I feel like a failure...(academic future; teen)?

Question

**My sincerest apologies for the length. I'm just really concerned. I just had to let it all out. I figured teachers would be the best people to address this. I'll break this question apart to make it bearable**

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I'm 18 (male) and am currently a senior enrolled in a catholic college prep school.

I currently have a cumulative GPA of 3.79. I plan to go for Computer Science (hoping to be a Software Engineer. Will probably change my major). My current SAT score is 1530 (Math: 470, English: 570, Reading: 490). I raised it from a 1480 (Math: 480, English: 520, Reading: 480) and it's been stuck at a 1530 since.

And my ACT composite is a 20. Activity-wise, I play varsity tennis but our team has never really won anything (except for one trophy, unlike our basketball, track, and soccer teams).

- - > As you can see, my SAT score is not the best out there and I'm not sure exactly why, considering my GPA (and the difficulty of the school I go to). I applied to and got accepted to DePauw University, Union College (NY), NJIT (Conditional acceptance, conditional because of my SAT score), and Hanover College (in Indiana).

I applied and got denied from Johns Hopkins (understandable), Lehigh University (also understandable), and Villanova University (wasn't expecting that one. Was my first choice and the application I put the most effort into. DePauw was my second choice).

- - > I was pretty much in the middle about how I felt regarding the schools that denied me and those that accepted me until I read a post on Facebook by a friend of mine who said he got accepted to UPenn. We are about the same age (I'm 6 months older) and on the intelligence level, I'd say we are about the same, maybe he's a little bit higher but nothing out of reach competition-wise.

I have no idea what his SAT score was but considering the fact that UPenn's average SAT score to get in it like 500 points above what I have and it's an Ivy League school leads me to believe that it was pretty high.

- -> That and the fact that he's a really good swimmer (travels to other countries to compete and almost always brings home something). I've never really been athletic my whole life. I took up Tennis because it was a requirement during freshman year (at least two activities for 9th grade and one for 10-12) and ended up staying with it because I liked it (I always liked Tennis).

But I'm not good enough to compete on a tournament-like scale. I can count on one hand how many matches I've won the entire 3 and a half years.
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- - > I'm originally an immigrant, I came here (legally) to the USA mainly for academic reasons and where I'm from, being here is considered a great opportunity, considering the vast amount of opportunities here. We applied a number of times before coming here. Whereas my friend stays home and is doing much better than I am. It almost feels like I'm failing somehow.

Another one of my friends (well, he's American but moved to where I was from) got a 1920 on his SATs and my older brother (20 years old now; who also decided to stay behind to complete the school he was in) got a score somewhere in the 1800's.

- - > Not to sound arrogant (honestly; please don't see it that way), but in my family, I've always been more of the 'brains' kind of guy and my brother has been more of the 'brawns' kind of guy (not totally). Not putting anyone down. I don't put people down.

My brother worked really hard and got financial aid awards that really helped out my mother and I really commend him for that. My mother (knowing I'm more of the brains guy) made it clear that she expected a bit more out of me.

- - > She always used to speak about how I should go to colleges like Lehigh and Harvard and was at first disappointed when my SAT score didn't go up. She told me about a pastor's son (also my age, goes to school here in the US) who got a 2100 the first time on his SATs. Another time, she sighed and was like: "Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong".

And I was like, "What". And she was like, "Your SAT score. What's the use of coming all the way to the U.S. (we're foreigners) if those back home might do better than you?". She became a bit more understanding as time progressed (and after the guidance counselor talked to her) but if I were to resurrect the topic of SAT scores, her feelings will be sure to resurface. Can't blame here considering the fact that she has had it financially hard since my dad died when I was 8.

Answer 1

There's no need to feel like a failure due to your college acceptances and denials. Colleges only get to pick based on what they see in their applicants and that's a pretty rough view (it's hard to get to know someone through paper, especially when they can't answer back to all your questions about them). A lot of times they may just be looking for a specific thing in a person (e.g. racial background, income, socioeconomic standing, etc.) which means that some people may be left out. Whenever you get rejected, it's not your fault. College admissions is a pretty mysterious process and who gets in and who doesn't will never be anything set in stone (because even the people who you think will get into some place like Harvard are still usually rejected by places like Harvard). Even if your first choice rejected you, your second choice let you in and that's great. It also probably means your first choice wasn't the right fit for you, seeing as they couldn't see your potential. Go to a school that did accept you (cuz they are some smart people), try it out, and if you really hate it, reapply to your first choice as a transfer student.



And if you feel bad because you're comparing yourself to your family members or because you feel like you didn't meet their expectations, you need to stop. You are not your mom or your dad or your brother. They don't live your life and you don't live theirs so it's useless to go around comparing them. You just be the best you that you can be.



And as for the test scores thing, some people just don't test well. ACTs and SATs aren't measures of your intelligence. They're just measures of how well you "remember" information that you "should have" learned and how well you can show it on an answer sheet when under pressure. From my own personal experience, the ACT is more of a measure of how well you can take an ACT instead of how much info covered in the ACT you've learned/retained.

Answer 2

Sometimes I feel really optimistic about my future and I feel that everything is going perfectly to plan and then other times I feel like I'm never going to get anywhere in life no matter how hard I try.

Answer 3

Didn't read all of your post sorry, but if you are looking to boost your ACT math score, install some programs to help you go faster and more efficiently. Check it out



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