Congratulations, We Regret to Inform You: the college admissions secret

College admissions is the scariest and most mysterious part about high school. Students and parents are stuck guessing what admissions officers are looking for, but often guess wrong. In this documentary, we try to find the secret to college admissions.

Silke Sen, the former Associate Director of Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals her college admissions insight:
http://raychao.tumblr.com/admissionssecret

--

About Us:
Ray Chao loves to talk, especially in weird accents. He spent all 18 years of his childhood growing up in Arcadia, California, where he can wear plaid shorts and Rainbow flip flops all year round. When not studying or talking, he likes to eat, take pictures, order obsessively specific drinks from Starbucks, and blog about his life. Ray recently graduated from Arcadia High School, and currently studies public policy at Princeton University.

Carpus Tin has had a deep interest in film since he bought his first camcorder in 7th grade. He grew up in Arcadia, California, and misses all the good Asian food, and driving his green Toyota Sequoia soccermom minivan. When not studying or filming, he likes to play Starcraft, kill zombies in Black Ops, destroy people at ping pong, and type with perfect grammar to be funny. He is also obsessed with foxtails and nyancat (don't ask). Carpus is a recent graduate of Arcadia High School, and currently studies business at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Our story:
We wanted to do something this summer that would help out and give advice to underclassmen and their parents. We feel that the discussion about high school and college has shifted in the wrong direction to focus on test scores, GPA, and second-guessing admission officers. Using interviews with over thirty-five students, parents, and teachers in this documentary, we wanted to prove that getting into college is more than just being the highest number, encourage students to follow their passions, and show that happiness and personal fulfillment lies beyond the name of one's college.

We filmed over 35 interviews, accumulating over 12 hours of raw footage. This was filmed with a Canon EOS 5D mark ii, a Sony HDR-HC01, and a FlipCam MinoHD, and edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5. Thanks for your support :)

--

We'd like to thank and give credit to the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund for inspiring the idea behind our conclusion.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• congratulations
• we
• regret
• to
• inform
• you
• admissions
• secret
• admission
• gpa
• sat
• collegeboard
• act
• testing
• tutors
• tutoring
• high
• school
• documentary
• princeton
• college
• university
• student
• students
• campus
• education
• community
• study
• class
• graduation
• grad
• institute
• degree
• graduate
• ray
• chao
• carpus
• tin
• films
• arcadia
• san
• marino
• pressure
• apps
• how
• get
• into

[GtarWanaB]

On the one hand commend you guys for making this mini doc about a very relevant topic for high school age kids, especially those in "asian" families. The views presented in this video are flawed however. Giving solely the viewpoints of extremely highly achieving students makes it hard for the "regular" student to relate. Because of this, a doc that could have been inspirational comes across as pretentious and almost encourages "superstudent" behavior, for that i cannot support your viewpoint.

[rchao]

@GtarWanaB Coming off as pretentious was definitely not our intention, and I am sorry if you got that impression. I know almost all of the interviewees personally, and chose them because I believe they have a valuable story to tell, not just because they go to a top university. I don't know exactly what you mean by "superstudent" behavior, but what we do encourage in this film is for students to pursue their passions, find intellectual curiosity, and have the courage to stay true to themselves.

[HuSkOgS]

Part 3 - knowing that undermines the message this video is trying to get across, which is that even individuals who might not have received the highest marks have the chance to get into the universities they want. I question the motive behind the making of this video and whether this is just another gold star on the maker's resume. Lastly, only interviewing individuals from "top" universities alienates your viewers and renders your thesis moot. You're implying happiness only exists there.

[rchao]

@HuSkOgS Honestly, Carpus and I made this video because lots of underclassmen ask us for advice, and we always say the same things. So instead of repeating ourselves, we had the idea of getting dozens of people, capture the best advice they can give, and then package it in a neat video to help younger students. Since there would be input from so many people, not only would it be better advice, but it'd be more efficient... and we love filming! And we don't have much to do this summer :P

[siwelchungster]

As a former Arcadia High School student, this hit home, great work. Some advice though, it would have helped if you guys interviewed some students from non-top universities who are doing well, have had great achievements, and are happy with how far they've come since getting rejected from these 'top universities'. Sharing these stories would be of much more help to the many students who will be/are enduring rejection from their 'dream schools'.

[wht1t3cr4y0n]

horrible video, pretentious etc.

[LushBubble21]

I LOVED this so very much.

I thank you. Xx

[MrVarchie]

getting into upenn killed me. I never enjoyed high school. but in the end, it feels like it was worth it.

[i0nPuNk182]

@TheDobbyDies well said... its crazy how students who get rejected are heavily impacted, and not many people see it. in my opinion, it shouldn't always be about "who works harder" it's about character and life motives. I see students who work their butts off taking all AP courses and students who do B minus to A average in regular core classes. But ive met smarter kids who take regular classes. If colleges believe rigorous education is how to succeed in life well they are wrong imo

[skycaptain141]

Just wonderful

[TheDobbyDies]

@GtarWanaB Opinions are an amazing thing, aren't they? You are calling their video flawed, with a flawed opinion. Someone recommended this video because I'm in the 12th grade and will be graduating in June, and I've been rejected by four colleges this year even though I hold a B through A average and a job. This film is actually very useful for those of us who have no idea why we're getting rejected, and I have no idea where "superstudent" behaviour came from. They all look like normal students.

[carpustin]

@Greencloud8 Patience is a virtue, my friend. The intro was under 2 minutes.

[MsPinkaholic0405]

this is stupid because you only interview from the top schools, go interview your community college and see if those students are as happy

[Greencloud8]

why do you have so many different people talking. this is irritating next channel.

[JacobShulman]

This is very good...