Good morning all! After all my hard work this school year, I've gotten accepted by all my reach schools with a ton of scholarships and absurdly high honors. See you next fall! ;)
And Happy April Fools Day to all of you too!
So after the MITES program, when it came to applying to colleges, I was the cockiest kid in school this year. Thinking my good grades were inherited, I transitioned form taking zero AP classes junior year to three senior year. Since I had just taken the courses at MITES, I was on top of the game in my math and science classes. I became very proud, and in turn, very lazy. The CE² program added to the flame. Additionally, despite turning in everything while approaching the deadline, I became a QuestBridge finalist. While I doubted that I would be matched to a college, I knew MIT would accept me early action, and if they didn't, then there was always regular decision. I knew I could pull through.
Suddenly, as early action approached, I became very nervous alongside everyone else. Would I really be accepted to a school like this? I was treated sweetly by the admissions committee by mail numerous times. After a nerve-wracking hour of waiting for decisions and refreshing, I found out I had been rejected. It was then that I went to bed in tears in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe transfer admissions or graduate school could work, I said to myself. I thought about getting into a local school just so I could transfer over and make myself look better from a simple school. Eventually, I stopped and moved on.
While I applied to many of the big-name top-tier schools, I hastily completed my main Common App application and lazily completed the supplements. In some cases, I worked on supplements depending on how close each deadline was approaching. I cringed at having to pay about $70 total for sending additional CSS profiles and SAT score reports to the schools I applied. Meanwhile, my grades dropped first semester from a lack of focus at home and wildly changing sleep habits.
After finishing applications for some safety schools of my choice, I received my first acceptance letter from BYU-Idaho exactly two weeks after applying. That next week I received my acceptance letters from BYU and Drexel. These things uplifted my mood during February. The next thing to put a grin on my face happened at my dual-credit program's Saturday Academy, when I was told I would be guaranteed an acceptance at Rowan University if I applied. I received the letter about a week ago along with a $15,000 merit scholarship from the school if I applied, not including the $10,000 state grant money on the table. The offer was very tempting.
After all the good fortune I received from these schools, I waited patiently on Ivy Day for my college decisions. After scrolling through anxiety over college decisions on my newsfeeds, the time finally arrived! After an hour of madness, I found out that I was rejected by all of my applied schools except for Columbia, where I was waitlisted. For having Columbia as my third choice this year, I thought I did pretty well. I felt pretty bad for those school friends of mine who also applied to a few Ivy League schools and did not make it at all.
Here I am about to head off on a train to another city to spend time with friends there. I am really hoping to go to Columbia from my position on the waitlist. For now, I am simply deciding between two BYU campuses, Rowan, and Drexel. Wherever I go, I want to be able to go not only for myself, but also also on behalf of my friends and family who also go through struggles sometimes worse than my own. I want to ignite inspiration in others within my community to reach beyond the stereotypes of "one of the poorest, most dangerous cities in America."
