<p>Just a general question, not necessarily for Princeton apps alone.</p>
<p>Would you recommend still including things like National Honor Society, that everyone else is in, in your app even if you're not an officer or anything significant?</p>
<p>Or will putting down "National Honor Society-- Member" be pretty useless and make you look bad compared to others?</p>
<p>So basically, should we put down all our ECs or Awards or just put down the ones that are really eye-catching and different?</p>
<p>i put all the meaningless ECs/award anyways...i figured it couldnt hurt, but i did put my most important ones first</p>
<p>i'd put down ALL of them, but id structure them aswell (worst to best, or best to worst, whatever). After all, awards are good things, and should certainly be emphasised(this is coming from a person who had a distinct lack thereof)</p>
<p>I put them just so that they knew I was in them. But only the honors societies. I did leave a few meaningless activities out. I would rather them see that I am devoted to the things I participated in than see that I randomly join activities for the purpose of having them on my resume. Only one of the activities/honors I put I was not fully involved in and that was Spanish Honors society.</p>
<p>Oh also, id put down all awards/recognitions but not all activities.</p>
<p>I also put down all the awards and left out many of the activities that I was really not involved in.</p>
<p>Yeah I was just wondering because every time someone posts one of their Chances threads, it seems like they include every little thing.</p>
<p>I left out one i quit in sophomore year and one that i'm mildly involved in just for fun. NHS isn't gonna hurt you or help you by putting it or not, unless you're an officer then it will help you.</p>
<p>That was just an example but I left out sooo many things it seems.
I only put a few things that I spent a lot of time in, had a lot of officer roles, and won a lot of awards in.</p>
<p>Well they say not to have a "laundry list" so it's okay to pick and choose to some degree.</p>
<p>I actually left out quite a few activities/"awards" like NHS, National Society of High school something, National Honor Roll, math team, school committee advisory council. I thought my activity list was way too long with them in. >><<</p>
<p>Yeah same here Arwen.
Meh, I did leave out a couple of "important" ones on accident but I e-mailed them to them while I was updating something too.</p>
<p>for all the honor society stuff, i put them under honors/distinctions. not under EC activities section</p>
<p>Hey, just wanted to piggyback my own question about the activity list.</p>
<p>I did most of my activities outside of school, so I want to mail a more detailed activity list to the schools I'm applying to, supplementing the Common Application. However, most of the stuff I did is not the kind that has convenient proof of participation like certificates and the like (things like being a self-taught guitarist and starting a rock band), so they won't show up on my counselor or teacher recs. My question is will the admissions officers think I'm lying if I don't have someone to stamp and seal my activity list? Would you recommend getting my counselor to sign it so that it's lent the weight of authority? This is probably a stupid question, but I just don't know if it's par for the course for an outside-activity list to be verified by a school counselor. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
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<p>I'm in a rock band and I self taught myself a few instruments. For me, I just put it in the Additional Information section.</p>
<p>There are a lot of things that can't be backed by a certificate or something concrete...so I wouldn't be worried.</p>
<p>yeh, the entire section on Summers could be made up if u think about it. i wouldnt worry about not having certificate, but i would, if possible, try to get your guidance counselor report to mention some.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, but it would seem I have one more question about the activity list (well, my activity list at least); one which requires a little briefing to understand. Skip to the second to last paragraph for the question itself - encapsulated by *****'s.</p>
<p>In Trinidad the school system is lamentably lackluster. Even "prestige" secondary schools, like the one I went to, are fraught with problems, running the gamut from teacher absenteeism to inoperative Chemistry labs, to frequent teacher changes for a given subject, to dealing with the inherent challenges in switching the syllabuses of all the different subjects from 'A' levels to CAPE. Regardless of the exact nature of the problems though, one fact remains; it is nigh-impossible to succeed when reliant solely on your school. Which brings up the major quirk of our educational system: Private lessons.</p>
<p>Students of all backgrounds, all schools, all intellectual and scholastic capacities, take private lessons - at great expense to their parents and/or their own savings to boot - in order to ensure their academic survival. Taking private lessons is by no means indicative of laziness in school, scholastic ineptitude or even monetary wealth; it is simply a fact of life. </p>
<p>I am one such student who took private lessons to supplement my government-funded schooling. If I hadn't, I would have surely floundered academically, along with many others. In fact, those who obtain the best results are (unsurprisingly) those who go to these "outside teachers" for class, devoting hours upon hours of their time to these costly sessions just to keep their grades up. </p>
<p>I spent upwards of 20 hours a week in lessons, between actually being in class, commuting and doing the <em>homework</em> assigned by the teachers. As you can imagine, this ate quite a lot of time that could have been spent furthering my passions and taking part in community service. In the end, all this payed off - I got my A's and my 1's, and for my academic excellence I won a highly competitive National Additional Scholarship entitling me to around US $10000 a year. </p>
<p>I managed to have a life though; I taught myself to play guitar, formed a rock band and was in a couple of choirs. However, having looked at some of the ECs that other applicants to Ivy League schools have undertaken, I can't help but feel like a worm crawling among Superhumans would. </p>
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<p>Having said all that, my question is this: If I have an activity that took up a LOT of time, an activity that was essential to my academic survival but which crippled my capacity for extra curricular involvement, how can I use this to my advantage, incorporate it into my application? </p>
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<p>I do NOT want to seem like I'm making excuses; that is the last thing I would ever want to do. What I do want to do is put my achievements (or lack thereof) into perspective, into context, all without coming across bitter, derisory or derogatory of my school and country, but I fear that no matter how well I tiptoe with my language, the whole thing will come out... damaging my cause. Is there ANY WAY to gussy up my application so that Ivy League admissions officers will not throw me in the pile of other applicants with 2300+ SAT scores and pathetic community and extra curricular involvement, so that they would know, beyond any reasonable doubt, that I am ready to take on whatever challenges they can conceivably bring? </p>
<p>I'm sorry... I got carried away. If anyone read this through to the end, they're either a saint or completely bored. Thanks very much for your time.</p>
<p>what kind of activity are you talking about?</p>
<p>You might consider mentioning your circumstances in the additional info section...</p>
<p>Yeah - I think you should mention it in the additional info section...I think that the adcoms will actually look favourably upon it - I mean that's a lot of commitment and passion for your schoolwork! It shows perseverance and determination (hmmm...that's a tiny bit tautologous, I think! lol), and I don't think they could fairly discriminate against you for doing that! :) They are far more likely to accept you now than if you had rubbish grades and a host of varied ECs! Also, you shouldn't compare yourself to most of the other people here: they haven't had to fight for their education like you have! Plus, the fact that you're from Trinidad will help a bit (I think)...Ivies like to have a varied student body...:) I rate that you give it a go: you can't get in unless you try, and I think they'll see your commitment and reward rather than penalise you for it! Good luck! :)</p>