<p>Addendum:</p>
<p>I feel like my friend talked about this in the post above, but a quick Ctrl+F didn’t show up any results and I wanted to talk about it anyway, so here goes. In very succinct and crude terms, colleges want a well rounded student body and not a well rounded student. </p>
<p>Picking up from the “Social Service” point above, many applicants, in 11th or 12th grade think that suddenly showing an empathetic side by doing ‘social service’ at an old age home or a animal shelter will make up for their application in a part where it might be lacking and add another achievement to their already long list. Sure, those inconsistent instances of social services might help the needy, but is it really something to tout about on your college application? Maybe.</p>
<p>It depends on how you craft your application. Are you applying for a particular major? Are most of your extracurriculars related to a particular interest that you want to pursue in college? If you are applying for Mechanical Engineering at Berkeley and have participated, on occasion, in Olympiads and competitions, and would rather enjoy drawing a machine than drawing a tree, does it really help you if you have 30 hours of social service on your application? Again, Maybe. If you have nothing else to show for your interest in Mechanical Engineering and don’t really have a hobby which you’ve stuck with for a long time, sure. GO ahead and put it. If not, you should realize that there are far more people out there who actually love doing social service and have been doing so for a really long time. A significant part of their experiences and lives revolve around it and so they are in a much better position than you to tout about it as their strong point. Remember, Berkeley wants a well rounded student body. It would much rather want you to fill up the parking spots reserved for Nobel Laureates than having to live with the satisfaction that you are just a dilettante who feigns interest in areas that might be appreciated. Of course, this example of mine was extreme, but I hope the point was clear.</p>
<p>Sometimes, you might find yourself very interested in pursuing a particular field of study at university that may be very different from what you have been doing. Personally, I wanted to study Mechanical Engineering, but I didn’t really have anything much to show for it. Never did I ever play with Legos blocks to build machines. Nor did I fantasize about the workings of the Large Hadron Collider. What I really did with all my spare time in high school was, to write. Now you may ask, how do I justify my passion for what I am saying? The answer is, let your hobby do the talking. I centered my application around my love for writing. My extracurriculars, my awards, my essays (even my recommendations, as I later found out) were all focused on my feelings for writing and my writing projects. Yet, my intended major was mechanical engineering. The point of this entire paragraph is that colleges look for commitment. Life, is commitment. Does your application show your commitment towards your various hobbies over time? Also, as a side note, do realize that if you try to relate your hobbies to your intended field of study, it makes your job of trying to sell yourself a lot easier.</p>
<p>Finally, I’ll talk about you. You as a person. On paper. Your application is the only way colleges get to judge you. You may realize how ridiculously difficult that is; almost along the lines of judging a book by its cover. However, that’s all you have got. So everything boils down to how you present yourself. How do you write your essay? What extracurriculars do you showcase? Which awards do you talk about? Is your essay blatantly obvious about your achievements (which it shouldn’t be) or does it subtly imply your interest while keeping the reader engaged? Does everything in application gel together? Here’s an analogy that I just came up with: Imagine your application like a gift. You’ve got to decide the wrapping paper. The card. The tape. The glitter. The scent (if you’re into those kind of gifts). Admissions officers judge if everything works together. A rainbow of colors? That’s too overwhelming for the eyes - this kid is spread too far thin. One single color for everything? Too boring - this kid is in too deep. Two shades? One shade with a slight tinge of another color? That kind of looks good.</p>
<p>The college is shopping for its freshman class. How well can your inner salesman sell his best product - himself?</p>
<p>I realize that this might sound too difficult. Might not seem worth the time. But we’re talking about the world’s oldest, costliest and arguably best universities here. We’re talking about an international experience. A new way of education (for most internationals). You don’t get that without a fight. So go out there and sell yourself. Be yourself.</p>