Welcome everyone to the Class of 2014. By now you would have been accepted into some college or the other, if you have applied to some countries outside of India like, the USA, the UK or Singapore. For people applying in India, your wait to get into the Class of 2014 is just a little bit longer.
This is specifically for the people applying to the USA. The long hard battle is finally over. It took months of choosing which colleges to apply to, writing their supplementary, going through it an endless number of times and then hitting the submit button. From the moment the submit button was pressed, another long wait started. The wait for the Fed-Ex packages to come in. If you didn’t get a Fed-Ex package, that means you were rejected or are on the wait-list and I am sorry to hear that.
I’m writing this as all my decisions have come in and I have 99% decided where I am going but I know that is not the case for many of you. For many of you didn’t get into the college of your choice or are wait-listed at it. I don’t want to get your hopes down but the reality is that many top colleges don’t go to their wait-list. The only upside is for people wait-listed at ivies. Many people are cross-accepted at different ivies and they can only accept one so that might get a lot of your hopes high. Also, many people are rejecting ivies because of little or no aid. So keep on fighting your way and I’m sure you’ll make it to the college of your choice.
Whatever college you go to, it will be fine. It doesn’t matter if you get in to Harvard or Middlebury or Sarah-Lawrence or Bard or Colby. What matters is how you take to being at the college that wants you. You have to make the choices, you have to make use of the time and you have to have fun. It’up to you to decide if you want to make most of the college or waste away a ton of money doing nothing. Don’t fret about not getting into college x for it will ruin your days and months and you won’t have so much fun at college y.
College in the USA is a total different experience. I have talked to many international students and they have told me so. Living with a random stranger makes it all the better. Whether you go to a large school or a small one, there will always be a lot of people wanting to be friends with you. Embrace it. Accept them. Join in. Make life fun. That’s the suggestions I can give. Don’t worry about it much if your room-mate doesn’t turn out to be the ideal one you were longing for ever since you got accepted. I’m sure you’ll come around to liking your room-mate.
Many people would have gotten into multiple colleges. For those that did, the decision is very tough I must say. Choosing between two or three or even seven very good colleges can be a pain. Also, deciding whether or not to make a whole-hearted attempt at a wait-list. Don’t waste your time trying to get off the wait-list at a college unless you are 100% sure that you want to go there over and above one of the colleges that actually did accept you.
I have friends who got into multiple colleges and are facing this problem. Some had easy choices but some are still struggling to decide. When I chose my list of colleges to apply to, I chose some dreams, some reaches and some safeties. let me tell you that I did not get into all my safeties! Says a lot about the admission process.
All the people who applied to be in the Class of 2014 indeed had a hard time. Harder than the Class of 2013, or 2012, or 2011! Most colleges this year saw a large percentage rise in the number of applications! Amherst’s acceptance rate went from 10% to 5%. It halved in one year! The only college that did not see a rise in the number of applications was not so surprisingly Yale! No one knows who is accepted at Yale. They accept the most diverse and weird bunch of people year after year.
This video just says it all:
Some people do a lot to get into college. Like studying for the SAT’s for a year or doing Extra-Cirricular’s that they have no interest in or taking classes that will get the admission people on their side or writing over a 100 essays just to get the best one. On the other hand, some people study for SAT’s for just under a month, do very little Extra-Cirricular’s and don’t take many interesting classes and only write the essay once or twice. I can tell you that both these kind of people get in. The admission people look at more than just the application. They try to see through the application with all their experience and 90% of the time they get it right.
Sarah-Lawrence is one college that has completely disregarded the SAT’s and took itself off the U.S. News & World Report’s College Rankings itself. Here’s a sneak peek into who they accepted this year: http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/65135/
Here is the link to an article which talks about admissions to the Class of 2014 being one of the toughest ever: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/education/17admissions.html?_r=1
So, for those of you applying to the Class of 2015, enjoy the process as you will be having it much more easy than us. For those in The Class of 2014, congrats. Those still making up their mind on which college to join The Class of 2014, I hope you chose the right one in the end. For those of you who ended up getting in nowhere, well there aren’t any of you!
Sahil
11. April 2010 at 10:56 am
Very insightful read…..will help me when i decide to go abroad
12. April 2010 at 12:04 am
yale sucks!
good post otherwise
16. April 2010 at 12:06 am
Enjoyed reading your post.
OT, why special interest in Venezuelan politics?
30. April 2010 at 1:13 am
Enjoyed reading the article about SLC’s acceptance process and a good overview of this year’s admissions to the USA.
17. June 2010 at 3:03 pm
I like reading articles and posts over the Internet, and I found your site and read your posts, I like here, so I bookmark your site, thank you for your posts.