<p>hmmm,,,i need to dooo community service? any advice where? church? do u have to have an official record of service?</p>
<p>Our school elections were held at the end of the '06-'07 school year. Since I'm in our school's local Gifted-and-Talented program, and the majority of our school voted for the more 'popular' candidate, I lost the election. </p>
<p>Should I include in my applications that I ran for school president? Will it be considered a negative aspect that I lost, or would they be impressed that I tried? Should I explain why I believe I lost, or should I not say anything at all?</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>hmm,,,,ARE GREEN CARD HOLDERS ABROAD INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS??</p>
<p>I never did have an official record of community service. I guess for college, I'll have to change that, but because I had a specific teacher and group of kids, I never thought to, and I talked about it in so much detail in my interviews, describing different kids and classroom exercises, it probably didn't occur to them, either, that I might be making it up. Plus, the teacher I was working for wrote a letter of reccomendation.
Sorry, I just don't know about the Green Card thing. Call the schools!
There probably aren't very many extracurriculars that you can start right now. The point is to focus on showing them what you already have. So, try naming the top two or three things your are interested (one would probably be music, considering you've been plaing for seven years. Think about what else is really important to you.) Then, you just have to find a way to show them.</p>
<p>wow thx prettyckitty~~ i just hope i can figure sth out other than music,,,,,
hmm,,,,would helping out ppl that are unprivaledged a thing i could say as sth i value? cuzz i really do,,and even wrote a story for school about it,,which did earn me an A+,,,and my dream IS to become a lawyer to help these ppl out,,,hmm,,,so i just talk about experiences and why i am passionate about helping the unpreviladged and give them a copy of my story? im actually thinkin about making it longer and binding it into a short story,,,would that be enough? the story is based on many experiences from my own life of unpreviladged ppl....</p>
<p>remember not to freak out during the whole application process.. like I did.
It's just too much unneeded stress.</p>
<p>Hey Msu! what happened when u freaked out? lol...
r u in boardingschool right now? i just have a few questions....</p>
<p>Nothing really happened. I just got super stressed at times and wanted to give up on the whole idea of applying to boarding school because I had so many questions about bs.</p>
<p>I'm going to be a new junior next year at Milton. You can ask me whatever you want :)</p>
<p>boardinggoaler: I hold an american passport but I've lived in China most of my life. I was / am considered an international student...
They determine if you are international from your address...so you'd probably be international too.</p>
<p>Don't freak out about the whole EC thing though, just focus on the ones you already have ...since you probably don't have enough time to start new ones and excel at them.</p>
<p>I didn't start new ones when I applied...
but I just continued to play the sports that I play.
And also, you don't NEED to do community service. I didn't, but it's certainly a plus if you do.</p>
<p>I also went to a volleyball camp, now I'm at a tennis academy, and I will go to a university to study chinese after tennis...to improve on the things I enjoy doing. </p>
<p>P.S. I'm going to Choate this fall =)</p>
<p>Hey Helen! It's nice to know that international students still have a high chance of acceptance in places lyke choate,,,,i''ll pm about the details,,but what was ur ssat grade,,,and what kinda ECs did ya do? btw,do we have to take toefl if we're international students? plezzzz say NOOO///</p>
<p>LOL Msu~i'm kinda in a state lyke u right now...haha....i just wanna know if international students can get financial aid?? i'll be starting a new thread on green card/citizens abroad,,,so check it out if u know anything,,,</p>
<p>and about milton: once again: what was ur ssat grade,,,what ecs did u do,,,and how the heck did u impress the admins?? haha thxxx</p>
<p>overall sat was 94. my verbal was 96, math i think was a 91.. and i bombed the reading- 76.</p>
<p>art (i sent in a portfolio of some of my pieces. i also included some photography and writing)
chinese dance
tennis
photography editor and editor of my school newspaper
I was in a few clubs
latin award
umm.. i had a few more ec's but I can't remember
basically, I didn't have anything INCREDIBLY outstanding. </p>
<p>i was got off the waitlist (just in case you didnt know)
impressing the admins.. I don't know.. my art? I know i was terrified during my interview because it was my first one and I didnt know what to expect. I talked about my travelling experiences and my passion for writing mainly.
Just always talk about what youre passionate about (in essays and a little in interviews.)</p>
<p>-you would be an international student, and thus aid is unlikely, esp. if your parents are professionals (j&j, samsung)
-there is no formula for admissions.</p>
<p>i love horseback riding -- i've been doing it since i was 4, and it's very, very natural for me.. i love riding, i love horses and studying them (anatomy, behavior, riding techniques), i'm at peace when i ride, and i'm passionate about it.</p>
<p>thus, i like equestrian therapy -- helping others (mentally challenged, physically challenged) learn to ride to help them with their problems, since riding is very therapeutic. this was my main communiy service thing. i didn't do it because i should, i just love it and i love being around horses.. i think this was obvious to the admissions officers.</p>
<p>i have a younger brother who acts up often (much more than any other child), and i have to deal with it. it's like taking care of a giant, 115 lbs. baby. it requires a huge deal of patience, responsibility, resourcefulness, diligence, and equanimity. it has contributed to my character, much like community service. this was something that came up in my interviews, and i believe it was weighed even more than my community service participation.
it set me apart in a very unconventional way (among many other things which set me apart) and revealed every quality which is necessary for success in the high-stress institutions like the top secondary schools in the world.</p>
<p>one of my recs was just glowing in every way. they took a lot of time focusing on how i am very selfless and what i do for others when nobody is counting hours, which is more important than community service.</p>
<p>so, i didn't have 1000 hours of volunteering, but i had what i think is more important^^.</p>
<p>i also love writing and philosophy and my essays showed this. i have reread them since the admissions phase, and i'm still very impressed with what i was able to write. my essays revealed insight (key), awareness of matters overlooked by many my age (esp. exeter), creativity and originality, great determination, and in some (exeter and tabor, esp.), the ability to be pretty damn witty when the time is right. my 2 essays for exeter were particularly good.. i mean, that's probably why i got in, when it came down to it. they're were both really refined and original and on totally different topics, approached in 2 totally different ways. the essays are more important than many seem to believe. a few points on a score doesn't mean anything. a kid with a 99 and a well written, cute and safe essay vs. a kid with a 85 and a phenomenally unique and impressive essay which demonstrates a great deal of insight which many educated adults have never even experienced... theres no competition. these schools want truly smart kids.. not just booksmart, but kids who can hold their own in a philosophy debate or at least refresh the admissions officers with creativity.</p>
<p>my andover interviewer said something along the lines of this:
"[andover] gets [overachievers] by the truckloads. and my buddy [the head of school or some high ranking official at andover] said over golf a while ago, 'we don't want 'em - we could fill the school with them, and that's not what we want'."</p>
<p>they want authenticity. they want real, good, smart kids who will later contribute to the advancement of societies. they don't want just another future stock broker or businessman. perhaps a businessman who will develop/participate in a business which transforms a culture (Ford, Google) or maybe a stock broker who makes millions and then gives it all away. or someone like kissinger or roosevelt.</p>
<p>wow blair~i dunno what i;m gonna do for essay;;;i should start up on some history....i'm really interested in it,,,but i don't THAT much,,,just enough to get me credit in class haha...well,,,i'm really sorry but anyone who wants to tell me their scores,,,plezz tell me how many u got wrong and what percentile that was,,,thxxx,,,i totally bombed my diagnostic haha i'm hoping to practice more and get better haha</p>
<p>For math: 1 or 2 wrong, 93rd percentile.
Reading: 1 or 2 wrong, 98th percentile.
Vocabulary: 24835585333 wrong, 8X percentile. :D</p>
<p>Overall: 97th percentile.</p>
<p>LOL chaos theory!! dude,,,how the freak am i supposed to get lyke 2 wrong in reading and lyke 5 wrong in vocab?? that's just mental! buttt then again,,,everyone here are geniuses haha cept me of course haha LOL,,,,but seriuously,,,i screw up in verbal---lyke heck a lot...</p>
<p>Whatever you do, I have two points of advice for you:</p>
<p>1) Don't use Barrons. Don't. DON'T. Please, use Princeton Review.
2) Don't catch a fever on testing day. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>It's all you need. It's your plan for success. You can do it. It'll be a breeze.</p>
<p>haha thnnxx chaos! ur lyke he only person that actually gives advice i can FOLLOW haha LOL,,,,lyke everything else is lyke do tihs do that do community blahblahblah haha anywayy y not barrons?? uhoh--i always use barrons....and mcgrawhill...and kaplan,,uhohhh y is barrons so bad??</p>
<p>Barrons is great for many things, but definitely not the SSAT. You'll find that the practice tests don't even remotely resemble the SSAT. Also, it literally has about 2 questions wrong for every 4 or 5 correct. The explanations are incorrect, and the answers are incorrect, so you won't be able to accurately assess your progress. The math section is especially bad - you'll begin to wonder if the writers were pulling an all-nighter writing the book. :D </p>
<p>Using Barrons means winging the SSAT. I had to find that out the hard way. :D</p>
<p>For an eighth grade female, November 2006 test: I don't quite remember how many I got wrong in each. I would guess around 4 or 5 wrong Verbal, 3 wrong Quantatative, and 2 wrong Reading. Take those approximations with a grain of salt; I could be way off. I'll try to find my paper.</p>