Funny Numbers

Ok, because I'm on a college rant, let's look at some numbers:

>4.2
2300
34
12

The top three are pretty easy to guess, right? GPA, SAT score, and ACT score. That last number is the number of honors/AP classes that I have taken in my high school career. My favorites were AP Chemistry, Honors Biomed, and AP Calculs AB (Yes, I'm that nerdy science kid). Think that would look pretty impressive on a college resume? Let's look at a few more numbers:

4
3
2
>12

These are a little harder to figure out, so I'll just give them to you. 4 after school activities, 3 different constant volunteer organizations, 2 different jobs (not all that big, but still, they're something), more than twelve different awards or honors in high school that I can remember including my Girl Scout Gold Award (equivalent to the Boy Scout Eagle Scout, for those who don't know), Grand Champion at the science fair (again, geeky science stuff with biodiesel and model airplane engines), and Venturer of the Year for my county. More things that look good on a resume, right? More numbers:
5
4
2

Accepted. Waitlisted. Rejected.

Sure, it doesn't seem as bad as it could be, but the predictability of the whole acceptance process has gone out the window. Ten years ago, with these different attributes, I would have gotten into most places. Now, it's literally almost the same as flipping a coin, and my numbers are starting to tank.

Let's look at the accepted schools. I toured the southern UCs the past break and found that I really liked UCSB, UCSD, and UCLA (mostly UCLA). I wasn't that much of a fan of UC Irvine or UC Davis when I visited them. I proceeded to get accepted to UCSB, UCSD, and UCD. I got waitlisted, waitlisted at UCI and denied (I like to use rejected, but that's just me) at UCLA. Fortunately, I didn't like UCI all that much, but I was still exremely surprised to get waitlisted. Don't get me wrong, it's a great school, but most people can agree that both UCSB and UCSD are stronger, so I'm a little confused and peeved. Unfortunately, I did like UCLA. A lot. As in, it was my second pick in my list of schools. Ugh.

Now for the privates. I got accepted to Skidmore and Macalester. I got waitlisted at Bowdoin, Carleton, and George Washington University. I got rejected from Rice. Rice. My top school. My dream school. Well, there it went. Skidmore and Bowdoin are both known and are both incredibly good and at one I got waitlisted (well fine then, screw you) and at the other I was not only accepted with open arms, I was one  of a handful of students to with the Porter Scholarship in Math and Science. Want to know how much that one's worth? $60,000. Yes. $60,000 over four years at one and waitlisted at the other. And it just gets weirder. Macalester and Carleton are both comprable as well (heck, they're even in the same general vicinity of Minnesota) and at one I got waitlisted and at the other I got accepted with a $40,000 merit scholarship over four years. Again, what? George Washington really was kind of a middle-range/reach (up there but not as up there as Johns Hopkins, Emory, Cornell, Rice, etc.), so I'm not as miffed, but I'm definitely not happy.

I've talked to a bunch of people and I get the same reaction: short of changing my completely WASP background to something from some tiny country in Africa, Europe, or Asia; losing a limb;  contracting some terminal illness that I miraculously recover from; or coming from a disadvantaged background (I'm happy with what I have, I'm not crazy enough to sacrifice that for the sake of one college), I'm not going to get in to any of these places. It's a literal crap-shoot. There are too many people in a bubble that have the same qualifications that I have, maybe more, maybe less, but still roughly the same that nothing stands out any more. Applying to college is like trying to win the lotto: you need to pick the right extracurriculars, classes, sports, and background to be accepted anywhere. There is no reach, midrange, or back up, they're all just big question marks.

I know I'll go to the right school for me, and that the ones that reject me aren't the right ones. That doesn't mean the weeding out process will suck any less. I'm still here and I'm still licking my wounds.