<p>so basically, you did those things to get into college AND for yourself
great job</p>
<p>LMAO. English isn't my first language. I thought I told you that :[. If your first language is English, how come you spelt "make" wrong. oo;;;; LMAO Big Book of Passions? ROFFL! Hey listen, I didn't know you went to a public school. xP! "/sarcasm" should of been "[is being sarcastic]" xP. I don't know. When I read your thread, it just made me thought of robots being all perfect. :]</p>
<p>:] Oh yea. I'm sorry I'm not "intellectual" and speak proper "English" like you. :] I'm just imperfect. Heh, wackyjobs? oo;; Dude, don't you mean wacky job? Oo; Wackyjob should be seperate shouldn't it? I was saying that if you got into Havard based on your "theory about without passion" then you're right. If you don't, seems like you're wrong. oO;</p>
<p>he meant "wackjob" (or "whackjob"?) That is a noun. Fool. @( :] ||||||& :] [:</p>
<p>I'm sorry, it appears that everytime you post, I get stupider...</p>
<p>Its too hard to follow your disjointed ramblings, maybe if they weren't puncuated by incessant smileys it'd be easier.</p>
<p>But enough this isn't about you, I don't have a "theory about without passion." Theories are just substantiated hypothesis, this is an argument against people telling others they shouldn't do things solely for college.</p>
<p>spydertennis: calm down and watch some T.V., no one cares any more</p>
<p>woah big shot, no one cares anymore, does it make you feel elitist to tell other people what they should do? Do you feel like the big macho voice of reason whos all cool now cause hes apathetic?
I love how you know exactly what everyone thinks and that no one cares anymore. Seriously you must be some sort of psychic god to probe so many peoples minds at once.</p>
<p>Spydertennis-
"Seriously you must be some kind of god to probe so many people's minds"</p>
<p>I find it interesting that you did nearly the same thing"
"every passion on a high school app is faked. " (original post).</p>
<p>Additionally, you find it elitist for him to tell others what to do? Seems as though the whole point of your first post was to tell people to do all they can to get into a good college. </p>
<p>Also, your last post was one of the most incoherent collections of words I have ever read.</p>
<p>spydertennis... you're probably right. The reason why so many people here are outraged is because you are the face of everything that we're told not to be; blindly ambitious solely for the singular goal of getting into an elite university. I'd say that this is also the driving force for many other people on this board, whether they'd like to admit it or not. They've just learned to pretend that everything they do is self motivated. I find that hard to believe. As much as I find you to be an apparently despicable character, I would have to agree with you. I'm even going to go so far as to say that I think that when people suggest that an applicant not do a particular activity 'just to get into college' they are partly motivated by a competitive desire to thwart any competition.
Well I've sold my soul, who's next?...</p>
<p>As sad as it is, filmxoxo17 and spydertennis are right. It makes a little more sense to sell yourself into slavery for only a few years than to be a slave to $$ your entire life. That said, I was the opposite of what spydertennis preaches and I turned out just fine. I don't think an ivy is for everyone.</p>
<p>well great job! you have spent the past years working your ass off and now your in the school of ur dreams. to bad academics and research didn't come to you naturally. u prob spent countless hours on such stuff while hindering ur athletic abilities and social life. i guess you just couldn't balance them both. i laugh at people like you who walk around with a sense of accomplishment. your just a failure...</p>
<p>spydertennis: Yes, i am a psychic and i do speak for the people.
You accomplished yet another thing for college. WOOT!
(You should probably write this on your application)</p>
<p>i laugh at people like you who walk around with a sense of accomplishment. your just a failure...</p>
<p>spydertennis got into the school of his dreams...... does that make his a failure?</p>
<p>By the way what school? oo;;; How old is he by the way? XP Too bad Spydey you just have to deal with the "alien" smileys. :]]]!!!!!</p>
<p>For all you crazed overachievers who only care about getting into IVYHYPMSC:</p>
<p>enjoying HS + good/fun college + top 15 grad > whoring in HS + great college + top 15 grad</p>
<p>can you get into a good grad in a top 50 undergrad school?</p>
<p>I've only skimmed over the responses but:</p>
<p>That was really cynical, sorry. I'll admit that at first, the majority, if not all, of my activities were done for college. That was freshman year. Now, two years later, I've developed a real passion for the activities that I have decided to keep and even if there was no college motivator, I would never give them up. In fact, activities like newspaper and volunteering, I will try to continue them in college, where the only motivation factor is graduate school, if I so pursue it. Though these were certainly introduced by college aspirations, since then, I've kept them because I love them. It's no longer a college thing for me. Granted, my other activities, yes, are partly motivated by college, but my main point is that not all of the activities of every person is done solely for college.</p>
<p>
[quote]
hey, guess what? your a sanctimonious preacher
"don't do it just to into college, do it cause you have a passion for it"
This has got to be the biggest sh!t I have ever heard in my life. Almost everything I do to put on my college app is done just for college. If I wasn't trying to go to Harvard I'd get horrible grades and spend my time getting drunk and getting around... if you know what I mean...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, ** this ** post is the biggest sh!t I've seen in my life.</p>
<p>Although school ended over a month ago, I still go back and participate in extracurricular activities. If I didn't give a hoot and only did what I did for college, I would have sent in my resignation letters the moment my acceptance letters arrived.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My big thing is research, in my school, which is pretty heavily into all this research crap I am the little poster boy for the research program. Look at him hes done so much blah blah blah. A little credibility to this is that I got into RSI (some super nerd program at MIT which is supposed to be more selective than the top colleges). You would look at me and say, oh he has a real passion for this research, he must really enjoy it. That would be true to an extent, it is quite fun to discover stuff and work on high science concepts and such. I also think high school science research is total bullsh!t but thats another story, maybe I'll start another thread when I feel like it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I doubt I'd say that. I don't even know what the poster boy of a research student would like.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If I didn't have to apply to college would I be doing this research? Wow, thats a good question I'm glad you asked that, the answer is, probably not, while it is cool to work on nanotechnology, it is infinitely cooler to hook up with cute chicks, no competition. And while it is possible to combine the two ;-), it doesn't usually happen.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hrm. Well, maybe for your end of the extracurricular spectrum, but FYI, I met many beautiful women and dated them while participating in my ECs. So, yes, the best of both worlds does happen, only if you want it to.</p>
<p>
[quote]
About these extracurricular activities that everyone seems to have such passion for. People are like, oh I'm a member of this and that and you ride them for creating a laundry list of clubs with no real focus. Well **** the focus, no one cares about your focus, be the President of as many clubs as you can, you can always fake a passion in your application, its not hard. "Only do things that you have a real passion for." If anyone followed this advice I'd be willing to bet all of the clubs in every school would fail due to lack of members. Everyone is lazy, you're not special, no one likes to do anything extra beyond what is required.
[/quote]
</p>
<p><sarcasm> Yes, yes, all of my positions are for titular purposes only. I serve no actual function in these clubs, if they even exist. </sarcasm></p>
<p>
[quote]
Passion my ass, every passion on a high school app is faked. And for those of you who have real passion but didn't get in cause you were too narrow minded and the kid who had your achievements, but not your passion and other stuff besides that gave you what you deserved. I don't feel sorry for you, I laugh at you and your passion, I got into college I wanted, you didn't, You and your passion didn't play the game well enough.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Actually, I ** had ** the passion and got into the college of my choice. Although my qualifications weren't as stellar as some of my peers in the coming class of 2009, I think I deserve my place in the class as much as anyone else in it. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Because that's what its all about, playing the game right and winning. If you know the rules it isn't that hard to push the right buttons and win that huge teddy bear prize. High School is the game, and College is the prize. For those of you who say it shouldn't be like that, and kids should be free to follow their passions, well, I say, can you come up with a better system? Didn't think so.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The tens of thousands of applicants who applied to Harvard this year could have pressed all the same buttons and could have won that huge teddy bear and still would have been rejected anyhow. In fact, if everyone knew the secret to college admissions, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a need for this board or much of college preparation, now would there. Of course, all you'd have is a bunch of uniformly-trained... well, let's not go there.. <em>envisions clone troopers</em></p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't tell people not to do things just for college, please people, do things just for college so you can get into the college you want to go to and do more things just for the sake of grad school. High School isn't about discovering yourself, it isn't about cultivating your bullsh!t passion, thats not what high school kids do, they experiment, are all over the place and do stuff so they can go to the college they want and discover themselves and cultivate their passion and find their goal in life.</p>
<p>Do things just for college, who cares if you like it or not. Passion be damned.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>College be damned. Do it for the passion.</p>
<p>At some point the cynicism will catch up with you. I guess life is one big job, isn't it- always working towards goals, to get into the best colleges, which will get you into the best grad school, which will get you into the best job, which will get you a good life? It seems so simple, but is it really? Tell me, do you have a special formula as to how to get your dream woman, how to create superbabies whom also get into the best colleges so it makes their Pop (you) proud and so you can share it with all your elitist & idealist "friends?"</p>
<p>All of this work and to what end? Just chill, sit down, and enjoy life for just a second- it seems you missed that in your Life Education course. It's probably a fact that many students do many things towards getting into the best schools, but that doesn't mean that it isn't shameful, naive, or ridiculous.</p>
<p>Passion is not a false notion. For some, it has temporarily been suspended for these four years, though I hope some of you guys find it once you get to college. It's sad to see so many students on these boards dreaming of that damn'd track "Pre-Med" when they could've done so much better pursuing what they're good at. Can you imagine a George Lucas operating on you? Or a Tom Hanks as your accountant? Search for their colleges if you want, but you won't find that hallowed acronym- H, Y, P, S etc. And to think, they've made millions actually enjoying life. What a concept!</p>
<p>I'd rather see people really pursue something that they might like, rather than doing a half-assed job at whatever the hell they got tricked into doing, because they forgot that while chasing after the money, there is a really, really crappy intermediate period that actually gets you the dough (unless you're a trust fund baby, of course). How you spend that time is up to you. But when we chance upon crossing paths- at a mall, on the train, at a college seminar, perhaps- do pry your tired eyes from the Wall Street Journal and you'll find a happy smile staring back at ya. Best of luck to all...</p>
<p>TTG</p>
<p>I have to say, after reading this thread I am losing alot of respect for this forum as a whole for leaving this thread unmoderated. Cheap insults on both sides, dissapointing from a forum which seemed to be mature, too bad.</p>
<p>Now on the discussion, Sneakie does have a point in his question. spydertennis, you seem very very confident in your argument, even so that you yourself know you are right. If you are, please prove it. What you have here is just what you said, theories, hypothesis. Until you prove to us that you made it into the college of your dreams, or better yet, a highly selective schools like HYP then your argument has no credibility except that of a rant.</p>
<p>So far, until your rant, doing EC's and picking classes towards things that interest you have worked for the most part, now show us how YOUR way of doing things work better. </p>
<p>I dont see whats wrong with following your passion. Research may very well be your passion and thats fine, I dont think colleges over see research for automotive. They just want a well rounded class with DIFFERENT people. You also contradicted yourself in this thread. First you argue that you should join every club you can and be the leader in them, and then you say pick a thing that colleges find most appealing and stick with that. I may have the context wrong, so correct me if I did.</p>
<p>I dont understand really. I myself am interested in business and foriegn politics... and I think it would be the smartest to pick EC's and do things that would be related to this, because I like business and I like foriegn politics, and I will enjoy myself in it, I will have fun, and my pride in what I do will show in the app with my soon to come accomplishments. Now, you are telling me that I should take dozens of Science classes even if I hate science just to make my app look better? Heh. Sounds stupid. One, it looks like if I am stuffing my app and from speaking with people, HYP people do see through that. Two, I am wasting my extra time learning and experiencing things that I most likely wont be using when I get into college since I already know, even as a Freshmen, what I plan on taking in college, which I know might change.</p>
<p>Anyways, my conclusion is PROVE YOUR THEORY or just stop posting and lets have a moderator move this thread to a rant forum or close it for good because all it is doing is misleading people to doing something that probably does not work and may cost kids 3 or 4 years of good years they should be spending by enjoying thier time. BUT, if you can prove it, then please, by all means, shut me and the others who have naysay'ed you here up and if you go as far as proving that you got into a schools like HYP, then I demand that no one else speaks against this theory. Otherwise, you have no ground.</p>