Growing up in the Bay Area, there is a culture of not only needing to be academically perfect, but also needing to do every extracurricular under the sun to get into a top 20 college. I attend an Ivy League university, so take it from me and say it with me: No college acceptance can measure your hard work or intelligence. Your efforts in high school were all worth it, no matter where you end up.
I came back from college about a month ago, and I was curious to see what my peers were up to. I started reading the Daily Journal student columns written by many of my talented friends, people I previously worked with at my high school newspaper, The Burlingame B. While scrolling, I stumbled upon Iny Li’s “Protecting my peace,” and I have to admit, I became teary-eyed and emotional because of how real her experience felt.
A year ago, like Iny, I opened several decisions on Ivy Day and was waitlisted at my dream school, Columbia University. Of course, I was grateful to have been accepted to other schools, but I had always envisioned myself in the heart of New York City, writing for the Daily Spectator. In fact, I was so desperate for an acceptance that I even went on The Wall Street Journal to defend Columbia’s reputation while the university was in the middle of controversy surrounding the Israel-Palestine war protests.
Looking back now, I realize that there is no school for me besides the one I currently attend. Columbia may have a lower acceptance rate and a smaller professor-to-student ratio, but I would never take for granted everything I have now, from my best friends to the connections I have made with my professors to the amazing clubs I have become part of on campus.
In other words, if you are a high school senior who is disappointed by your college results or hoping to get off a waitlist this summer, I feel you. But do not let that stop you from branching out and truly immersing yourself in the experience that the college you are currently committed to can offer you. Like Iny said, the name of the school you attend does not matter as much as what you make of it. That same grit and hard work you put in throughout high school will still matter wherever you go.
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You may ask yourself, “Who does this person think she is, telling us how we should feel when she’s already in college?” But I am here to say that the students at my college are not automatically smarter than my peers at Burlingame. In many ways, they are not more talented, intelligent or hardworking. The truth is that many admission decisions come down to luck. I see students struggle at my university because they do not study enough, or fail to get into clubs because they did not prepare for interviews.
Truly, it is what you make of it. Never think that your hard work was wasted. Those 4:45 a.m. wake-ups, in Iny’s case, were not for nothing. I worked alongside her, and I know her talent and capabilities surpass those of some of my peers in college, even if she did not ultimately end up at an Ivy League university.
So do not let the name of your school stop you from making the most of your college experience. I believe in you.
Jeannine Chiang is a Burlingame High School graduate, and a former San Mateo Daily Journal intern and Student News columnist.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.