I recently started to text more with my friend from Northern Ireland, Matthew. Our main topic as of lately has been college. Matt is in his final year of grammar school (what we know as high school), and he has been looking at colleges since last year. The college process is extremely similar to what American students deal with. The topic of colleges has been brought up because he received his acceptance and rejection letters, and I have started some of my college applications.
Matt looked at many prestigious medical schools offered throughout Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. One college he applied to was Kings College, but sadly he got rejected. This shocked me because he is number one in class rank at his school, got top marks on all his exams, and is super involved within his school.
Matt did get accepted to two very good medical schools, but this rejection was like a hit in the face for me. What chances do I have at getting into my dream colleges if someone like Matt couldn’t get into Kings College? This might seem like an overreaction to something that could happen to anyone, but it brought forth my fears of attending college.
To get into any really good college, specifically in the US, you have to have high grades and be overly involved in your school and community. These two requirements are generalization from what I have seen on college applications and heard from college students. I am currently fulfilling both of these requirements, yet I fear that I am not doing enough. I am doing everything in my power to make myself look good to colleges, yet I know it is nearly impossible to know what puts you over other students.
What is your biggest fear when it comes to applying for colleges?
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| Kings College |
In Junior Sem, we just started filling out our college applications. When I finally put everything down on paper, it all felt so wrong. Even if I filled up my activity section, it didn't feel like it was enough. While I knew how much time and effort I put into my extracurricular clubs, all these colleges see is how many hours per week I put in. And then we had to rank them from most important to least important! Plus we have to do the whole essay thing. Even if I get the essay just right, there's always going to be someone who writes something more compelling than me. College is so crazy stressful! I've had multiple friends who are crazy smart, and still get rejected my their top colleges. It's incredibly discouraging, and definitely why I felt so wrong filling out my own application. I'm sure everything will work out (or at least I hope so), but until then, I completely agree that everything surrounding getting accepted into college is a huge load of impending stress.
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest fear about college is having to make such a big decision and one that will alter the course of my life. Applying for college is really scary for everyone. To be honest, I'm terrified of being independent on my own. I live in a big family with six other people, so I'm used to the chaos. I think that is going to be my biggest adjustment when it comes to applying and looking at colleges.
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