I wouldn’t have taken 12 AP/DE courses in high school along with working to a 1500+ SAT just to get rejected from every top 20 school I applied to, and then have to do another four hard years at UVA. Though I ended up getting into a fairly prestigious med school, I feel like I could have achieved the same result by not taking such a time consuming course load in high school and going to a more academically relaxed college.

Anonymous wrote:If I woke up a HS freshman in 2021, I’d be beyond pissed. I went to high school in the early 1990s. No way in hell I’d go through HS again in this era.

Rose colored glasses?

Same college but I would have exercised and partied more and majored in econ and gone to wall street (instead of liberal arts then fancy pants law school then in-house).

If I woke up a HS freshman in 2021, I’d be beyond pissed. I went to high school in the early 1990s. No way in hell I’d go through HS again in this era.

What I did: went to a tiny New England college that essentially specialized in one career path (because 17 y/o me just KNEW that was the path for me).

What I would do differently: research careers (and their pay & trajectories) so I would better know what my options were. I would have sought out mentors in the field. I would have also gone to a MUCH bigger school so changing majors wouldn’t have required changing schools.

To me, that’s a nightmare scenario — to be a 9th grader in 2021. In 1974 (which is when I was a 9th grader) doing what you wanted was much easier and less risky (at least for white middle class kids in SoCal) than it seems now. And that’s before we get to the question of how a 9th grader today (mid-pandemic) looks at the future.

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three.

I would have done fewer extra curriculars, and only the ones I truly wanted to do. Then I would have been able to sleep more and study more. I already studied maybe three to five hours a day but I spent hours every days on extra curriculars because I thought it would help for college. I averaged five to six hours sleep a night. It was dumb.

I would have applied to colleges in warm places rather than following my boyfriend to freezing New England.

Pomona, Stanford, Duke, etc.

I so feel this. I regret it so much. They were really pushing the well-rounded student over the well-rounded class back in those days.

I would’ve been braver.

I would still have gone to Stanford, but I would drop the HS BF who gave me shit about applying instead of wasting a year and lots of $$ on trying to maintain a long distance relationship with him.

I would have done the local public as a top student and then an HBCU. Would have saved me thousands.

Anonymous wrote:I would’ve gone on the pill.

I did that and still gave birth before my BA.

-Like another PP, I’d seek treatment for anxiety and panic. Took me nearly 25 years to figure out right combo of supports.

-I’d allow full disclosure of my learning disability in math; have an IEP, supports, one on one assistance and tutoring

-I’d be less concerned with being cool and popular and dive right in to all aspects of yearbook production and the school paper

-begin SAT prep (see math). Was always haunted by my guidance counselor circa 1990 lamenting that had my SAT math score matched my verbal, I would be on a better course…

-I’d take AP classes before my senior year

-I’d save all of my writing samples and A+ research papers

I would have socialized more, participated more, and tried harder.

I grew up in a poor area where many people do not attend college and if they do, they don't aspire to go somewhere out-of-state or excellent. I was bright and academically motivated, and the University of Colorado at Boulder was my dream school. With my grades, everyone was certain I would get in and probably receive considerably aid. One of my high school teachers pushed me hard to apply to Harvard as well. I was accepted at Harvard and rejected from CU Boulder, so I went to Harvard. I hadn't applied anywhere else.

If I found myself back in the same situation as a freshman now, I would do the same things academically, but I would try to get a scholarship to a boarding school so that my high school years could be more enjoyable. I loved Harvard and would choose it again, and I am so happy now that CU Boulder rejected me.

I like how my life turned out. But…

I would go to University of Hawaii and study an Asian language and linguistics. And then I would move abroad.