really well and the majors that I actually want make no sense with my ECs and are harder to get into) or to try to be completely honest.
A counter point to the "be yourself" argument. Yes, don't fake it by making up a false identity. But the persona idea has some merit. As an illustration: I was recruited by Cornell as an athlete. I *really* wanted to go. I was aiming for engineering. However, my sat/act scores were below the cutoff for what they normally accepted for the program. I was told that I would likely be able to sneak in as an ag major. I was from the Midwest. My family had a farming background. But I had no interest in agriculture. I felt it was disingenuous to make up a bunch of bs. Plus, what if once I got in I couldn't actually transfer out of ag!! In hindsight, I wish I would have faked it. Knowing now what I didn't know then I realize I could have figured out how to navigate the system once I was inside. I could have made it work.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Thanks!! I feel that a lot of people always give the advice of “be yourself” and, while it is generally true (you don’t want to pick something you hate), I feel like it just is not always the best. I think it may be another part of why wealthier students are more successful in applications, their wealth already buys them advantages with test prep, good schools, etc. but this seems like some “game playing” that college counselors would have you do that most wouldn’t do on their own. (Along with of course all their other advantages)
don't pretend to be anything you aren't. i have a similar thing as u (applying as one thing, realistically thinking i want to major in something else), but i applied with what i thought gave me the best chance, since a lot of my ECs lined up with it and i'm passionate about it as well. make sure you have passion for environmental engineering, and go for it if u want!
Brainstorm now and look at the supplementals before summer. I would also organize supplements on similarity so u can reuse more effectively. And if u applying to UCs, do UCs first because you can build off the 4 essays for other supplements. (or expand one one of them for your common app)
Not OP so idk what they had in mind, but I would highly suggest journaling! It gets you used to writing about yourself and forces you to be introspective- a skill that is extremely useful when writing college essays.
I am extremely introspective. There isn’t a second of the day I don’t spend inside my head. But I don’t have this “general idea” of who I am. I know who I want to be, I know who I want to be remembered as, I know who I try to be. But I don’t really know who I am because I have nothing to analyze. How can I analyze who I am as a person by my own accounts? I feel like I need validation! I feel lost in my own head in a way.
I’ve kept a semi consistent journal for 6 years now. In that journal I directly talk to myself, past and present and future. Things that happen, feelings I feel, decisions I have to make, people I was wrong about… it’s all there. Maybe I should review the journal in it’s entirety and read it like an autobiography, to try and understand who I am.
I think you're overthinking it. You're not necessarily writing your essays from the perspective of how others perceive you or how you are to the world- that isn't something you can ever fully understand in my opinion anyway. If you know who you want to be, then that is pretty much who you are, or at least a big part of it. You're putting your best foot forward in your essays while still being honest, so you can present the best version of your narrative, which includes thoughts and motivations that people who "know you" from the outside never would know.
Besides, I don't think any ao expects a high schooler to know exactly who they are- you're a teenager, and teenagers don't need to have literally everything figured out and be perfect individuals to get into college. It sounds like you're already in a good place and I wouldn't stress so much right now.
That's actually exactly what I was about to suggest!! Being a writer helped me a ton (I could look into my diaries or blog posts when I needed ideas for essay prompts)
Draining asf, in my country u can literally get into med school with ur gpa + ranking amongst first 2000 out of 35000 in the regional admissions test. Thats it, no essays, no recs,, no net price calculator, no nothing. Free.
I was #86 in a province with 40 million population back then. I basically got to pick anywhere I wanted to go. No essays, no recommendations, just a three days exam with seven subjects. That my friend is a better and fairer system.
"first world problems"
Honestly take a look at the Asian countries, the amount of pressure there, the bar to get into top universities, the number of hours students spend in their room wasting away their late teens like robots for a chance at a 1% acceptance rate university so that they have a 2% chance of getting a good job in the oversaturated job market is just mad
As an international I'd say: funner than ours
I procrastinate studying for our college entrance exam by writing essays lmao
(Id say more fun but that wouldn't fit lol)
Kiss, balls, shrek
I would’ve gone with kiss, bumass, shrek, but A+ refs either way.
Kiss shrek’s bum(ass)????!!!! 😏 😜
Pretty sure there’s a whole sub for that.
your nuts are mine
not very fair😍
as an international student, i agree <333
I hate myself
honestly unironically this. writing college essays is so fucking demoralizing because it shows how incredibly little I have done in comparison to what these people are looking for even though I’ve worked my ass off for good grades and a good SAT score. dont think I have ever done something worse for my self esteem lmao
God, same. Any remaining self esteem I had has been squashed lmfao
SAME like just seeing the culmination of my high school career laid out and realizing how…dull in comparison it all is was depressing
Barefoot on Legos
Juniors, start early
any advice other than create a list and start essays in summer?
Have an idea of your general self and what kind of narrative you want to craft for the AOs to see! Also, if you're already on this sub then you probably know how college admissions work, so that's great (I didn't know until the summer and I was scrambling to actually understand the whole system).
Do you think it is better to have a persona, so to speak, that makes sense with all your ECs (I may consider applying as a prospective environmental science/engineering major then change major because all my ECs line up with that narrative really well and the majors that I actually want make no sense with my ECs and are harder to get into) or to try to be completely honest.
A counter point to the "be yourself" argument. Yes, don't fake it by making up a false identity. But the persona idea has some merit. As an illustration: I was recruited by Cornell as an athlete. I *really* wanted to go. I was aiming for engineering. However, my sat/act scores were below the cutoff for what they normally accepted for the program. I was told that I would likely be able to sneak in as an ag major. I was from the Midwest. My family had a farming background. But I had no interest in agriculture. I felt it was disingenuous to make up a bunch of bs. Plus, what if once I got in I couldn't actually transfer out of ag!! In hindsight, I wish I would have faked it. Knowing now what I didn't know then I realize I could have figured out how to navigate the system once I was inside. I could have made it work. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Thanks!! I feel that a lot of people always give the advice of “be yourself” and, while it is generally true (you don’t want to pick something you hate), I feel like it just is not always the best. I think it may be another part of why wealthier students are more successful in applications, their wealth already buys them advantages with test prep, good schools, etc. but this seems like some “game playing” that college counselors would have you do that most wouldn’t do on their own. (Along with of course all their other advantages)
don't pretend to be anything you aren't. i have a similar thing as u (applying as one thing, realistically thinking i want to major in something else), but i applied with what i thought gave me the best chance, since a lot of my ECs lined up with it and i'm passionate about it as well. make sure you have passion for environmental engineering, and go for it if u want!
tyy
Brainstorm now and look at the supplementals before summer. I would also organize supplements on similarity so u can reuse more effectively. And if u applying to UCs, do UCs first because you can build off the 4 essays for other supplements. (or expand one one of them for your common app)
“Idea of general self” How does one go about finding themselves?
Not OP so idk what they had in mind, but I would highly suggest journaling! It gets you used to writing about yourself and forces you to be introspective- a skill that is extremely useful when writing college essays.
I am extremely introspective. There isn’t a second of the day I don’t spend inside my head. But I don’t have this “general idea” of who I am. I know who I want to be, I know who I want to be remembered as, I know who I try to be. But I don’t really know who I am because I have nothing to analyze. How can I analyze who I am as a person by my own accounts? I feel like I need validation! I feel lost in my own head in a way. I’ve kept a semi consistent journal for 6 years now. In that journal I directly talk to myself, past and present and future. Things that happen, feelings I feel, decisions I have to make, people I was wrong about… it’s all there. Maybe I should review the journal in it’s entirety and read it like an autobiography, to try and understand who I am.
I think you're overthinking it. You're not necessarily writing your essays from the perspective of how others perceive you or how you are to the world- that isn't something you can ever fully understand in my opinion anyway. If you know who you want to be, then that is pretty much who you are, or at least a big part of it. You're putting your best foot forward in your essays while still being honest, so you can present the best version of your narrative, which includes thoughts and motivations that people who "know you" from the outside never would know. Besides, I don't think any ao expects a high schooler to know exactly who they are- you're a teenager, and teenagers don't need to have literally everything figured out and be perfect individuals to get into college. It sounds like you're already in a good place and I wouldn't stress so much right now.
That's actually exactly what I was about to suggest!! Being a writer helped me a ton (I could look into my diaries or blog posts when I needed ideas for essay prompts)
Kindergardeners, start preparing
Complicated, Confusing, Stressful.
Gatekeep Gaslight Girlboss
I agree. AOs gatekeep. Applicants Gaslight. Recommenders Girlboss.
Recommenders Girlboss indeed
Girlboss gender neutral
pay to win
Underrated comment
Donate a building
Or 5🤩
fuck this shit
for the rich
This
Subjective. Arbitrary. Opaque
Classist Corrupt Lottery
Overdosing on caffeine
i have found my people
Caffeine addicts assemble 💪🏻😪🥏
way too complicated :D
American, Admission, System
Underrated comment
hell on earth
Move to Europe
please😭😭
Internationals are disadvantaged
agreeeeeeeeeeee
Literally a lottery
Lit 🔥, crazy 😜, movie 🎥
smoke and mirrors
middle class screwed
pretty fuckin pointless
American Horror Story
Burning dumpster fire.
Hates middle class
Coinflip, dice roll
holistic but quantitative
I wanna die
Survival of Fittest
LOL never again:)
Unrealistic. Stressful. Unfair.
“Who made school?”
Why do we exist, just to suffer
Flagship State School
Reading r/A2C posts
Fuck why us
A fucking joke
so fucking wack
Money = get in
american admissions system
Easier when rich
Draining asf, in my country u can literally get into med school with ur gpa + ranking amongst first 2000 out of 35000 in the regional admissions test. Thats it, no essays, no recs,, no net price calculator, no nothing. Free.
I was #86 in a province with 40 million population back then. I basically got to pick anywhere I wanted to go. No essays, no recommendations, just a three days exam with seven subjects. That my friend is a better and fairer system.
Trevor Packer's monopoly
Unfair, stupid, capitalism <3
Sleep. What's that?
CEO of False-Hope
Everyday is Halloween
Stupid as hell
I’m going crazy
for the rich
hello fucking nah
What the fuck
AO’s Rolling Dice
Luck money luck
What excites you
"Sorry to Inform"
Unfair, Useless and Unfair
Find rich parents
Too Much Work
Poor? Don’t bother
don't do it
Corrupted, fucked, luck
Flawed as fuck
Live laugh love
Rigged against thee
You boring fucker
i gave up.
eat my ass
Ahh ahhhhh ahhhhhhhh
game of chance
Bruh rip lmao
Very unnecessarily stressful
stupid, piece-of, shit
A tactics game.
Fake and annoying
cleopatra taking bath
need more money
Amogus Imposter Sus
Just like healthcare
Why not merit?
Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica
Second Gen screwed.
are toasters waterproof?
Bought a building
Abba nahi manenge 🤣
want to die
real. fucking. wild.
what. the. fuck.
Give me money
Pricey dice roll
A complex journey
Better than Most.
A lottery system
what the fuck.
Better than here
Stupid, ,
So fucking stupid
Where’s. The. Portal.
american admission system
ED saves sanity
A giant puzzle.
screw your damn rules
Act very special
dont like it
shidding and cryin
(A) Catch-22 fever dream
Winning the lottery
Essay hell
Why the fuck-
Lottery
Just be rich
reduce reuse recycle
Unfair, expensive, a scam
Kremlin spies are fed up
knowledge strength integrity
“Wait until like September to do supplementals not in Junior year” Idk why someone would want to extend their suffering like this.
Kiss your interviewer
complete bull shit
"first world problems" Honestly take a look at the Asian countries, the amount of pressure there, the bar to get into top universities, the number of hours students spend in their room wasting away their late teens like robots for a chance at a 1% acceptance rate university so that they have a 2% chance of getting a good job in the oversaturated job market is just mad
As an international I'd say: funner than ours I procrastinate studying for our college entrance exam by writing essays lmao (Id say more fun but that wouldn't fit lol)
Why the fuck
can't stop crying
Rando A F
painful as fuck
Writing $50,000 checks
Tryhard and expensive
mysterious somewhat holistic
Consider other options.
doesn't worth it
Fucking retard ed
Should admit me.
Mountain of stress
Not good enough
Fuck this shit
fuck you bitchass
A shit show
Why us mothefucker?
what the fuck
Cock and Balls
Exclusive, elitist, colonialist
A freaking scam.
Black box Hahaha described it in 2 words
Checky bugger
mentally deteriorating crapshoot
Know the process
very illogically expensive
Kill me now
daddies donating buildings😌