4 ms·

Honestly, I find this very difficult to believe-it almost sounds like you've left something out. As with a lot of these types of stories on the internet, it fe

Honestly, I find this very difficult to believe-it almost sounds like you've left something out. As with a lot of these types of stories on the internet, it feels like something else is amiss. The SAT score alone puts you in a pretty small group of people (< 600 people scored 2400 out of 1-2 MILLION SAT takers in 2014, according to some light googling). This combined with uncommon extracurriculars and a "good essay" would easily land you in any cal state. If you're saying that these are your qualifications, with no caveats, then literally 95%+ of the Asian males in California would get rejected from all but the "lowliest" schools.

unishark 6y ago
Well the GPA/ranking was left out (which could have guaranteed admission to a UC if it was in the top 9 percent or whatever). Though it's hard to imagine it being that bad if the person is so great at test taking. Either way though, yes I am also pretty skeptical of this story because of the Cal State part. At that tier a top student should get a full scholarship. I guess Cal Poly is pretty selective, but still their average SAT score is pretty low. It's probably more about applicants self-selecting for UC's instead of Cal States.
WholeLottaTrash 6y ago
I'm not really sure what else to say. I hadn't even gotten a parking ticket at the time when I applied to colleges. It's not like I was a convicted felon or anything. I had good academics, and got rejected just about everywhere I applied to. I'm just voicing my frustrations. The entire reason why my family moved to the US was because my parents believed that their kids could get a superior education. I've taken that to heart. It's hard to move thousands of miles for fleeting opportunism and feel like you failed. I spent all my time as a kid viewing education as a competition, studying for hours, and training to be better in every task compared to my peers. I viewed college admissions as proof that I did what I was supposed to correctly, but clearly I failed. My sister grew up in the exact same cultural context. She was a good student, but her scores weren't close to the same as mine, and her outcome is far better. I don't really have much to say beyond that. I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20. I wake up everyday feeling quite empty and unfulfilled, having seen and currently living the downstream effects of what I feel was a subpar formal college education, experience, and post-facto opportunities, irregardless of if I "deserved" a better one or not. It's not pleasant. Lots of people far superior to me academically have had worse outcomes. Please don't be skeptical to things you read online because they don't make sense to you. Often times reality is stranger than fiction. I ended up going to a middling UC, having been rejected by better and worse ones.

unishark 6y ago

Well the GPA/ranking was left out (which could have guaranteed admission to a UC if it was in the top 9 percent or whatever). Though it's hard to imagine it being that bad if the person is so great at test taking. Either way though, yes I am also pretty skeptical of this story because of the Cal State part. At that tier a top student should get a full scholarship. I guess Cal Poly is pretty selective, but still their average SAT score is pretty low. It's probably more about applicants self-selecting for UC's instead of Cal States.

WholeLottaTrash 6y ago

I'm not really sure what else to say. I hadn't even gotten a parking ticket at the time when I applied to colleges. It's not like I was a convicted felon or anything. I had good academics, and got rejected just about everywhere I applied to. I'm just voicing my frustrations. The entire reason why my family moved to the US was because my parents believed that their kids could get a superior education. I've taken that to heart. It's hard to move thousands of miles for fleeting opportunism and feel like you failed. I spent all my time as a kid viewing education as a competition, studying for hours, and training to be better in every task compared to my peers. I viewed college admissions as proof that I did what I was supposed to correctly, but clearly I failed. My sister grew up in the exact same cultural context. She was a good student, but her scores weren't close to the same as mine, and her outcome is far better. I don't really have much to say beyond that. I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20. I wake up everyday feeling quite empty and unfulfilled, having seen and currently living the downstream effects of what I feel was a subpar formal college education, experience, and post-facto opportunities, irregardless of if I "deserved" a better one or not. It's not pleasant. Lots of people far superior to me academically have had worse outcomes. Please don't be skeptical to things you read online because they don't make sense to you. Often times reality is stranger than fiction. I ended up going to a middling UC, having been rejected by better and worse ones.