Something cannot emerge from nothing

So I'm down to 6 days on my countdown to Stanford SCEA decisions. It's a moment I've been anticipating for the last month and a half. I stopped listening to reassurances of "Oh sure, you'll get in!" long ago. While I appreciate the good will, I have to admit that many people don't understand that this time I'm up against a different beast altogether. This isn't just some other academic competition where sheer mental determination alone can get me through.

Since my ordeal of trying to gain a placement in a US college began, I've read far too many articles about what colleges are looking for in an applicant and they all seem to say different things. While some purport that colleges are seeking well-rounded applicants, others say that colleges are interested in people with strong passions. In any case, it's all very vague and I have given up on cracking the secret code to getting in to a top college. It seems to me no such code exists, and that the entire process is very arbitrary. Today, an acquaintance from a maths forum I frequent was deferred from MIT. He has just about the best test scores and extracurriculars anyone could wish for, so based on test statistics alone, he definitely was a top candidate. Many of us with the same mathematical bent are discouraged by his bit of bad luck, and there were lots of attempts to shrug off the seriousness of the whole thing: "If you don't get into your dream college, it's not the end of the world!"

I'm sure I'll laugh off the whole "drama" of getting into college when I'm through with the whole ordeal. I've been told time and again that college is not what ultimately defines you. But really, how could anyone know that for sure? No one has had the luxury of examining an alternate timeline in a parallel world where he/she attends a different college.

All I can say is that, right now, it is hard to find any mirth in being caught in the maelstrom of college apps.