#Making a final decision (Berkeley, UCLA, CMU, Williams)

275 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

little hound
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Schools: UC Berkeley (Regents), UCLA, Williams College, CMU
Intended major: EnviSci (UCB), Bio (UCLA, Williams, CMU)
Similarities: UCLA+UCB are very similar public cali schools; Williams+CMU are totally different

UC Berkeley Pros:
Regents (Housing, classes, research, etc. covered)!!
Amazing weather/location
Top ranked EnviSci program in the world (#5)
Intl. name brand
Some friends heading there in the fall

Cons:
Toxic culture (allegedly)
Massive school so fewer resources between students
Crime/homelessness

UCLA Pros:
Amazing location/weather
Great social life
Pretty good for bio (#12 in world)

Cons:
Cutthroat (allegedly)
Massive school so fewer resources between students
Too much partying?

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Williams Pros:
Top-ranked LAC (More exploration)
Extremely small classes
Class opportunities @ Oxford

Cons:
In the middle of nowhere
Not sure how good their bio program is
Possibly worse weather

CMU Pros:
Apparently pretty nerdy (up my alley)
Small school so better attention?
Reputation (which will likely grow in the coming years)

Cons:
A lot of depressed people (apparently)
Bad weather

Tiebreaking considerations:
Is UCB Regents overrated?
How big is the difference in support between public/private school?
Which school gives the best opportunities out of college?
How much does name brand matter? Which one has the best recognition?

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(Main consideration between Berkeley + the private schools, but any help would be greatly appreciated!!)

main summit
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Are you premed/what do u wanna do after undergrad?

little hound
main summit
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So do u plan on switching majors to business at any of the schools?

little hound
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plus berkeley Haas is well known ofc

main summit
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I think getting the second major might be a lil harder at Berkeley compared to ucla and Williams just cuz haas is in different school from enviro sci

kindred lion
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just visited cmu the weather isnt that bad

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apparently the lowest it goes is like 20

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in the winters

little hound
lilac sage
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If you have the opportunity, visit the colleges

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Rankings don’t matter as much as people think

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And there is definitely a difference in support between private and public

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I have a friend at Berkeley who is a ds major

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She told me she has to fight for every opportunity. Club culture is definitely toxic there. For reference, if one spot is open in a professional club, 100-200 ppl would be applying for that one spot

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Rlly it depends

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It’s not impossible to get those opportunities at a public

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But private is generally easier

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If you want to double major I think it’d be harder at a UC at least that’s what I heard

hidden scarab
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these are all valid points but also remember you got your berkeley tuition covered. personally to me that would be really important, but if that's not a big concern to you, listen to what the others are saying--go to private

lilac sage
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Agreed, if financial aid is not an issue, I would recommend CMU.

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I have a friend who goes there and she likes it. I think she’s a stats major. Weather can def get very freezing

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I don’t think it’s as well known for bio though

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But again I feel like rankings don’t really matter when it comes to top schools already since at that point, it’s really up to what you make out of the college

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Also don’t let Berkeley’s reputation like crime wise discourage you

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I thought it would be bad

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I live abt an hr away from Berkeley and I visited two times

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A few homeless ppl walking around campus, but they’re not dangerous or anything. Jsut keep to yourself and it’ll be fine

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Area feels safe imo still

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Except if u go outside Berkeley and into Oakland, that’s where the real crime is at lol

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Double majoring within the college u got into for Berkeley won’t be too bad btw. If you double major between colleges tho it gets more complicated

little hound
little hound
lilac sage
little hound
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I'm wondering if having regents would give me a leg up on most other applicants... not like it can do everything, but if it makes things a lot easier, then why not yk

lilac sage
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I think regents is just a scholarship thing

little hound
lilac sage
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Oh wait

little hound
lilac sage
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Priority class enrollment is huge

little hound
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yea

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plus guaranteed and (allegedly) priority housing

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plus guaranteed housing

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plus 1k towards research

lilac sage
little hound
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so it's actually a good amount

little hound
lilac sage
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Honestly regents is probably worth it

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Since environmental bio is ranked high at Berkeley

little hound
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yeah... i've heard it's on par w/ an ivy

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yep

lilac sage
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Especially the class enrollment priority tho

little hound
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yep

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talked to a couple friends about it

lilac sage
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You’ll most likely get more support then

hidden scarab
little hound
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i think probably

lilac sage
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So I would actually recommend Berkeley

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Go Berkeley for sure lol

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Cmu isn’t ranked as high bio but def well known and nerdy

hidden scarab
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2500 per semester is actually an amazing tuition id take that in a heartbeat especially if u want to go to grad school

lilac sage
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But Berkeley since it’s big you will eventually meet your people still

little hound
lilac sage
hidden scarab
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way better than private

little hound
lilac sage
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Sorry lol didn’t know abt regent perks

little hound
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all good lol

hidden scarab
little hound
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i don't think most people do

lilac sage
little hound
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yeahhhh

lilac sage
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Berkeley still def has prestige

hidden scarab
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that's extremely affordable and at one of the top institutions in the nation

lilac sage
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Globally it’s ranked high too

hidden scarab
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I'd take that immediately personally

little hound
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lmao i got waitlisted at MIT, was thinking this might be better anyways bc I'm paying like half price

little hound
hidden scarab
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I'd commit berkeley and submit a killer LOCI to MIT and see what happens from there

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that's personally me

little hound
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and top 5 in envi sci

little hound
lilac sage
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Yeah that’s a good idea

little hound
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"uhhh so i got admitted somewhere where I have to pay half.... so pls admit me 😊 "

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lmao

lilac sage
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Berkeley tho I don’t think you’d need to fight for as many opportunities as a normal student then

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Club culture tho is def toxic

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Professional clubs at least

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Again though fighting for opportunities is how life after college will be so it’s not rlly a big negative

little hound
little hound
lilac sage
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And again, it’s not as unsafe as ppl think it is

little hound
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any leg up is prob a plus

lilac sage
little hound
lilac sage
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Yes

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I live an hr away

little hound
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ohh okay

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oh yeah that's right

lilac sage
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Hung out there twice this week

little hound
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:0

lilac sage
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There r a lot of students

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Tho

little hound
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wait are you planning on going?

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(please do that would be dope)

lilac sage
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Like undergrad size is 32k

hidden scarab
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Youc an use Berkeley tuition to your advantage too by leveraging with other financial aid offices

lilac sage
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I’m leaning towards northwestern

hidden scarab
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For what major

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?

lilac sage
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Applied math and electrical or biomedical engineering

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I got into Berkeley for applied math

little hound
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woah that's cool

lilac sage
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Which is Letters and Science

hidden scarab
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Out of your options I'd either go Berkeley or NU

lilac sage
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I didn’t know strat was to apply engineering actually as priority

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Ya

hidden scarab
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I'm not very familiar with either i got rejected both but like i know they're hella good

little hound
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huh my brother's doing applied math

lilac sage
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Northwestern has applied math in McCormick school of engineering and so I can easily double major

little hound
lilac sage
hidden scarab
little hound
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I put engineering as my second choice for some reason

hidden scarab
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are u in cali

little hound
little hound
lilac sage
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Financial aid is not an issue for me since my dad rlly wants to pay for everything and he wants me to go where I’m happiest since his dad did the same for him

lilac sage
lilac sage
hidden scarab
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and if you decide to go to grad school

lilac sage
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Ya I live in cali lol

hidden scarab
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this is THE best decision you could make

little hound
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ayy

hidden scarab
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becaus grad school is expensive

little hound
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wait bay area ish?

hidden scarab
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i'm in state too

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oc 🔥

little hound
lilac sage
hidden scarab
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so i'm familiar with uci and ucla and ucsd

little hound
hidden scarab
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ya my dream school is ucla

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i'm committing to ucsd atm

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cuz i got waitlisted ucla

lilac sage
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Hopefully you’ll get off the waitlist

hidden scarab
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i live 20 mins from uci and they rejected me idk what they're smoking in the admissions office

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i hope so too

little hound
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nice! yeah i had a friend who was admitted MIT waitlisted UCLA

lilac sage
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I will most likely withdraw but after I visit all colleges

little hound
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I'm prob choosing berk over UCLA bc regents

hidden scarab
lilac sage
lilac sage
hidden scarab
little hound
lilac sage
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I’m still stuck between berk and northwestern (although most likely committing nu) but I think I’d get more out of northwestern

hidden scarab
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so do i

lilac sage
hidden scarab
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i have friend who got half tuition Berk regents and got waitlisted uci, ucsd, and ucla

little hound
hidden scarab
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it's nuts how random it is

little hound
little hound
lilac sage
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Like bc I have abt 80 transferable units

little hound
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accepted to every UC, waitlisted to every high level (Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, Penn)

lilac sage
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I’ll be in upper lvl classes

hidden scarab
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ya i got into ucsc, ucsd, and uc davis. got waitlisted at ucla and ucsb. got rejected uci and berkeley

little hound
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big sad :(

lilac sage
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And I think I’d be too stressed

little hound
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but berk is great anyway

little hound
lilac sage
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It is great but I don’t think it’s for me

little hound
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i have basically zero 💀

lilac sage
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NU will give me more opportunities most likely

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And I can double major 100%

little hound
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rausser (school of nat. resources) doesn't take anything for social studies type stuff

lilac sage
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I do have friends at berk tho

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Ah rip

little hound
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I can only get credit for bio/calc bc

lilac sage
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I need to check actually my units tho

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It’s a ca community college so most should transfer

little hound
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ohhh

lilac sage
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My boyfriend committed to Berkeley

little hound
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yeah i never really took too much at CC

little hound
lilac sage
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Everyone in my school got destroyed by most top tier privates except for legacy and recruited athletes

little hound
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same here

lilac sage
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I think it is the Bay Area effect. I didn’t think it was real

little hound
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last year we had 10 get into hypsm

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this year we had 2

lilac sage
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Bruh

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My boyfriends dream school was mit

little hound
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ikr

lilac sage
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He knew someone on admissions

little hound
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:0

lilac sage
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And his dream was mit since middle school

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And he’s rlly cracked academically

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But rejected

little hound
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wth??

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did he apply early?

lilac sage
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And rejected from Harvard, Princeton

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Yes

little hound
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wow

lilac sage
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And waitlisted cmu, Boston u

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Waitlisted ucla

little hound
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!?!

lilac sage
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1580 sat, head of robotics software, section leader marching band, did competitive drum corps, started chess club at hs, etc

little hound
lilac sage
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I felt bad for him it’s like insane now a days

little hound
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ikr

lilac sage
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Yeahh

little hound
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I mean I was waitlisted a bunch of places

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but I can describe a few things that got me waitlisted to MIT

lilac sage
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I was accepted into places I didn’t think I had a chance to bc my counselor (hired one) didn’t believe in me

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MIT, Stanford are my dream grad schools

lilac sage
little hound
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1560 SAT, drum major, president of MUN, president of Tri-M national music honor society, ISEF x2 w/ 4th place, owns a utility patent (all my own work)

lilac sage
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Dang

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Impressive

little hound
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plus president + eagle scout in my troop

lilac sage
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Well rounded

little hound
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plus a few other things

lilac sage
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I didn’t have a lot like as much as other ppl

little hound
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yeah def... but not enough noooo

lilac sage
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But I did have some going for me

lilac sage
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My sat was 1470 smile rip

little hound
lilac sage
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I was a bad test taker in person I’d always get lower but I’d get 1530+ at home

lilac sage
little hound
lilac sage
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I didn’t think I’d get into nu

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I am getting 2 associate degrees is my big slay achievement

little hound
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that's insane

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why even college at this point lol

lilac sage
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I’m still from tho with Berkeley but I feel it’s for the best. Like ppl straight up tell me Berkeley bc of ranking for my major but it’s like more nuanced for me

lilac sage
little hound
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ah yeah

lilac sage
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I want to become first Venezuelan and Indonesian woman mathematician and slay very hard

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Although plans might change lol

little hound
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heck yeah 💪

lilac sage
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Yasss

little hound
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welp you got this fr

lilac sage
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You got this for sure too. Honestly Berkeley I feel still is amazing for a type of ppl

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Like and all colleges in general r for a type of person in a way

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You will very much succeed though it seems wherever you go

little hound
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guess so!

lilac sage
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But yas

lilac sage
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My school is kind of a Berkeley feeder school

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Ik a lot of ppl who committed who don’t seem like they’ll thrive not to be mean

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But for example, this one girl sitting behind me in chemistry used to copy my answers and ask how I did stuff and she committed to Berkeley bio premed track

little hound
lilac sage
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Yaaa

little hound
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yeah i guess time and effort makes the difference

lilac sage
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Fr

dense locust
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Williams fr fr

little hound
dense locust
# little hound any reason lol?

You probs will get the best support from williams profs and students for networking, ur other options are good but they dont really care about undergrads in the same way williams does. It depends on what you want to do after tho!

little hound
dense locust
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Im majoring in envi here at williams!! Feel free to dm if u want to ask more specific questions about the program

dense locust
little hound