#pencilpeach

If you want to get into selective schools and you’re a run of the mill kid (by that i mean you go to a school that doesnt routinely send students to ivy leagues/other very selective schools, and you haven’t cured cancer), here’s the damn truth: your chances are slim. 

I got a fucking 36 on my ACT. I was a National Merit commended student. I had an amazing gpa and took as many APs as I could (my school didn’t offer a lot, but I had A averages in all of them). I had work experience, volunteer experience, was the leader of two clubs, and had multiple awards for academic team. My teachers wrote stellar letters of recommendation. My Common App essay was fire. I was in the top 25% of every school I applied to, four of which were highly selective. 

I got into only one of those four selective schools, which proceeded to give me a whopping $0.00 in scholarship money and financial aid. 

A few other people in my class applied to Ivy Leagues and super selective schools, including the valedictorian of our class. they all got rejected (we’re all going to good schools though, don’t worry).

So if you go to like a normal high school that’s not a literal feeder to selective schools, you’re at a disadvantage. If you’re not a rich legacy, you’re at a disadvantage. If you don’t have a dramatic story or aren’t willing to spill your guts for no reason, you’re at a disadvantage. 

Sorry for bragging about myself. I’m not trying to talk myself up or scare you, it’s just a real word of warning and an example.

If you’re still set on going to a selective school, here’s my advice:

when you’re researching schools, be ruthless in trimming your list down. you’re going to have to put in a lot more effort for a selective school application, and it’s a lot easier if you don’t have a billion apps to do.

i would recommend picking only a few selective schools to apply to. don’t apply unless you can see yourself going there, and enjoying yourself in late winter of your third year. move past freshman year in your imaginings, and in your research too.

the application fees are way more expensive at selective schools (except for a few that are free if you apply for financial aid, which is free to apply for, so do that). bear this in mind when deciding to apply. do you really want to give $70 to this school that may ultimately reject you?

visit, if you can. schedule a meeting with a professor in your field. if you can’t visit, reach out to a relevant professor or the admissions office anyway. ask questions even if you already know the answers. show you’re interested. the selective school i did this for was the one that ultimately accepted me.

have safety schools, ones that are reasonable at the sticker price. when selective schools say, “we charge $70,000/year, but that’s just the sticker price! we give out SO MUCH money!!!!!”, they’re lying, unless you’re really, really unable to pay anything. middle class? good fucking luck. and don’t count on scholarships, no matter what great things you did in high school, they’re not giving them. 

research state schools too. everything i wanted at selective schools i have at the state school i’m going to (except division iii sports. oh well). selective schools and state schools have the same things, the selective schools are just more impressive because there’s fewer people, and they’re only appealing to top students anyway, while state schools have to appeal to everyone. don’t fall into this trap!!

ask yourself why you want to go to a selective school in the first place. think really hard about this one, and have an answer that you’re proud of. i didn’t think that hard about it, and my answer was somewhere in the realm of, “i’m tired of being treated like a freak for being smart, and i want to be somewhere with like-minded people so i can be ‘better’ than all the people who made me feel bad about myself.” i’m not proud of that. spite is not a good reason to dole out ridiculous amounts of money, and it wasn’t even worth the application process. 

repeat this to yourself every single day: SELECTIVE SCHOOLS ARE NOT BETTER THAN STATE SCHOOLS/COMMUNITY COLLEGES/ANYWHERE ELSE. stop idolizing them. you are not superior if you go to one, you are not inferior if you don’t (or don’t get in. see next point). chances are, if you’re willing to put in all the hard work to prepare for a selective school, and the grueling application process, you’re an amazing student, and a hardworking, intelligent, good person. any place would be lucky to have you. and if they decide they’re not going to have you, their loss. not yours.

don’t get your hopes too high. it’s a fucking crapshoot. everyone applying has basically the same qualifications, they basically draw out of a hat, and the “hat” is a complicated system which gives a lot more people jobs than drawing out of a hat. although they have about the same effectiveness. 

please, please, please, don’t base your concepts of self-worth on getting in somewhere selective. it’s so easy to do that, it’s such a simple dichotomy: if i get in, i’m good, if i don’t, i’m bad. No, no nononononononono. you are so much more than what some old dudes in an office decide to whittle you down to. please never hinge your happiness on other people’s decisions. 

in about three weeks, i’m heading off to my last choice safety school, which slowly moved up the list as the application process wore on. i couldn’t be more excited. it took me a long time to unlearn the terrible things i’d told myself about where i “should” go to college. when i finally got around to thinking about my happiness and my reasoning, i realized i had made a lot of mistakes in my thinking, as meticulously outlined above. honestly, i was an idiot, but things still worked out in the end. you’re going to do great, you are great, i promise. 

(i’m really sorry to all the people i inadvertently insulted through this post. i just think there’s a lot of misconceptions about selective schools among high-achieving high-schoolers that need to be rectified. also i’m still kind of bitter, because i obviously run on spite im sorry)