The Problem With Applying to College

In this Video Essay we discuss the history and culture surrounding applying to college, as well as the attempts of both colleges and applicants to circumvent this culture.
Updates on new videos: / quinnhenryyt
Talk to me on discord: / discord
Chapters:
10:27 A2C
14:08 Reality
16:06 Enitlement
26:40 "We Already Have Too Many Asians"
31:18 Life Just isn't fair
42:38 Is it even worth it?
Music: pastebin.com/z...
Drawn Section by: / unlucky_baldy
Vast majority of drone footage by: / campusmania

[@quinn_henry]

Since many have asked, this is my one piece of advice for applying to college. SAT/ACT scores really matter: Even colleges that aren't conventionally high ranked care about rankings, and these schools know the best way to be ranked higher is increase their average SAT. Smaller schools will throw around huge scholarships to students with even just an above average SAT, I myself received a full ride to my In state university, largely due high test scores. Truly anyone can score high on these tests, it is just a matter of practice, and for that I recommend the using real past tests; you can find some online if you look hard enough, but you can get them on paper here: amzn.to/3ZsoKF4 Additionally If the ACT is more your thing: amzn.to/3ZosGX4 If you want to talk more about college or whatever, you're welcome to join my discord: discord.gg/jPpKptZKrB

[@JonathanSands-py5um]

I'm curious about this myself, as A junior who dreams of going to MIT but wants a good backup plan. Do you think I would be able to get a full ride scholarships as a person with a 1560 SAT and 3.97 unweighted GPA (I got a B+ in freshman year in Spanish 2). Edit: For something like my state schools like UVA and Virginia Tech.

[@kingdomofgenevamapping]

or just have your dad be a professor (thanks pops)

[@qazmko22]

Added to the discord!

[@kxndyyy]

The admissions game went from colleges competing for students to students competing for colleges.

[@kevinan9815]

Just like companies competing for workers to workers competing for companies. All the power is being systemically funneled into the hands of the few.

[@MAC-cr9qr]

unless you're an athlete, yes! 😭

[@AnakinSkywalker-jq8xy]

unless you’re an extremely talented athlete, yes.

[@fitchyyboi]

Exactly what the system wanted

[@jalen1838]

You said it perfectly plus it's all about the money and very little return back I could be wrong tho. College corporations really dont care about you that much I feel like they treat you like a number like how your job treats you , pretty replaceable . But at least with a job your not taking in so much debt . College does benefit doctors , people doing stem, computer, engineering. College does help some people but not everyone in my opinion . It's based offhow much money you have and not everybody comes from a rich family. Then it depends on who you know too but you have to get a good network of family members or friends, not everybody has thier outlet. Please don't get mad at me this is just my opinion so not saying I'm right. That's their exception of them caring about you if you're an athlete or have alot of money and status? Not everybody has that money, status lol.

[@irisrivas6603]

Nowadays, Universities/Colleges/Conservatories practically want students who are almost PROFESSIONALS in their field of studies. They are ridiculous. You are supposed to go to college to learn. The conservatories they say that they want student with potential, but that is absolutely not truth! They only want to accept Prodigies who spend 6hrs/day playing their instrument. That is not what is supposed to be.

[@dream1430]

I agree very much with this, and it has gotten to the point where I had actually not learned anything new in my program until I reached the upper level courses. My first three years in University only amounted to review….

[@-BarathKumarS]

This is the KEY POINT the video misses,oh you are applying for a mechanical engineering degree in a good school? Better have experience from tesla itself before entering college or you stand no chance in the application pool.

[@eagles2249]

Well yeah these top schools are research schools, they want innovators with experience. There isnt a whole lot of difference between the academic curriculum on the core level between state schools and ivy league’s, its the networking and “academia” community.

[@qwertydavid8070]

So basically the education system has just turned into the equivalent of the job market for children... The chase for college admissions is literally just the corporate rat-race, but for kids 💀 I think we're about to have a genuine crisis of middle-aged depressed people, just think about all these kids that were never allowed to have a proper childhood because they were essentially thrown into a competitive job market since teenage-hood. I can honestly somewhat attest to this, as a teenager about to go to college. (warning: long essay ahead. You can skip it if you'd like, but I'd still appreciate it if you read it) My whole life I've obsessed over my grades, ever since elementary school. I was always top of my class. Don't get me wrong, I do have a genuine passion for learning, and the only reason I do so well in school is because I just research stuff in my free time because I genuinely find it fun. But still, naturally I can't be good at everything, and for as passionate as I may be, I severely lack in discipline. So every now and then I got subpar grades. And this was something that I got severely reprimand for since elementary school. I was simply not allowed to do badly in any class. And so most of my time is spent studying, out of fear that I don't know enough yet, out of this anxiety that there's this one more thing that I've yet to learn. As a result of this, my social life suffers a lot. I only go to school for the classes. I've dismissed many great social opportunities because "my grades are more important". I severely lack in social intelligence. I am an awkward mess, I stumble through my words, I have a stutter. I may have A+ grades across the board, and my classmates look at me highly, but sometimes I truly feel like a failure of a human being. I am so envious of how easy it is for them to talk about menial things, to laugh at jokes that I find unfunny, to do stupid things without thinking twice. For as much as I may sulk in my corner, at the end of the day, they are living better and more enriching lives than I ever will. They will have better relationships. Better friends. Better families. Meanwhile I will sit alone in a room, reading a complex scientific book because "that's what I like to do". And I do, I genuinely do love learning. But now that I'm a high-school senior, I realize that I'm just really lonely. I have complicated attachment issues, I idolize my crushes and obsess over anyone that pays me the slightest bit of my attention. I wonder sometimes if I actually have a passion for learning things, or if if my brain is just tricking me to learn more to get better grades. I've turned school into my whole life. I don't have a good social life. Once I'm out of here, I KNOW my life will start to crumble. I know I may find new friends in university, but even then I may push them away for the same reason I pushed my friends away in high school; "studying is more important". And the same will probably happen in my job to. I could have found a romantic partner by now. I feel like that's such an important teenager experience, not just for the excitement, but because it helps you be a more mature person in the long run. I didn't have that. I fear that I'll just be a loner for the rest of my life. I use labels like "introverted" or "neurodivergent" to justify myself. But the only label appropriate for me is "fool". I was expected to be too mature at too young of an age. I acted like I was 30, even though I was 15. I missed so many opportunities. I lost so much. Now I'll be thrust into adulthood as an incomplete person. I will only be able to relate to the same self-pitying sulking people as me. I don't know if that's a healthy crowd to be around.

[@nxrlznd]

@@qwertydavid8070I am kinda curious as to what extent you’ve been isolated by your expectations of greatness. I know they are harmful but it is true that extracurriculars would take the place of these social connections that you lack. So my question is if you’ve been involved in any? If so, what has happened for you to still feel isolated in these situations? (sorry if I am too direct, I am just curious and wanted to know more about your situation but if it’s too personal than there’s no problem)

[@alchenny]

I dedicated the entirety of high school to getting into a "good college." And then I got to my good school, and hated most of my time there because I realized I never liked anything that I did or learned in high school. I now bake cookies for a living. Be a curious person, and you'll enjoy your life so much more no matter what freaking school you go to.

[@anuraagkumar978]

Based!

[@mystik_owl]

Baked!

[@mannymm7887]

The smart kids in my classes in high school which got above 4.0s, a shit ton of AP credit, too 20 of the whole class all went to top universities in California. I graduated with a 2.5 and we both ended up with the same degree from the same top 4 university in California.

[@mannymm7887]

@@ilykatara and……. People put too much thought into going to a good college to the point where it’s a detriment to their personal life when it’s really not that important. They had no life or skills outside of school and I was the opposite yet we both ended up in the same place. Use your head my guy.

[@dubiouscloud5115]

@@user-ux8py5sd9w This is so obviously about American colleges. Don't strawman other person's argument just because you want them to be wrong.

[@edelsteenkat]

17:17 THANK YOU OMHG. My mom, who has a rare disease, had a major surgery which results in months of bedridden recovery and then her body rejected the hardware resulting in more surgery and need for longer recovery!?! During the same time my father was diagnosed with early onset alz! Once I confided in my friend that I was a youth caregiver and the reality of it. (The reality of basically being a nurse and the emotional toll it had/has me and my whole family!!) and they said “oh well that will look good on your college applications”. They weren’t the only one who said so- I was told to write about my experience as a yc by teachers and college counselor. I was never asked it if I wanted to. No one should be pushed to tell there story of hardship on there college application if they don’t want to. There is so much more to the life I had lived that far. There is so much more that defines a person than the hardships they went through.

[@doge_exe_]

I absolutely felt this as well. I personally have gone through growing up with the aftermath of a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) with a single mother, and not to mention a few other things (another sibling already in college w/ my mom struggling financially, personal health issues, being LGBTQ+, etc). And when I was applying to colleges back in high school, so many people (friends, family, teachers even) urged me so much to write about my struggles like this for my college essay. I didn’t want to write about being LGBTQ+, or the recovery of my injury, bc I wanted to write about WHY I was so driven to go to college. So, I wrote about that instead, and only briefly my mentioned my TBI in like a single sentence because that was the time of my life when I had begun to take on my current passions (and majors). I am so happy I decided to write about what got me into my personal joys rather than an essay describing the history of things that have happened to me. I only applied to 3 colleges out of fear of rejection, but ended up getting accepted to all of them. Your trauma and hardships most certainly do not define who you are. YOU define who you are. Be true to yourself, it’ll get you far. 💜

[@edelsteenkat]

@@doge_exe_ Absolutely!! And that’s wonderful!! I hope your doing well🩷

[@пареньизПитера-я7б]

"That'll look good on your college apps" ...The fuck...? I am an international who applied to US colleges this year. Heard a lot about trauma essays, but never thought it was SUCH a big deal that people tell their friends to write one Best of luck, stay strong. Hope ur parents will get better soon

[@edelsteenkat]

@Ultroumbonee I don’t think you actually read my comment😭 College is a choice. I choose it. I went through the process just like millions of other people!! Inside that process in of itself I was pressed to write on my life experience as a yc- sharing about the pressure I faced to write a trauma essay. My point is PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE PRESSURED TO WRITE A TRAMA ESSAY- On the note of going to college vs not going to college to each their own☺️

[@salemroses6401]

We were in the emergency room for my sister having a mental health crisis. A nurse told me it’d be great for my college apps. It was two am and I was fourteen.

[@ukiyoomi]

As a dutch person, I was shocked to learn that people were doing the most to barely get accepted into college 😭

[@burritoman5567]

Just the most prestigious colleges, as mentioned in the video a comparable education is accessible* to the most

[@aidanknox2430]

too many people go to college in the us; its only the top colleges where people "doing the most" don't get in; anyone with a pulse can go to a community college and waste their time and money

[@briannaalejo9226]

@@aidanknox2430majority of people who go to community college actually save money, and even get 2 years free depending on the state. It’s those who go straight to college with a degree that doesn’t pay well + low demand, or don’t have a plan when going to college that waste money.

[@MaartenvanderVeeke]

Hier in Nederland is het gewoon lekker makkelijk, doe je vmbo ga je naar mbo, doe je havo naar hbo, doe je vwo naar uni. Veel makkelijker dan in Amerika waar ze alle uni's nog moeten ranken. In Nederland doet de overheid dit al met alle niveau's

[@aidanknox2430]

@@briannaalejo9226dont get me wrong, commu college is great and def saves you money but it is a symptom of a greater problem; the fact it exists at all is strange; they perform no research and essentially act as remedial highschool bc of how dumbed down american education has become

[@m_diae]

as someone who submitted their final college app a few days ago, this is so so real and so so depressing. glad to finally have it captured on tape.

[@ventusagri7656]

Good luck buddy, hope it goes well.

[@sirgodkhenmu2037]

did it?

[@PauMB-gw5yn]

did you get in?

[@recon8314]

Something that I wished you had touched on was the romanticization of the “college experience”. Kids are pressured to not stay home for college so they can get the whole “college experience”. That being sharing a cardboard box with 2 other kids for a year or 2, getting shitfaced on the weekends, and making life long friends. Kids are led to believe they will be social outcast and not fit in being a commuters so they are fed a lie they need to go away for college to have any enjoyment out of it. Some schools even fully market their college by the good student life and not even the academics such as High Point University in NC. High schoolers like myself are stressed that if we stay home we will miss out on so much enjoyment and fun that the “college experience” is. Yet most college kids don’t even have the time to enjoy the “college experience” because they forget they’re actually there to get an education and are bogged down with other responsibilities likes sports or work if they have those.

[@genericusername191]

Not necessarily true - there is a lot that you can get from a school that gears itself towards “college life” beyond parties. I’m attending a commuter school now and it lacks clubs and an involved student body which are really crucial for maximizing learning and networking.

[@breannajoseph2018]

I’m not going to lie, as someone who lived on campus, it was an amazing experience. I’m not a drinker and rarely party but there’s something about living with your peers and going through the crazy, quintessentially American College Experience ™️ that can’t be replicated. Commuting can be great too! All that to say, college is what you make it but we can’t deny the pros of an on-campus experience.

[@mjgould1192]

Not going to lie, you do miss out on a lot of you don’t stay on campus. It also depends on the culture of your school though.

[@gil5885]

since you're a high schooler, i'll tell you the truth because i would hope someone did that for me. i stayed in my home town for college because it was not only free, but they paid me to go there. i commuted for about 2 of the 3 years i did college, with one semester abroad. the only times i wasn't completely miserable and isolated from other people and friendless was when i briefly lived on campus as a resident assistant and when i studied abroad (bc i lived with other students on campus). now that im going to law school and have that massive debt to address, im glad i chose the free college option even if to be honest it SUCKS going to college in your hometown and commuting. had i not already chosen to do expensive post graduate studies, i 100% would say it's worth picking a college taking the social experience into consideration.

[@bbymyg]

to put in my input, I think you have a very valid point. but as someone who is staying home for college (living at home and going to campus for class), it feels like you kinda miss out on a "tight knit group" you might've been able to get living in a dorm or something similar. this might just be because I'm at a community college at the moment and work, but I feel like it would be the same for going to a public college school. where most of the people you're going to know pretty well will either come from living with them (dorms, apartments) or clubs (which is how I met a couple friends)

[@hiroshi1046]

I almost committed suicide when I was 18 and college selection pressure was the leading cause of it. I am the eldest son in an Asian-mother household and my white father played extremely hard into the academic exceptionalism above all in my childhood. Thankfully I made good friends and still participated in things I loved, and that saved my life. My parents still don’t know this because it’d make them angry. They’d call me lazy and all this other shit. I ended up getting into a wonderful dresam private school, but the damage was done. I failed my first year of college due to the fallout of my relationship with academics and my lack of care for the system, and hatred for my family who told me I’d still fail. Yes, they told me I was guaranteed to fail. So I failed out of hatred for them. Now I’m 21 and my life has changed significantly because I’m not in college. Almost everyone else I know is in college and if I just didn’t care so much about the little things and wasn’t told I my value was tied to letters on a card I’d be in a much better place. Yeah, my life is ok now but I’d much rather not be 3 years behind the cultural norm (even if I hate the cultural norm). It’s a hard pill to swallow. Fuck college, fuck College Board, fuck parents who pressure their kids to pursue college, fuck degrees. Do what you love.

[@_-FreePalestine-_]

I get your parents put a lot of pressure on you, but they literally gave you everything you have, including your life. Them not being perfect parents to you does not justify you indirectly saying "F you" to them and showing a lack of respect for them which is honestly one of the only things you can truly offer them for the countless sacrifices they made for you. You can never make it up to them for a single thing they did for you. Your ingratitude and blaming them for what happened in your life shows how young and immature you are. This is coming from someone who did the same and only later on realized how stupid that was. You make your own choices in life and you have no one to blame other than yourself. This sort of mindset will only cause more hatred and pain for you. Only when you take on full responsibility for where you are, can you move on and make something more out of yourself. I was also in a similar position to you and let me tell you that you need to stop caring about what you have no control over and start working on yourself to go in a direction you know you need to.

[@cydneylucy2139]

@@_-FreePalestine-_This person is barely 21, of course they’re immature. Nobody owes their parents gratitude for their life for parents give their children life without their consent. They have children for their own selfish reasons and the minimum for their child to forgive them is to be a good parent, and this persons parents obviously failed them. Even if it’s meaningless to feel angry about things you cannot control, it doesn’t change the fact that those feelings exist.

[@brizzled5193]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@cydneylucy2139 you should probably word this a bit better, since it sounds like you're referring to "most parents" but I know you aren't

[@cydneylucy2139]

@@brizzled5193 You right, I mean all parents.

[@brizzled5193]

@@cydneylucy2139 I thought you were going to say "some" but uh that's a hot topic I won't get into.

[@raneena5079]

Another thing is the abhorrent mental health issues facing kids fighting for top colleges and kids who, in their eyes, "failed". I'm a freshman at a relatively prestigious public school with very prestigious engineering programs, and many of the kids I know are downright depressed because they did not get into better schools. My school is very popular among "Ivy rejects", so a lot of the student body thinks they deserve better and is very demotivated. I know a kid that's depressed because he got rejected from Berkeley, even though for his major our school is just one ranking lower on US News (not that that matters, but that seems to be the metric everyone uses to judge). It doesn't stop there, when I go home for break, my friends at my home state's state school tell me that they think their career is over.

[@EroticInferno]

Man, if he isn’t from California, it’s not worth it. CA state schools aren’t worth it unless you’re paying in-state tuition.

[@aniruddhalappathi4721]

Is this UIUC cuz I’m from there and everyone Ik in cs and engineering says they’re only here cuz they’re a ivy reject

[@raneena5079]

@@aniruddhalappathi4721 yeah💀

[@pastsubstance2930]

As a person who went to Berkeley, it really isn’t all the hype and I’m still struggling like other graduates to obtain a job despite the name on the degree. I learned that people don’t care and weren’t impressed. Harvard or Yale is something they would be impressed with so that’s saying a lot about the job market right now. I often regret not being more of a 20 year old while at school because of all the studying.

[@keyboard_slap]

Everyone I met at UCSD was a reject from Berkeley or UCLA. They had the same attitude you described and it contributed to the poor social life on campus (it's nicknamed "UC Socially Dead" for a reason)

[@raksrulesaks]

I went to an Ivy League. I got into every school I applied to. Wanna know what I did to get there? I had a 3.9 gpa, scored a 35 on the ACT, took 9 APs, earning a 4+ on all of them, founded several organizations and clubs including the first MSF club in the nation, was a part of my school’s honor choir and the state choir, I spoke 4 languages fluently, literally ran a national campaign lowering the price of the pneumonia vaccine, was nominated as a student of the year for a national organization, won a presidential service award, did medical research at Johns Hopkins school of medicine, published a paper on the anthropological evolution of racism, served as a camp counselor for an overnight camp, and honestly I can go on and on. I did A LOT of stuff to get there. And all the while I served also as my mom’s caretaker when she was battling cancer. And yet when I got in, there were people who felt I didn’t deserve it (I’m Indian American, no legacy, no nothing) all cause a rich legacy from my school was rejected. The fact is what I did as a student is the expectation if you want to go to an Ivy League as a non legacy. You need to be a topper in every single way, having earned a ton of honors and accolades. If you don’t do all this… you won’t get any consideration. I learned that when I worked with admissions at Cornell and saw how non legacies especially were treated. You make a mistake: you are screwed. And yes. Asians you’re kinda screwed. I hate saying that but honestly the way they spoke about Asian kids is… bad. But it’s worse for how they talked about LatinX and African American applicants. They’d force them into a summer program called PSP and constantly infer black and Hispanic students weren’t as smart: basically DONT BE A MINORITY :/. Because they don’t care about ANY OF US. And unsurprisingly I had an awful time at college. Because when you pack every superstar into one place it’s a bloodbath of hell. Over competitive and toxic culture to the point people would just leave and turn to drugs. And an admin that saw all of us as replaceable. Go to your local state school. Save your money, enjoy the college experience, and live your life

[@frostyfrenchtoast]

I can only imagine the pressure and stuffiness going to a place like that. I’m attending an aviation school and I honestly didn’t have any issues applying, but I’ve already had some bouts of identity crisis shenanigans due to the competition there. The way that High School emphasizes going into that sort of environment when ur like, 18 or something is crazy to me.

[@Aurora-bv1ys]

"DON'T BE A MINORITY" Mission Failed we'll get em next time.

[@Aurora-bv1ys]

"DON'T BE A MINORITY" Mission Failed we'll get em next time.

[@raksrulesaks]

@@Aurora-bv1ys I don’t understand your comment.

[@BlackJacked]

MIT has one of the highest suicide rates by college for a reason

[@AtomSmasher1586]

I was rejected from my Dream school, UChicago not too long ago, and ever since then I’ve felt really bad about myself. My grades freshman year were bad (covid), but honestly I thought I had a chance with a 35 ACT and an incredible essay. The essay was about me learning about complex analysis on my own because I was so enthralled by its elegance. My college counselors and English teachers said that my essay was one of the most impressive they had read, capturing my curiosity and ambition in a way that they thought was very good. My U Chicago essay itself was also one of the most unique they had seen, it had a different approach and wasn’t necessarily just an essay, I put more on that page than just words. Yet, I was rejected. Watching this video made me realize that I’m not a failure because I didn’t get in. If I was capable of learning about hard field of mathematics on my own, then I don’t need UChicago to learn, I just need passion and ambition. Thank you.

[@theguy7837]

❤

[@Nostolic]

W

[@bgl7915]

You glazing yourself

[@berryronin6882]

@@bgl7915 I don’t think that was the point..

[@kv4648]

​@@bgl7915better to glaze than get a self esteem hit

[@cyberepidemic5227]

Coming from a high school senior, this is easily one of the best video essays I've ever seen. As someone who went on the journey from dreaming about attending ivies to being committed now to a middle-of-the-road college, I agree with every point that's been made here. Additionally, I didn't end up applying to any ivies because I was horrified by the thought of having 4 more years of extreme stress after already going through that same thing in high school. People tend to perform better whenever they are calm and comfortable and I believe that top schools strip both of those feelings away in their clasrooms.

[@emilymccole7835]

I am now a college graduate, but I remember feeling the same way when applying to college. I was a great student with a great GPA and test scores, but the thought of going through another 4+ years stressed and depressed at a top school was not appealing to me whatsoever. We all know there is a mental health crisis among teens these days. Most people are pointing to social media, which is definitely a factor; I don’t think enough people are talking about the toxicity of academia and college competition and the insane pressure it’s putting on our youth. And for what? Especially when many tradespeople are making way more than people with degrees (and without the student loans) it seems like such unnecessary bs. I have a friend who went to Yale and hated it. FWIW, she is employed but now lives at home with her parents. Going to an Ivy doesn’t necessarily equate to success and wealth. We need to stop putting this pressure on our youth.

[@narconyx]

Junior, toured a "less prestigious" school, loved it more than the high ranking ones I toured, asked my teacher who used to work in engineering how important the college is, she told me I should go with the one I felt more of an attachment to, am now in a state of "it's just a degree" and am already doing much better mentally.

[@dante99599]

I’ll never forget what my homeroom teacher said a few years ago when I was a senior in highschool: “College is what you make of it, so your experience will be very similar regardless of what school you go to, so find the school that’s the best fit for you.” I’m now a senior in college and realize that what he said is true. College is about making connections and getting practical experience. A degree from a “good” school is worthless if you aren’t making the right connections or gaining experience outside of classes. A degree from a not so good school can be worth just as much as an ivy league degree if you use your time wisely

[@sadthomas5067]

What do you mean by "Connections" and "Practical experience". By connections do you just mean networking. if you do want to leech off your college mates there then an ivy school or a prestigious private college would be a much better fit

[@CSDragon]

I get your anger at rich kids using "fake" sports to get into ivy leagues, but those are all olympic sports, and the ivy league schools do have a legitimate reason to want them. Olympic medals bring even more prestige to the school

[@FearAssassin23]

I agree 100% As someone who fenced all of high school and college, the people that get recruited to the Ivy League aren’t just national champions, but world champions and olympians. I understand the point of your comment but the reality is many people try, and 99.9% fail.

[@elliondecoteau5985]

Exactly thats the one thing i didn't agree with. He simplified the sport to its barest bones and judged it only off of that. A sport is anything that utilizes the major muscle groups to compete with others either competitively or for entertainment purposes, regardless of personal biases those were all legitimate sports that take a shit ton of training and dedication to do, sometimes even more than some of the better known ones like football. Horrible take.

[@peterkirk8510]

I feel like especially for something like rowing, if you find yourself saying “it’s not that hard”, either everyone knows that, or you’re underestimating the difficulty. If it’s one where everyone knows that, then how does someone differentiate themselves to the point of being world class? Dedication, effort, an astounding mental strength, and the physical strength to go with it. Saying the actions rowing at a high level takes is easy. Doing it is hard. It’s like sprinting or moderate distance running, which I’d assume the vast majority of people have done in their life at some point, if only once. That feeling of your body screaming at you to stop as you put every ounce of energy into moving it while maintaining your form doesn’t go away, you just become more efficient at outputting force. I think the team number thing is a lot more fair, just calling it easy is silly to me.

[@BacenticFlam]

the olympics is just a competition of who can dope the most without getting caught, and the only people who care about olympic prestige in Ivy League are the doping athletes themselves

[@TeeHaa0032]

As a European I just don't get the American fixation with sports in College. I mean here in Europe the idea a college would get 'prestige' by winning Olympic gold medals, would be ridiculous. It's not what Universities are there for. 😀

[@maryland7586]

As a student at Cornell (who despised that subreddit, didn't do the SAT, and told I "shouldnt've gotten in" on a similar subreddit) it's amazing to me just how much their fetish gets hyper focused on just HYPSM (similar point made around 12 mins in). A lot of them will flat out dismiss "bad ivies" or "useless majors" and think that there's 0 purpose to go to a high ranked college if you aren't doing a lucrative major at the best program possible (Look at how A2C only ever brings up Cornell when talking about CS). I've been told i was an affirmative action admit, that I only got in for doing a niche major, and that I should "give up my spot to someone more deserving". So unbelievably toxic

[@SebaCape55]

Yeah, the level of entitlement is really unfortunate. Congratulations to you on Cornell though, thats not a small feat, and especially not a coincidence.

[@aizam]

That is absolutely crazy wtf

[@ericsuarez368]

Bro you prob got in bc you didn't come off as insufferable and came off as a person who enjoys what they do. (The antithesis of an A2C'er)

[@bubblegirl55]

you deserve your spot cuz u worked for it! I am so sorry others discredit ur hardwork! :/

[@loveyalotz]

Congrats!!! I wanted to go to Cornell or Yale. Decided not to apply because of my stats lol. I don’t plan on telling anyone where I end up because people loveee to judge and tell you where you should really be going😮

[@boodrift]

Current high school junior here; first of all, thank you so much for this video. Going into sophomore year and especially now in junior year, I'm seeing almost every single one of my friends and acquaintances suddenly starting to worry about their grades, their test scores, their SAT scores, their number of extracurriculars, their athletic capabilities, etc. and comparing themselves to everyone else. Constantly throughout sophomore and junior year, I've been asked for my test scores so many times that I cannot keep count. The fact that I consistently got above-average scores made it even worse as my peers would react in ways condescending to themselves (e.g. saying they were probably stupid, that they didn't try hard enough) which just made me feel horrible. As high school goes on, I'm starting to really hate this toxic environment of constant comparison and grinding to achieve the highest numbers possible for college applications. School should be about learning interesting subjects, creating fulfilling friendships, and exploring your interests, not constant anxiety, self-belittlement, and months of dehumanizing studying just for a 100-sided dice roll of getting into a "pReStIgIoUs" college whose only difference from regular colleges is the diploma that will attract the wrong type of people who only care about looks. It's simply just ridiculous.

[@shrimpfrylu]

God, I really hope this video hits the algorithm because this is so good. I'm a junior, used to put a crazy amount of pressure on myself to get into a high-ranked college but progressively opened my eyes to how absurd it all really is. Really great video, keep it up!!

[@selenatang314]

Same here man, also a junior and this video hit hard. Thankfully saw this rather than never

[@kurtramos9190]

Here because of the algorithm!

[@somedudeontheweb1468]

As a senior who had felt similarly my junior year, I can totally relate. Trades or programs are probably the best options out there

[@fiery-flamingo]

The people who say that “you need to graduate from a prestigious college/university to be successful” incorrectly place institutions on a pedestal. I’m glad you shared your personal experiences applying to college, because you defy the expectations of a so-called a2c “failure.” With this channel you are proving what a driven and passionate individual you are, and you’re dictating your own success. You packed well-researched, emotion-inducing storytelling into this video; that’s more than I can say for most documentaries and movies. Thank you for not giving up on yourself after the so-called “gatekeepers of opportunity” spit on you. Based on what I watched today, you are going places.

[@azumarill964]

Im sorry to bother you, but how can I cope with that mindset or discard it, if 95% of recent animation showrunners (my desired career) went to a top 5 animation school in the us? How can I be successful there if my chances rely on top schools? Please would you enlighten me?

[@isaacthesharkwolf9038]

@@azumarill964 Portfolios, have a fat portfolio with examples of your work, in a creative field a portfolio is more important then any piece of paper.

[@fiery-flamingo]

@@azumarill964 Hi. I can’t enlighten you since I’m not enlightened myself. But I can offer my opinion. First, it’s a given that the people in your desired field who went to a prestigious school are more likely to be outspoken about their education journey and find success quickly, and employers like to flaunt the fact that they have a number of employees from prestigious universities. That doesn’t have to mean that practically everyone in your field went to a top 5 school. Not sure where the 95% is coming from, but to me that sounds a tad inflated based on my limited knowledge (selection bias). Regardless of if I’m wrong about that, conventional wisdom points towards job experience as being more important long term than education. Isn’t it true that employers generally don’t give education much weight after the first job? So education gets you in the door, but hard work helps you to stay in the room. What you’re suggesting-entering a field with such a proportion of prestigious graduates-will be difficult, but by no means is it impossible. I know of non-graduates (cough cough Michael Reeves) who filled their resumes with personal projects and landed ok jobs, then good jobs, then great ones. It’s a process, but it’s possible. If I were you and had the patience, I would start in lower positions and work my way up gradually. If you don’t go to a prestigious school, debt hopefully won’t be as much an issue for you than for other people in your field. You can still be successful, it might just take you longer. There are also other options. You could consider how many people switch careers sometime in their lives (you could start by doing something else for a while) and how the internet has brought opportunities like freelancing from home or (if this idea appeals to you) growing influence on social platforms and by selling advice or knowledge. Either option could supplement the income from “official” working hours. What I mean to say is nothing is set in stone, and upward mobility and hard work is a good foundation of a private sector career.

[@vvsvlogsYT]

@@azumarill964Here’s the thing about the entertainment industry- it’s not about where you go or what you’ve learnt, but about connections. Some people at certain universities have (or make) certain connections that result in their own success. So then how can you garner those connections without attending those universities? How can you become exactly like everyone else and succeed like they all have? Don’t set these irrational goals for yourself. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and a lot of animation showrunners get very lucky getting into these schools and garnering these connections to be able to make what they want to make. Comparing yourself to other people will get you nowhere. Wherever you go in life, as long as you’re collaborating with others and doing what makes you happy, you can do anything you put your mind to. The university you go to and the people you form relationships with won’t define your success. There’s a reason why indie animation is so popular these days. Not everyone can have these “perfect setup” lives where they get everything they want. Some people have an idea and execute it from nothing, and people see it and enjoy it! Long story short, don’t bog yourself down because you may not have the same setup as other animation showrunners. Instead, focus on your craft, attend a university you can see yourself succeeding at (and apply to those other, “top-10” schools if you’d like, but don’t be surprised if you don’t get in) and collaborate with others. You can do anything you put your mind to, and you don’t need to make connections with people who only want to gain from you in college. You make what you want to make, no matter what anyone says. That’s the beauty of creativity. ❤️

[@Cyncis87]

@@azumarill964 This is what people don't realize. If you are just going to med school or law school, your undergraduate institution might not matter. But if you want to go into a specific competitive industry such as journalism, politics, art, the advantages you gain from a top school are enormous.

[@cupofgreentea]

As someone who was more focused on enjoying highschool life than preparing for university, I can proudly tell you that I landed decent engineering / IT jobs while being a student, even though I was not attending a prestigious university nor did I have outstanding exam results (heck, I failed so many lectures in the first three semesters that I've had to prolong my bachelor's degree from 3 to 4.5 years). But this is only possible because the country I live in does not have exorbitant college fees, nor anything resembling a SAT test, and you can survive on minimum wage jobs while being a student (emphasis on survive). Students in my class are aged between 18 - 39 btw, so some of them wanted a career change and went to university for that. So yeah, the US system is completely rigged.

[@localmilfchaser6938]

Yup I’m a senior and feel completely fucked. Idk what to do….. what country r u from?

[@localmilfchaser6938]

@@cupofgreenteaoh that makes sense. You guys are rich asf over there. I wish I had money 😔😔😔

[@cupofgreentea]

@@localmilfchaser6938tbf I am not rich but the cost per semester at a public uni is "only" between $700-1200, nothing compared to the US/UK/Australia etc. I think sweden, norway and finnland provide completely free education?

[@Koiahi]

@@cupofgreenteahey do you recommend Americans or as a American myself to move to Switzerland In the future decades later I got plans on moving due to the United States structure

[@epicfartgamer]

​@@cupofgreentea yes, finland provides free education for finnish people and, i think, eu residents too?

[@cosmic1348]

I got rejected by Northwestern in December and I'm so glad it happened because I just got accepted into UW-Madison and committed over the weekend. The weight and anxiety of where I am going to college is finally off my shoulders and this is the happiest I've been throughout my high school career! For the first time ever, I remember what has led me to where I am and I'm happy. Top colleges aren't all that; my best friend goes to Notre Dame and is having the time of her life, but she's told me she would be just as happy at UW-Madison. Ultimately, you have to make the most of your education. If it was meant to happen it would happen.

[@DeCurtaRican]

UW-Madison is reputedly a great school. As a graduate student at Northwestern, I can tell you that Northwestern is amazing. I love it!

[@jillian5416]

I go to a "top 10" school (it's showed up in this video a couple times actually lol), and my honest take is high schoolers idolize "good schools" too much because it's all they know. Prestige gives you bragging rights to your friends, but that's about it Here are some things to note when applying to college that DONT involve academics/prestige: 1. *Affordability*. As an unemployed high school student, $70k tuition doesn't seem terrible, or it will at least pay off in the end. No it doesn't 😭 For reference, the average salary (generalizing a lot) in the US is $60k-80k. You could spend every single cent of your salary just towards loans, and it would still take 4-5 years to pay off. 2. Gender/race ratios. If you're a women in STEM, would you be okay attending a school where you're only one of 3 girls in a class of 50 people? Same for if you're a minority 3. Student population. Additionally, number of students in your major/department. Going to a small school will allow you to know everyone, while being in a large school allows you to be more anonymous. Both have their pros and cons 4. Location. Do you want to be in a more urban setting, or are you fine with a small college town? How's transportation? College will be an opportunity to gauge where you'd like to live long-term Good luck with applications y'all 🫡

[@andrewzheng4038]

I feel like adding an additional caveat that this mostly applies for undergraduate In graduate the school you go to *does* matter. Top schools attract top funding and top research, both of which are critical if you are doing a thesis-based graduate program. Undergraduate engineering might be somewhat comparable between MIT and North-North-Western State School Campus #2, but if you want the subject of your thesis to be truly cutting edge MIT is where you’ll want to be

[@localmilfchaser6938]

Just use your rich daddy’s money

[@changesomthing9874]

what school do u go too

[@ukiyoomi]

I could definitely see why people would go to a prestigious schools. Not only do they usually have better courses, but you make connections with tons of other impressive people (although i’m not sure if being in debt is worth all that though.. especially if you have immigrant parents)

[@dante99599]

⁠@@ukiyoomiclasses usually aren’t better though

[@notdrew3780]

The sport of rowing is actually way more difficult than you'd imagine. You can learn to row within a day or two but perfecting form takes years and the amount of conditioning you need to be elite is staggering. Its a pretty expensive sport like you said but my mother could afford it despite living under the poverty line. I would practice 2 hours every day after school and it took almost 3 years to become competitive. I graduated in the top seat of the top boat and still believe joining that team was the best decision of my life, I wish more people had access to high school teams or more affordable clubs.

[@mattdangelo2915]

I feel like you’re reiterating the original point- it doesn’t take an entire life of dedication to become a D1 prospect

[@notdrew3780]

@@mattdangelo2915 I was nowhere near a D1 prospect

[@joseph5166]

Wow. I wonder if any other competitive athletes consider their sport and its training regimen to be grueling and difficult. Probably not, must just be a rowing thing.

[@iArimoto]

@@joseph5166 You made this exact comment on one of my own about rowing. You've got a vendetta or something? Or are you just a bot?

[@joseph5166]

@@iArimoto I’m a real person. The two comments conveyed more or less the same message and I thought that response worked well enough to use it for both.

[@SpaceSeal64]

Absolutely incredible video. I thank the algorithm for gracing me with this absolute masterpiece of a video essay. This is literally exactly what I needed to hear right now as a hs senior, although I wish I had heard it from my first day of high school. Literally not once did I stop and ask myself during the college application process why I even cared so much about getting into prestigious schools in the first place. It was just drilled into me that this is what I should be doing, and that doing anything other than bettering my chances of college acceptance was a waste of time. I wonder how many hours of my youth I've lost to grinding the sat, obessing over my GPA, and doing ecs I don't really care about. I spent so much of my time obessing over college admissions that I forgot to enjoy high school. Also, when you brought up Northeastern that made me feel like a dumbass, legit the only reason I applied was because it was "prestigious" and it had an easy application. They just baited a $75 application fee out of me.

[@immutablesky6154]

Its been a really crushing journey, did everything by the book got a 4.5 GPA, graduated highschool with an assosciate's. Still only got into my safety, ended up deciding to go to community college and try again with different in state colleges. This video was very informative about the schools and their processes, good content makes me feel a lot better.

[@pixality7902]

Its bs that some high schools give higher GPA for AP classes and some dont. It puts people without that GPA padding at a disadvantage.

[@biff3156]

True and my school is already academically rigorous in regular classes so taking all Ap and Honors like some schools is impossible not to mention my school doesn’t round up even if ur at a 89.9

[@fortunamajor7239]

​@@pixality7902 the higher GPA just gets converted back to a 4 point scale -- or at least that's how it worked when i first applied a decade ago. I had a 4.5 bc of honors but school admin guiding me thru application process let me know it was technically a 3.5

[@user-ci2fd8vc2f]

Sub 5.0 gpa and no business at 5 years old 😢

[@Vryheid]

I got rejected from my lowest safety💀

[@MasonGoodwyn]

This was a world class video that provided my whole college application experience! I was sucked into applying for these schools after seeing the college admission reaction videos, which prompted my current channel now. I’ve been blessed by God to get into great programs and I don’t take my results for granted either. College applications definitely will have to evolve in the future to provide better opportunities for everyone!

[@elvirz]

As a passionate yearbook editor that's been in for 4 years - taking photos, interviews, editing pages, putting together designs - I am honestly so tired of everyone joining yearbook thinking it'll be an easy, slackoff class (because in my school, it's a class) and doing NOTHING. the amount of times the yearbook has been delayed or crappy... I can't count.

[@alexstar.606]

Ur honestly so real for that. I’m really big into photography and graphic design in yearbook, but when it comes to decisions (especially for the yearbook design), it’s always the biased decision that’s chosen and not the actual good one. Maybe I’m just a judgy person, idk 🫤

[@dryeraseboredom3645]

I begun taking AP classes in my sophomore year. Working on grades and extracirriculars slowly consumed my free time, and I had to shove aside the pursuit of my own personal desires like learning music production. Im a senior now and I often ponder how much I could have learnt and created had I not sacrificed my life for "the GPA game."

[@toogud7918]

I’m not trying to be judgmental but how did AP classes take up so much of your time. By definition they are just entry level college classes and aren’t that much harder than a schools regular classes. I just did my homework in school and did well on the tests while having plenty of time to hang out with friends or got to parties. College feels the same way while the classes are hard, if you pay attention at the lectures you should have a lot of free time.

[@dryeraseboredom3645]

@@toogud7918 ok yeah I am kinda over exaggerating it wasn’t that bad. for the most part I still had a good amount of free time but it still bothers me how much time I’ve spent on grades

[@thetinykid4169]

​​@@toogud7918 It depends on the AP teacher and class. AP classes are designed to get harder and harder as more students who are academically capable take them. The intention of AP tests isn't for everyone to pass, it's to have kids compete for a passing score so they look good to colleges. Some teachers also assign significantly more work or teach less of the curriculum well. Also college equivalent classes are easy in comparison to APs. And most of the time you only do 4 classes that don't happen everyday in college. In APs its 4 classes every single day.

[@Jaesdaes]

​@@thetinykid4169yeah, I've taken both AP and CE (directly enrolled I college while taking them at my highschool) and it is SO much better. I feel like I actually learn, the pacing is better, it costs significantly less and takes less time. (15 dollars for 3 credits in a semester versus 150 for a full year). Always take the direct credit over AP when possible.

[@toogud7918]

@@thetinykid4169 AP classes other than comparative geography and gov/pol are full year classes for high school with much more time learning. In college it’s a semester and maybe 3 hours of lectures. AP classes are also not about looking good on your application, it’s to score high on the test as to be awarded college credit

[@oriondawg23]

this is an amazing video. i don’t comment often, but while watching this video i was engaged the whole time. as a junior in high school who has really been stressing, this video helped me reflect and take a step back to realize my life is NOT going to end if i don’t go to college. you really hit a lot of points that i’ve thought about, and i honestly feel relieved. it won’t stop me from trying, but i’m not gonna let colleges define my life. this deserves a lot more attention! thanks henry

[@tree4964]

the best thing i decided to do in high school was to not stress about college. i did some research and got accepted to a low-stakes college, and it's better for me than any of the big colleges i could have gotten into if i tried. our culture acts like your life is over after you hit your mid 20s, so you have to accomplish everything before then, but that's awful. plan for the future, but take your time and enjoy yourself, right now, as much as you can. if you keep looking ahead, you're going to miss the present. see what fits your budget best and what will help you do what you want to do after you graduate (if you decide to go at all). wishing you the best in whatever you end up doing!

[@astrofritz48]

I kinda just stumbled into all of this. Entering high school my goal was to just get good grades and then go to a good Canadian school. But then I got a good psat score and every school started sending me emails and letters and invitations to conferences and presentations. I decided to submit applications to a lot of schools, though in my time in high school I have not done as well as I had hoped. I have been accepted to a safety and a “match” school or whatever you call it, and I am ok with that being the norm. I don’t think that this matters that much, and I am glad that I didn’t spend years obsessing over perfect grades, and that I chose AP classes, sports, clubs, and work, simply because I wanted to. I have enjoyed my time. And even though it’s been a lot, and still is a lot, I have become a better person for it. I feel truly sorry for the people who have held onto the belief that these schools determine their worth, or that they are somehow special and unique compared to all other students, while being mostly normal. It doesn’t seem healthy the way so many think about these things. Best of luck everyone, hopefully you get into whichever school you want to get into, and I get into my top choices. But if not, we will all survive. Remember that.

[@oliviaclapaz]

Great video!! I just finished my apps, and the MOST COMMON THING I get from adults (even family friends who are professors!!) is they pressure me to apply to ivy leagues, just because I do well with academics. They think because I’ve worked hard, and I am a legacy, that “Im guaranteed admission”???? No individual is entitled to any one school! Success does not equal (in my opinion ofc) giving hundreds of thousands of dollars away to institutions! My mom went to Cornell, and her anxiety began there. She hated it and tried to transfer out twice. There are hundreds if not thousands of videos on youtube of kids who feel worthless and feel that these schools have failed them in every way. And yet, no matter the hierarchal, economic, and systemic issues that occur at these schools, they’re still portrayed as unicorns and rainbows in media and everywhere!!! So sad. Abolish “prestige”!!!!

[@lotus7garden]

A lesson I took away after my first semester of college: I believe it is our surroundings and resources that (for the most part) dictate how "intelligent" we seem. Just as you mentioned in the "Life just isn't fair" chapter, sure these students in well-funded schools truly are smart and get straight A's and end up accomplishing impressive feats in high school, but it is of course BECAUSE of the well-funded schools, the money, time, and energy these students have available to them. So my takeaway is that while it can be significantly harder for underprivileged students to "be impressive," all we can do is try and take advantage of the equitable resources available to us. As you said, a school or institution isn't going to instantly make you successful (by whatever metrics you may apply there), you get that way with drive, ambition, and genuine passion.

[@hooptron9]

what a beautiful piece you've just created. your connection in the last 5 minutes was amazingly written.

[@daveharrenburg7670]

I got accepted into some high-ranking prestigious UC schools, but I ended up going to a lower-ranking public college. Every now and then I regret not going to one of those big UCs, but then I think of all of the awesome things that happened throughout college. I wouldn't trade it for the world. The college that I chose IS a good college. For me. College really is what you make of it. Making friends, being social, and learning useful skills/knowledge are the most important aspects of college and will be possible just about anywhere you go. Going to a "T20" won't magically make these happen for you, and going to a local publicly funded college won't take them all away.

[@Kurvaux]

one thing I would say to people currently in high school: college humbles you. You will have classes with people in their late 20s who served in the military to pay for their school, you will have people working two jobs to pay for their tuition, you will have people who just got out of addiction Counciling and had their college education delayed by several years. This focus on having your whole life planned out from high school is counterproductive because life doesn’t work like that. Everyone has their own path and trying to jump into the rat race that is modern college admissions is far from the only path.

[@kassd4169]

Yeah I'm 18 and I want to go to college and I will definitely be working a couple jobs and figuring out other ways to make money to pay for it, even thought about joining the military myself

[@FibonacciPasta]

I’m excited to watch this video, especially as someone who’s now awaiting college decisions, and someone who struggled with a lot of self-worth throughout high school to see if I was deemed “worthy” enough for a good education

[@captainblackbelt8880]

Cannot overstate how genuinely incredible this video was. Love you man

[@yaeli_i_guess]

the irony of yale accepting less jewish students while having hebrew in its logo taken directly from the jewish religion........

[@xelp435]

😂 cares

[@nanashi7779]

not really accurate to say Hebrew was 'taken from the Jewish religion'

[@yaeli_i_guess]

@@nanashi7779 from the jewish culture then

[@bathwaterseller7080]

Based TJD

[@Aetherakabane]

Bruh they are accepting students who do hard work and are talented not based on religion

[@Keeilx]

This video was just really comforting and made me feel like I could breathe again As a freshman high schooler in NYC,being unable to go into a specialized high school, and losing the ability to stay in honors had a really big impact on me.And I had this one profound teacher I met tell me how what matters is in college,so of course I started to obsess over these Ivy Leagues and top schools.I guess I’ve haven’t realized it until now how they created a anxiety for me to constantly worry about.Like how behind I was compared to the honors students or how when can I start taking ap classes. I think it’s wonderful to know that in life you don’t need to throw your life away for a prestigious school to have a decent job and life. I’m happy to know this early in my life and I hope the words spreads for others in need.🙏🙏 Thank you so much for just making this video

[@Qo0_0]

BRO im kinda in the same boat, nyc hs senior who didnt get accepted into a specialized hs. Its good you found this video early BECAUSE GOD DAMN i think i ruined my hs life by focusing so much about grades and getting into a top college just to find out im probably still not getting in💀live ur life, theres a better road ahead for u

[@cheese790]

can you lose the ability to take honor in NYC!?? I knew NYC highschool was crazy but at my school I was taking college classes with a 2.6 GPA (I did get it from a 2.6 to a 3.0 senior year tho lol)

[@Keeilx]

@@cheese790 I mean I got kicked out early semester for not keeping up with the class, I think the teachers knew you were committed and probably just needed a little help .College classes during high school does seem pretty tough

[@thehangingtree7395]

When I was in high school, I was obsessed and almost cataleptic for academic achievement. I had a 4.0 GPA (UW), with a completion of ten AP classes. But now, even after all that work, I proceeded to matriculate into a community college for affordability and location. And while I hope to pursue state college for higher education, I can say that community college has assisted me far better than any “good college.” Here are my reasons: - Free tuition. Other than books (which are usually free or online), I do not pay a DIME. -Small class sizes, which resulted in more personal interaction with professors and more time to learn and ask questions in lectures and discussions. - Short commute to family. If you wish to apply for an Ivy League or prestigious university, that's fine! But take a moment to realize that a) it's not the end of the world if you don't. b) your first two years of college are general education and basically can be done anywhere.

[@qazmko22]

I like your explanation of Affirmative Action, not being the cause of Asians being underrepresented at Harvard, rather the hoops Harvard makes people jump through, over the last 100 years. It's not about race it's about exclusivity, and keeping it a breeding ground for elites.

[@Croz89]

Legacy admissions don't really benefit the vast majority of white applicants either, only a small minority in high society. Most people who oppose Affirmative Action for whatever reason will probably oppose legacy admissions too.

[@AloeVeraJuiceJuice]

@@Croz89 The problem is that affirmative action gets all the hate when Legacy admissions are where most of the overrepresentation occurs

[@Croz89]

@@AloeVeraJuiceJuice Affirmative action gets all the publicity partly because Universities are far more open about it than legacy admissions. And many cynically surmise that getting rid of legacy admissions but not affirmative action will mean the chances of their own acceptance, as a straight White or east Asian male applicant who isn't rich or well connected won't change, they'll just use the opportunity, as they see it, to tip the scales even more in favour of more diverse applicants.

[@DeCurtaRican]

It’s too bad the Asians who filed the lawsuit were too blinded by their quest to scapegoat African-American and Latino/Hispanic students to figure this out before the lawsuit backfired on them.

[@DeCurtaRican]

@@Croz89: Most whites do not benefit from legacy admissions, but legacy admissions are overwhelmingly white applicants. Venn Diagram please…

[@genzcollegekid]

Quinn, my name is also Quinn. Nice to meet you. This video not only summed up all my thoughts about the application process, but introduced me to a bevy of new concepts and dynamics in the whole “ivy league” cultural awareness that i hadn’t known before. as a Stony Brook freshman, the comparison to NYU really hit home. i’ve got several friends already deep in debt who i’m trying tooth and nail to convince that NYU or Columbia aren’t going to save them, and aren’t worth the damn near irreparable financial ruin into which it would plunge them. here’s to hoping to algorithm comes back around for this video the same way it did for the korea one, because i’d show this to every high school junior up to college undergrad if i could. i have one request for you as a huge fan: please make a video that shows how you edit these? i can see that the editing is doable by one person, but it would be a big help for someone who’s flirted with the idea of content creation if you just revealed some of your secrets. sorry for rambling, hope you get to see this, and thanks a lot for the insight my man

[@higuys9789]

I just want to say thank you for this video. I’ve went through a little rollercoaster of emotions. First I was getting hit and hit thinking I would never get a chance of getting into MIT and other popular colleges since I am relatively poor. It started to feel like there was really a class divide with the rich and luxurious against the middle class. But as the praise of the schools started to go away, I thought about how going to a state college with good courses in what I want my major to be should be better than those other schools. This made that class divide into one of those fairytale stories where you can do anything if you try, but with a much deeper sense of realism when everything is set out in front. Your story also gave me a warning sign as I feel like I was starting to go to that direction. I almost saw myself in that position and thinking about how sad it would be to have my life’s work be turned into a sad memory, losing a lot of fun I could have had. I am very sorry if that was insulting in some way. And I almost fell for the trap since throughout the video I was thinking of how could I possibly change my life to fit what colleges want. What this video really did for me is get rid of the facade of ivy leagues and put my destiny into my own hands. It might sound cheesy, but after putting all that weight of college and then expertly getting rid of it, it is a very good relieving thing. I then read a comment about how they could learn what they need by themselves, I realized that I can do the same. I am a freshman and will try to start learning computer science right now. Thank you for making this video. If I can’t do it, then I guess it wasn’t meant for me. But if I can learn what I want to learn, then it will be my willpower alone that lets me do it. Edit: I keep on coming back to this video and just want to say that 13:53 is when my heart sunk the first time I saw it

[@nawwww]

As a junior in high school, thank you SO MUCH for making this video. I feel less anxious now since I've had some of the misconceptions youve mentioned. With what I've always thought of as my future looming not too far ahead, I've lately been worried about being good enough to get accepted into college, how the hell to get into a college, and choosing the right one. Now, I think I'll take it easy and take steps into doing what's right for me and not what's right to get into a "good college" and have prestige tied to my name

[@けん-m4r]

As a high school senior, just finished my last application, I cant express how much I appreciate this video. Man, i wish I couldve showed this to my freshman self. Spending years doing unnecessary things, I only feel emptiness, and really realised how meaningless all of this is.

[@thesecondcoming000]

Me too

[@Ignoramus117]

THANK YOU for talking abt affirmative action; so many friends I know keep complaining about it as if it's the reason they're getting rejected.

[@borginburkes1819]

It’s called a scapegoat. Black people are the worlds scapegoat

[@conceptualizing]

exactly I cannot take them seriously

[@elvindiaz1719]

Honestly one of the most eye opening videos I’ve seen surrounding this topic. I feel like no one talks about this enough and the stress it does to a person. I really appreciate how well made and entertaining this video was and even more so on revealing the truth behind these colleges, keep on making videos man

[@hiest5776]

As a rower who doesn’t have that wealthy parents, I now feel way too overconfident.

[@N8thegr8erthnu]

As a fellow rower, I knew the hate was coming but DAMN. At least try it before you call it easy, uncompetitive, and boring 😂. Like I know some friends who got in as rowing recruits to some reputable schools when they started in high school, but I wouldn’t call practicing 6 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day all four seasons easy. Coming from a team of like 20 - 30 people (men + women) it’s crazy racing teams like CRI who have like 400 kids having a battle royal to see who gets to be in the v1 boat. Definitely an expensive sport tho can’t lie about that.

[@mundmen]

@@N8thegr8erthnurowing is nowhere near as competitive as something like football or basketball

[@N8thegr8erthnu]

@@mundmenCompletely agree. I was just saying that it isn’t easy and is somewhat competitive. Obviously sports with more players are going to be more competitive than something more niche like rowing.

[@shadowyzephyr]

@@N8thegr8erthnu It's not that rowing is easy, it's easy comparative to a sport like basketball. Literally no sport is easy, that's not the point he is making. Most people who want to do basketball practice for as long or longer and still don't make it.

[@N8thegr8erthnu]

@@shadowyzephyr Rowing is not easier than baseball, it is less competitive. I would argue that it is harder but that is a different issue. I agree with baseball, I have also played baseball and I have seen how kids play the game since they can stand on two feet. But I think comparing it to basketball is kinda funny. Basketball is probably one of the world’s least competitive sports for people who are very tall. That doesn’t mean they don’t work hard, or that they are guaranteed a spot, but it is simply uncompetitive for them. Rowing is an uncompetitive sport like basketball is for people who fall into the genetic lottery for the sport. Like I said, I completely agree that rowing is uncompetitive compared something like baseball for getting a recruit into college. But I also reserve the right to laugh at him for thinking that rowing is easy just the same as he has the right to laugh at me for my sport being an Ivy League feeder. Overall I think it was a very well done video, I just think that many people can get deceived when seeing rowing as it appears to be a very easy sport when looking from the outside.

[@hello-nr2jz]

You don't know how much I needed this video. I'm a junior currently and worried about college. The stress is killing me ontop of all the schoolwork that I have to do.

[@alyxiavr7623]

As someone who’s currently a sophomore in college, I can’t overstate the importance of finding a school that’s right for you, rather than blindly assuming that a high ranking is good. I applied and was accepted to several very good public engineering schools, including University of Michigan and NC State, but ended up deciding to go to a private school that most people haven’t heard of with a student population of only around 3,500 (Calvin University). It was hard for me to break away from the assumption that I’d go to a large, prestigious school known across the country, but I’ve never once regretted that decision. Quality of faculty and class size are so important, and if you’re a more introverted person or just someone who prefers to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, going to a smaller school can really allow you to thrive and grow as a person in a way that a bigger school might not. Affordability, teaching quality, dorm community, school size, etc. are all so much more valuable than an arbitrary ranking.

[@lowkee7907]

ayyo Calvin, I made the choice as well for the same school

[@jonathansnow1886]

Professor here: My advice to high schoolers, is do your own thing, be yourself and be creative. Sure do a flyer application to a T20 why not but don't expect anything. Take a serious look at all kinds of places, because you don't even know yet where you will fit in. And there is excellent education, connectedness, persons of your preferred gender for romance, and entertainment at *every* university. Not all of them in all disciplines all the time, but that doesn't even matter, you can move around. Hunting prestige is a mugs game, as this video so eloquently demonstrates. It's all true as far as the top 20 are concerned, but leaves out the other 99.99% of higher education.

[@twisted1654]

My dad got into many prestigious schools in the late 80s, but after he's seen my experience with college, he basically says that he would have no chance of getting into the colleges that he did today.

[@isabelhutchinson3804]

Fun Fact! Many of the Andover/Exeter kids, once they get to college, end up matriculating back into their high school friends group because there are just so many.

[@TheGoldfishArmy]

I honestly did not think much about college until my senior year of high school. I knew what I wanted to major in, but I didn't have my eyes locked on MIT, Stanford, or anyplace like that. I took classes because I wanted to, I accepted when I didn't get an A in a hard class, and I did my best not to stress myself out with AP courses and extracurriculars I didn't actually enjoy. I only applied to three schools, got accepted into all of them, and made my final decision after visiting each campus, talking to alumni, and thinking about what school was the right fit for me. The school I'm currently attending does happen to be very highly ranked for it's undergrad engineering programs, but that's not why I chose to go there. My major isn't even on that top-ranked list. I chose to attend because I thought I could thrive here, and I was right. The professors here are really helpful and dedicated to their jobs, being a STEM-focused school means the barrier to entry for fine arts activities is relatively low, so I've been able to try new things, greek life here is really chill so I joined a sorority, and I've been loving every second of it. I never would have known any of these things, about my school or about myself, by just looking at a rankings list. These are things you have to find out by getting your hands dirty and finding out what schools are actually like. Don't stress about grades and "looking good on your application" just to get in a prestigious school. Be open-minded. Each state has dozens of schools, each with their own culture, opportunities, and atmosphere. If you don't like where you end up, you can transfer and try again somewhere else. College is about finding what works for YOU. Finding a place that fits your learning style, your interests, and your beliefs, and finding that match is hard, but there's a place for everyone. To anyone about to go into the college search process, I wish you luck in your journey. It will be hard, there will be surprises, there will be dissappointment, there will be excitement, but it will all be worth it in the end.

[@amansreshta8028]

This might be my new favorite video ever! Thank you so much for this, it is very eye-opening. As someone who grinded out a 35 superscore ACT, who wants to go to UPenn Wharton to study finance, and get an investment banker job or become a full time trader, to become really rich and help my family out of the middle-class status (yes we live in a 700k home, but it was 325k when brought and it took up both of my parent's life savings, and now we have to sell it since our financial situation is so bad), this is very surreal and relatable. Your video highlights so many important points, and I wish every single highschooler, especially my friends, could watch this video.

[@tylerhansonmathur4322]

Super good video essay. I actually wrote my final paper in my college writing class on college admissions and legacy and talked about many of the same topics that you discussed in this. Specifically growing up in NYC, I've seen how crazy the divide between public and private high schools can be when it comes to privilege and opportunity, and it is crazy to see the extent of connections that many top colleges share with these elite private high schools. Overall thought the vid was super engaging all the way through.

[@kashing8099]

Couldn't agree with you more I transferred from a mid suny to a decent private school and the type of nyc people I meet now come from much better backgrounds and schools but don't actually feel all too much smarter lol it's funny.

[@thehighschoolhustler]

this video was so eye opening. It's changed the way I'm thinking about applying to college (as a junior right now) and it's motivated me to address this topic in my next video just boiled down. Thank you quinn 🙏

[@Unknownbrowndude]

Man you deserve way more subs with the quality of your videos. The amount of research is clear to see, and I like how you were introspective at the end

[@natalieeuley1734]

I applied to my dream colleges. Got accepted at every one, but I couldn't afford them because I didn't get enough scholarahips. All I could afford was commuting to the university in my town. The thing is tho... every program is kinda the same at the end of the day. Like, my school met ABET criteria for my program, same as MIT does. When I visited MIT's campus and when I watched MIT OpenCourseWare, yeah, all of the stuff they learned was more intense, their campus was fancier, and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, when I graduated, I got to work at Microsoft just like those kids. They weren't any more or less prepared to work at Microsoft than me. They just spent their time in a different way from me. For example, by the time I graduated from college, I had 6 internships. I was a big fish in a small pond; the people I was competing with were half as qualified as me. I applied to tons of random student programs across the country- if I got in, great. Many of these weren't impressive in what I actually did, but they sure sounded great on paper. And that meant that I, the kid that could actually work my way through college and could pay off all my debt in a year, got to the same result as kids who struggled through an incredibly rigorous education, had time for nothing but classes, and were paying off loans for years to come. I sat in regular classrooms where I got to know my professors, while they sat in lecture halls so large that a camera was needed to capture the whiteboard. Going to a fancy, expensive college doesn't change where you end up in life. Where you end up in life is up to you and your own abilities. If you are from a disadvantaged background, then these kinds of prestigious schools and opportunities can make a difference for you and give you a leg up. But if your school had lots of AP classes and sports and clubs... you probably don't have a disadvantaged background, and you'll succeed just as well in your field going to a cheap school as an expensive one. Especially if you have supportive parents. Living with my parents while in college was probably the best choice I could have possibly made. If I had to pay rent that entire time, my life would have turned out very different. College is such a short time in your life; focus on what is truly important about it, like getting you ready for your field, and less on stuff that doesn't matter, like how fancy the buildings are

[@economicdevelopmentplannin8715]

What school did you choose

[@natalieeuley1734]

@@economicdevelopmentplannin8715 University of Alabama in Huntsville

[@john1-1-75]

using the spanish flag for hispanic Americans is crazy, like using the Union Jack for Anglo Americans

[@MakotoOPT]

Nuh uhh

[@loveyalotz]

Facts

[@ixian_technocrat]

It should be pretty easy for a white person to pretend that they are hispanic. After all, hispanic is not a race, all they would need to do is become fluent in Spanish. That seems like a big loophole in the system (and a deserved one, racist barriers shouldn't be allowed).

[@h3xad3cimaldev61]

Then again he tried attacking fencing as a "fake" sport

[@standia]

Well to be fair, the Spanish are Hispanics too. Just not the vast majority but I get what you mean.

[@kevinyi8626]

I’m a Berkeley freshman - I couldn’t agree with this video more, and I have to say your analysis of Berkeley at 44:00 is pretty accurate lol. College admissions is really just a stupid fucking game that people try to hide behind as a thin guise of fairness. I regret all the time I spent playing that game in high school - I should’ve spent that time playing “games” I actually cared about like chilling with my friends, riding my bike random places, video games… pursuing any hobby that you actually can control is so much more rewarding than playing the stupid careerist game of college admissions that is just designed to validate to rich kids (myself included tbh) that we are indeed rich and privileged.

[@HotRatsAndTheStooges]

I intended to just skim through this. Ended up watching the whole thing. Thanks for making this video. That sports shit is fucking WILD.

[@LucienVaget]

Some of the points made during the sports segment are quite oversimplified. Track is not at all an unpopular sport, it's actually one of the most popular in the US by participation. That, combined with the small amount of scholarships available compared to something like Football, makes Track actually one of the hardest sports to get recruited for to a top school. Also, while the unpopular sports he mentioned like rowing, fencing, equestrian etc are definitely easier to get recruited for than the sports offered at most public high schools, genetics still play a big role for some of them. No amount of hard work is going to get someone with a physical disability/disease a fencing scholarship for example, no matter how wealthy their family is.

[@LucienVaget]

also, most of the 154 rowers he talks about at Harvard are walk-ons. Only the best actually get into Harvard BECAUSE of being good at rowing.

[@neilpaul7032]

@@LucienVaget Yeah, I agree. Although most of the video was good, the sports part was pretty misleading. Track is just as competitive as "more popular" sports such as football and basketball. I haven't ever fenced before, but I would assume that it's more competitive than this KZbinr makes it out to be. And as for rowing, it seems that the KZbinr has something personal against it. Perhaps someone from his school who rows got into his dream school while he didn't.

[@shadowyzephyr]

@@LucienVaget Well, at these private schools, you don't need to specifically be able to fit into x sport, like fencing, you just need to fit into ONE sport or activity. One that you can dedicate extracurricular time to, for hours, and become D1/very good at. That is much easier.

[@tagberli]

This video is a masterpiece, with the analysis, commentary, humor, editing, the relatable story in the ending, and most importantly the truth. Masterpiece. 😌

[@babaguy04]

although i'm from a different country, i very much feel this. i'm in my 2-second year uni rn. I remember being very disappointed with myself not getting into a "good college" but these days i feel like it doesn't matter. i'm learning calculus, linear algebra or whatever all the same. Same material, same books. i like it too! i like studying it even if i know that i probably won't use these things much. sure i won't use statistics when i'm in the job market (hopefully) but who cares. i'm learning it for the sake of learning.

[@jonnydent825]

In my med school class, yeah we had kids from MIT and Princeton, but we also had kids who went to LSU-Shreveport. And we all ended up in the same place.

[@dauts]

lol

[@khe777]

This makes me feel so much better about college

[@toolbar12423]

I swear I might the dumbest smart person. As a hispanic highschooler living with a single mother, got good grades, Had at least 8 AP classes in my 4 years of HS, and did a plethora of extracurriculars because I had nothing else to do with myself (I did football, lacrosse, indoor track/wrestling, was a part of the trivia club and a programming/computer science club, and I had Air Force JROTC which had me swamped with community service events on the weekend), I got a 2200 SAT score (that was REALLY good back when it was a 2400 score test) and had a 3.9GPA. I literally did this because it was just fun/I thought of as orders from my mother. She was an immigrant and had 0 idea about college and, truthfully, I gave 0 shits about what college I went to since I figured I'd be denied from most of them anyway. I applied to my local community college and my #1 choice, UCLA (I live in the NYC metro area), but I had 8 other colleges that I could apply to as a part of my waver. I jokingly applied to Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, NYU, Colombia, and Cornell. I was expecting to be denied EVERYWHERE but the community college. I was not denied to any of these. I was going to settle on MIT because I thought it'd be pretty cool to do programming stuff and make a video game someday. Then I saw the amount of money I'd have to pay if I went. My mom had never had past 4 digits in her bank account at any point in time and I couldn't, in good consciousness, put that kind of debt on us because I literally didn't know any better. She was literally begging me to just go to any of these colleges and I just... never said replied to any of them. At some point I said, "Well.. Maybe these 2 years can shave off a couple thousand bucks off my degree." and just went to community college. I never did end up going to any of these schools because a state college where I'm at gave me a full ride and I took it. I think at some point in my final year, I asked the MIT registrar and finaid dept. about if I had gone there as a senior coming out of high school and they said it was very likely they'd just forgive any amount I owed. I legit felt like I ripped up a winning $1bil powerball jackpot lotto ticket that day. I really wonder where I'd be in life now if I had gone to Yale or MIT, but ya live and ya learn. I'm not unhappy with my decision because I love my friend groups and I still went to a very respectable university, but it is something I do think about to this day.

[@amylee9]

That’s tough. But that’s the difference in having an educated parent help you out or the difference between kids that go to private schools and get great advice about what it means to attend these colleges. I mean you would have taken on the debt but with any of these schools you’d have made it back many times over. Sucks to not have the advice at such a young age

[@wispu6393]

I know you already graduated, but I wonder what year this all happened for you. I was in almost the same situation but now I'm studying at MIT with a totally full ride just because of my underprivileged upbringing. Either that wasn't the case when you applied or things changed for the better to allow poor kids to go to elite colleges despite the odds. Hope you the best.

[@toolbar12423]

@wispu6393 2012 was when I graduated HS. I did go to a couple of events at Yale since I had a friend go there after 1 semester at Community College (not sure why. I think he was waiting for a job position in New Haven for a company his dad had connections in or something) and I gotta be real, I dont think Id have enjoyed it there. I am eternally grateful for the friends I made because of my "bad" decision and I physically cannot imagine who Id be if I had gone to these schools

[@SebaCape55]

@@toolbar12423 You would probably be in a similar position, just with different job opportunities. The schools don't make the students anymore, the students make the school. At least at the very top it would be that way. TLDR; your brilliance is still the same

[@tym9080]

You'll most likely be in a similar position. Maybe living on the east cost and making slightly more, but that's it. Especially in STEM it doesn't matter- regional state school grads are pulling six figures starting out. Unless you're the next Elon or Zuckerberg...Don't beat yourself up.

[@SunnyBoi.]

Just finished watching this entire video, and it's absolutely stellar. As someone currently going through this college application process and have noticed all the negative points you've talked about, I just couldn't agree more on how stupid this all is. Remember, college is just a way for THEM to get money. It's just business. Nothing else. You won't be any less successful or "make less money" just because you didn't go to a "T20". Great video, and best of luck to all of you out there.

[@MisterGoose]

When I applied to colleges I was rejected by each and every one of them, even my safety schools, but one of my top picks offered me a side door program for the exact major that I wanted and I couldn’t be more grateful. I used that gratitude to motivate myself towards academic excellence. I really relate with your anecdote at the end, and I’m glad you didn’t let it keep you down.

[@christianhealy7804]

As someone who is in the final stages of the college application process, this video really resonated with me. I’d even say its one of the best video essays I’ve see in a while. Hopefully we can see some more great content from you in the future.

[@gretamagary9045]

i just finished submitting college apps, and honestly senior year has been the most toxic year of my high school career. i'm happy with the schools i applied to, and i really did try to choose schools based on if i actually like them rather than prestige. but anyways this video was great, it was really real and authentic and i'm happy you're spreading awareness on how toxic college admissions are.

[@omnithis9214]

Possibly one of the best videos I’ve watched in a while. I’m currently a sophomore at a decently competitive public school. I’m not top ranking, in the top 30% so I feel as I’m falling behind my peers grade wise, and am constantly pressured for the need to over compensate with my extracurriculars and SAT score. I will be honest, there is not much I didn’t know before hand, but having all my thoughts bundled in a hour video really helped me self reflect with what I actually want. Thank you.

[@jl63023]

40:12 I found the course catalog for this school (Philip Exeter Academy) and totally disregarding the fact they choose classes like university students, it is utterly mind-blowing that these students are learning stuff that I, a computer science major at a public university in the Caribbean, would be doing in second and third year... in high school... I'm at a loss for words cause they have their lives set

[@cowl6867]

Hahaha, you should look at Stanford's CS. They don't start programming until 3rd year

[@neilpaul7032]

Yeah, some of these private schools are crazy. The one in this video is basically a college itself.

[@Anonymous-mt1tv]

Yeah. Looked at their nice indoor track and then I laughed at their low quality hurdles. (J-curves suck) Don’t worry, not everything that glitters is gold.

[@sababugs1125]

​@@cowl6867what ?

[@roza_chen]

This video has described every single one of my jumbled thoughts about college in such amazing clarity and it has genuinely been so helpful to me, thank you for this. I’m a current high school junior and t20s have been idolized by everyone around me and myself for my entire life. It’s so ingrained in me that no matter how much I try to convince myself that my state school is “good enough” and that my health is more important than an A, I still find myself in this sunk cost fallacy where I think “since I’ve already sacrificed so much to be successful, I have to keep going to get a result that matches the effort I’ve put in”. Seeing the experiences of others has really put things into perspective to me and I’ve been starting to be more forgiving to myself regarding my “failures”. Prestige isn’t real it’s just a business.

[@M.2000-v2g]

College is for the education not for the prestige. The mass view point on College is wrong and misguided. Decide what degree you want, meticulous examine each class in the program at each school, choose the one that meet your expectations. Rely on your knowledge and abilities for looking for jobs. Don't leverage off the people you know or the college you went to or where you grew up to get a job. So many people misinterprete the point of college. To learn

[@Echs_D33]

Have you seen the job market nowadays? We’ve reached the ai singularity, broski. It’s like the video said: why wouldn’t you leverage your resources?

[@MilitaryTechNerd006]

Plot twist: this video is just an extracurricular to get into a top university

[@radubaninca7533]

The plot twist is that he made the video to discourage potential applicants from "good colleges" to lower the pool of applicants giving him a statistical advantage next time he aplies. Genius strategy, and good video.

[@sagesthyme]

Amazing video! I went through the college admissions process 2 years ago, and I had a lot of expectations in the beginning about where I wanted to end up. It was a lot of pressure to succeed and there were a lot of people around me telling me that I should apply to those top universities. I came from a lower income background, and knew I wouldn’t be able to afford the top Ivy Leagues-I couldn’t even afford the application fees. I ended up applying in state to UGA and GA Tech, got into both, and ultimately decided on the University of Georgia because it was a full ride. I was worried about not picking the more prestigious university but now being a sophomore here I think I made the best decision. I absolutely love my school, and am now getting paid to go here. I say all this to say thank you for validating my decision and encouraging others to trust themselves and not go by rankings that will barely impact their time at their university. College is such a special time and saving money to stay in state for undergrad is a great idea!

[@foxxyxxyxx]

I’m 18 now and I’m finishing my application process. One day, lying in my bed, I questioned what will I do if i didn’t get into any of good colleges in my list. I thought ”maybe I will run away to Turkey or something like that to work at the coffeeshop and…live”. At that exact moment I understood something is sooooo off about that process and I don’t know what to do with it. Yep, that’s my life right now :)

[@Ktotokroto]

How do people even make college lists and such. I was lost af and just cried into my pillow all summer because it was way too confusing-

[@wren_.]

idk man i just searched “engineering colleges” and chose whichever ones had a co-op program

[@paow0w279]

This was such an informative and amazing video essay!! I was recently accepted into an Ivy League but growing up I never even thought about going to a “good college” until a few months ago. I did well in school and many ecs just because I wanted to. For most of my time of high school my dream school was my local college. While I was very busy and academically stress during high school Im enjoying my high school experience! I say just be yourself! However now being accepted into an ivy I can’t help but feel that some people, including myself, feel like I don’t belong. Unlike others who have planed their entire high school experience to go to an IVY I just did what I wanted and because of that some think I don’t deserve my acceptance.

[@froggiepie]

As someone who just got accepted to a public collage in-state with literally everything I could dream of including a free tuition based on my family’s income, I’m glad I was never pushed to think about applying to one of these prestigious universities. I am a ‘gifted’ kid and some of my friends are applying to more prestigious collages which will be interesting I suppose. I’m an art student so I was considering applying to SAIC, basically the Harvard of art schools, but it was way too expensive and just didn’t have what I was looking for. It was way too uppity. The collage I did get into is an hour away from home, has an art school that’s got a lot of the same things as SAIC, and a lot more cool stuff like a degree in art education and anthropology which I couldn’t get at SAIC. And I only have to pay room and board minus whatever scholarships I get!

[@7gwynieeeeeee]

What school is it?

[@therforeitsgucci9039]

My brother went there and he left because the kids were all on drugs and it was to expensive to live there!

[@DeCurtaRican]

“CollEGe”

[@DeCurtaRican]

Are you gifted? You misspelled the word “college” as “collage [sic].”

[@froggiepie]

@ idk how to spell colage man im just a wild animal

[@Nehkolaws]

This was legitimately the most insightful KZbin video I have ever watched. I feel like if I didn't watch this video, I was on the path to the same fate that you came to. I was hesitant to watch this at first because my monkey brain saw more than 20 minutes and sirens started flashing, but I am so glad I watched this video when I did. truly a blessing that I will share with those around me

[@dog-ez2nu]

I would genuinely recommend Americans to go to college abroad if it's this dire at home. You're already paying tens of thousands, why not do it on holiday? Some universities like in Germany pretty much only charge an administration fee + accommodation, and they can teach English-medium courses. Getting a visa might be worth it.

[@OpheliadeRegarder]

i was thinking of the same thing plus when i looked at US undergraduate programmes, they span out to 4 years...

[@AloeVeraJuiceJuice]

Absolutely beautiful video essay, thank you so much for bringing up sports and legacy admissions. They have been flying under the radar while affirmative action takes the cultural hit. Instant subscribe

[@ryleyallen185]

I want to share something my physics teacher told me. She took her physics masters program at Harvard after getting a bachelor's from university of Florida and she says that it was the easiest A of her entire school career. She was told to her face by her advisor that she wasn't there to actually learn, and that she was instead "here to make connections". Its just not that worth it

[@iArimoto]

Okay, as a rower, I need to clear something up at 37:40... just because the plan is simple, it doesn't mean the work to get there is absurd. For my club team, it is daily grinding with non-stop workouts. The end of each session typically means torn skin, blisters, and bleeding all across the hands. And then you do it the next day... where you pop your blisters and re-open cuts. It's a cycle of cold, late nights, with workouts. There's a reason why the 2km test is regarded as one of the most physically and mentally intense events in the world of sports.

[@auspicious93]

Right the part of the video covering athletics pissed me off. This dude seriously has no idea what he is talking about. Horsing? It’s called horseback riding, or equestrian. Athletes work hard as hell. Just because there might be a wealthy barrier to entry doesn’t make success in the sport a given.

[@iArimoto]

@@auspicious93 I don't have anything to say other than, "For Real".

[@joseph5166]

Wow. I wonder if any other competitive athletes consider their sport and its training regimen to be grueling and difficult. Probably not, must just be a rowing thing.

[@iArimoto]

@@joseph5166 Ever sat on a rowing machine for 10 minutes?

[@joseph5166]

@@iArimoto Yeah

[@e2b265]

4:25 I like that “All but guarantee that those they admitted would find success” is because they can now only admit the people who are made for success regardless

[@mildlymaliciousbanana2700]

The rowing slander is crazy

[@You-fools]

His entire sports section is ignorant and embarrassing.

[@pawningpawns5017]

As a young adult in Canada who grew up here as a first gen. Immigrant, I thought I would also go to college. I studied my ass off to get good grades in order to get into a good school for engineering. My family is lower middle class and if I was to go to college, I would have to take on loans since they could not afford to pay for it out of pocket. So I ended up doing a trade and am doing good for myself at the moment. I make a decent income while paying dramatically lower tuition compared to college. The fact that they can say that being middle class is a curse because they do not get the same advantages on their application a person from a low income household would get is absurd to me. What about the kids who never got the chance to take 20 AP classes because they could not afford it? What about the people who could not do extracurriculars because they had to work in order to make ends meet? What about the people who did not have a chance to go to college because they were dealt a bad hand at life. It is insane how entitlement can get to this level just so that you can say you attend a top school. If only they knew how hard it is to be a poor student, and not to trample on the help that these students get.

[@shinobi5189]

That ending was beautiful, what a great video all around! This vid needs to become more popular in general because the over obsessing is a massive problem. Goat video

[@TheKandarin]

As an Andover student, it's JUST as BAD as you say it is (if not worse). I can't go through half my day without somebody telling me how expensive their sailing boat or necklace is. And the grade inflation here is terrible. It makes us look like we're smarter than we are... basically everyone is hitting 6.0/6.0 GPAs, we literally use Khan Academy for math, and I think the average Phillipian would be middle 50% of their public high school back home. It's a sad world that we live in. At least I'm graduating in a few months.

[@nimrod06]

Student debt is really the worst thing ever happened to education. Yes there were talented people who couldn't go into college because of money. But good people will thrive in the society, too. College is a consumption, it should be a 4 year vacation that you spend to meet good people, learn interesteng stuff, and explore life. College should not be a signalling device to the labor market.

[@schlap4359]

The idea that going to a top university guarantees success is not necessarily true. At least in my university, there is a prevailing attitude that you will not succeed without aiming to be top of the top. In addition to taking hard classes, finding internships, securing letters of rec, applying to prestigious scholarships, and maintaining a good GPA you also have to endure student orgs, where many have acceptance rates lower than Harvard (looking at you, consulting clubs) and even more engage in hazing. Since these orgs are run by college students with limited real world experience, these orgs are also rampant with deeply rooted discrimination (notably against students who transferred from community colleges), organizational issues, a general lack of professionalism (in contrast to the highly professional facade they put to attract and intimidate naive freshmen), and nepotism. My point is, if you choose to take part in the rat race expect to stay in it for the rest of your life. When you think you climbed to the top you will only be met with more ladders.

[@-BarathKumarS]

Completely wrong,top University=top job. No question about it.

[@mongo_sk]

Great video, I'm currently an engineering grad student at USC and it seems the consensus is that we're all mostly here for networking and finding connections and everyone is self aware about it.

[@ak47rockin47]

THIS is the advice I needed when I was graduating high school. My parents and my teachers all thought I was going to go to an Ivy League school because I had straight A’s, 35 ACT score, Salutatorian of my school, and I had 10 AP classes. Was on varsity cross country and JV softball. Competed in piano comps and played piano for my church. Etc. Studied abroad in china twice (learned mandarin) but NAH that isn’t even scratching the surface. You need absolute perfection AND luck. Because a LOT of people are qualified like I was (in my opinion) but they literally cannot accept every single qualified person.

[@sabrinaxph]

This is my favorite and most relatable video I've ever watched. I wish I could engrave this into my mind because this video quite literally saved me from mindlessly going down this path I've romanticized since middle school about getting into a prestigious college. I'm glad this video reached me in my sophomore year before I was able to make any major detrimental decisions. I can at least use the hard work I've put into school into getting good scholarships, especially for out-of-state schools I would want to go to. Not to mention the video was hilarious and was insanely well put together. I can't imagine the amount of research this would have taken and overall time spent to make an almost hour long video. It probably sounds cliche for a "KZbin video to change my life" but for me and so many others, this life-goal of getting into a top school is shoved down our throats and we can't see a future without it and define our self-worth into getting accepted. Of course, we hear people say, "You don't need to get into an ivy league to be successful" but it's hard to ignore the prestige, supposed "better education, funding, and recent undergraduate salaries." What I really needed was a reality check with a lot of facts and evidence, so thank you fr

[@justinpaul3458]

I remember stressing out so much about not getting into my Tier 1 state flagship school. It was only a T50 (national, T75 global) school. Not a T20 school (T20 schools seemed like mythical entities far beyond my reach). I had to go to a Tier 2 school that barely cracked the Top 300 nationally (Top 600 globally but at that point no one is counting) for a year to "prove" that I could handle enrolling at the school I had hoped to attend. And I still had to apply again to get into the major I wanted. It ended up working out which repaired my fractured ego but only for it to be destroyed again. The entire point of going to the prestigious school in the first place was to make me a more attractive candidate for eventually getting a job. However, once I tried making a real effort to apply for internships and co-ops, I realized that the only people that truly care about academic prestige are those who are in academia. The corporate world cares little for academic prestige because the corporate world is full of people that went to hundreds of different institutions (some of which are not considered conventionally "good" institutions). But none of them care. Because all successful people in the corporate world see themselves as proof that the school they went to is great and may even be actively partial toward students going to their special snowflake university. And if the person interviewing you went to a "bad" school, then your "good" school prestige may work against you. You might even be perceived as pretentious and ignorant of "what it takes" in the "real world". All of it is nonsense. But regardless, my ego was destroyed a second time when I realized the prestige of my pseudo fancy university wasn't going to carry me to a job as easily as I thought. So ultimately, my desire to feel validated by my school was first destroyed by them rejecting me and then again when I found out it didn't even matter as much as I thought it did. Everything is fine now (I found a job and I am currently going to graduate school) but it was definitely a wake-up call. TL;DR I agree with the video and you are probably fine going to any decently funded university. Be it HYPSM or "[insert state name here] state college of university at [insert random college town/city here]". What actually matters is how well you do as a student at whatever college you end up going to. You can't coast on the name of your institution no matter where you go (unless you are the child of daddy war bucks but then you probably wouldn't have read this entire youtube comment if you were that person to begin with).

[@itsdestiny.k8848]

As a 16 year old this deserves an award it is incredibly accurate and well put together 👏

[@kevintreehan4100]

As a Phillips Exeter student, I thoroughly enjoyed this video (you also used a number of my rowing/athletic clips... dope). I think you make some good points, especially in the first half. However, one point I’d like to make is that while the inherent nature of private schools (limited seats) makes equity an ongoing struggle, certain schools like Exeter are extremely intentional with recruiting “youth from every quarter” and are generous with financial aid (we’re need blind, over 50% of our students are on aid, and we award over 22 million in grants each year). While the barrier to entry for these educational opportunities will always be non-zero, that’s not to say that efforts aren’t being made. I don’t think demonizing private institutions rather than improving public education is the way to go here.

[@harryclark4695]

i know him

[@joseph5166]

What, you graduate and join their marketing team? Lol

[@kevintreehan4100]

@@joseph5166 😭no, still a senior. idk, i feel like it's a fair point. private institutions often get a lot of misplaced hate for simply doing what they do best. going for the "rising tide lifts all boats" angle here.

[@2_Kan]

this was an amazing video, made me cry a bit at the end. this is exactly what ive been needing to hear lately

[@icantthinkofaname7560]

I was a low income kid who got to go to one of those private high schools and it was wild to see firsthand how that whole uncompetitive sports to D1 athlete pipeline works. Also insane to see how many people were crazy rich