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I hate college applications!!!

mariahlullaby

mariahlullaby

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 19, 2005
852
3
NYC
I just thought I would share :mad: :mad:

I've sent out 6 already and am on the last 4...and it's killing me. I am having so much trouble with a couple of these essays! I usually consider myself a good writer -- English is my best subject and I love to write -- but all the ones I've done for college all sound dull and contrived, and they lack focus. And One app is due Sunday. I have two 250 word essays to do....ugh :mad: :eek: :eek:
 
Yikes! 10 applications? Wow, I remember sending out a grand total of two. But I remember the essay parts being the worst - of course, back then you had to, ahem, hand-write them. Is that still the case, or can you print them out?

Good luck with them, though - I'm sure they're fine. We're always most critical of our own work. :)
 
Scholarships were the worst part for me. I hated the question "Where do you see youself in ten years?" Looking back, the accurate answer would have been just graduated from grad school and starting a career. No way I would have predicted that one.

Try and keep your focus and sound like you have some general goals. They realize that you will change your major 2.5 times and it will take you 5 years to graduate (on average).
 
grapes911 said:
I though college apps where the worst. Now I'm about to graduate and searching for a job is worse. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, just wait until you have to send out 100 job applications. It'll make college applications look fun.
 
Stick it through and keep it going.

It's definitely worth it in the end...and it's always nice to have options when considering where to go.

Good luck.
 
Thanks guys :p Still frustrating as heck though. I've got 1.5 of the above mentioned essays done, so it's looking a little less bleak. I'm off to work. Happy (early) New Year!
 
Thank god we don't have to do that. I assume when you say "college" you mean "university." Here the unis fill their courses based solely on your final mark at the end of high school, if you score highly enough you can go anywhere you want.

If by "college" you mean "college" ie hall of residence, then yes, we have to do a short interview to make sure we will be suitable for living at the college
 
Chundles said:
Thank god we don't have to do that. I assume when you say "college" you mean "university." Here the unis fill their courses based solely on your final mark at the end of high school, if you score highly enough you can go anywhere you want.
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Yes, consider yourself lucky. I was sort of lucky in that I only had to do one essay for all the University of California campuses. Didn't really think about going anywhere else.
 
One of the really hard parts about college essays is that you're given a specific prompt but a vague audience -- it's one thing to know what to write, but that gets complicated when you're not sure who you're supposed to be writing to!

If you can imagine your audience clearly, the writing will get that much easier. :)
 
I dont hate them per se, but how they messed up my life for 3 years... not in an extreme way but my life has significantly changed from it. and its UK rules so yea...

Basically me and my girlfriend where at college at the time. filling in our university applications. We both put down Huddersfield, thinking its quite close and an amazing town up in the hills. only I read that I needed a certain number of grades to get in... our 2nd year at college was severely ball-sed up by our main tutor leaving and we had an incompetent b***ard to tutor us. I produced a commercial quality game opposed to a 10 second claymation or a single panoramic photograph for my final project, they got distinctions, I got a pass. purely because he didn't believe I made it.
Anywho. So... we both thought we were going to our second choice; Staffordshire. I was about to put my money down on a 2 bedroom house until I got a letter saying that I was in at Huddersfield on a Game Design course. even though I did NOT have the grades from college or school (needed an A in maths, I got a C). according to the UK way of working... if you get an offer from your first choice university you HAVE to take it. even though I knew they were wrong by putting me on a course I couldn't do.

that was it. my girlfriend went to Staffordshire and I went to Manchester in the end. all because of a silly rule. now we only see each other at the weekends :( we were a really good team too.
 
After G said:
Yes, consider yourself lucky. I was sort of lucky in that I only had to do one essay for all the University of California campuses. Didn't really think about going anywhere else.
Click to expand...

UCs require three essays now. How times have changed.
 
thedude110 said:
One of the really hard parts about college essays is that you're given a specific prompt but a vague audience -- it's one thing to know what to write, but that gets complicated when you're not sure who you're supposed to be writing to!

If you can imagine your audience clearly, the writing will get that much easier. :)
Click to expand...

Definitely...and more specific essay questions are a godsend.

It's so much easier to write a focused essay than just a generic one.

Haha, this thread is making me so happy that I don't have to go through this anymore...

Although for grad/law school...that's definitely not going to be fun. :eek:
 
I hated doing college applications....

Then five years later I had to do grad school apps :mad:

If you thought the essays for undergrad were obnoxious...

The grad school essays all had really vague prompts like "tell us about yourself" - but you know that's not really what they're looking for. The problem is trying to figure out what it is that they really want - and it's a little different for every program, depending on the faculty and thier interests, the structure of the program, and whether the department or the grad school has the final say about who is admitted...

While I was writing the grad school essays, I actually felt nostalgic for the undergrad ones.
 
ITASOR said:
They only have to be 250 words? That doesn't seem that bad!
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I think the short ones are worst than the long ones. In a 500 word essay (still short), I can develop my thoughts and really make it flow. In a 250 (or even 150) word essay, you have to impress the ad coms quickly and still make your point. I'm just trying to be myself -- using more conversational language than larger words -- and candid rather than stuffy and overly serious.

Thanks for the help, guys.
 
oo, I feel your pain.

I'm under the stress of senior year.. it's closing in. RECITALS... Application (yes, singular)

The college I want to go to has a minimum GPA requirement, a minimum SAT score, and a minimum class rank, all of which I exceed. I just have one app to send out. No essay required, haha.
To all of you who are saying "ZOMG KT ONLY ONE APPLICATION YOU ARE cRAZY AND WON'T GET IN!1!~1!~" my brother got accepted. We both went to the same HS and I'm getting better grades than he. I'll get in.

It'll all be done after Feb 10... Then, I can kick back and laugh at everyone else who's stressing out. It'll be awesome
 
wheee! i remember college apps. not a fun time at all! keep on chugging at em dude. after youre done and you send them all it, its a good feeling...shortly to be replaced with anxiety as you wait for your replies. :eek:

i'm doing grad school apps now too. keeping track of all the supplemental material and writing the statement is even worse. you gotta go on about why exactly youre interested in your proposed field of study, what qualities make you a good candidate, your research interests blah blah.

good luck!
 
I wish you guys a good luck with writing essays for the college/university applications. I have gone through it serveral years ago. At that time, I am more inspirational (in terms of conjuring up dreams and aspirations). Now, I don't think I can even pretend to be like that after having been in the business world. If I am going to write a college essay on "where would I be in 10 years" now, I will be writing I strive to make money by truck load by working hard for myself/my employer and spend it to satisfy my materialistic thirst. I think that would be too blunt to cut it if I were shipped back to my pre-college year by a time machine.
 
I remember how easy it is to get caught up in this whirlwind of madness.

In hindsight, I feel like everything happens for a reason... Just remember (you seniors, you), there is always another option and things aren't always as they seem.

I didn't get into my first (and really, only) choice college-- NYU. I was so devastated, I forgot to fight the decision (in which case, I probably would have gotten in) :eek:. So I felt I had no 'choice' but to go to UC Berkeley. Bonus? I am still with the same boyfriend I've been with since senior year of high school-- it's been an amazing three and a half years with him that I wouldn't have had if I had gone to NYU.

The drawback? I hated Cal and left the week before spring finals my first year. I've since been 'wasting' my potential at a community college... The bonus? (Are you getting the pattern yet?) I'm starting to gather more of a feeling of what I want/don't want to do/study and I might end up at UC Santa Cruz with my boyfriend. (And just to clarify, I would not base a life decision such as a college based 'solely' on a relationship-- I mean, Angela Davis heads the Feminist Studies program! :D)

Whew. Long post.

That said, GOOD LUCK SENIORS!
 
10 applications is nothing! Our rank one classmate is applying to 12 schools; just about every top-school imaginable. Did I mention his filling out all of his apps this week and most of its due... well tomorrow!

I've got the grand total of 7. I've been writing for the last two whole days, day in, day out. I find I don't like these word limits. I find myself going over 500 words quite easily. Just imagine how condensed my 150 and 250 word-essays are.

Looking back at two applications I sent out yesterday, it sounds like I don't have much going on in my life. I listed maybe two or three extracurricular activities. I won spots in two pretty major computer programming competitions, so at least I have those. Grades and scores might be considered mediocre at best.

Then there's my essays... Not very gimmicky. I don't know if it's a bad thing to write casually and first-person, but I did. It doesn't sound like I'm selling myself too well. I pretty much have said for most of the essays (topics are all very similar) that I have a long history with computer and technology, and so I'm good for computer science. Pretty bland, right?

Luckily one of my schools extended their deadline (but it's not posted on their website... and the admissions office is away on break! :eek: ), so I got my next batch due in about two weeks. Yay...

Yeah, I hate college applications, too. :cool:
 
If you think the applications are that bad, how do you think the course work is gonna seem if you get accepted?
 
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