<p>Hi all! There are so many qualified applicants already and as an international students my chances are even worse. So far, I have several national/international poetry contest awards but those aren't too impressive compared to most of the people on CC :(</p>
<p>Also, I can't apply for most awards that are prestigious in the US because they are only for US citizens. Gahhhh! Life sucks. </p>
<p>So, should I just accept that admissions are a crapshoot or should I attempt to find some way to boost my app? If yes to the latter, do you have any suggestions for how I could do so?</p>
<p>All advice is appreciated. Thank you very much for your help!</p>
<p>@RP: I noticed that you posted the same question on the Harvard and Yale threads. As I have one kid at each school, I thought I would elaborate a bit more on essay writing, which I mentioned in the Harvard thread.</p>
<p>My son spent three months working on his essays. Before pressing the submit button, he wrote for about two months, coming up with 17 different essays on various topics. After selecting two essays he liked the best, he spent another month re-writing and editing his pieces, which gained him admission to Yale.</p>
<p>My daughter spent five months working on her essays. After working for about four months, she only had one piece that she wanted to submit, so she went through all of her essays that she had written for English classes and found one she loved. Unfortunately, it was 4,000 words and contained many swear words, which she thought were inappropriate for a college essay. She spent a month writing and editing and working on that piece, which ultimately gained her admission to Harvard. </p>
<p>I just posted this on another thread, but in case you didn’t see it, here it is again: One of my favorite admissions quotes is from a book What You Don’t Know Can Keep You Out Of College by Don Dunbar.</p>
<p>“If the admissions office door has four locks on it, the first two keys are test scores and school record, and the third is special talent or some other accomplishment or quality. What is the fourth key? It’s “character.” An old fashioned word, it means the way you develop your inner qualities: intellectual passion, maturity, social conscience, concern for community, tolerance, inclusiveness.”</p>
<p>Essays are really the key – and it’s where the admissions directors find clues to your character. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Publications are one way. There are plenty of journals, online or otherwise, that you can get published in. I suppose it’s late to start actually working on one… or starting one! But yeah, The Adroit is one (although they are primarily undergrad and adult, so good luck) or Blue Pencil Online or Polyphony. Etc, etc. </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what national/international awards? (Fellow writer.) They might be more impressive than you think. Scholastic is the most prestigious in the States and is open to internat’l kids too.</p>
<p>Err off the top of my head it’s difficult to remember but several from the Canadian Legion (I’m Canadian), the Jessamy-Stursberg contest and a UK one which I completely forget the name of. Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll check those out!</p>
<p>Apple’s advice is good. You should definitely distinguish yourself with publication in well-known journals. And I’ll go slightly out on a limb here and say that offline (hard-copy) journals are more prestigious than online.</p>