<p>which do colleges want
lets hear your opinions</p>
<p>undoubetdly awesome in 1 area</p>
<p>unfortunately for me im well rounded and not awesome in any area</p>
<p>yup, these days the trend is "focused", not well-rounded</p>
<p>Focused, but they usually 'prefer' a side-hobby thats not big or important that shows your not just the typical math-nerd or leadership-geek - most of the time though they dont really care if you have this 'balance' bs, and they will take an Intel Semifinalist over a Local Science fair winner who's also in history club. </p>
<p>Of course, it's nice if your an intelsemifinalist, a track runner, a philosophy club member, and a professional cello-ist all at the same time!</p>
<p>yea actaully i take back what i said,</p>
<p>they want a mixture of the 2, you have to be awesome at everything</p>
<p>actually they don't create rules for themselves when selecting people. some get in by being good in one area, some get in by being well-rounded. they're creating a class here and there's a spot for every kind of good student.</p>
<p>yale is known for people that are only really good in 1 area.
Princeton on the other hand is known for well rounded people :)</p>
<p>I have one of each - a kid who is totally focused one one subject (with lots of impressive accomplishments to back it up) and a kid who is into anything and everything (and just starting in High School, so not a lot of accomplishments just yet). I have no doubt they will each find a place in a good college. </p>
<p>Although we havent really started to look at colleges for kid#2, I think it will be more difficult. For kid #1, he just looked at the schools that had an excellent rep for his subject.</p>
<p>I disagree w/Erroln (who's a current P Tiger) and his generalization of Yalies. They want excellent students. Sometimes they are excellent in one area, sometimes they are excellent in many (the well rounded types). To say that Y and P choose so radically different is incorrect. I've been recruiting for Y the last twenty years. I certainly wasn't excellent in any single area -- I was definitely the well rounded type -- as were all my good friends there.</p>
<p>A lot of schools (ESPECIALLY in California) now look down on you if you're NOT well-rounded. To cater to that, a lot of schools in CA have started requiring things such as X hours of Community Service and classes such as Philosophy and Ethics. California schools are taking a much more holistic look at apps than many other schools.</p>
<p>Both. This false dichotomy is a vestige of years long since past. The top schools no longer need to chose one or the other, they can simply only admit those who are both exceptional in one are and excel in all.</p>
<p>HisGrace -- All Cali schools, or just the UCs?</p>
<p>If that is happening in California, it will probably soon carry over to the rest of the nation.</p>
<p>^Most if not all. For example. When you apply for any CSU, if you have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0, they do not require a minimum SAT score in order to be "eligible" for admission.</p>
<p>Of course, the private schools do things differently, and I don't know the UC system as well as the CSUs, but they do things at least somewhat similarly.</p>
<p>well, UC system is very different from private schools, and I don't think they are trend-starters either, well, at least not trends that others follow</p>
<p>so the general conscencus is... BOTH!?!</p>