Reject from pretty much all my college choices!!!!!?

Question

This is a serious bummer! I work hard, I try my best, and all colleges I apply to, I fail! I mean the only consolation is that a lot of people with a higher GPA then me have fallen well. Sad but true. I got rejected from all the UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, even UC Davis which was a sho in. What the hec am I going to do? I had been thinking of community college before, but now I can't believe I actually have to consider it now. If I go to community college, can I still become a doctor? I am really honestly freaking out rite now. My dreams just seem to get shattered, and then when I think it's done, another guy comes and steps on it even more. What can I do? HELP I NEED SOMEBODY, HELP NOT JUST ANYBODY, HELP, I NEED SOMEONE HELP!!!! please:(

I don't want to scare anybody, but my GPA weighted was a 3.6 and my SAT score was a 1920. I was in yearbook, I worked in our old age home, I was in a community service club for 5 years, doing a 70-100 hours each year, and in 3 other community service clubs in my skool. If this doesn't depress me, I have no friggin' idea what will. HELP!

Also, I applied to 10 colleges, including the UCs, and got rejected from ALL OF THEM! What the he** is going on? Is this some kinda joke? I'm sorry, but I feel my 4 years of high school is wasted! I mean sure, I had some bad grades, that I needed to make up at community college but it cannot be so bad that I got rejected from ALL MY COLLEGES....

Answer 1

UC Davis was a shoo in? What was your GPA and what was your SAT? First of all, UC Davis is ranked higher than SB, so I'm wondering if someone gave you some bad advice as to how you stand. I have actually yet to meet a public school advisor at both the high school and college level who really knew what they were talking about. There was one at my high school who sorta knew, but she wasn't all that great.

In any case, your dreams of becoming a doctor are not shattered. Just go to a JC, kick butt there, then transfer to Berkeley or UCLA, and then go on to med school and eventually become that doc you dreamed about doing.

Answer 2

Let me start with the good news. Yes, you can become a doctor if you start out at a community college. I'm a faculty member/administrator at a university, and some of our best students are transfers from community colleges, including the two seniors in my department with the highest GPAs.

Here are your options: First, you can go to a community college and transfer to one of the U.C.s after two years. Secondly, you could apply to a school with rolling admissions. If you thought you had a good shot at getting into a UC, your record might be strong enough so that you could get a strong financial aid package and afford a private college. If it turns out you hate it, if you do well there, you could still transfer to a UC if that is what you really want in the long run. Thirdly, you could take a year off and do something resume-building (like volunteer at a medical clinic for the poor), then reapply to college next year.

I'm really sorry for you that you didn't get into the schools you went for, but there are a lot of good options out there other than UCs. Maybe a UC was not even the right choice for you in the first place (it wasn't for me; I dropped out twice before transferring elsewhere, and I now have three graduate degrees (one of them from a UC) on top of my bachelor's.

Answer 3

You have to relax about this. There are kids out there with perfect SAT and ACT scores who are freaking out about not getting into Ivy League schools. You aren't alone! Even the smartest kids don't always get into the school(s) of their choice.

And what's with the Beatles' "Help" routine? There's a lot of people who can help you with this question!

Yes you can still become a doctor by starting at a community college. First, I would start by finding out why you were not accepted from the colleges you cited. Seriously, can you find out what was missing?

Is there anything you can do moving forward to change this for future applications to schools?

Second, sure, apply to a local school/comm. college and then, after you get the good grades and prove yourself once again, apply to transfer to the college of your choice. or two, or three. people do this ALL the time. Do a couple semesters and then upgrade, just like you were on an airline.

Don't despair! This isn't the end of the world. A friend of mine went to a lowly comm. college. She succeeded me as publicist to the ceo of my company and went on to get her executive masters from a big midwest college with a great rep. Nobody cares what your high school recs look like after you perform for a while in college....or at a job and gain experience. Everything is not as it appears to be.

Take heart, push forward, make a start. You'll be fine.
Good luck.

Answer 4

Relax, most of the time when you are feeling held back, it's more a blessing than a curse. So change the way you look at all of this, and your star should shine again. Besides, you can go to a 2 year college and get an associates in the medical field and work your way into a great hospital or practice. Work ethic goes a long way in the medicine field- and you seem to be up to the challenge.

Answer 5

Trust me, you can definitely become a doctor by going to a community college. Sometimes things happen for a reason. I am attending an ivy-league school right now, but I am having the worst time of my life and actually wish I got rejected from it in the past. Hope my advice made you feel better.

Answer 6

Take a breath and calm down.

I had big dreams like you when I was a senior in Highschool. I had applied all over the board and got rejected from most, but ended up with three tops - NYU, Franklin College in Switzerland, and CU Denver, a small state university in my home town. I busted my but for scholarships and ended up with $20000, but it ended up being less than half of what I needed for a year's tuition at any of my top schools. Mom and Dad weren't wealthy, so I ended up at CU Denver. Looking back (I'm a masters student now), it was the best decision I made.

The point of all this is realize that getting into a great school off the bat is a waste of time. I'm studying at a top five university for my masters and I went to a podunk university. Many of my freinds who went to NYU, Columbia, Tufts, Stanford.. they're back in Denver at podunk universities for their masters because they burned through all their money in undergrad.

If you didn't get UCLA, so what? Screw them if they won't take you. Go to your safety school for now. You can always transfer, and if you go to grad school then the playing field is level again (and the rewards are higher- grad degrees with good schools always trump undergrad degrees from the same schools).

Don't get disheartend- stay focused and work with what you've got.

Answer 7

did you get rejected from all of the colleges you applied to? it's likely you got into something so you can attend that college for now and then transfer after your sophomore year to the college you really want to get into. I'm so sorry about what happened though, especially because you say you worked so hard. hope things will end up okay for you. best wishes.

Answer 8

if your fine with community college, its a crapload easier to transfer into a uc than to get in as a freshman. If you do well in community college, you could easily transfer to a good uc. Also, you can get a lot of GE's out of way and save a lot of money. Irvine isnt bad if you got accepted there.

Answer 9

Hello Shika,

I am a retired English and German teacher living in CA. I feel your frustration, but I hope you are open to some honest input if you would like to know how to refocus to work toward meeting your goal. Please do read on through until the end.

I do not know if English is your first and only language or your second language, but I do notice that you could brush up on your "register". This is a term used for the level of formality in communication. For example, you might well say to your good friend, "What the hec [sic] am I going to do?" but in a college essay, you would need to find a more sophisticated way to express the same thought without losing the emotion. One way might be, "With rejection letters flooding my mailbox, I began to wonder what options were still open to me, despite my high GPA."

Another suggestion I have is that you proofread your work carefully for verb tense endings. Look at the title above and you will see that you should have said "Rejected" from . . . .
Looking at that same line, we could discuss vocabulary. Instead of "pretty much", you could have said "virtually".
Colleges are looking for students who use more sophisticated vocabulary because the reading level of the textbooks will be more demanding than what you have been exposed to in most of your high school classes.

You must also rid your written English of the text messaging English you have been using with your "buds". "Rite now" must be replaced with "right now".

I congratulate you on your high SAT scores! My guess is that it was your essay which cost you admission. It is obvious to me that you have a wonderful mind and that you are goal-oriented from all of your high school activities. Remember that even if you were used to being at the top of your class in high school, you are now competing against the same types from high schools across the state as well as out-of-state and foreign students. Please do not feel like a failure.

A trip to your counselor is first priority. Do not waste more than 30 sec. of his or her time on your current feelings. Instead, find out what the current requirements are for reapplying to those same schools or to other schools in the UC system. It would not be the end of the world to have to go to one of the California State Universities for one year as you will need to get your general education requirements out of the way anyway. Ask your counselor too to advise you about the best writing improvement course available in your area.

There are options between community colleges and the UC system. For you, these options will be a temporary way station. Don't give up your dream or your end goal, but do realize that you have to truly work to bring your written communication skills up to the level where they communicate your abilities.

Answer 10

Relax and don't be scared.
Just keep trying!