Omkar's Journal: College Musings

I've finally decided which colleges I'm applying to. Out of the twelve (twelve, and only a few take the Common Application), six are really competitive "elite" schools. Assuming I've got a 30% chance at any one of these, which is a reasonable estimate, the probability that I'll be rejected by all twelve is a scant 11.7%. Of course, this assumes random admissions (not that much of a jump :) ) and no correlation between admissions decisions.

The other schools also seem really nice, very down-to-earth in a way few Ivy League schools are. Let's not kid - I'd rather go to Harvard than Ohio State - but it wouldn't be bad to go to any of these places. Especially since oppotunities are wherever you care to look. There's always a way to get working on something cool.

The one thing that really irks me about these applications is the fees. I'm going to end up spending ~$500 just applying to these places. College is expensive.

In Socialist UK.

[rkz]

I paid 10 processing fees to UCAS - University and College Admission Service [ucas.ac.uk]
Filled in an online form and that it. They applied to all 6 universities I wanted to go to.

Re:In Socialist UK.

[Omkar]

Yeah, that's really cool. I wish the US standardized education more - this contrasts nicely with my usual conservatism. But really, we need something to compare with the IB and GCSE stuff beyond SATs. Plus, you'd think our government would mandate something like this in return for the billions they lavish on colleges.

Here's my record.

[The Cydonian]

Ten Indian exams (that is, things like that drastically competitive IIT entrance examinations, so the actual number of universities is higher), twelve American universities (like, proper 'university').... and, I get into none of these 22 streams.

I finally got into one where I 'accidentally' applied; didn't quite realise that the form on the webpage was for applications per se, and not quite an application for an application, like, say, this one [t-bird.edu] is.

Yes, we were all young once.

Ohio State... has a nice litt