It’s
not weed. It’s not cocaine and it’s not marijuana either. This is a different
kind of high. I might say it’s better than sex but I lack experience in that
certain area of topic. It is the high of rising above all rejections, problems,
insecurities and coming out on top. My friend Prayag says it’s indescribable
and I agree. We cannot describe something that pure and jolly.
This came up when we were
discussing our college admissions the other day. Prayag as informed speaker as
he is was telling me about a student from Nepal who got accepted to Dartmouth
last year. He said and I quote “An acceptance into Dartmouth made it all worth
it. All the rejections, the deferrals, the denial and the humiliation all
seemed so petty at that moment. That made it all worth it. His meteoric rise
from the ashes of denial will be the reason he will be remembered. If he was accepted in other colleges
it wouldn't have been the same but he wasn't and that made
it all fruitful.”
As always I nodded with
agreement and it got me thinking about it. What kind of feeling could he have
felt at the time? Is anything equivalent to that? I don’t think so. All that
hard work and pressure surely paid off when he got into an Ivy League school.
He got his ultimate high then but what about us? What about the other people
here on earth? When will we experience such a high? Well, for now we are still
searching.
I for one am thinking that
that kind of high will come to me in the short future. I have a hunch about it.
It may be similar to the guy above. Since, I am applying to college this year
maybe I will get into an Ivy school too. (heheh!) But seriously speaking about
the stats of college application to American colleges from Nepal: it’s
troubling. Some people get into Ivy’s while some have trouble getting into
Community colleges. My school is the Nepal’s top school if we count the number
of students studying A-Levels i.e. 200. The disappointing news is only 10% of
total students in my batch are applying to US colleges. Only 20 of us out of
200, certainly we are pretty shaken up by admission stats.
The average applicant from
Nepal stands with a 3.5 GPA and asks for a financial aid package worth around 2
crores if we quote another friend of mine Pradeep. If that is not an indicator
to low success rates of college applications than what is? If we go to SAT
scores and ACT scores we are in a better place as it seems we score a tad
higher than average Americans. We are especially better at mathematics as
students usually cross 650 out of 800. We have more catching up to do with
Critical Reading and Writing Sections though.
All this said and done even
if we have stellar applications there are only few institutions that provide
reasonable financial aid to us Nepalese and our choices narrow down.
Consequently the lists of colleges in Nepalese college application are same. At
this stage only the best candidates get the prize and it suits the Nepalese
model i.e. let the better man win.
Well, all of this came up
since its college app season and I have been neck deep in it. Piled with
supplements and what not and best of all SATs and TOEFLs. As I said, earlier
college application might be my ultimate high. I hope yours might be better.
Until you get that ultimate high, Happy hunting!
I was at
the billing counter, a trip 15 minutes from home. The road as it has been for
months has been a picturesque form of a war zone My cousin described
it the other day; he told me it reminds him of the “Call Of Duty” franchise war
simulation. I have to agree with him. The dust, the destruction and the
traffic, all pile up to everyone’s frustration. I would say a revolution is on
the way but then again if I said that I would quote one of Nepal’s political
leaders and trust me I don’t want to be political. But anyhow with these
thoughts rambling in my head I reached the supposed destination.
