<p>Not trying to continue the asian-sentiment thread, but I'm starting to think that orchestra puts you into the boring asian category and masks other achievements. You would stand out better without that EC in the way.</p>
<p>I'm very unsure though. Please post opinions!</p>
<p>(I put orchestra as my 3rd EC, luckily)</p>
<p>Follow your passion. Do something creative with your music. It doesn't have to be boring.</p>
<p>why would it hurt ur chances? there must be a reason y u do orchestra (hopefully not for college reasons). just cuz ur asian doesnt mean that u cant do something that ur heart leads to. if u are passionate about it, then thats a good reason y it belongs on ur EC list.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Hurt? Of course not. it's a fantastic EC and you'll have lifelong benefits from it.</p>
<p>But if you're talking about the ultra selectives and Orch is your only EC, then you'll be indistinguishable from many other Asian applicants and therefore will need some other remarkable achievements to get noticed.</p>
<p>Sorry, did I miss some previous posts? I am new. I thought orchestra is something good?
I am in the HS orchestra too</p>
<p>Thanks peeps, I feel better. this whole asian cookiecutter deal has got me worried sick.</p>
<p>The fact that there is even an "Asian cookiecutter" is completely racist. Why does an Asian with the same stats as a white dude have to do more extra curriculars to get into the same top university? Just plain racist. They should get rid of legacy and make admissions based on academic and extracurricular merit. I bet almost 50% of all top universities would be Asian if they did things that way. But of course. The USA is a "white christian country" so they HAVE to preserve a white majority at the top universities.</p>
<p>^ Uh...this whole "Asian cookiecutter" concept is nothing more than the threadstarter's (paranoid) speculation.</p>
<p>It's not "official school policy" or anything like that.</p>
<p>Calm the f**** down.</p>
<p>It's intrinsically rewarding to play in an orchestra. Play music for the joy of playing music. If you make every decision about how to live your life based on how others will react to it, you won't really be living your life. You'll be living someone else's notion of what your life should be.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. I mean, hell. This ain't math club. Music is supposed to be PASSIONATE and introspective!</p>
<p>angry asian: Let me ask you a question. From your post, i assume you consider yourself one of the academically and EC overachievers. If you could be guaranteed into your top choice school (which currently probably doesn't have 50% asian student population) but that the rest of your incoming class would be just like you (Asian overachiever) and that the perceived educational experience would then also plummet due to the bland uniformity of incoming freshmen -- would you do it?</p>
<p>Or would you much rather enter your top choice school with its current ~15% Asian population and ~10% other minorities? Which would you likely find to be more engaging and broadening?</p>
<p>I was fortunate enough to get into my top choice, an HYP college. I'm an atypical Asian however. </p>
<p>In conclusion, I support the current methodologies that the private colleges and others use to admit their classes. You can't have your cake and eat it too, I say.</p>
<p>If I may add:</p>
<p>It seems that some of arguments made in this thread are the same anti-diversity, sometimes anti-affirmative action stances. The unmistakable fact is that 90% of the USA's colleges will admit someone based on great test scores and transcript. But if one looks at the so-called "top 25" colleges, by and far, they mostly practice the "holistic" admissions process that riles some. What does that say?</p>
<p>Is there anything wrong with admitting based on scores/GPA? No, none at all. And people are free to apply to as many of those as possible. (I applied to two top engineering pgms that took me based on my metrics alone).</p>
<p>But the problem is that the rarefied "top 25" sees as a foundation to have a diverse and excellent student body -- not just the top scorers.</p>
<p>If one wishes to have a "top 25" college confer a degree but also advocates stripping the school of one of its primary means to maintain its excellence and its mission to provide the best possible education for its students (not just the top scoring HS seniors any given year), then I see incongruity.</p>
<p>Yes, I would in fact love to go to a university with a large percentage of Asians because I'm sick and tired of going to a school where only like 5% of the people are Asian and I am the only Chinese/Taiwanese person. I can get along just fine with non-Asians and get along really well with hispanics, but my school is pretty much an all-white school, meaning that there is pretty much no diversity. That's why Stanford is my top choice (24% Asian). Not only that but Stanford has an awesome martial arts program and awesome introductory seminars (where you get to learn about subjects not necessarily in the core curriculum) that look AWESOME!!</p>
<p>^ Asians make up only 4.4% of the US population. If your school has a higher percentage than that, consider yourself lucky, not "marginalized".</p>
<p>That's like me going to a university in Asia and being upset there are so many Asians there. -_-</p>
<p>^lol. </p>
<p>Back on the subject doing orchestra won't hurt your chances. I did orchestra and I got into Duke ED and my sister also did orchestra and she went to MIT. However, I do suggest that orchestra should complement some other ECs.</p>
<p>No. I like to look at states because I would never want to live in the midwest or deep south where there is a lot of institutionalized racism (and I don't really think of those parts of the US as parts of the US more like Jesusland). Washington state is 7.69% Asian. Therefore, I am in fact marginalized.</p>
<p>On topic, orchestra should definitely be a plus and never a minus. I pity the fool who thinks that Asian + orchestra = bad.</p>