Where did you get in? Where were you rejected?

Accepted: Boston University, Syracuse, Holy Cross, University of Massachusetts.
Rejected: None.

 

Got into Ithaca, Rutgers and local Big State U, my alma mater. (Not really that hard to figure out, I'm sure).

Rejected: Harvard. Seriously. My father insisted that I apply even though I had no shot whatsoever. I did get as far as an interview with a local alum, but they might do that for anybody who pays the application fee. Huge waste of time and $50, but hey, dad was paying.

 

Honestly, I was pretty uncreative in my thinking, so I assumed I could only afford the local community college (Lake Land College) and the local public university (Eastern Illinois University). It never occurred to me that I could aim higher and try for something a little pricier.

Then again, I'm glad I didn't take on any more debt than necessary.

 

Accepted: Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina.

Yes. A thousand times over. I think I've told the story on here, but at a college fair at my HS, a rep from Campbellsville College asked for my ACT score, and when I told her, she said "Your grades don't matter, you can come here for free right now." But I didn't want to go to a small school. So I have about $12K in college debt that has become around $17K by going on forebearance for about the last 10 years.

Smart decision, right?

 

No regrets on college, but I wonder how things would have been different if I had joined the Navy after taking the ASVAB test in high school and being offered basically any job I wanted.

 

My wife has a B.A. in Journalism. I have one in Whocares.

Both of us have had to retool and change course several times over the course of our careers.

Neither of us apply our degrees in our careers at this time. Never will.

Be willing to adapt and change as circumstances dictate.

 

Accepted: Bradley, Temple
Rejected: None.

Yes and no. Knowing what I do now about the business and what I wanted to do vs. what I'm doing now, absolutely. But then I never would have met Mrs. Fear.

 

I had pretty good grades in HS, absolutely murdered by SATs, so I was pretty much told that my first choice (the Univ of Cincinnati) was a layup. So, that was the only school I applied to. Accepted, went one year majoring in Engineering before I decided I'd go all Ted Kaczynski if I stayed in it. So I left college and worked in a factory for a year before returning to UC.

Now, having chosen UC - TWICE! - let me add this: If I had to do it all again, I would have gone elsewhere. UC didn't have a journalism major at the time. I think I would have been much better served going to BGSU or OU.

And I would probably not be sitting in Cincinnati for my 15th year wondering why the hell I'm still down here.

EDIT: BTW, Machine Head... your avatar is arguably the most disturbing I've seen on here in a while. Well done.

 

I would never give the details out here, but I was approached after college and asked to pursue something that would have been life-changing, to put it mildly.

There are times I wonder what it would have been like if I did go down that path, but things have a way of working out.

 

No one on here looks down on gay porn. Man's gotta make money.

 

I am in negotiations to sell my Tiger story as we speak.

 

Accepted: Tulane, SMU, DePaul
Wait listed and didn't follow up (applied early action to a top choice and was accepted): UNC, Vanderbilt
Rejected: Rice
Visited and didn't like, so didn't finish the application: Texas, Duke

Decent grades in high school (I would have had great grades, but I was a slacker) and aced the SAT and SAT IIs. Got good scholarship offers from the three schools that accepted me, and ended up at the absolute best place for me. Granted, I'm only three years out, but I would do it again despite the loans.