<p>@Rishav
Good luck! As much as studying full ball is important, don’t you find it easier to concentrate if you do a little (as in like an hour a week or so) of sport or something fun but relaxing too? <em>Sorry, just something I do… I keep swimming and gyming…as long as my exams aren’t too close together anyway</em>
But good luck again - Sounds like you did well in your SAT’s - you should do well for your exams!</p>
<p>I have actually seen that they turn away many 2400’s… what I don’t get is that a lot of those 2400’s seem to have tons of amazing EC’s and hooks of some sort… The more I think of it, I really feel like it is almost more of a game of Russian Roulette than anything really?!?</p>
<p>:/ I don’t know if I would have done anything that they would have wanted to see… like… it sounds bad but I don’t really play their game haha… for example, counting the minimum hours of just my first aiding at just my school’s rugby games - I must have done somewhere around 75+ hours… but I never recorded it. (Plus I only did the first aid cause I woke up early on Saturdays, didn’t want to get into uniform for the 1st team rugby matches, free food, shade and shelter when it rains… and the 1st teams physio was pretty hot haha! ← that I found out after the fact though)</p>
<p>Well it is a big deal in India ~ and I need to do really well in one of the toughest boards(ISC) - if I hope to have a chance at NUS/NTU(in Singapore), so I will have to study. Though, I won’t be studying full time ~ have never done so my entire life!!
I will have to cut down on time spent with friends drastically though!! And as most of my ECs are related with school and school’s officially over - I have nothing else to do except eat, sleep, study, play FIFA13 and occasionally slip out to a friend’s house!! :D</p>
<p>And my SATs didn’t go as well as I hoped ~ but I can’t complain, cause they atleast allow me to respectfully apply to the Ivies!!
And look at the decisions thread from previous years - and I bet you’ll find a 2400 reject!! True - all the 2400s seem to have gone a quest to conquer the whole world!
To some extent the no. of fancy ECs is directly proportional to money ~ don’t want to crib but just saying.</p>
<p>Its more than roulette. Think of it this way - its your hard earned money(–your application & dedication–) and its the adcoms who are gambling with it!! :p</p>
<p>I meant that in India, the only thing you need to do for undergrad is write competitive exams such as the IITJEE. So I never really cared about internal grades, ECs, etc. - and did as I pleased. Had I been better informed - I would have planned for applying to the USA!! And putting in the no. of hrs/wk was probably the toughest thing on the common app!! I mean who knows how much time in a week I dedicated to photography?? I spend 3 hrs in one week and then don’t do anything for the next three weeks before going off on a day long trip in the 4th week!! Haha, well my participation in MUNs had a lot to do with socializing - with… (since late night parties are not my thing!!) :p</p>
<p>Sounds like you have a plan set for your exams - well give or take Yea, for our finals… apart from loads of swimming and gyming on my part… my friends played FIFA, COD and Dead Space! was a good time waster watching and playing In hind sight I still probably should have put more work in (especially my Chem and Further Maths).</p>
<p>Still sounds like you did pretty well (2100+?) - which according to my sister (good ol’ Princeton grad, no pressure lol ) her friends who helped with the admissions said that the SAT generally doesn’t mean much to them, they apparently only want about a 2100 or higher (of course they look below that… but just grade wise a 2100 is about the limit). Hopefully things haven’t changed.
True! Though accomplishments in those EC’s aren’t all due to money? Like I’ve been able to add Diving and Kite surfing to my EC’s (both quite expensive as far as some sports go) - and I don’t really have any accomplishments in those haha! Just having some fun here and there :)</p>
<p>Yea, I found that estimating the time spent for my EC’s was very odd… I just took what I usually do per week and then added on an hour or so since some weeks were considerably more (instead of considerably less)… the weeks was the hard one for me.</p>
<p>I did not even know I would be going beyond my JEE books till like April… when my friend started his app:) The funny part was that all those things that I did for fun actually turned into “EC’S” that are going to decide where I end up…lol:) Wish I had known sooner.</p>
<p>Hey and is my 2050 SAT too low for dartmouth…I can’t change it but anyways:)???</p>
<p>@Quiver
I think it might be fine… I was just pointing out that my sister said that for Princeton a 2100+ was required of the majority of applicants. Dartmouth, still brilliant university, I think doesn’t have as high a “cut off”. I think 2000+ should be good enough as long as your SAT subjects and school grades are great.</p>
<p>@Sunny, Internal grades = GPA. In India we mostly have a percentage system of marking in school, so I used the term “Internal grades” instead of GPA!! Also we have our “External” exams conducted by the Council(ISC, CBSE) which is similar to the German Atibur - I presume!!
And the major driving force behind most of my ECs is the opportunity to miss classes!! :p</p>
<p>@Raith - Hopefully a 2000+ SAT will be good enough for them to see the rest of OUR applications??
And I meant something else when I said fancy ECs. For eg. A friend of mine went to Beijing for a conference(something organized by the United Nations). Over there he met Ban Kyi Moon & did some pretty cool stuff. This will obviously look good on his resume ~ but the fact remains that he had to pay loads of $$ for it and that he wasn’t selected or anything for the conference!!</p>
<p>Yup - both hrs/wk & wks/yr were tough. And I ended up making a big mistake!!
I didn’t tick(forgot to) the box for 11th Std. for two of my ECs!!</p>
<p>@Quiverfox - Dunno. Hopefully 2000+ is enough!</p>
<p>@Rishav
Oh ok, I see what you mean then. Most of my EC’s are driven by me trying to find things that keep me motivated to keep working hard by bringing a type of excitement… I am kinda like an adrenaline junky! Extreme sports, races… anything that gets those juices flowing! :D</p>
<p>I guess my research work would be my coolest EC…still don’t know if its cool enough…cause it was never meant to stand inside a list of EC’s…It was actually something I loved:)</p>
<p>@Aus
Lets hope we all get in!
Awesome - always a good area to go into. My sister graduated with Economics as her minor (she did pretty well for herself though )</p>
<p>@Quiver
I can relate (or at least I think I can) - I did loads and loads of research on quantum theories, new developments in sustainable development, new materials and their proposed uses (but more importantly their main physical attributes). None of it was for EC’s or my applications… it was all because I had some spare time and I wanted to research things I was interested in.
Thanks Rishav for beating me to the question -_- I’m also very interested to know what your research was on. :)</p>
<p>MRU – Mauritius/South Africa/UK
Blue – India
Miller – Kenya/Tanzania
MeIsHM – UK
PO – UK/Oman
Canadian2013 – Canada
Keya – India
Iboss – South Korea
Rishav – India
Lemming101 – UK
Sunny – Germany
Quiverfox – India
Lefty - India
French - France
Ishfromaus - Australia</p>
<p>Slowly building up the group! We still need one person from South America to have at least one person from each continent.</p>
<p>We have established that Dartmouth has a swimming requirement. You probably need a 2000+/2100+ to have a better chance of getting in (any higher is probably a little bonus, but higher than a “cut off”). Swimmers, Horse Riders, Footballers, Photographers, Cricketers - nice selection of sporty people. We seem to agree that we probably could have done more to look good on our applications - but I feel most (if not all) of us did take part in our passions as far as EC’s go. A few have had their interviews - they seem to have enjoyed them and each have had a good conversation about different things with their interviewer (spiders, books). </p>
<p>Very different backgrounds, but everyone has a few things in common;</p>
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<p>Go GREENS! </p>
<p>**** Just a fun summary update ****</p>
<p>–> For any late comers who couldn’t be bothered to read through 170+ posts!</p>
<p>@Raith
I think you have missed a lot if you didn’t have to do that. I love projects. Teachers fill their lessons with presentations. You can eat or go on a trip with your class. You can skip lessons because there is something to do for your project. This is really amazing
Thanks ;)</p>
← that I found out after the fact though)</p>
In hind sight I still probably should have put more work in (especially my Chem and Further Maths).</p>
Just having some fun here and there :)</p>