Tag: tryharding

#TRYHARDSZN2025: this one will contribute to our demise, Black Mirror style

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

WWNYTV7onmyside: Massachusetts teen accepted into 88 colleges, amassing over $6M in scholarship dollars

As far as acceptance numbers, I think it’s going to be a hard task for any potential #TRYHARDs to surpass the one chica who cleared like 155 and one in every state.  But what piqued my interest with this #TRYHARD wasn’t the acceptance numbers, but the amount of scholarship dollars he amassed in his 88 acceptances.

For context, Ms. Queen #TRYHARD and her 155 acceptances notched $6M in cumulative offers.  But this kid out of Chicopee, Massachusetts also amassed $6M in scholarships from nearly half of the acceptances.  That’s an average of $68K per scholarship, versus the $38K/per from the Queen of Westlake High.  He doesn’t get to brag about having acceptances from random schools out in Idaho, Wyoming or North Dakota, but it’s evident that schools see more value in this kid over Queen Spray and Pray.

Additionally, aside from Chicopee kid’s ridiculous 4.39 GPA (like I still don’t understand just how much extra work one has to do to blow past a 4.00 GPA so hard) is the fact that this egghead is all into AI and robotics, and is pursuing a future where he can work on AI systems and/or robots.  Considering he’s from the New England area, and among his offers is Boston University, it seems like a very good possibility that he goes to BU, and then gets a job with Boston Dynamics, the company that is making robot dogs and robots that can run, do moonsaults and basically complete Ninja Warrior courses, and then contributes towards the rise of our eventual robot overlords.

Anyway, I got nothing else.  Among his other notable acceptances were UConn, Florida, and Purdue.  No mention of any Ivies, and as impressive as his GPA and his current acceptance haul is, the seeming lack of mention of any other extracurriculars lends to believe that he probably doesn’t have any.

Thus, he is not #TRYHARDing enough, and probably won’t be worth mentioning again the rest of this #SZN.

White Lotus S3 probably fucking with #TRYHARDSZN2025

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Here’s the thing, this article came up in my routine searches for #TRYHARDs to write about, about how Duke’s acceptance rate has hit an all-time low, where only 3.67% of applicants get accepted.  I mean, sports bias and perception bias on account of sports, aside, Duke is a fine educational institution, and the name holds a tremendous amount of weight in the world for those who have gone there, and graduated from the university.

But even outside of the world of sport, the Duke brand holds an abysmal reputation and is generally reviled by pretty much everyone except those people who have gone to Duke, graduated from Duke, or financially supported by someone who went to Duke.  There’s a general reputation that Duke is snooty, white-bred, arrogant, insufferable and all sorts of pejoratives meant to demean Duke, but it never really mattered, because all the people who are pro-Duke exist on some sort of weird island where nobody else seems to matter.

Which is why it seems so appropriate and fitting that Duke has seemingly decided to gatekeep to a new career high, accepting fewer students than they’ve ever done, and I have to feel that such is probably surprising to absolutely nobody at all, considering their general reputation and the political climate that’s emboldened racists to let their bigot flags fly high and proudly.

Why I decided to start a post about it is completely beyond me considering I don’t really have much else to say about the topic, but in all honesty the reason I wanted to, was so I could post a screen grab of White Lotus S3, where the character Timothy Ratliff, played by Jason Isaacs is basically losing his marbles, but every time he goes into one of his suicidal fantasies, he’s always wearing a t-shirt with a huge-ass DUKE wordmark on it.

After the last episode, I remarked to mythical wife that I’m sure Duke is (facetiously) thrilled to see their school’s name on the shirt of a criminal embezzler who is becoming suicidal, and as someone who enjoys seeing Duke fail in any capacity, it brings me great amusement to see it happening in the show.

And the funniest thing is that my hypothesis was proven correct when searching for an adequate screen grab to pair with this post, and Googling “Tim Ratliff White Lo-“ auto fills in the rest of “tim ratliff white lotus duke shirt” and all sorts of articles and spot-on screen caps of Tim Ratliff with a gun to his head with his DUKE shirt on are immediately returned, and there are numerous articles detailing the university’s general displeasure at the show that a Duke man is both a criminal and suicidal.

But yeah, I’m not surprised that Duke’s not happy about it, because the Ratliff family is proudly North Carolinian, and boasts how dad is Duke, mom is UNC, eldest son is Duke, I don’t remember which Piper went to, but how Lochte is still deciding between the two, but it’s clear that those who were Dookies are clearly vapid unhinged white people, with one of them becoming suicidal.  And I love the validation of my off-remark hypothesis.

So at this point, I have no choice but to continue on with making this post, because it succeeds at taking shots at Duke, as well as put over White Lotus as a show, because season 3 has been entertaining and has demonstrated HBO’s ability to get something that isn’t Game of Thrones or Games of Thrones-adjacent in order to anchor down that Sunday at 9 pm time slot.

#TRYHARDSZN2025: We’ve finally got some Ivies

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

ABC30: Fresno teen accepted into 15 different schools, including four Ivy League schools

This story is really succinct and lacks a tremendous amount of context, and I can’t seem to find any more information on it, but whatever.  I’ve got our first Ivy League #TRYHARD, as he didn’t get into all of the Ivies like some of the most mega of #TRYHARDs do, but still getting into four of them is still warranting of #TRYHARD status.

Most importantly, he got into Harvard and Yale, which coming from the child of Asian parents, it doesn’t matter if there are actually schools out there better than either of these, Harvard and Yale are the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to college educations, and seeing as how this #TRYHARD is Hispanic, I don’t imagine his parents’ perceptions of college is probably that far off from immigrant Asians.

Overall, 15 schools doesn’t sound like he was trying hard enough, in comparison to the #TRYHARDs he’s unknowingly going up against in the arena of my brog, but since he’s not black, that clearly wipes out all the HBCUs, despite the fact that non-black students can attend them from what I understand.

Additionally, no context of scholarship dollars were mentioned, but I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise considering this one is dealing with Ivy League schools, whom seem to probably think adequate compensation is simply being allowed entry onto their lily white grounds, and that if this #TRYHARD actually wants to attend Harvard or Yale, better be prepared to pony up the $65K a be able to attend, although I heard that Harvard is offering free education to those who can get in, if their family doesn’t make a certain amount.

Either way, I got nothing else, because the story of this #TRYHARD is short and straight to the point of glamorizing the fact that he got into multiple Ivies.  He’ll still be easily defeated by the inevitable kid who will have been accepted into all the Ivies, but for now I’m just glad to find a #TRYHARD to be from outside of Georgia as well as have some Ivy League schools on his resume.

#TRYHARDSZN2025: the Hispanic goalie.. in hockey

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

NJ.com: New Jersey teen accepted into 23 schools, amassing around $1.5M in scholarships

Finally, I’ve got our first #TRYHARD from outside the State of Georgia, and it does seem a like an interesting case.  The sheer number of schools this #TRYHARD got into kind of pales in comparison to all of the seasoned Georgia #TRYHARDs that I’ve documented so far, but notching $1.5M out of 23 schools is definitely a higher cumulative per-school average than everyone else thus far, at $65,217.  For context, there was a #TRYHARD or two in Georgia who hit the $1.5M marks, but they were also requiring upwards of 50+ schools in order to do so.

Interestingly, this article actually gives a little more context than any of the previously covered #TRYHARDs, in terms of some examples of why they’re qualified to be a #TRYHARD, as well as some factual numbers and names, as far as some of the scholarships are concerned.

$180K to go to Syracuse seems pretty impressive sounding, but I also have to remind myself that this isn’t 1998 when my sister went off to college there, and the cost of tuition has gone up considerably over the last 28 years.  If I had to guess, $180K probably covers a year, maybe three semesters, tops, and probably doesn’t include room, board, food and all the other incidental expenses that comes with attending college away from home.

Our boy is most undoubtedly looking for a free ride outright, as most of #TRYHARDs are, but if I had to guess, he might have to lower his bar in order to do so.  Considering he’s claimed to want to stay in the greater New York area, one of the fifty different SUNYs seem like a more likely destination for him.

But it’s not to say that he doesn’t bring something to the table; aside from the grades, the accolades and extracurriculars, the thing that stands out to me the most is the fact that we have here a kid of obvious Hispanic descent, but he’s a hockey player, and is actually the goalie for his school, and helped win a division championship.

I admit I don’t follow a tremendous amount of hockey, but I don’t imagine it’s changed that much over the last few years of being pretty much the least diverse sport on the planet when it comes to being rostered by players that aren’t white.  I have to imagine this factoid alone should be more than sufficient for a school to want to kill multiple diversity birds with a single stone by accepting a Latino kid who has great grades, lots of honors, and is a hockey goalie on top of it.

But then again, seeing as how the country has declared war on the letters D, E, and I, maybe some schools are afraid of being too openly accepting of DEI initiatives and will cool on a kid like this.

Either way, hooray for the first #TRYHARD from outside of Georgia.  He brings an impressive resume to the table, but he clearly lacks in the bragging game, and racks the aspirations to aim for a school in every single fucking state.  I do give him credit for being a Hispanic goalie in hockey, but when the day is over, this #TRYHARD didn’t try hard enough to out-do the other #TRYHARDs that are inevitably going to continue to emerge this #SZN.

#TRYHARDSZN2025: Good effort, but not enough trying hard

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

11AliveOnMySide: Fairburn, Georgia teen accepted into 53 colleges with $1.5M in scholarships earned

After writing about the chica that notched 155 acceptances and $6M in scholarships, #TRYHARDs like this one just seem so pale in comparison to write about.  Which really sucks for them, because being a student with a 4.0 GPA and hoovering up 50+ college acceptances really is something to be proud of, but I guess this is what happens when #TRYHARD culture has become the thing it’s become, and gives a glimpse to why #TRYHARDs #TRYHARD.

As important as education is, to those in the #TRYHARDing game, attention and notoriety seems to matter just a little bit more.  What with all the insufferable humblebragging, the photoshoots and general look-at-me behavior by all those that #TRYHARD, it’s apparent that the actual education at the end of the journey is secondary to the two seconds of internet notoriety that comes with being the best of the best when it comes to #TRYHARDing and accumulating as many college acceptances as possible while more than likely, not having to pay a cent in application fees.

Which is a shame, because a lot of the stories of the people who become #TRYHARDs are really fascinating and inspiring up until the point where they decide to do what they do because they want the attention.  Like this one chica from close to where I used to live, which was a pretty desolate wasteland back then, and is seemingly worse now, has still managed to emerge from the muck and be a student with a 4.0 GPA, volleyball player, and somehow has the tenacity to be working two jobs, really is the embodiment of hard work.

But at some point in her journey, it was decided to become a #TRYHARD, and the question becomes if the grades, the extracurriculars, and the jobs, are they for the purpose of building character and necessity, or are they the purpose for padding a personal resume to feed into the next stage of life to where additional #TRYHARDing is all that life is going to be until they’re anonymous adults who hate their lives and wonder what their formative teenage years went.

I can’t remember who said it between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but one of them had a story about when they were young and in high school, and they were being touted as future megastars and can’t-miss prospects, they were reminded that as great as they think they were, inevitably there would always be someone out there who was working harder, and was probably better than you were.  And as inevitable as greatness finding greatness is, Bird and Magic eventually encountered each other at the college ranks, a rivalry was born, carrying into the NBA, and the debate still lives on whom of the two was the better player.

And as impressive as 53 and $1.5M should be, in the grand spectrum of things, just up the street from where this #TRYHARD was doing her thing, she probably wasn’t aware of a queen bee #TRYHARDingn way harder than she was en route to her 155 and $6M.  And there is no debate on whom of the two was the bigger #TRYHARD.

As I said before, it’s going to be a real hard act to follow, and I almost don’t want to waste my time writing about lesser #TRYHARDs unless a real noteworthy #TRYHARD comes along, but we’ll see how time permits in the coming months of #TRYHARDSZN2025.

#TRYHARDSZN2025: Meet the front runner

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yahoo: Westlake High School senior accepted to 155 colleges, with at least one from every single one of the 50 United States, and has accumulated over $6M in scholarship offers

Welp, just when I was thinking about how Westlake High hadn’t produced a #TRYHARD yet, here they come to join the fray, guns ablaze.  It’s like the school itself doesn’t seem to be concerned about absolutely anything other than raising kids to be fixated and obsessed with applying to as many colleges as humanly possible, so that they the kids and the school can insufferably brag about their success rates, and effectively cockblock a metric fuckton of other kids throughout the country who will be inevitably be put on waiting lists while all these attention hounds make their decisions like they think they’re LeBron James.

But yeah, Georgia teen from the seemingly most notorious college application factory in the nation, 155 acceptances, and $6M in cumulative scholarships so far.  Sounds impressive, but when you do the basic average there, we’re looking at $38K per acceptance.  Sure, it’s not a flat $38K being offered by every single acceptance, but the reality is that some of the higher-tiered schools probably haven’t offered anything remotely close to a full ride, and if a full ride is what chica is looking for, she better be prepared to be going to Florida A&M or Howard, and not any of the Power-5 schools she probably got into. 

And let’s not assume she made any of the Ivies, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about #TRYHARD culture, is that if you’ve been accepted into an Ivy, that name is ensured to be mentioned, early in the article no less.

I had a moment when writing about the last few #TRYHARDs about why I’m taking time to pick on these kids, seeing as how they’re really just trying to get a free ride to whatever college is willing to give them one.  But this queen bee #TRYHARD is a reminder of why I started writing about them in the first place, because it feels like they’re doing what they do for all the wrong reasons, prioritizing attention-seeking and the right to brag and boast ahead of actually giving a fuck about their educations when the opportunity to grasp 15 minutes of internet fame is on the line.

I mean seriously, 155 schools is one thing, but it’s very apparent that the real coup de grace here for this chica is simply the ability to say that she got into a school from every single one of the 50 states.  Because I have a hard time believing that any teen from the southside of Atlanta would have any remote interest in attending a school in Wyoming, the Dakotas, Montana or any other flyover state where the mortality rate of black people is probably noticeably lower than it would be in any actual civilized metropolitan area in the country alternatively.  I refuse to believe that there’s actual interest in any schools from any of those remote parts of the country, and that the sole goal was to check off gaining an acceptance in those states.

The University of Alaska, Fairbanks was mentioned as an acceptance, and a quick Google search has them ranked at 635 out of 650 accredited American colleges, so big win there.  Hawaii isn’t mentioned at all, but I’m going to guess that the acceptance from that state is probably along the lines of the University of American Samoa from Better Call Saul, or some other extremely low-difficulty school.

It’s funny when I think about it, because although she got 155 acceptances, I have to wonder how many rejections she got.  That’s one thing that all of these #TRYHARD stories fail to mention, unless they have an abnormally high success rate, and they brag about having gotten into like 50 schools out of 50 applications, but there was no such context here.

And as is often times the case, despite the fact that they might have over 100+ acceptances, in the end, they’re inevitably going to go to some generally low-tier school, mostly because of the fact that the most free-est ride is going to come from there.  And despite the fact that this #TRYHARD wants to become a bigwig pharmacist, her front runner schools are Florida A&M, Howard and THE Ohio State.  There’s nothing wrong with phishing for a free ride, but I do think it sucks for all the kids throughout the country who is put on a waitlist on account of all these attention-seekers just trying to amass acceptances and scholarship dollars.

But anyway, it comes as no surprise that the de facto front runner of #TRYHARDSZN2025 is a kid out of Westlake High, and the bar has been set extremely high now.  It’s going to take some real Ivy League #TRYHARDs to gain some consideration over this one, because 155/$6M is going to be hard to surpass, but it is still extremely early in the #SZN, so never say never.

#TRYHARDSZN2025: Imagine if UGA were your dream school

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Lowered expectations: Georgia teen accepted to 60 different schools, amassing $1.3M in cumulative scholarship offers

Another day, another Georgia-based #TRYHARD.  I’m seriously wondering if it’s an IP thing or something or if the vast majority of the #TRYHARDs in the country are all coincidentally just coming out of Georgia, but every single edition of #TRYHARDSZN2025 so far have all been from Georgia.  I doubt that such is going to be a case throughout the whole #SZN, but it is a little head-scratching from the onset.

Anyway, if I had 60 acceptances when I was this kid’s age, I undoubtedly would have had the criteria of being how far away from home, and how much scholarship money are they going to float me, and the best combination of distance from Northern Virginia and how much they’d scholarship me, would be the strongest contenders.

Such, is not the case for this guy, whom although they don’t disclose any of the 60 acceptances he received, the State of Georgia doesn’t have that many colleges and universities in it to constitute close to 60, so I have to imagine that a lot of ideal and acceptable out-of-state, far the fuck away from bumfuck Dublin, Georgia are being left on the table by deciding to go to his dream college of, the University of Georgia.

This reminds me of Terry Jerry-Larry-Garry Gergich from Parks & Rec and how him and his family’s annual vacation was to their favorite place in the world, Muncie, Indiana, which was presumably not that far from fictional Pawnee, Indiana.

Like, the boy has the opportunity to get the fuck out of Georgia, but instead he’s taking his golden tickets and just going two hours north, up to Athens, where his supposed dream school is.

Don’t get me wrong, UGA is a solid school, reputable and moderately respected in the world, but the boy wants to go down a pre-med track, and I’m hard-pressed to believe that UGA is the most qualified school to go to for a guy who’s interested in biology and pre-med.  Just in the SEC, I know that Auburn is a better school for such things, but I can’t imagine the level of education and awareness of the world outside of Laurens County is particularly high.

Either way, I’m already getting tired of writing about #TRYHARDs from Georgia with fairly mediocre numbers in the inevitable grand spectrum of #TRYHARDSZN, so good on this one guy for 60 acceptances and $1M in scholarships, and getting to go to his dream school right up the road, but when the dust settles, there’s already bigger #TRYHARDs and bigger dreams being chased by much bigger overachievers.