thoughts from a senior
Hello my juniors. I wanted to make a post because I was feeling a bit nostalgic as I got my college decisions back and was reminded of the time I did all this on a smaller scale a year prior. I wasn't a full-blown prestige chaser, as I didn't apply to RSI and some of the other programs that are incredibly prestigious. However, I did apply to MITES and I got in for semester.
I was incredibly happy at first and that happiness turned into disappointment as I realized that what I really wanted all along was MITES Summer. However, I got into a smaller, less well-known, less prestigious, and local internship, which I chose because it was in-person. I chose it over MITES because I wasn't ready or willing to try and balance and do both, and I valued an in-person experience more. I was happy, but the happiness turned into regret as I lamented my abandonment of the prestige chase. I wished everyday that I would've chosen MITES over my smaller internship instead, or tried desperately to do both, even if it meant trying to balance an 80 hour work week.
When I sent my applications to 23 colleges, I thought I knew for sure I would be rejected from every single one, all because I didn't choose prestige, because I didn't choose MITES. But I wasn't. I was accepted to two ivies, waitlisted at one, accepted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC. Now, I don't know what would have happened if I went to MITES. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten waitlisted from my dream school. Maybe I wouldn't have gotten the stellar letter of rec from my mentor at my in-person internship. But what I do know is that I worked hard. And that is what got me into all those schools even if I didn't have the name MITES on my application.
After reflecting on all this, I realize why I applied to MITES, and why I regretted not choosing it, and why I lost sleep over wondering whether I would get in or not. I wanted a guarantee that I was good enough, that I could get into something prestigious, and then slap that prestige on my college application in hopes of guaranteeing an acceptance. But summer programs aren't what makes those acceptance letters come in the mail. So if you grasp and chase after prestige and it slips through your fingers, it's not over.