
My Reverse College Application - rmshea
https://reversecollegeapplication.com/
======
pmiller2
>Third, the college application undermines my value as an individual. Over the
past seventeen years, I pursued my passions, excelled at every task I set my
mind to, and tried to give back to the community that got me to where I am
today. I should be in demand.

You're conflating your value as an individual with your value to other people.
Pursuing passions and giving back is great for your value as an individual,
but most of the world doesn't actually care. Unless your passion is something
that other people can use to make money, it's not going to be relevant to
anyone else. I don't care if someone I hire to do a job is the world's
greatest amateur ichthyologist if I'm hiring them to do a job that doesn't
involve fish.

The sooner you learn this, the better off you will be. I used to believe
similarly that if I worked hard, went to school, and got a degree, that would
be enough to get me a decent job. I was wrong. Nobody cared about any of that.
All they wanted to know was could I do anything for them that would make them
more money than it cost to hire me.

By all means, pursue whatever passions you want, but don't think it's
necessarily going to get you anywhere in the world.

~~~
e40
_All they wanted to know was could I do anything for them that would make them
more money than it cost to hire me._

To this I would add "without a lot of drama or other management overhead."

~~~
pmiller2
I would say that's subsumed into the cost of hiring someone. The amount of
drama/overhead that is tolerable depends on how much it costs to replace them.
If you're going to spend a 5 figure amount interviewing someone, as a recent
HN submission pointed out, you have an incentive to try and fix a few issues
before you give someone the boot. If you can just literally hang a sign up and
open your door and get qualified people coming in to apply, then you'll
probably get rid of someone who's the least bit of trouble.

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doug3465
Guy has posted this every day for a week now

[https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=rmshea](https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=rmshea)

~~~
pmiller2
Well, it does say he's "relentless."

~~~
doug3465
It also says he's "smart" or something similar I'm sure. Did not read
entirely. Blatantly spamming suggests otherwise.

~~~
pmiller2
Smart and wise are not the same thing. It also says he's 17.

~~~
doug3465
Alright, semantics. I still think a 17 year old could and should be aware
enough to simply delete their past posts if they're trying to growth hack
their website thing, even disregarding the ethics of it. But honestly and
personally, I don't expect much from someone attempting this online stunt.

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jshowa3
There's nothing wrong with this guy except for maybe the fact that he thinks
he deserves to get into a top school. Top schools are really just as good as a
lot of lower acceptance rate schools. The point is the piece of paper, not
necessarily where you go. Where you go has ancillary benefits like connections
and more opportunity, but that doesn't make you any lesser if you take a
school with less of that. Some of the smartest people in the world didn't even
go to college.

~~~
akhilcacharya
This is specious. It's pretty clear that if Ivy+ acceptance didn't mean
anything nobody would go. There is a genuine bar here that admits pass that
non-admits don't. As a non-admit, I realize this more and more every day after
graduating from a non-selective college.

~~~
jshowa3
I never said there wasn't a difference. What I said was that the content
you're taught is no different than what is taught at a school that accepts
more people. Calculus doesn't change whether you go to Ivy or low tier. It's
the same material.

What it means is that you get more opportunities. And literally, nobody cares
once you get to the working world which is what the majority of people go to
college for. In fact, the longer you work, the less your degree is even
considered. Degrees only provide more opportunity and help get your foot in
the door a lot easier.

Also, you're competing with all the other 1% so it wouldn't be a shocker if
you didn't get in. Nearly everyone applying to those schools will have perfect
grades, SAT/ACT scores, and extra-curriculars. Plus special interest
applicants such as sports players, rich people, and disadvantaged minorities.

The OP doesn't even mention how many times he applied. And now he publishes a
web page with the entire goal of being condescending toward everyone else and
acting like he deserves to get everything he wants. Its like he's never
learned the greatest lesson of life, that it's horribly unfair.

~~~
akhilcacharya
> Calculus doesn't change whether you go to Ivy or low tier. It's the same
> material.

I have doubts. The DS&A classes in top schools are probably better than mine
and according to people I've met at top schools they make studying for tech
interviews easy. They don't need to study Leetcode problems, they just need to
study for their tests.

>Also, you're competing with all the other 1% so it wouldn't be a shocker if
you didn't get in.

Obviously, but it implies if you don't get into any of the top schools that
you're not 1%.

~~~
jshowa3
_Obviously, but it implies if you don 't get into any of the top schools that
you're not 1%._

Are you saying that someone in the 1% can't choose to go to a non-top 1%
school?

Now that is pretty specious to me because it doesn't imply anything. He
could've simply been applying during a highly competitive time of year. And
considering the college scandal and how money affects people getting in or
not, clearly the "top 1%" really isn't the top.

 _I have doubts. The DS &A classes in top schools are probably better than
mine and according to people I've met at top schools they make studying for
tech interviews easy. They don't need to study Leetcode problems, they just
need to study for their tests._

I'd argue that most jobs don't require you to go to interviews that are as
competitive as big tech companies. Most of my interviews have been pretty low
key. It may help if you want to get into Facebook, Google, Amazon, MSFT, or
Apple, but I'd argue plenty people work there that aren't the top 1% simply
because the companies are so large that it would be impossible to have that
many people at the top, otherwise the top would be the mean.

If you look at MIT Open Courseware, nothing out right shocked me with regards
to the curriculum. In fact, they taught Scheme in their intro class for years.
How many companies do you think use that language? I'd guess not a lot.

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iscrewyou
I can no way put myself into your shoes and behave like I understand. I don’t.
If it was me, I would be heart broken at that age. Now that I’m older and done
with college, I feel a sense of relief for him. But that’s maybe because I’m
projecting my experience on to what I should’ve felt if I didn’t go to
college.

Financial, parental, social stress aside, this is beautiful. It definitely
seems like you have a better head on your shoulders than I did at your age.

What ever path you choose, just stay positive, work on yourself, shoot for
things, let time do it’s thing.

~~~
akhilcacharya
> I would be heart broken at that age. Now that I’m older and done with
> college, I feel a sense of relief for him.

This is funny because for me it's the opposite. I didn't apply to Stanford,
Harvard or any of the other Ivy+ schools he applied to - only applied to two
elite schools that I got rejected from and I'm _still_ heartbroken!

With that said, I'm impressed that Ryan did this instead of having a quarter
life crisis like I did.

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rmbryan
Full disclosure, I did get into two schools in the fall which I am excited to
attend.

How does that work? The whole lead in was specific about complete failure.

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notacoward
When I read "reverse college application" my first thought was of an
application the college had to make to have the honor of the student's
matriculation. Maybe they'd be accepted. Maybe they'd feel the sting of
rejection, and they (in the form of their deans and presidents and regents or
whatever) would start to question their own worth. Seemed like a cool idea, so
I was rather disappointed to find that it was something else entirely.

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ggambetta
The whole "getting into college" thing in the US sounds awful. I'm glad I did
it elsewhere.

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craftinator
Go to plumbing trade school! College really isn't anything special now adays,
and plumbers have better job security and make more than most college grads I
know.

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gameguy43
You seem like a self-starter. So consider taking a year off, moving to a cool
city, and just getting a job in an industry that interests you. Try to move up
the ladder. Try a bunch of stuff. If you're getting some traction, just stick
with it--you might be way better off than your friends in 4 years (real work
experience and no debt). If not, you can try applying to college again in a
year or two.

Good luck.

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ilikehurdles
I applied to colleges back in 2006/7\. Did something drastic happen to college
application competitiveness in the last decade or so? I'd understand getting
only rejections if he only applied to Ivys or something; but, I have a hard
time accepting that he's anywhere outside of the caliber of the top 10% of
applicants. Is it because of the degree programs he applied to?

~~~
akhilcacharya
I'm not super impressed by his stats, I had a better class rank and GPA and
SAT and I was never elite school material but his extra-curriculars are pretty
good. The problem being that most of these schools want an overarching theme
in their application.

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swagtricker
Poor kid. No, literally. He must be a poor kid. Otherwise, his parents would
have just bought his way in, right?

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1121redblackgo
I'm not sure this is the proper forum for this content. Appreciate the effort
though, great job

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rmshea
Hi all, thank you for the thoughtful comments. I apologize — this might not
have been the best forum to share this. Regardless, thank you for reading my
story. I wish you all the best.

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kangnkodos
Did he really put "Stanford" into his common app essay? If so, that explains
why all the other top colleges rejected him.

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mfatica
How pretentious

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nartz
"Modeling my it off of"

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brianpgordon
> Full disclosure, I did get into two schools in the fall which I am excited
> to attend.

Oh man, my eyes couldn't possibly be rolling harder back in my head.

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frgtpsswrdlame
Just go to a state school like a normal person.

~~~
maybeiambatman
What an absurdly unhelpful comment.

There's nothing abnormal about you Ryan. I hope you find something interesting
and educational to do. I'm excited to see where you end up.

~~~
glitchc
Nothing unhelpful about the comment. There are some excellent state schools:
Georgia Tech, Penn State, UMass, Virginia Tech, just to name a few. The
education is top-notch, the rest is indeed what you make of it.

