I hate private high schools I have been raised in the NYC public school system my whole life. Just about everyone I know also went to a public school, and along with me has battled through budget cuts, bureaucracy, and all the unpleasantness that comes with the NYCDOE. I have made the most of what this great city has to offer and I have also been very lucky to be born in a neighborhood with a great zoned elementary school, which helped me get into top public middle and high schools. I thought I was going into the college application process with every advantage, and I was incredibly grateful for what I had. Then I earned a scholarship to study neuroscience at Oxford University through a summer program, and I saw how the other half lived. Most of the students there were incredibly wealthy and spent money like I had never seen. I was one of the few students on scholarship, and we instinctively banded together. It is worth saying that I am by no means poor, my family is tenuously middle class and I have so much that most people do not have. I wound up becoming great friends with many of the other students in the program, and I have kept in touch with them after the program. This was totally fine until acceptances started to come back. I don't know a single person in the program that wasn't on scholarship who went to a public school. They all went to ridiculously elite, ridiculously expensive private and boarding schools. When acceptances came rolling back, all my friends in the program were accepted to incredibly prestigious colleges, regardless of the quality of the actual student. One of them actually told me "my high school is a feeder for Yale, about 30% of the students go there. Meanwhile, for my friends back in New York (every bit as brilliant, and often far more brilliant), it was an absolute slaughter. I never realized what a game of money it was until I talked to those private school friends. I am enraged, not just for myself, but even more so for those who have less than me. This is a brutal and unfair process that pits us against each other and prevents us from seeing that it is wealth that determines where we go more than merit, character, or decency. 我讨厌私立高中 我在纽约市公立学校系统长大。我认识的几乎每个人也都是在公立学校上学，跟我一样经历了预算削减、官僚主义以及与纽约市教育局相关的不愉快经历。我充分利用了这个伟大的城市所提供的一切，而且很幸运地出生在一个拥有优秀小学的社区，这帮助我考入顶尖的公立中学和高中。我认为我在大学申请过程中拥有所有的优势，而我对自己所拥有的感到非常感激。 后来我通过一个夏令营项目获得了赴牛津大学学习神经科学的奖学金，我看到了另一半人的生活。那里的大部分学生都非常富有，花钱的方式让我惊叹不已。我们这里只有少数几个学生是奖学金生，我们本能地结成了联盟。值得一提的是，我并不是穷人，我的家庭处于微弱的中产阶级，我拥有的东西大多数人都没有。我最终成为了项目中许多其他学生的好朋友，在项目结束后我们一直保持联系。这一切都还好，直到录取通知开始回来。 我不认识一个在项目中没有获得奖学金的人去了公立学校。他们都去了极其昂贵的私立和寄宿学校。当录取通知开始回来时，我在项目中的所有朋友都被各种非常有声望的学院录取了，无论实际学生的质量如何。其中一位学生实际上告诉我：“我的高中是耶鲁的入门通道，大约有30%的学生会去那里。与此同时，我的纽约朋友（同样聪明，有时甚至更聪明）却被彻底打败了。直到我跟那些私立学校的朋友交谈之前，我从未意识到这是一个金钱游戏。我感到非常愤怒，不仅是为了自己，更是为了那些比我条件更差的人。这是一个残酷而不公平的过程，它把我们彼此对立，阻止我们看到决定我们去哪里的不是才能、品格或正义，而是财富。
Thank You, Dad Hi Dad! Ivies are out today, and I know that you stalk this sub (which I believe has increased exponentially after watching me obsess over it for the last few months). I'm sorry that you now understand what portal astrology is, and that ED is early decision, not erectile dysfunction or an eating disorder. Thank you for continually reminding me about Shitpost Wednesdays, and still loving me after finding my account and seeing the embarrassing amount of karma I've accumulated on this sub. Thank you for finding my comments and posts humorous at times. Thank you for finally turning the corner on Northeastern and realizing it's the biggest scam ever. Thank you for always reminding me that Karen Kane would like me to sign up for NSHSS and for being the proud parent of an NSHSS scholar. It means a lot. However, this sub really is a minuscule fraction of the reason I am grateful to have had you in my corner. Thank you for everything else you've done for me along the way. I know we frequently joke that I decided I was going to an Ivy when I was 7 years old, that I was going to be a lawyer, and that I have never looked back, but part of that is because I always had people encouraging me to chase my dreams. I was never told that those things were out of reach. I've been a (wild, excessive, unreasonable) dreamer my entire life. It's hard sometimes because dreams can't always be reality. However, it's been much easier to forge dreams into existence with you by my side. And for that, I will always be incredibly grateful. You and mom have believed in me when I felt I didn't stand a chance. Thank you for reminding me that I have a story and uniqueness that others will appreciate and value. I’ve oftentimes felt that with the circumstances we’ve existed in, I never in my wildest dreams would have had a chance at 90% of the schools I applied to. Thank you for encouraging me to try nonetheless. Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t? I know there has been a ridiculous amount of ridiculousness on my end (remember when I was so desperate to retake the SAT that I paid for it myself, then got the exact same score?). Thank you for sitting around the table with me for hours while we attempted to come up with a two-word description of Massachusetts for an essay. Thank you for reminding me to get real-world problems when the schools I was accepted to didn’t give me stickers. Thank you for the chocolate milk in the fridge and the chicken pot pies in the freezer, and for turning a blind eye to many of the late nights I’ve spent awake studying. I am beyond glad that the college admissions process is coming to a close. It has been beyond emotional and unbelievably draining, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. Thank you for laughing with me through the rejections (it's okay, we all know I was yield protected anyways). Thank you for trashing the waitlists with me (Who cares about BU? For what it's worth, nobody even knows about Scamilton and Williams). Thank you for celebrating the victories with me. Thank you for seeing me for who I am, and knowing that somebody, somewhere would do the same. At the moment, I don't know where I am ending up. I have many great options, and we’ll figure it out. But I hope you know that I will always be grateful to you and Mom for helping me get there. Thank you for working so incredibly hard for me and my siblings. I have the opportunity to do great things because of it. As promised, the deal was that I would clean my room if I got into a reach school regular decision. As it turns out, that is now how I will be spending my Friday night. You'll be glad to know that after all these months of it being obscured, my bedroom floor does in fact still exist. Thanks, Dad. I love you. -Banana Ketchup <3
我讨厌私立高中 我在纽约市公立学校系统长大。我认识的几乎每个人也都是在公立学校上学，跟我一样经历了预算削减、官僚主义以及与纽约市教育局相关的不愉快经历。我充分利用了这个伟大的城市所提供的一切，而且很幸运地出生在一个拥有优秀小学的社区，这帮助我考入顶尖的公立中学和高中。我认为我在大学申请过程中拥有所有的优势，而我对自己所拥有的感到非常感激。 后来我通过一个夏令营项目获得了赴牛津大学学习神经科学的奖学金，我看到了另一半人的生活。那里的大部分学生都非常富有，花钱的方式让我惊叹不已。我们这里只有少数几个学生是奖学金生，我们本能地结成了联盟。值得一提的是，我并不是穷人，我的家庭处于微弱的中产阶级，我拥有的东西大多数人都没有。我最终成为了项目中许多其他学生的好朋友，在项目结束后我们一直保持联系。这一切都还好，直到录取通知开始回来。 我不认识一个在项目中没有获得奖学金的人去了公立学校。他们都去了极其昂贵的私立和寄宿学校。当录取通知开始回来时，我在项目中的所有朋友都被各种非常有声望的学院录取了，无论实际学生的质量如何。其中一位学生实际上告诉我：“我的高中是耶鲁的入门通道，大约有30%的学生会去那里。与此同时，我的纽约朋友（同样聪明，有时甚至更聪明）却被彻底打败了。直到我跟那些私立学校的朋友交谈之前，我从未意识到这是一个金钱游戏。我感到非常愤怒，不仅是为了自己，更是为了那些比我条件更差的人。这是一个残酷而不公平的过程，它把我们彼此对立，阻止我们看到决定我们去哪里的不是才能、品格或正义，而是财富。
Thank You, Dad Hi Dad! Ivies are out today, and I know that you stalk this sub (which I believe has increased exponentially after watching me obsess over it for the last few months). I'm sorry that you now understand what portal astrology is, and that ED is early decision, not erectile dysfunction or an eating disorder. Thank you for continually reminding me about Shitpost Wednesdays, and still loving me after finding my account and seeing the embarrassing amount of karma I've accumulated on this sub. Thank you for finding my comments and posts humorous at times. Thank you for finally turning the corner on Northeastern and realizing it's the biggest scam ever. Thank you for always reminding me that Karen Kane would like me to sign up for NSHSS and for being the proud parent of an NSHSS scholar. It means a lot. However, this sub really is a minuscule fraction of the reason I am grateful to have had you in my corner. Thank you for everything else you've done for me along the way. I know we frequently joke that I decided I was going to an Ivy when I was 7 years old, that I was going to be a lawyer, and that I have never looked back, but part of that is because I always had people encouraging me to chase my dreams. I was never told that those things were out of reach. I've been a (wild, excessive, unreasonable) dreamer my entire life. It's hard sometimes because dreams can't always be reality. However, it's been much easier to forge dreams into existence with you by my side. And for that, I will always be incredibly grateful. You and mom have believed in me when I felt I didn't stand a chance. Thank you for reminding me that I have a story and uniqueness that others will appreciate and value. I’ve oftentimes felt that with the circumstances we’ve existed in, I never in my wildest dreams would have had a chance at 90% of the schools I applied to. Thank you for encouraging me to try nonetheless. Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t? I know there has been a ridiculous amount of ridiculousness on my end (remember when I was so desperate to retake the SAT that I paid for it myself, then got the exact same score?). Thank you for sitting around the table with me for hours while we attempted to come up with a two-word description of Massachusetts for an essay. Thank you for reminding me to get real-world problems when the schools I was accepted to didn’t give me stickers. Thank you for the chocolate milk in the fridge and the chicken pot pies in the freezer, and for turning a blind eye to many of the late nights I’ve spent awake studying. I am beyond glad that the college admissions process is coming to a close. It has been beyond emotional and unbelievably draining, but I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. Thank you for laughing with me through the rejections (it's okay, we all know I was yield protected anyways). Thank you for trashing the waitlists with me (Who cares about BU? For what it's worth, nobody even knows about Scamilton and Williams). Thank you for celebrating the victories with me. Thank you for seeing me for who I am, and knowing that somebody, somewhere would do the same. At the moment, I don't know where I am ending up. I have many great options, and we’ll figure it out. But I hope you know that I will always be grateful to you and Mom for helping me get there. Thank you for working so incredibly hard for me and my siblings. I have the opportunity to do great things because of it. As promised, the deal was that I would clean my room if I got into a reach school regular decision. As it turns out, that is now how I will be spending my Friday night. You'll be glad to know that after all these months of it being obscured, my bedroom floor does in fact still exist. Thanks, Dad. I love you. -Banana Ketchup <3