I don't have many regrets and I don't think this is one either. But if I had to do it again I would've applied to some of the Ivy's. I had my degree in mind. Didn't bother to apply for any schools that I had no intention on attending. Nor did I want to fill out those long ass applications. But in retrospect, it would've been cool to have a moment like this even internally.
------ “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Fri Mar-30-18 02:25 PM
2. "shiieeeet I had that reaction and celebration when I got into college" In response to Reply # 0
wasn't an Ivy but I was the second student in my senior class to find out they were accepted to college. I think it was November of my senior year and my hatin ass guidance counselor told me I got in
so early I didn't do shit my senior yea rbesides party and do the minimum required to graduate. Teacher would be yappin and I was interrupt them with a..
"YEAH YEAH YEAH... WHATEVER, I'M ALREADY ACCEPTED TO COLLEGE"
but yeah.. these videos are awesome. They do this every year.
My thing tho is what about when they get rejected? Do they record those too or does the school/ already know before they set this up?
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
6. "My HS had 17 summas" In response to Reply # 2 Fri Mar-30-18 02:40 PM by MEAT
I had a 3.94 GPA and still missed the top 10% Honors and GT classes, minority, high test scores and a gang of extra ciurriculars Add in a sob story if needed I never even considered not getting into something I wanted. Told my wife that and man the glares I got. Didn't realize how stressful that is for so many people.
------ “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Fri Mar-30-18 03:10 PM
8. "yeah, I was far from honors..lol" In response to Reply # 6
but I was smart enough to take a few honor classes when I pushed myself...
I knew I was going to college because all my siblings went before me but all my cousins I was cool with and grew up with? Jail, jail, house arrest, jail..
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
3. "nope. i knew i wanted to go an hbcu." In response to Reply # 0 Fri Mar-30-18 02:28 PM by dapitts08
my pops taught at an hbcu.
i did summer programs at that same hbcu from 4th grade through high school.
i literally applied to one school....CAU and my parents were heated lol
for the longest i wanted to go to spelman but i took a trip down there and realized CAU was a better cultural fit for me.
so that's where i applied.
best decision.
no regrets.
the key to happiness is not being rich; it's doing something arduous and creating something of value and then being able to reflect on the fruits of your labor
26. "That's my one regret... Went the reverse route" In response to Reply # 15 Sat Mar-31-18 12:21 AM by DickGrayson
I applied to 2 schools NC A&T and NC State... Went to State because my parents and Grandpa didn't want me to be the 3rd generation to go to A&T and not graduate. Turns out it took me 13 years from when I started to finished at State.
Spent my whole childhood wanting to go to an HBCU, let alone the one my parents and grandfather went to. I felt like I sold out, but believe it or not NC State has a strong black student union presence there. We kinda made it an HBCU of our own. Funny now, but the only people I know that were there when I was are black. Says a lot for a PWI.
legsdiamond Member since May 05th 2011 79616 posts
Fri Mar-30-18 03:13 PM
9. "this was me.. prolly more like 2.6ish" In response to Reply # 7
but every now and then I would crush it when I got motivated...
Math, science and art was easy
social studies and english? yawn, that was sleepy time
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
11. "Most days I'm cool, but sometimes I get upset about it. " In response to Reply # 9
Being smart is like 10% of school
I had to teach myself how to learn and I did that when I was about 27-29. At this point? Shiiiiiiit, i could probably get through a PHD program if I had the financial means/vision for it. I can make any subject interesting and I would be able to retain the information.
24. "I was so shocked when I got to college and had to study" In response to Reply # 11
bc I had no idea how to do it. all through high school I'd just read the books and then sleep through class, remember what was in the book and ace the tests...but usually not do any homework.
10. "RE: Did you apply to any Ivys?" In response to Reply # 0 Fri Mar-30-18 03:21 PM by double 0
Applied to 2... UPenn, Princeton got in to both
went to Penn cuz the tricked me with Penn Relays.. wouldve been a Terp otherwise
Up until summer after junior year Ivy Leagues was a pipe dream. I had a 3.9 but I somehow couldn't fathom even attempting to go.
Got that recruitment letter from Princeton and it was on and popping
Double 0 DJ/Producer/Artist Producer in Kidz In The Hall ------------------------------------------- twitter: @godouble0 IG: @godouble0 www.thinklikearapper.com
30. "RE: So which Penn Relays show did they get you with?" In response to Reply # 29
Nah like the literal Penn Relays...
I was recruited for track to the ivys...
And walking around campus during that time made penn look way more "colorful" than it was otherwise.
Luckily Dubois College house and my own house parties creates a nice lil safe space
Double 0 DJ/Producer/Artist Producer in Kidz In The Hall ------------------------------------------- twitter: @godouble0 IG: @godouble0 www.thinklikearapper.com
12. "i think i would have enjoyed a few that i didn't apply to" In response to Reply # 0 Fri Mar-30-18 03:42 PM by rob
if i had it to do again, i would have done a more fiscally responsible thing and went to a state school that would have covered more of my expenses, but i also had some unreasonably negative impressions of the ivies when i was in high school.
i visited princeton but i didn't like the vibe on campus, so i didn't consider the others. i remember being really anti-harvard, which seems ridiculous now considering all the cool people i've connected with since that studied or taught at harvard.
i ended up going to a smaller ivy-ish school, and don't regret that at all, other than the unanticipated costs.
13. "I hated my experience. I could've gotten a lot more out of school. " In response to Reply # 12
At a different university. My big regret about school is that I didn't treat it as an experience and much more something to get through to get my degree.
------ “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus
16. "the best thing about my school" In response to Reply # 13
was no one around me was just going through the motions to get that degree. it's still really motivating for me - - i don't have any desire to be rich or famous or powerful, but i can honestly say even the most humble of my peers from college is pursuing a calling or a passion, and has been *consistently* doing that throughout their 20s and 30s.
i was having dinner with a friend in austin a couple weeks ago and we had this convo (as it related to his frustrations with coworkers and my frustrations with our high school's guidance services). he went to UT, transferred out to get his degree from a local college, and has gotten multiple masters/certificates since...eventually he ended up back full circle. austin didn't click for him initially because he didn't have a goal in mind, but once he did, he navigated several state schools with programs that met his needs.
we're from south texas and too many people in our area won't even consider having those kinds of big dreams, *especially* in the communities where we went to elementary school. i'm white, he's latino. one thing he said he notices a lot is that even people who accomplish a lot in school or their careers before getting into a dream school or getting a big break deal with a kind of imposter syndrome where they reach that plateau and then settle. i'm still chewing on that....but he says it's his biggest frustration with the interns and early-career professionals he's supposed to mentor as the brown guy in his firm.
i also have a lot of friends from my childhood who had rough teens/twenties and have recently gotten their shit together. that's incredibly, inspiring...especially the ones that are doing it with kids and raising them to be compassionate/curious/capable/confident.
35. "thanks, part time through the local texas a&m satellite" In response to Reply # 33 Sat Mar-31-18 02:00 PM by rob
i really don't want to finish (i'm not really learning anything that i wouldn't be researching on my own and it's definitely not going to make me better at my job), but sometimes there are cool people.
the funny thing is that if i had unlimited resources i definitely would go back to school just for fun.
19. "yep, Princeton and Cornell. " In response to Reply # 0
didnt get in to either but i ended up in the Aerospace Engineering program at Georgia Tech so i was only mildly butthurt
the only real disappointment was that i was good enough to play football in the Ivy League and had been in contact with the coaching staffs. i was NOT good enough to play major concerence D1 football for a team that just graduated the guy who should have won the Heisman (Joe Hamilton)
22. "I should have played at a D2 school" In response to Reply # 19
I graduated high school in the mid-80's when affirmative action was in full effect, so I got offered a few academic scholarships to some prominent schools. My folks were more excited than me. I actually wanted to play football. I just wasn't good enough to play D1.
So I took an academic scholarship to FAMU, got caught up in the party scene, academically lazy, and became a bit of a stoner...so I washed out.
In retrospect I should have taken one of the football scholarships I got offered to a few D2 schools, in the middle of nowhere (Talladega, Eastern Michigan, West Georgia). Maybe being there, with little distractions, would have allowed me to focus.
I had one D1 offer, SMU, but they got the death penalty later in the year after they sent me a letter of intent.
>I had one D1 offer, SMU, but they got the death penalty later >in the year after they sent me a letter of intent.
thats...crazy as shit bro.
i too got caught up in the freedom of college and stumbled. looking back, even getting my ass kicked on GTs scout team probably would have given me the resources and motivation to hit the ground running in the classroom. not trying out is one of my regrets.
21. "Accepted to Brown, partial scholarship to Dartmouth" In response to Reply # 0
I attended an interview/mixer for Dartmouth at a swanky club in Buckhead, and was super excited when the letter came offering a scholarship...until I saw the amount. Even with the partial there was no way my folks could afford it. Same with Penn State. A $5K scholarship was a drop in the ocean.
My folks pretty much pushed me into attending FAMU, which was giving me a full-ride.
23. "Stanford sought me out to apply" In response to Reply # 0
but I really didn't see that as a big deal at the time and thought of california as way too far away to really consider and didn't think I'd get in anyway. I had really good test scores but just average grades
That was fucking stupid of me, and although I was probably right that I couldn't handle going that far from home, I should've at least applied.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
38. "RE: Did you apply to any Ivys?" In response to Reply # 0
I did. Ended going to Ivys for undergrad and grad school. Definitely life changing and horizon expanding. Funny thing I was not nearly the smartest or hardest working person I knew before college, I stood out because I came from a place with no track history of sending kids to these types of schools.
My niece just last week got a bunch of rejections from all of the ivys and I know she would have had a better shot if she came from my high school instead of the fancy new york private school she went to.
At any rate, I identify with RJCCs telling, I was utterly unprepared for the work since high school was a breeze without effort. I figured it out (also didn't hurt I wanted to be an english major and not a hard science person).
I've got a lot to say about the experience but for now I will say is if your kid or a young person around you gets the opportunity to go, then encourage them to go. What makes my ears bleed is to hear people say they got accepted but turned it down for free money somewhere else. Taking free money may make sense in every other scenario except when there is an opportunity to go to one of Those schools.
I know this because I often meet people who regret taking the free money and not going to Ivys, never ever met a person who regrets going to an Ivy league school (and there is always ways to find money).
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
40. "RE: Did you apply to any Ivys?" In response to Reply # 38
Wooo...
The engineering work load whooped my ass first year...
Abd second year... lol
Disnt understand how some of these kids were breezing through and relized they had been programming since they were in middle school..
The jump from public school to penn was definitely humbling
Double 0 DJ/Producer/Artist Producer in Kidz In The Hall ------------------------------------------- twitter: @godouble0 IG: @godouble0 www.thinklikearapper.com
44. "RE: Did you apply to any Ivys?" In response to Reply # 40
I saw a lot of good brothers and sisters mess up their whole shit chasing engineering or pre-med. Meanwhile cats would go poly sci or some other liberal arts route and go into investment banking and making the money we all thought you had to be a engineer, doctor or lawyer to make.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
47. " Entered college with like 18 credits off AP tests and school work. DUMB" In response to Reply # 44
DUMB DUMB DUMB choice I was not ready mentally prepared to be taking junior level math and ended up losing most of my scholarship by academic probation And the fucked up part about it wasn't that I had bad grades. But that my school had the plus minus system. So my first semester I got 1 B and three B minuses ... 2.74 gpa.
------ “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus
50. "What sucks is all you probably needed was One Mentor who" In response to Reply # 47
knew the game and could hip you to that being a bad choice.
So many black folks though are first generation and trying to figure it out for themselves.
I just recommended The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace to a kid hoping he wouldn't make some of the mistakes that dude did.
There are also a couple of good NPR podcast about kids getting to college and then not knowing what to do next.
>DUMB DUMB DUMB choice >I was not ready mentally prepared to be taking junior level >math and ended up losing most of my scholarship by academic >probation >And the fucked up part about it wasn't that I had bad grades. >But that my school had the plus minus system. So my first >semester I got 1 B and three B minuses ... 2.74 gpa.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
45. "When kids they say they worked way harder in high school then" In response to Reply # 43
the work in college I saw how underprepared I was.
I remember lying to a professor who said to me, "tell the truth, you just rushed and turned this paper in right". I couldn't be honest and admit I had been working on it for weeks.
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
39. "I think I got into Cornell" In response to Reply # 0
I remember mom was willing to do what it took to send me there but my dad was all about the free money locally and I really wasn't interested in going to upstate NY.
My first choice was Southern Cal but moms wasn't as eager to break the bank to send me across the nation to live a couple miles from the beach
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