To All The Colleges That Rejected Me

[Praefectus]

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When I read that the other day, for a second I thought that my little sister wrote it because she's been railing against the same stuff for months now. She was recently accepted to a top 10 UG and she turned them down with a letter that basically said "Thanks but no thanks. I didn't enjoy participating in your dog and pony show and I only applied to prove I could get in."

She's planning on going to my school where she will most likely join a good sorority and have an awesome time.

 

[534455]

... my input was likely to be as valuable, if perhaps not even more so, than a 22-year old pre-med's.

You are so right about that! You have tons to add compared to a 22 year old pre-med.

In fact if their profiles indicate they are "pre-medicine" or if they smell/chirp/whine like a 20 something year old, i don't read their posts.

There is only so much time I give to SDN and when I do, I skim for the good stuff and let the dross spill somewhere else.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I like your tag line (I KNOW NOTHING)

No one who knows me or my kid would ever accuse me of 'helicoptering' Involved? yes. Tiger? possibly. Helicopter? not in a million years. (The difference between 'Involved' and 'Helicopter' being, in my view, independence and autonomy: the parent does not make the decisions or insulate the kid from the consequences.)

Dispensing advice on WAMC threads? Guilty as charged. This forum was so valuable during my son/daughter's application cycle that 'paying it back' seems like the socially responsible thing to do. I figured that after a successful application cycle and many years' of life experience, (including several as a regional Ivy AdCom) my input was likely to be as valuable, if perhaps not even more so, than a 22-year old pre-med's.

So take it for what it's worth -- 🙄

I'd hope that someone your age would know what my tag line is from (which would mean that was a genuine compliment so thank you for that).

I just always feel that it's interesting that someone who has never applied to a medical school, been to a medical school interview, never interviewed a student for a medical school and never actually sat on a medical school admissions committee feels qualified to dispense advice on what "medical schools are looking for" as the majority of your posts have been in WAMC type threads advising people on a variety of topics. I feel the same way about the pre-meds who have never been through a cycle either and are just regurgitating what they hear on here. You may well have been on a "regional Ivy AdCom" but I can say the same thing on an internet forum.

Now though, this response shows up in your post history so if some pre-med is wondering who they should seriously take advice from they can go through your past posts and reasonably decide. It's like the users who go around with no handle/tag under their name giving advice all over the place and then you find out in a random post that they're freshmen.

 

[notbobtrustme]

If I remember correctly, there was a 4th charity that ran one Bingo Night for Kenya or something, but the President (a friend of mine) pocketed the money and used it to buy liquor for a party through an older brother.

Back in undergrad, when I was still a pre-med, we ran a bake sale for some charity or w/e, bought a bunch of cookies from Jewel, marked them up 500%, pocketed the cash and bought weed/booze. It was ****ing awesome.

Everyone that was a part of that scheme made it into med school too, including me, 5 years later....


Anyways, life can be summed up in one easy phrase "Fake it till you make it".

 

[NickNaylor]

Back in undergrad, when I was still a pre-med, we ran a bake sale for some charity or w/e, bought a bunch of cookies from Jewel, marked them up 500%, pocketed the cash and bought weed/booze. It was ****ing awesome.

Everyone that was a part of that scheme made it into med school too, including me, 5 years later....


Anyways, life can be summed up in one easy phrase "Fake it till you make it".

Not the kind of thing I'd be admitting to considering you weren't a child, but aight.

 

[Spinach Dip]

Back in undergrad, when I was still a pre-med, we ran a bake sale for some charity or w/e, bought a bunch of cookies from Jewel, marked them up 500%, pocketed the cash and bought weed/booze. It was ****ing awesome.

Everyone that was a part of that scheme made it into med school too, including me, 5 years later....


Anyways, life can be summed up in one easy phrase "Fake it till you make it".

I wonder where pre-meds get such a bad reputation....



Hmmmmmmmm......



Still can't figure it out.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I wonder where pre-meds get such a bad reputation....



Hmmmmmmmm......



Still can't figure it out.

Yeah I'm usually with notbobtrustme 99.99% of the time, but this one crosses the line, whether pre-med or not. 🙁

With that said, I don't think there is anything wrong with a pre-med starting a non-profit and giving the minimum amount of money required by law to the subjects of the charity. It is the responsibility of the ADCOMs to look into these non-profits and make sure everything is legitimate. If something like a non-profit can have such an impact on an applicant, being the difference between acceptance and rejection, then the ADCOMs better take the time to look at the financials. There's no reason to blame an applicant for staying within the guidelines of running a non-profit under US law.

That's why websites like Charity Navigator exist. This is also why people are cautioned to be careful who they donate money to in times of crisis, since a majority of money can go to cover "administrative" costs. Barely any of the money will actually go to intended recipients. That's why the Red Cross, for example, is always a safe bet for donations.

Flat out lying is plain wrong, and probably illegal. I remember people who opened fake charities after Hurricane Sandy got arrested.

 

[Ohyeah]

Back in undergrad, when I was still a pre-med, we ran a bake sale for some charity or w/e, bought a bunch of cookies from Jewel, marked them up 500%, pocketed the cash and bought weed/booze. It was ****ing awesome.

Everyone that was a part of that scheme made it into med school too, including me, 5 years later....


Anyways, life can be summed up in one easy phrase "Fake it till you make it".

That's really a shame, man. That's bold of you to put that on the internet, but hey your 2 cents does contribute to the conversation and reveal some truths about the admissions process. Even if this is a troll post, I don't see why such a thing isn't possible.

 

[notbobtrustme]

That's really a shame, man. That's bold of you to put that on the internet, but hey your 2 cents does contribute to the conversation and reveal some truths about the admissions process. Even if this is a troll post, I don't see why such a thing isn't possible.

The game is pretty much the reason why I stopped being a pre-med in undergrad. When my pre-med advisor said that I "needed to do volunteer work" I said eff that (because "it's not volunteering if you have to do it!") and decided on grad school. A few years later, I had to play the game all over again. The last 5 years are a testament to my decision making skills (aka not good lol).

 

[syoung]

From one of the letters to the editors...

Ms. Weiss, I read your atricle today and have only one thought. Study hard wherever you go, and when you graduate, find me on LinkedIn and let's interview you for a great job. Real people matter more than programmed robots, and the colleges that don't see your abilities are missing greatly.

Steve Wilkens

Atlanta

 

[Planes2Doc]

From one of the letters to the editors...

If that was genuine and not sarcasm, then I'd have to say that is one of the best things I've read in a while. 👍

 

[syoung]

True, but if it wasn't...

Thanks for posting the article though!

 

[StudyShy]

I agree. Her writing was a little nauseating at times, but overall a good point.

I read in the comments that she said she's going to University of Michigan, which is really nothing to sneeze at.

Oh gawd, she's coming to live near me. 🙁

 

[Docility]

Oh gawd, she's coming to live near me. 🙁

LOL 😛

 

[KnuxNole]

Looks like it's that time of year for people to make whiny blog posts. Here's another one that someone shared on Facebook:

http://www.racialicious.com/2013/04...o-didnt-get-into-the-college-of-their-dreams/