<p>For people applying to Harvard EA with a 1580, 1590 or 1600, Early Action gives them an edge...</p>
<p>Mensa160 is right. There are lots of people out there planning to use hooks, and doing it successfully. However, RaboKarabekian has the best approach- having a true interest, and pursuing it. That is really the way to go.</p>
<p>Also for NorthStarMom:</p>
<p>Is surviving cancer considered an advantage. My S has now decided he wants to be a doctor and discover a new drug like Rituxan (which my husband used for his cancer). He has the grades, scores, etc. and he is that dreaded URM (Hispanic, poor. Parents no degree except CC)</p>
<p>thats what my best friend sort of wants to do, he's being a BME though, not a doctor</p>
<p>What is BME?</p>
<p>biomedical engineering (sorry, its just that from all this college-applying stuff i call everything by its shortened name)</p>
<p>It's wonderful to hear that your S is doing so well after his serious illness!</p>
<p>Surviving cancer and wanting to be a doctor could be a hook -- particularly if your S also is doing something beside simply thinking about planning to be a doctor.</p>
<p>If he is, for instance, volunteering at a local cancer ward, doing a summer science research program, doing independent research this summer with a local doctor, starting some kind of fundraiser or service project for pediatric cancer victims -- that would help show colleges that his bout with cancer has caused him to want to help others in similar situations.</p>
<p>When it comes to the very top colleges -- HPYS -- he probably won't be the only high stat applicant who has survived a serious illness or disability. Thus, having formal or informal ECs related to his medical interests and experiences would make him stand out even more.</p>
<p>I just read this entire thread and mostly I am disgusted at those (mensa and others) who feel that a 1500 SAT score person is in some way "smarter" or more "superior" to a person with an SAT score of 1350 or so. that is completely absurd and ignorant, and it clearly shows the high magnitude of stupidity that exists among many those who, like Mensa, claim to be so "smart" and with their high IQ and a Mensa membership. </p>
<p>Its disgraceful...this entire talk about EC's, wat looks good, wat doesnt. Let me tell you all....let me give you all a little wake up call.... Im a Russian immigrant, who has lived in NYC for 13 years. My mother is permanently disabled after polio struck her years ago. She cannot work. Our income, from public assistance is less than $600 a month. Does my economic hardship prevent me from going to a top Ivy League school? This is just completely disgusting. Throughout my life, I've grown as a human being who understands what life is really like, and what people should do to enrich their lives. A top educational experience is one that produces the best benefactors of society. A 1500 SAT score and 100 average, yet no active lifestyle that doesnt actually apply your so-called knowledge is a worthless person and completely does not deserve to be an Ivy League student. </p>
<p>I came to this country with my parents long ago searching for economic and educational opportunities not available to a jewish family in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, I developed into a young man that strives to achieve something in this country. I have a combined passion in medicine and politics. When i say passion, i actually mean passion. Ive always felt like i was placed on this earth to help people. I've wanted to be a doctor since age 5. I've pursued my motivation, drive, and aspirations by conducting research on estrogen-induced lupus in a medical laboratory in a hospital with various prestine doctors. I worked there for a little while, but felt I wanted to move on and go to somewhere neurology-oriented. I got a great recommendation letter from my former lab facility because i showed them that i loved what i was doing, apart from my 3.9 GPA in school, and my 5 challenging AP's, and leadership in school. They were really impressed and wrote me a letter of recommendation that really...almost made me cry....because they basically said my research should be further studied for possible discoveries. So now, im working in a neurology lab, studying epilepsy with a PhD doctor in neuroscience. As for politics, I found my own chapter of the Young Democrats at my school, and im its President; I participate in various political events in NYC...and I try to stimulate interest in Democratic politics among young HS students throughout my school and community. I was also the chairman of the NYC Model Congress. I am the editor of the school Biology journal, and i conducted a cancer fundraising campaign selling wristbands. These are MY TWO PASSIONS: medicine and politics. I love what i love and i love what i do. I will openly say that my SAT may not be that high, i havent taken it yet, but it will most likely be in the 1300s....does that make me less of a person that a 1500 mensa student? Im sorry, but that makes me regurgitate. That is exactly why i completely despise HPY for their elitist attitude and their complete shunning of those that have less opportunities when it comes to 10 SAT tutors or SAT courses (like many of my rich friends have, and ironically high sat scores).</p>
<p>Again, I read all your entries and my opinion on the Afro-Amer and Asian issue is again, that HPY should be ashamed of themselves and are not anything to be boa****l of. When it comes to athletes, that just shows again, how HPY care more about their reputation and winning the next bball game against Columbia than actually educating America's future leaders. Example: Yale graduate George W. Bush...great leader huh (sarcasm)....</p>
<p>In summation, the only Ivy League institution that i truly admire is Cornell because they are the total anticedent of all the HYP practices that are prevalent in the Ivy League and among many other elite colleges. That is why, im applying ED Cornell this fall. It is my dream to go to an insitution like Cornell that was first to admit women and blacks, and is the most open-minded and progressive when it comes to admission and a well-rounded education for a well-rounded individual.</p>
<p>Pretending to be passionate is disgusting. The ideal student is one that succeeds in school and that conveys that success through knowledge outside the classroom by somehow giving back to society. There's no need for a bookworm when you need a diligent hospital worker or a US Senator. I didnt do those activities because it would look good for college; i wanted them because it would benefit me for what i will pursue later in life. Most HS students are empty and are not passionate, but some, like myself...are passionate at what they do. </p>
<p>That was just my response to the disgusting opinion of Mensa. Those who say that Mensa isnt intelligent at all...and that he isnt Ivy material, i attest to that opinion....but as you can see....im not a big Ivy fan (except Cornell). </p>
<p>I just hope that my view on this issue will result in my acceptance to Cornell this fall :)</p>
<p>3 words conquered the college admission process:</p>
<p>Research Science Institute</p>
<p>QED</p>
<p>Research science institute? QED?</p>
<p>If you mean the summer program...then that was just for you. Lets be more general for the public.</p>
<p>just because someone did good on a test and you didn't, doesn't mean that the person who scored high on the SAT's has done nothing besides score high on the SAT's</p>
<p>sorry if i took it the wrong way lol</p>
<p>Cornell's cool, but I don't see why you can dislike the rest of them except Cornell...</p>
<p>Northstarmom, that's kind of mean to ask if she would consider quiting equi for a NCAA sport. Is it not obvious to you by now how much she cares about equi? I think if LAC is going to be that way, then maybe that school just isn't the best for her. If a school is going to be like that, I wouldn't want to go there either. I would apply anyway, though.</p>
<p>OK...let me just make myself clear. my response was a rebuttle to mensa's original belief which was that people can make up passions, and hooks, and those who have higher SAT's are higher in intelligence or superior to those that are lower. </p>
<p>I didnt even take the SAT yet...I will in June. But my score isnt the point; im pointing out a general statement that mensa's view is completely wrong and ignorant. Yes, you did take it the wrong way.</p>
<p>Ok, ill be nice.....out of the Ivy's....I dont like HPY, Columbia---well i live in NYC and i hear horrible things about the school and how ppl leave sophomore year, Dartmouth is good, UPenn is great, and Brown is great too. So i overreacted....I like Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown and Cornell.</p>
<p>quitejaded,
You misread my post. I suggested that because Harvard has more NCAA teams than does any other college, more than likely Harvard is a college for her to consider applying to so as to pursue whatever obscure sport is her passion.</p>
<p>I was responding to the act that her dad had posted that the LAC she was interested in does not have her sport.</p>
<p>Are you kidding me bklyn? RSI is the summer program, but whoever gets into it has such an advantage in the college admission process. </p>
<p>When you come back to this board after going to RSI, you're going to be the one telling everyone what a model college applicant should be. In addition, you're all going to be offered free education at awesome places, but you'll reject them and go to Harvard or MIT, because that's what Rickoids do.</p>
<p>Considering that RSI is considered the most prestigious summer program in the world (possibly), it's no wonder that it attracts only the best. </p>
<p>Kyshantry was a CalTech admission officer. This is what s/he had to say about RSI from the CalTech board:
"Basically you need to be one of the top 100 or so math/science students in their junior year of high school in the nation. It's much harder to get into RSI than it is to get into any college in the nation; in fact our admissions office at one point was considering just informing anyone accepted into RSI that they were automatically accepted into Caltech, just to give you some idea of their caliber. "</p>
<p>well...i dont know of anyone who does RSI....im in the Intel Science Talent Search program.</p>
<p>if you're in INTEL STS, then you should know Kelley, who placed 3rd, Robert, who placed 4th, and Po-Ling, who placed 8th. They were all rickoids.</p>
<p>I guess there's a difference between "I'm in the INTEL STS program" and "I actually placed top 40." And how can you be in it if you're just a junior?</p>
<p>I never said i placed top 40. I said im working in a lab right now conducting research right now for submission this November. I dont know those top 8 though a girl from my school was top 40, and i know her.</p>