<p>I was wondering if we could rank countries by how much a US university expects a student from that specific country.</p>
<p>Example: They expect a lot from people in Canada, but not a lot from, lets say, Java.</p>
<p>And plz, don't put sth like "Vatican City". I highly doubt anyone's from there.</p>
<p>thats kind of impossible to do…i think they want all intels to participate in a lot of EC’s no matter where they are from…even if there are’nt a lot of places to do volunteer work and interships in your country, you should create your own clubs and organisations…the unis will really appreciate your initiative and it will show the adcom you have leadership qualities</p>
<p>I disagree. My experience is that the real measure is “What did they do with the resources available to them?” That applies both in academics and in EC’s. For example, if your school (American curriculum) offers 27 AP classes and you only took 2 AP classes, then you are clearly not taking anything close to the most challenging academic program available, and the most competitive universities (HYPMS) will seriously count that against you. Whereas if your rural school doesn’t offer any and (therefore you don’t take any), it doesn’t really hurt the application. </p>
<p>Similarly, if your elect to take 5 classes to A-level (UK and many Commonwealth countries curriculum) that is normally a quite rigourous program, but if they are (for example), Dance, Film Studies, Leisure Studies, Photography and Travel and Tourism, then 5 A* grades are not considered good enought to get into Cambridge (or several of the Russell Group of universities).</p>
<p>At most competitive universities, there isn’t an absolute line that says “You need to be this tall to ride this ride”, rather there is a desire to see that you seek out challenges both inside and outside the classroom.</p>
<p>To add to the previous posters, colleges don’t have a given set of expectations for ECs. For example, colleges like leadership but they will also admit a lot of non-leader-type people. Imagine what it would be like to have a college full of leaders? Nothing would get done…</p>
<p>China and India requirements?</p>
<p>Guy…more than ur EC’s is your SOP …in which u can giv d reasons for very few EC’S</p>
<p>The term for undergraduates would be ‘essay’, and it’s not meant to be a place to give excuses for your activites (or rather lack of activities).</p>
<p>What I say is: you can’t make amends for what you didn’t do. The best you can do is to try get involved now, if you aren’t doing anything - start learning a sport, dabble in dance and music, volunteer somewhere…do something. And in the essay, concentrate on your good points - what you can offer to the college’s campus. The essay is no place to write a pity story.</p>
<p>I agree with tetrisfan, your essay is the last place where you should go about giving excuses. Although there isn’t any right or wrong essay, an admissions officer must not feel that you’re using a crucial part of your application for lamenting for what you haven’t done. Instead, employ your essay to focus on what you have done. </p>
<p>When you talk about ECs, you must keep in mind a very important factor. Your application would be read by a regional counselor first and *then<a href=“if%20found%20competitive”>/i</a> by the regular ones. The regional counselor will have a rough sketch of the academic and extracurricular scene in your country. Don’t worry, they’re not waiting there to pit you against the strongest American applicants. Although you will later be shifted to a common pool, you will be evaluated on the basis of what you have done, and not on what someone else has.</p>
<p>As for APs and Honors, if your school does not offer them, they will not be considered against you. Coming back to ECs, if you have gone out of your way to dabble in your ECs, it would put you in a better standing that an applicant (domestic or international) who hasn’t. The key is to simply make use of the best your surroundings can provide you with. Applications are read relatively and your ECs are evaluated on the basis of the opportunities available in your country and not those available in the US. If you have a humble financial standing, adcoms wouldn’t expect you to have enrolled in some costly summer program which a domestic applicant could have afforded to attend. Anyways, if you are indeed a stellar applicant, your recommendations would give the adcoms an insight into how you have made use of the opportunities available to you.</p>
<p>^ err, i don’t see what’s relevant to the question…</p>
<p>zhvxoxqew</p>
<p>You original question was pretty naive. You cannot rank countries by the level of ECs expected from their applicants. Here’s why…</p>
<p>Let’s say we employ the obnoxious barometer you suggested and try to implement it in an admissions scenario. Here is a simplified case:</p>
<p>Applicant A:
Poor family, modest high school and as a result, not-so-good ECs.</p>
<p>Applicant B:
Rich family, great high school with loads of opportunities and as a result, lots of ECs. </p>
<p>If we use your “ranking” to make the decison, you would definitely admit Applicant B. Why? Simply because you pit him against what is expected of an applicant from India, that is lesser ECs in comparison to those expected of an applicant from Canada. </p>
<p>Admissions officers evaluate applicants on the basis of their entire background, not just on the basis of their home country. The evaluate applicants on the basis of the opportunities they had, not on the ones the other applicants had.</p>
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<p>This is from my previous post, do go through it again.</p>