Ok, now I get to actually talk about the college stuff I wanted to say last time.
So, I'm a rising senior. Which is completely wild, by the way. A very enjoyable chapter (high school) in my life is about to close, and afterwards, there's basically no way to go back.
Sure, I'll talk to my friends, talk to my teachers, but it'll never quite be like how I went to school back then, huh?
Time is really annoying like that. Especially since high school has been so fun. Wish things didn't have to change.
Anyway, before I get drawn into another hole of contemplation, I should talk about college. Yes, I do in fact have to write my college apps in the next couple of months, a large portion of which will be due on November 1st. Alarmingly close, if you ask me.
And, well, it's quite nerve-wracking.
I'm a pretty good student, I would say, and I happen to be good at test-taking. You know, I'm that standard Indian kid with the all As and the high ACT score. So my academics are great.
I think I'm a strong enough candidate for even like the top-top level colleges, like MIT, Stanford, Caltech. I would definitely be considered in the applicant pool.
The problem is, that at this level, I'm just being compared against literally every other straight-A high-achiever. Unless I've cured cancer or have absolutely insane extracurriculars, it's kind of a crapshoot. That's the phrase everyone keeps using around me, 'crapshoot', and it's irritating.
At some level, I don't care too much about which college I go to. I don't think it matters as much as it's emphasized. But, I do feel obligated to try since I could, possibly, get into these great schools.
Right now, my preliminary list of where I'm applying probably looks something like this:
MIT, Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Harvey Mudd, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Tech, U Michigan, UT Austin, Northwestern, U Penn, Carnegie Mellon.
Yeah, I know I'm applying to a lot of high-up places, and yeah I know my chances are shit. Reason I'm applying is because the chance is low, but not non-zero.
I am a lot more hopeful about some of the more medium-level colleges I'm applying to, U Mich, Georgia Tech, UIUC, those kind of places. I like them all fairly well, I'd be happy enough going there, and I don't see myself getting rejected from all of them.
Still a lot of stress. I've started the personal statement for the common app, by the way, and boy is it hard to add finesse to it. I'm like trying to make it so great, and it's hard. Maybe I'll put my draft here, or something.
Oh yeah, and the picture above is from a trip I just took to Michigan and Chicago. Cool places, for sure. I like Ann Arbor a lot, actually. Quintessential college town, tons of students around, large campus. Plus, this Punjabi dude randomly gave us a tour around the new Ford Robotics Center. Now THAT was cool. And I talked to this admissions guy who was there, Mike Oekle. Pretty decent convo, I would say. Answered a fair deal of my questions, and I hope I didn't leave a bad impression.
U Chicago was also good. Total Hogwarts vibe, old buildings with ivy, tunnels. I don't know if I like living near the city itself though. I'm not a city person. Northwestern had pretty spanky buildings too. UIUC had a bit of an older vibe, but still a cool enough town. I had a pretty good convo with a Professor/Uncle there, had lunch with them. The problem was is that there weren't many students, if any, on the campuses here so I didn't much get a sense of the vibe at the school.
All good enough places, though. I think I'll be happy enough, in the end.
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