College Decisions

I'm gonna be completely honest, I'm pretty sad. I see my friends and classmates get into their dream schools like Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, and all that, while I'm here scrolling through Reddit for comments like "it's okay, college rank doesn't actually matter."

I can't say that my results were the worst-case scenario—unlike my friend who got rejected from all 25 CS schools he applied to (except ASU), I have a few solid choices to choose from. But still, it just feels unsatisfying. I've always dreamt of getting into Stanford, opening the decision letter with my parents, and then running across my street screaming "Oh my God!!!"

I guess that'll never happen.

What's Next?

Right now, I think my top two options are UT Austin and UCSB. My dilemma is this: UT's engineering program looks really fun, the buildings are super cool looking, and it has a decent reputation. But at the same time, it's Texas... 90% Texans to be exact. I have no clue whether I'd fit in, and the area just seems to foreign to what I'm used to.

UCSB, on the other hand, seems like a dream school, but it doesn't really have the reputation to make me go "Wow I'm so excited." I know that rankings aren't everything, but it does hurt a little bit thinking about how just 4 months ago, my family totally dismissed that as an option because it's a "party school."

I'm visiting this Saturday and I've emailed an old classmate who does engineering there, so I have some things to look forward to at UCSB, but this decision is just killing me!

Put simply, if I want a more comfortable experience at a smaller engineering program, go to UCSB. If I care about prestige and don't mind being across the country at a big school, go to UT Austin.

Some side things to consider are also that UCSB will let me switch to CS if I want, and I have the option of doing a 5-year master's degree. UT Austin locks me into Cockrell, so no CS classes (other than those provided in the certificate program). Also, no football at UCSB, and the startup scene is probably less vibrant.

In the meantime

But in the meantime, there are still 6 weeks of senior year to enjoy. I definitely did not start a business like planned, but that's lowkey still on the table if I get an idea and put in the effort.

My last adult league basketball game is tomorrow as well, but it was really fun while it lasted. I've made great memories at our post-game dinners and poker sleepovers.

I'm also really interested in AI all of a sudden. I started reading a few books and watching some Stanford AI courses; I'm thinking of starting a small project pretty soon as well. If things go well with my dad's networking, an OpenAI internship would actually be so fire.

Conclusion

I'm gonna be completely honest, I'm really jealous of a lot of people at my school, especially the people who can just apply to Stanford for the hell of it and get in (of course, they've already committed to MIT). I've always thought I was like that, but I guess this is a good shift in perspective. I'll need to work my ass off if I want to get my dream job or pursue grad school; no more letting my pride be an excuse for laziness.