Your Daily Random Comment

[sciolyperson1]

new profile pic :O

thanks pettywap

[Booknerd]

Thank you for the wonderful insights, Nyda. I'm probably going to UIUC unless I get accepted into a college that's better for me, so dual credit from my local community college is going to be accepted there. My district also allows us to get an associate's degree in science when we do dual credit full time (aka you go to community college for all of your classes during junior and senior year; not sure if other districts do this too, though), and I've been debating on whether I should do that or not later on. The above posts definitely gave me a little more perspective, though.

Dang. You really have a plan set up at such an early age! I only started even looking into colleges midway through my junior year! I definitely will say starting early does give a goal to reach throughout your 4 years of high school. It'll be really ambitious for me to ask, but if you have your heart set on it already, what major do you want to pursue? It's perfectly fine if you don't know yet. That's what high school and even the beginning years of Uni are for!

Whoa. Fyren, you seem really confident that you could make it into UIUC. Good for you!

I wish I could say the same for myself... But I really don't know where I can or can't go. I mean, the high school I'm looking at right now is kinda competitive. With the competitive selective enrollment high schools in CPS, I think the problem is not achieving a high enough test score/writing a really good letter, but having to compete with your classmates. A college can only accept so many students from one high school... For all I know, 100 people at high school A could probably get into College A with ease. But the college isn't going to accept all 100 (because diversity). So they're probably going to take a few students from high school A, high school B, high school C, and so on. (Please correct me if I'm wrong about this). So if I want a really good chance at UIUC, I would have to stand out in my class.

I can't imagine how lucky it would be to know you're going to get into a good college, like you Fyren. You must be in a nice, uncompetitive, but really good school environment if you have that assurance that you can make it in, already from middle school (well, I guess you're a freshman now. But still)

Oh well, I guess I'll just wait and see. I still have a couple of years before that time comes, so I guess there's no point in stressing myself out now, right?

On the subject of UIUC admissions, since both of you live in-state, you are slightly more favored towards UIUC than out-of-state. From my high school alone, I believe most students my year committed to UIUC (roughly 10%), and I think that has been the case for almost every year. THAT BEING SAID, UIUC gets competitive if you select your major within the College of Engineering or even Gies College of Business. UIUC is one of the best colleges to attend for engineering (ranking #10 overall for engineering and ranking #5 for CS on the US News & World Report ). Because of its competitiveness, I have personally interpreted their selection process as almost random. People have gotten accepted with barely meeting the requirements, and some people have been rejected with perfect scores. This year, in fact, a classmate I knew that wants to major in CS applied to UIUC. His friends and I all expected him to get accepted in December. Turns out, he was flat out rejected (not even deferred), and now he's going to Yale this coming fall instead. There might have been more to the story (like something to do with the essay he sent to UIUC, etc.), but it will always be unclear. After all, I don't know how the admissions system works.

I wouldn't say that they take the same amount from school either. Using my school as an example, my year, there were around 8 people that got accepted to UIUC for CS or CS+X. This year, only 2 got accepted. In both years, class sizes were about the same size, and around the same amount of people applied for CS.

On the subject of diversity, yes, this does play a role in admissions. My high school CS teacher even has speculated that it is easier for a female to get into engineering than a male is because of diversification. In 2017, UIUC CS gender ratio is roughly 7:3 male to female, while in 2013, it was 9:1. I think today its closer to 6:4 now, but I can't find data on that. Data on this can be viewed here if you are interested in the stats. Again, I don't know how the admissions system works, but it is definitely something I've noticed.

However, it goes without saying this, but always try to put your best foot forward. But you are almost always going to run into walls and failures. I definitely agree that you should be proud of every college acceptance. If you don't get into a college, you just gotta brush it off; I personally view it as it sucks for them since they aren't getting a gifted mind that could potentially bring recognition to the school. (Yes, I'm talking to you MIT, CalTech, Purdue, Ann Arbor, and basically all of the California state Unis. YALL DON'T DESERVE ME! ) The most important thing is that you are happy with being at the college of your choice. Going to a campus tour and seeing if you can "picture yourself living here" is a good way of gauging this.

I wouldn't really worry about this stuff until like mid-Soph/early-Junior year since there should be other priorities (like adjusting to high school) on your mind, but here ya go! I hope your apps to CPS schools go well for both of you!!

[Pi-Bot]

new profile pic :O

thanks pettywap

Ha. I hate her. I'm probably going to get that at the bookstore soon.
~~~ This message was posted completely with code (dm: no, ver: 2.0.0). If there is an error, please contact pepperonipi in the signature. ~~~

[Fyren]

Edit: Deleted text

[sneepity]

Also, just remember that it's okay to change your mind. When I was in middle school I thought I wanted to go into computer science, and now that I've gotten more experience in different fields I want to go into biology. Same thing happened with locations - in middle school I wanted to go super far away, but now I'm pretty certain I'm going to stay in the Midwest. Don't get absolutely stubborn and set on one thing; while it's good to have goals being flexible is a really important part of the process. I definitely have a top choice school and have made a lot of plans around if I get into it, but I also have quite a few schools I would like to go to if I don't get in.

The main thing is to be willing to explore throughout high school! Don't get so caught up in your future that you don't try new things and fail at them. Do a lot of extracurricular activities that interest you, and do them because you love them. Don't waste your (precious, precious) free time on something that you don't care about so you can put it on an application. You probably won't even end up putting it on there.

[sneepity]

Wow Fyren and Booknerd!!! you guys already have plans!
I don't really have plans, and the hs that I'm gonna go into is really competitive. I'm starting to get worried that I don't have plans.. idk
maybe ill just become homeless or something

[Fyren]

Edit: Deleted text

[Booknerd]

It'll be really ambitious for me to ask, but if you have your heart set on it already, what major do you want to pursue?

Physics, possibly Geology.

Nice nice. Mad respect for trying physics. AP Physics can be tough for some people, but can come easily for others. Don't be scared if you want to change your idea and explore something you like more!

I hope your apps to CPS schools go well for both of you!!

I'm not in CPS lol

Whoops lmao. Kinda weird that I assumed that even thou you don't allude to any school on your profile. My b

Also, just remember that it's okay to change your mind. When I was in middle school I thought I wanted to go into computer science, and now that I've gotten more experience in different fields I want to go into biology. Same thing happened with locations - in middle school I wanted to go super far away, but now I'm pretty certain I'm going to stay in the Midwest. Don't get absolutely stubborn and set on one thing; while it's good to have goals being flexible is a really important part of the process. I definitely have a top choice school and have made a lot of plans around if I get into it, but I also have quite a few schools I would like to go to if I don't get in.

The main thing is to be willing to explore throughout high school! Don't get so caught up in your future that you don't try new things and fail at them. Do a lot of extracurricular activities that interest you, and do them because you love them. Don't waste your (precious, precious) free time on something that you don't care about so you can put it on an application. You probably won't even end up putting it on there.

I can't agree more with this. High school is the time to try new things to find what you are good at and then start to excel at it. It's actually one of the steps in Erikson's development stages: Identity vs. Role Confusion. During adolescence, people start to explore for their beliefs, values, and goals. It is the time where you discover yourself and your passion. Psychology ftw!

You shouldn't be pressured into going into something you don't want to do. Otherwise, that would be pretty miserable.

[sneepity]

Number one thing about high school is to be flexible and keep your options open. I can into high school planning on going down the cyber defense pathway and just doing scioly as a side thing, but I realized that I liked scioly better and decided to take the engineering class this year, and then for next year, I decided to stay in JROTC and double science instead of taking the design tech class because I enjoy JROTC and felt like it would be more beneficial for me to take Physics C and Chem instead of Physics C and Design Tech. Don't be afraid to give something up for another thing you enjoy.

[lumosityfan]

It'll be really ambitious for me to ask, but if you have your heart set on it already, what major do you want to pursue?

Physics, possibly Geology.

Awesome! Physics is a great subject and I'm glad that you're interested in pursuing it further. (Also not to toot my own horn or anything but if you're interested in such things, you should consider going to Columbia. I know it's awhile in the future and you said you would be interested in potentially going to other colleges outside of UIUC, but Columbia has the Lamont Earth Observatory in the Palisades that does geology research and the Earth Center on 114th and Broadway that does such things as well. Also, their Physics department is quite top-notch and has lots of opportunities for research and learning. Just a consideration )

I find it amazing that you know what you want to do for college so early on or at least am planning for it; I wasn't thinking hard about such things until junior year of college (and even then it was your normal preparing for SAT/ACT and checking out local colleges). I agree with people in keeping your options open and staying aware of what's out there. I came into high school not really knowing what I wanted to do exactly but I had a feeling of maybe history-related things and maybe some science, but going through high school (especially competing in Science Olympiad) made me want to go into science in college. This is especially when it came to Astronomy; competing in Astronomy really honed wanting to pursue that field in college (and I'm very thankful I did) So don't sweat not knowing exactly what you need to do right away; it's great that you're thinking about such things so early though, and I encourage you to continue looking further into such possibilities.