<p>Hi, all
i am a Asian immigrant, i moved to US when i was 16 and i attended as sophomore in high school. I live in Delaware, the 49th biggest state in US.
i heard that Asian immigration essays are cliche to some university, i have a little concern about that. but my situation may be slight different from those who immigrated at young age.
1) i immigrated to US when i was 16, almost a adult, so my thoughts are very different from American kids or ABCs,<br>
2) i will apply to east cost universities which have less Asian students than place like CA , so cliche will be a smaller problem? （NYC is an exception though.）
3) What should i avoid in essay? and what should i focus on? </p>
<p>BTW, can you guys give me some suggestion about schools? i have 3.9 unweight GPA but 1700SAT(reading and writing killed me >_<) any idea? </p>
<p>Finally, i really get lots help from this forum. Thank you!</p>
<p>Having heard my physics teacher’s rants on racist college admissions committees and how you try to bury your race, not emphasize it, I, too, was at first a little wary of this topic. </p>
<p>But because you came as almost an adult, rather than as a kid, I think you would be an exception. </p>
<p>So avoid: being “a bridge between two cultures”, eating “american food x” with chopsticks, doing “Asian cultural practice x”</p>
<p>Emphasize: immigrating to America when you had lived 16 years in Asia, learning to speak English really quickly (because, even if you studied in school, learning a language in school does not give you practical speaking skills. that, or my foreign language classes have just sucked.), adapting to a new culture quickly, and making new friends quickly. </p>
<p>Actually, East Coast private schools are probably harsher to Asian applicants than West Coast schools (with the exception of Stanford.) The UC system has race blind admissions, BTW, though, if you’re out of state, the tuition will pretty high. (Still less than a private school, but you don’t get as much for your money.)</p>
<p>I can’t be of any help on writing. But for CR (I got a 780): read as many challenging books as you possibly can. Try to figure out what’s going on. When cramming time hits, maybe use a prep book. But, until then, READ! It will probably improve your vocab/writing style as well, which should help on writing.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, Clienk.
is it a good idea to have comparison of China education with American education by telling a my experience? (example: when counselor asked me to select courses, i had totally not idea(in China, everyone has same schedule) and later, i found out what i liked and what i was good at.) and final express my feeling about education here, how it makes an individual “individual”</p>
<p>well, its all about how you write it. But hey, don’t just dig into your immigrant aspect; It can’t be of much help on its own, even with race-blind admissions. Immigration and difficulties arising from your late immigration are only part of you as a person, and there are tens of thousands others who moved in around your age and had a harder time, and yet achieved a great deal. </p>
<p>What I suggest is that you find your own story. No, don’t talk about how hard it was or how happy/motivated you are as of now as compared to your past. That will come to the admissions officers as being whiny. You need some drama. Yeah, you heard that right: Drama! Focus on a specific experience or character trait of you. If it will be about your overcoming of hardships, then be sure you have some flare in the part where you achieved maturity and went beyond your previous self.</p>
<p>In my case, I moved in about a year earlier than you did -I hail from East Asia also. But while I do mention my immigration bit in my essay, it is merely a sentence, and is only hinting towards it, not about it. I am getting my immigration part covered by the teacher & counselor recs -I don’t feel the need to waste any words when 500 words is already insufficient. You’ll find it interesting though that I am writing about a bit of a trite topic: the overcoming of hardships. But no, this isn’t about immigration or the adaptation (adjustment) process. I devoted a good half of my essay on analysis and… Well that’s my essay so I’ll just stop here:P</p>
<p>Sorry my previous comment is so messy -I swear I write more promptly usually.</p>
<p>But here are my two cents:
Make sure the essay reveals you as a person. Your personality and records not shown in the resume/recommendations -the latter of which you’ll have to assume- should be exposed.
No story is a cliche! The only reason why immigration is a chiche topic is because everyone just whines about how hard it was and how much they improved… In other words, it is the way they write it that is cliche, not the topic itself.</p>
<p>I will be happy if you continue talk about you essay ^_^(may be i can borrow something hahah)
i will avoid talking about hardship or something like that.
can i analyzing a phenomena that i encountered? is it also reveal what kind person i am to college? (i mean tell my thoughts instead of just saying "i am a XXXX student ")</p>