the repository

what is happening

If life isn’t a race, then why do I feel so behind?

Actual content may or may not be coming soon.

College admissions: the conclusion (probably)

Congratulations on your admission to Berkeley and to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (pronounced “eeks”)! The 2012 entering class, selected from over two thousand applicants, will be one of the most highly qualified in history. You are entering a field with limitless prospects and unbounded intellectual excitement. We look forward to sharing that excitement with you.

I’m going to UC Berkeley, unless I get off of Caltech’s waitlist, which is very unlikely. It’s one of the best schools for computer science and mathematics (and just about anything else, really), it’s a comfortable distance from home, it costs half as much as Carnegie Mellon, and most of my friends are going. Realistically, it’s pretty much the best school I could go to.

I’m still disappointed in myself, though.

If I had gotten rejected by all the private schools I applied to, I’d feel pretty bad too. But that Caltech, Cornell, and Mudd waitlisted me shows that while I definitely had the potential to get into those schools, I just wasn’t good enough for them. (Hell, I even thought that I would get into Cornell and Mudd.) It feels like it was my own fault that I didn’t get in, not that I wasn’t a good fit for these schools. And I’m still upset about not even getting invited for an interview for Berkeley’s Regents scholarship. (I feel like that was my fault too.)

The thought goes: if I had studied harder for that English test, or started doing math competitions earlier, or done any of the many other things that could have boosted my chances, then I would have gotten in. The fact that I was too lazy, or too shy, or too <negative characteristic here> to do these things makes me pretty angry at myself.

Talk about first world problems.

College Admissions: Final Results

I received 7 acceptances, 3 waitlists, and 2 rejections.

Admitted

• Carnegie Mellon University (School of Computer Science)
• University of California, Berkeley (Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign (Mathematics and Computer Science)
• University of California, Los Angeles (Computer Science)
• University of California, San Diego (Mathematics and Computer Science)
• University of California, Irvine (Computer Science)
• California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (Computer Science)

Waitlist

• California Institute of Technology (accepted place on waitlist)
• Cornell University (College of Arts and Sciences, Computer Science) (did not accept waitlist)
• Harvey Mudd College (did not accept waitlist)

Reject

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Stanford University

I have completed my review of your institution, and I am so sorry to tell you that I am unable to attend your school.

There were many qualified candidates this year, so I have had to decline the vast majority of applicants. I know this news is disappointing to receive, and for that reason I will not send a duplicate decision letter by mail. I am complimented by your interest in me and thank you for the hard work your decision represents.

I am very sorry to bring you this news, and I wish your institution the very best as it continues to educate students.