Harsh Lessons learned in High School: MUST READ

This is the almost-immediate to reaction to my traumatic college-admissions experience. Read it with an open mind. This only reflects my frustrations at that point in time!

1) Don`t believe all that baloney about "challenging yourself." <sub>Colleges only want to see your straight A`s. I took so many AP`s and got A`s but a few B`s. But even scoring 5`s on both the biology and English exams junior year, I received a rude awakening: the people who took it easy with just honors and got all A`s were accepted into better colleges. Sure, you will learn much more than those people, but do you really want to end up being the studious one in a school full of partyers?(kind of like a king-of-the-idiots scenario)? I say, take the easy classes and be happy.</sub>

2) Cut down on the extra-curriculars. _{I was a good student AND president of 2 clubs, vice-president of 2 others, a public library trustee and community service (483 hours). But it seems like it didn`t matter at all. So many kids with MUCH fewer activities (NO, they were NOT "more deeply involved" either) got into better colleges. You may be shocked to find out that after all your caring for the community, the community could care less about YOU.}

3) Don`t kill yourself with internships. <sub>I spent two summers volunteering at Suburban Hospital and another two years working in the National Institutes of Health on a competitive biomedical research program. I thought it would give me the edge. No, even Hopkins, with a 40% acceptance rate didn`t agree. And I would definitely not try to do an internship during the school year. You will find that it`s a big waste of time and you will feel like killing yourself. While I`m at it, don`t try to enter the Intel Science Competition if you only spent one summer doing a project. It`s more competitive than you think.</sub>

4) Study your butt off for SAT`s or don`t bother studying at all. _{I got a decent 1360 (not that I was real happy about it since I broke 1400 right after) and some good it did me. But I know so many people with similar scores or lower who got into better schools because they had a pretty transcript (with regular/honors classes). I honestly think it plays a decisive role if you break 1500 or if you scored far below 1200. Ditto with SATII`s.}

5) Life just sucks. _{No matter how hard you work, things will always go wrong for certain people. Either that, or someone close to you is cursing you with a voodoo doll. I don`t know, but it`s highly possible. Sometimes you don't know what goes on behind people's smiles.}

6) Don`t be afraid to cheat. <sub>I thought about this one for a long time. Would you rather be honest and get a C and pull your grade down and go to a bad college, or cheat and get an A and get into a good college( where you can be honest again)? That`s a reality; the people in my school who are going to Ivies all cheat, except for two people. And the former people who cheated and got into the Ivies never tasted the consequences because cheating, believe it or not, can actually help you LEARN (you can remember things better if you recall you copied that answer from someone). I really would not like to cheat, but some teachers are just (_*_)s, and you have to DEAL with them the way they DEAL with you. So quoting an anonymous Yale graduate currently in Harvard Law School," You have to cheat in real life. If you can cheat and get away with it, I would say `do it`." Should we take that advice? It is SO true, but it`s immoral. What is the world coming to. Is there anyway out of this awful vacuum of misery?</sub>

I really had trouble with the that last one; because I`m a so-called Christian...

Believe it or not....

I actually get fan mail regarding my "Harsh Lessons" section.

From PsylockeX:
Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 @ 09:06 PMEST
Subject: agreeing with school theories
To: wupower5
Note:
hi! saw your name in a forum, liked your thoughts and decided to drop by. you have very interesting theories on school here. =P i agree with you 100% though. i went through many of the same situations that you did (although i must say i`m not nearly as smart) =P and discovered that yes: 1) should`ve taken the easy classes 2)life reeeeally sucks and 3) cheating is usually a better option than getting a low grade. some things you just have to do. everyone usually learns the third lesson by college anyway. =P it`s the only way to pass those some of those so called "teachers". anyways, i guess that`s it. keep posting those interesting views of yours. they make a lot of sense. bye. =)

From jposse:
Subject: wow
To: wupower5
Note:
i came across your page reading forums...i have to say that reading through it, you have some very good points. I also got a 1360 but unlike you, I never really went nuts in highschool. I think you left out the part about athletics cause that definitely helped me get my ass into college :) I`m sorry that you sound so disillusioned, hopefully you will find that that obnoxious saying "college is what you make of it" is actually true, and enjoy yourself at Maryland. A friend of mine goes there and he really likes it-even though he is pre-med! *shudder*

From ERiC_W:
Subject: hello
To: wupower5
Note:
Hi there, nice page. I was looking through AA and I saw your name. It was interesting since we have the same last name, but not as interesting as what you wrote on your page. It`s funny, there`s some truth to what you wrote on your page. As for your experience in HS, sadly mine is similar to yours to some degree, such as you I didn`t go to my prom either even though my friends went. Looking back, I never did understand why I didn`t go, but I guess it was either b/c I just didn`t care back then or I just forgot. Now what really cracked me up is the fact that your a Christian and you have the some of the very same views that I had and helped me decide not to be a Christian. I tried joining a church once many years ago for several months, but I realized at the end it just wasn`t me. Oh well, time to go to class. Bye.

Fromgotrice882:
Date: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 @ 11:27 AMEST
Subject: Interesting forum..
To: wupower5
Note:
Hey, just browsing through the forums of aa (the only reason I even log onto aa anymore) and noticed your `active` participation in the campus life forums.. it was a interesting read and so i thought i might check out your page. I thought that your page was very interesting and what you had to say was different too.. yeah it`s all true (esp. about how hopkins doesn`t care.. i had the same problem with them.. ungrateful mofos..) well, just wanted to let you know your not the only one to waste your time with stupid internships. I also bear many similarites with you (prom, umcp, views about sats) whatever. Well, yeah, I applied to Hopkins to, as a Biology major (one of the dumbest things I could`ve done) and wasted my entire junior and senior years in HS taking AP classes.. and when the latter part of senior year rolled around, I was so angry that all these people who just took honors were getting higher gpas and college acceptances, and when I found out that someone who got all As in ESOL classes got into NHS, that really ticked me off. Well, I was really surprised and glad that I wasn`t the only one to waste my time and effort in stupid AP classes.

From Andytran2ooo:
Subject: HI
To: wupower5
Note:
I like the ur lesson that u learn in high school. I guess because i have the same experience as you in my high school year too. I am currently at UMBC but will trasfer to UMCP. I took all AP class in my senior, and did not get that good grade though i got above 1500 in my SAT. Though i got accepted in Cornell Uni., but they gave me a harsh warn to me since i did not get all A`s in my senior. That is why I rather stay with UMBC and not at Cornell.