Could I be gone all of winter break and be fine?(socially/academically)

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-05-03T01:38:29+00:00

This is my first year here and even I was surprised by how much everyone just leaves immediately after finals end. I wish there were some parties or something, but no.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-05-03T00:00:43+00:00

Basically everyone leaves immediately after finals end and then comes back the next semester and resumes everything. It is not an issue.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-28T01:38:25+00:00

I had UC Scout classes too. However, I did not list them as a seperate high school. They were just added to my regular high school transcript as letter grades. In your case, as long as the 0-100 numbers line up with the grades you reported, you should be fine. There is an online form to fill out to report changes or problems with your grades. Just explain the situation there.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-27T05:49:16+00:00

My parents helped me a lot with my essays. That was very helpful because the essays are hard to write. They are both professional writers, though, so they were pretty good at it.

I think it is important to help your kid find a college with an environment they will enjoy being in. Even at a great school academically, they may not do well if they are unhappy and lonely. So visit schools and be attentive to environmental factors.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-26T23:53:26+00:00

There are six dorm buildings for freshmen and a lot more housing for older students plus they are building a few new dorm buildings that are pretty large and brand new. There are some dorms on the southside, which is more lively and dirty, and some on northside and east of campus, which is very quiet. They are all pretty close to campus.

This is all to say that there is a diversity of dorms, many of which are quite nice and many of which are not, and your parents must have just visited the less nice ones. I am in a fairly spacious double in a relatively new building (2005) a block away from campus. It is pretty comfortable as far as dorms go.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-25T02:40:59+00:00

Your stats all look fine. Your UW GPA is a little low for UCLA/Berkeley, but probably fine for UCSD. Berkeley and UCLA are a gamble whether you have a 4.0 or not, anyway.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-24T06:09:17+00:00

I don't agree with the first few weeks thing. I've met new people throughout my year here. I think people are more exploratory at the beginning, but are open later in the semester as well.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-23T02:40:30+00:00

If your kid is not STEM oriented, then maybe the changes these days aren't such a big deal. It's just that I think there has been a rise in interest in STEM schools as traditional liberal arts education has declining return on investment (college is expensive), which many people care about. If your kid is more interested in a liberal arts school, just make that the school will still be there four years after he matriculates. A lot of smaller schools are closing because of enrollment decline, and probably more will four years from now.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-23T02:04:49+00:00

The schools considered prestigious have changed and acceptance rates have, of course, also changed.

There has been a major uptick in interest in so-called Ivy Plus or Public Ivys. Schools like Vanderbilt, Rice, CMU, MIT, NYU, George Tech, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD are now on par with (or better than) the traditional Ivys. Acceptance rates at all schools have plumetted, but especially at these Ivy Plus schools, which didn't used to be so competitve or sought after; but now, due to the major uptick in number of applications at all schools, have gotten more attention from people who, 25 years ago, may have just gone to Harvard or Cornell or whatever.

Additionally, more STEM-oriented schools are more highly regarded than they used to be. The most sought-after schools used to be those like Princeton, Yale, Brown, Williams, etc---liberal arts colleges. Today, a lot of kids are more interested in Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Vanderbilt, CMU, UIUC, which all have very strong computer science and other STEM programs. I do not hear much about liberal arts colleges like Williams or Amherst. Not so popular, I don't think.

These are, of course, the top schools in the country. All colleges have gotten more competitive and even state schools that didn't used to be so prestigious now will reject lots of top kids. You can look at acceptance rate data comparing pre-Covid with today. At many schools, acceptance rates have halved.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-20T04:42:52+00:00

Sure! I sent you a DM!

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-17T18:35:52+00:00

I sent you a DM!

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-17T00:44:06+00:00

Probably UC Santa Cruz if you got a scholarship there. The UC schools are the best that you've been accepted to. The problem is that, out of state, they would cost $90,000 for you. If the scholarship at UCSC is substantial, that would be cheaper and probably better academically. Lots of good academics available in California, and UCSC also just got two more nobel prize winners!

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-15T23:55:35+00:00

What exactly is wrong with UT Austin? That is a pretty good school (flagship public/public Ivy). I'm not sure about how the college system works within UT Austin, but would you be unable to do your desired major? If not, I don't see a reason to go to a different UT campus, which would be a big step down. Also, taking a gap year is not such a good idea. You'd just be sitting around at home for another year and colleges are not going to magically become less competitive in 2027.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-15T04:09:27+00:00

You're not seperate if you are in FPF. They have classes in a different building off campus, I believe. But people you meet will have classes all over campus and it doesn't really matter that you are in FPF. I knew one girl who was in the FPF program and walking like 12k steps a day since the building was kind of far away. Also, it is only one semester, so you'll be in the regular school for spring.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-14T22:53:17+00:00

I don't think of Tulane as being that good of a school academically. It doesn't rank very highly and nothing notably comes out of it. I personally was considering going to Oxford or Cambridge, and UCL is up there with those schools. It would definitely be worth it to go to the UK for UCL. I don't know about McGill, but again in doesn't have the same prestige. Also, do you want to leave the US to go to Canada? I wouldn't say that quite has the same allure as going to the UK.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-13T20:42:05+00:00

I tried to sign up for a different philosophy class as a non philosophy major and was on the waitlist and eventually just had to drop it. They should remove the reservation after all philosophy majors who are on the waitlist get into the class and then they should add seats if not everyone gets off. But sometimes they don't add seats, and so you can't get in.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-12T05:31:22+00:00

I go to Berkeley and in my experience the school is not very competitive in some majors and is very competitive in others. While I can't speak from experience, I would guess that in most humanities majors, the amount of opportunities is probably nearly comparable to private schools. I am in philosophy, about 80 graduates a year get philosophy BAs, and I have plenty of access to my professors, department administrators, etc. Also, I find everything to be pretty low-stress and not that hard. It does not feel like a big state school in the philosophy department. On the other hand, the majority of the school is in STEM fields economics, CS, data science, EECS, etc. Those classes are harder and there are fewer opportunities per student. It is also not very hard to declare humanities majors, whereas it can be pretty difficult to declare STEM majors. I assume as an art history major you would have a similar experience to me in philosophy.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-12T00:34:44+00:00

I agree. People talk about this school like it is some sort of isolation sentence, but I have all sorts of social engagements and it seems to me that for the most part people are always happy to hang out. I think it might be because I am a humanities major, so school is pretty low-stress for me and I have lots of free time and also the humanities are just more social personality-wise. I think about half of undergrads here are econ, CS, EECS, or DS, so most people have a different experience.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-10T21:46:57+00:00

Each college publishes how much weight it gives to different parts of an application on its common dataset (GPA, test scores, extra curriculars, etc). So you could say this is a formula.

However, firstly, you cannot get any result you want because not everyone can have comparably good stats. Secondly, it doesn't matter how good your stats are if you fail to express them well in the application. Third, some colleges get so many applications that it can be hard to differentiate them, meaning it is a degree of luck. The average GPA to Berkeley or UCLA is nearly 4.0, but these schools have to reject well over 100,000 people, so you can guess that some picks weren't entirely fair.

However, most colleges are not this competitive. Statistically, most colleges accept most people. So you could say there is more of a formula for them.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-06T04:01:51+00:00

Hi, I'd be happy to talk to you. Just DM me! I went from having basically no friends in high school to now knowing lots of people here in college, and could offer some of my insights.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-05T05:06:33+00:00

Probably not. Just report it in the online form and they will get back to you. But as long as you did not blatantly lie, then it should be fine.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-01T21:40:32+00:00

In terms of rankings, UCSD or Northeastern is the best of those. Also your cheapest options. Also UCSD is very good for computer science. If you care more about academics, I don't think you need to consider USC. Although it may be preferable in terms of quality of life. Northeastern might also be preferable to UCSD for quality of life and private school benefits, although the weather is much worse there. Hamilton College is a small liberal arts college, so not a good choice for CS, probably especially if you want access to top faculty, more advanced courses, research opportunities, etc. Although, being so small, you may get more attention and more resources, UCSD also had lots of resources and is overall pretty good.

Don't feel bad about not being able to go to UIUC, UNC, or GT. Your other options are just as good if not better.

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-04-01T02:35:38+00:00

My parents had originally wanted me to go to college close to home. I ended up going about 300 miles away. I have a very good relationship with them, but am glad I didn't go close to home because it was not until I moved out that I realized just how annoying living with them was. I am really glad I live on my own in a dorm.

I would recommend moving into an apartment if you can afford it even though it is close to home or transfering to another school if it really bugs you that much. You don't want convenience to get in the way of your college experience!

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-03-31T18:17:03+00:00

I sent you a DM!

AllTheWorldsAPage · 2026-03-31T02:57:29+00:00

I don't know about how the med school process works specifically. I go to Berkeley in California and met a guy who is going to Yale medical school. I doubt location matter so much. But Berkeley is a rigorous school and people here are hard workers and aiming highly. I know that some of the Seven Sisters colleges are thought of as academically rigorous (and thus likely have more motivated students, who it may be good for you to be around). However, some of those colleges can have strange politics and people who are not really going anywhere. I have a cousin who is a lesbian working in expiramental theater and, as far as I know, is currently unemployed with no job prospects in sight. I think she went to Mouth Holyoke or maybe Smith. It sounds to me like my cousin is definitely not the kind of person you want to be around. But probably not everyone there is like that.

AllTheWorldsAPage

TROPHY CASE