I’ve finally decided college!

Yesterday, I was at the state JSHS competition up at Albany. Right off the bat, I’ll say I didn’t place. I was 3rd in my room, meaning I get some sort of a cash award, but I will not be going down to Orlando, Florida. The trip would have been nice, but I’m not that concerned. Because…I got into Harvard! I’ll definitely be going there! It somewhat seems that I’m just going to another school. I mean that in my school district, there’s five schools that I had to go through (kindergarten-1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th). I would always have a year without my sister in each school–for example, when I’m in 3rd grade and my sister’s in 4th grade, we’d be going to two different schools. So, since I will be going to the same college as my sister, it feels just like moving up a level again, in a way. Ah, well. I’m excited! A break down of the colleges I applied to and my acceptances/rejections with them:

Stanford (early action): Rejected (I was disappointed, but I don’t think I would’ve gone anyway)

SUNY Binghamton (safety): Accepted

NYU (safety): Accepted (I think I received a likely “postcard.” I don’t know what it was that came before the actual package)

Tufts: Waitlisted (I was…surprised)

Duke: Accepted

Cornell: Accepted

Columbia: Accepted

Harvard: Accepted

I’ll write more later about the science competition trip (it was actually kind of fun–I got to go swimming) and Columbia’s Science Honors Program, since the test for this program is coming up!

As a side: I was in denial and shock when I received the news about Harvard. I had to call up my dad, ask him what the letter said, and I didn’t actually believe I got in until I saw the e-mail. Even when I saw the e-mail, I was in denial–I was thinking: This says Ms. Liu–what if they wrote to the wrong Ms. Liu? There must be tons of Ms. Lius out there! My acceptance finally sunk in when I was about to go to sleep. I laid awake for two hours while my legs were in pain because I was standing on heels all day. Ah well, I got to hear the person next to me sleep-talk.

I also loved what my friend said:

F1: Hey, what happened?

F2: Yingna got into Harvard!

F1: Oh, congratulations! That’s a…really good school!

F2: Wow…that was the biggest understatement in your life.

Also, this year’s class kicks last year’s class SO BAD. 2008 ROCKS! High school grads of 2008 rock! Many people in my school got into great schools, unlike last year when everyone was being deferred, rejected, or waitlisted. People this year got into Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, etc. WE ROCK!