I got a SAT prep course book and studied on my own. My friends who took prep courses were extremely stressed and constantly freaking out over their scores. They were anxious messes. Going into a test relaxed instead of feeling like their futures hinge on the result is usually the better way to go over stressing for months over a few points.

Fast forward to now, and we all went to good schools, we all have student debt, and honestly we are all fine. If I could tell anything to my younger self, it would be to care about entering a “good” college less, and enjoy my teenage years more.

Collectively, if we care less about this system, it will cease to matter. While people are still believing in and paying for things like test prep, and clamoring and begging to go to these schools, then it’s not going to change…because it’s profitable. If no one profits from it, it’ll go away. The issue is that so-called “good” schools benefit from everyone trying to cram into the door at once. I transferred from LIU to NYU my second year of college, and I went to CCNY for grad. And NYU used the same books as LIU, and my CCNY professors also taught down the road at prestigious Columbia. So the education was basically the same…my GPA at NYU went down not because the classes were harder, but because I had to work three jobs to pay my way.

TL:DR — why give colleges this power to begin with, when they clearly don’t deserve it? They’re cherry picking, they’re accepting wealthy students just because their parents make donations, so I don’t respect them enough to say they control the direction of my life or your life. They don’t. Learn what you want to learn, any way and anywhere you can, and enjoy life ❤️