Quick Disclaimer: While these are my genuine feelings about the Ivy League, this will also be a bit of a humorous article. I’m not discouraging any of you nerds from applying to any of these schools. Just sharing my thoughts.
Ahh… the Ivies. Harvard, Cornell, all wonderful academic institutions for ric- I mean bright young students! No wonder these schools receive thousands of applications every year, all hoping to get a chance to go northeast and study among the smartest students in the country. Me, well, I mean I’m the smartest person I know! Surely I would love the opportunity to test my luck with that 2.7% acceptance rate myself, right? Right?
So… yeah. I’ve never really been too ecstatic about the Ivy League. But why is that? I sought to find that out by looking at what a usual application process for an Ivy applicant looks like (my evidence is stories from my mom). Let’s imagine for a bit…
It all starts freshman year, when a student decides that they want to go to Princeton. They’ve already looked up a YouTube video entitled, “10 Things that are GUARANTEED to Get You into Princeton!”, just to prepare themselves for that scary 2.7% acceptance rate. They will spend their high school years making sure their GPA is spotless, their SAT score spiffy, and that they have plans to cure cancer by the end of their junior year. However, I already see a problem. You’re masking yourself.
Students know how competitive these schools are, so it often pressures them into thinking their applications have to be PERFECT. They’ll pick extracurricular activities they think will “sound good,” like student council or medical research and think they have to invent a new element for the periodic table to get into the Chemistry program. “Resmaxing” (resume maxxing) is what I’ll call it. But what if I want to join a unicycling club instead? What if my greatest accomplishments in life are beating the Path of Pain and Nightmare King Grimm in Hollow Knight? I’m not going to give that up to try to look good for a college! That’s not who I am. I can’t find a cure for cancer. I’m just a loser who sits in his room writing Keynote articles at 1:00 am, sipping sweet tea. If the colleges don’t like that, maybe it’s not the right place for me.
But what if you mess up? Let’s say that a student works hard throughout high school, when suddenly, he gets his Chemistry test back and is bewildered to see a 67% marked in red. Oh, that’s it. It’s the end of the world. My GPA’s ruined! How will I get into Princeton now?! I am here to stop that kind of thinking right now. There comes a time in life when you WILL struggle. I don’t know when or where, but you will. And it’s okay to fail once in a while. That’s how we learn. And if ANY college makes you feel that one failure will ruin your chances of getting in, what does that say about that college?
I think that’s the answer I can give you. I don’t want to be a little Princeton robot who has the best grades and is the president of 12 clubs. I want to be me. I want a school that will encourage me to stay up until 1:00 am writing news articles. Not to mention, the pressure doesn’t stop after you’re admitted. You’ll be up for hours just studying, and if you don’t give yourself any downtime, you’ll burn out. You won’t have time to beat Pantheon 5 in Hollow Knight anymore. Or whatever your passion is. I’m weird. Now I know you nerds are still going to apply to all of the Ivy League schools, so here’s my advice. Be yourself. I know it sounds like a cat poster, but it’s true. Don’t feel there’s a “perfect” application you need to strive for because that simply doesn’t exist. No YouTube video will guarantee your acceptance, nor will any specific extracurriculars or SAT scores. So I urge you: do whatever you love doing. If you don’t get in, that’s okay. I know the university of my heart will appreciate you being you. 100% acceptance!
