Where did you get in? Where were you rejected?

I was automatically accepted into any state school because in Texas if you graduate in the top 10 percent of your class, you cannot be rejected from a state school (a la Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, North Texas, etc.). UT has since tightened its automatic acceptance to the top eight percent.

Was also accepted to SMU, TCU, Baylor, Duke and some small college in Pennsylvania I can't remember.

Didn't go to any of them. Got a job at 17 at the daily paper in my hometown, stayed at the UT branch at home and had four years at a daily by the time I graduated from college.

 

Accepted: Indiana
Rejected: None

Considered the usual suspects: Missouri, North Carolina, USC, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State, etc. But knew where I wanted to go. Student loans are a challenge, but absolutely no regrets. Have made friends and had opportunities I would not have if I stayed put.

Though like many, spent more time on the student paper than in the classroom. GPA wasn't close to what it should have been. Had this recurring dream ever since: I hadn't been to Spanish (or science, or math) class all semester, and I showed up the day of the final, completely clueless and looking at having to turn down an internship because I had to make up the class. Just a dream.

Also:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091209/us_time/08599194608800

 

Great topic:

IN: Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oregon, TCU, SMU, Florida, Arizona State plus a slew of safeties with cheap application fees at the time (Illinois State, Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State)

REJECTED: North Carolina, Georgetown

 

The question for you should be "Where didn't you apply?"

 

ACCEPTED: Ohio U. (the only school I really wanted to go to)

Did not go; instead went to a school in the south for the chance to play baseball (this would fall under the "if I could make that decision over again" category).

There was no chance of being rejected at the school I eventually chose -- on the application, "GPA" was a yes-no question.

 

Same graph, opposite effect: I got in with good SATs but a slacker's GPA.

 

Not getting into the snottiest prep school in the state hurt about as bad as any of the college rejections were going to hurt. Fly too high, get the waxen wings burned, all that. Wound up being a blessing.

 

ACCEPTED: Appalachian State, UNC-Asheville, Winthrop, UNC-Greensboro
REJECTED: None

Happy with my choice?: It's great to be a Mountaineer!

ODDITY: I don't ever recall applying to UNC-Greensboro. That's something I would remember, as my parents told me they would only pay for three applications, and I sure as hell didn't shell out the $30 for an application to UNC-Greensboro.

 

However, the school that I DID attend and graduate would have easily rejected me if I applied today.

 

ADMITTED: VCU, Old Dominion, Radford
REJECTED: Virginia Tech, James Madison
REJECTED AT FIRST BUT AFTER SHOWING THE ADMISSIONS PEOPLE HOW MUCH BETTER A STUDENT AND PERSON I WAS MY SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL WAS TOLD I WOULD HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED EXCEPT I HAD ALREADY CHOSEN MY SCHOOL BY THEN SO FUCK IT: George Mason

So glad I didn't have to put in for schools in this era. Admissions standards are so much higher nowadays that I'd probably have U. of Phoenix telling me to fuck off.

Do it over again? I'd try to go out of state. I've lived all my 35 7/12ths years in the same state. I could have used the culture diversity that comes from living in a strange, far-away land. Maybe North Carolina. But money was always going to be an issue, and the only way I was getting a scholarship was if I could sue my way into affirmative action for fucking idiots.

 

Undergraduate: Accepted: Ashland, Ohio Northern, Muskingum, Ohio University, Lewis University
Denied: None.

Graduate school: Accepted: University of Cincinnati

I regret to some extent my choice for undergrad (ONU). I had my heart set on being a great college runner, but wasn't very good, so my opportunities to continue my running career were limited to small DIII colleges. I applied to the Scripps program at OU as a backup plan in case the expensive private schools didn't work out financially.
ONU was a great place and my education was first-rate. I was able to run and I made some great friends. I ended up with a good job fresh out of school and I am mostly satisfied with my decision. But sometimes I wonder if going to a more established journalism school like OU would have been a better move.

 

IN: Appalachian State
REJECTED: UNC-Chapel Hill
WAITLISTED, NEVER FOUND OUT: N.C. State.

My dad was cheap, and said he'd pay for me to apply to three places. I didn't really want to go to UNC or NCSU, but UNC has a good journalism program and NCSU was close by. ASU sent me an acceptance letter like three weeks after I applied, and was pretty good about making me feel wanted. That was in mid-January. By the time the other two got around to telling me anything, I was already headed ASU's way.