<p>Northstar: I think admission to HYPS type schools is really about “playing the game”. My cousin who is an alum of Dartmouth undergrad and Harvard law completely agrees. I know that a lot of people truly want to contribute to society, but I really don’t. Of course when I’m a scientist I’ll be giving back to the community, albeit in an indirect way. I just want to get in to a top college so that I can have a great experience, learn a lot, meet interesting, smart (for once) people, and get into a top grad school…
Sometimes I wish that I do care, but oh well. Thanks for confirming that it really is expected. I’ll be sure to do volunteer work no matter how little I enjoy it… <em>sigh</em>
Thankfully if I start tutoring I can put down that I did it last year as well because I helped a girl in my building with serious learning disabilities learn how to read and count… :)</p>
<p>canadian: yeah, I do think that tutoring is something I would enjoy… I actually do like teaching people but I always tried not to because my mom is a teacher and, well, I don’t like what my mom likes! But I need to get over that. I actually thought I was a terrible teacher, but after helping like three separate people pass their math finals, I need to rethink that. This has all really helped me work this idea out… I’m definitely going to try to go through with some of these ideas. Especially since I’ve really been upset with myself for only having one serious ec. Thanks for your feedback!</p>
<p>“Northstar: I think admission to HYPS type schools is really about “playing the game”. My cousin who is an alum of Dartmouth undergrad and Harvard law completely agrees. I know that a lot of people truly want to contribute to society, but I really don’t.”</p>
<p>Take a look at this website for the Harvard community service organization, Phillips Brooks House and ask yourself whether Harvard students are playing a game by participating in this organization.</p>
<p>In general, graduate and professional programs don’t care about one’s ECs. What they care about is one’s grades and scores, so Harvard students aren’t involved in this organization to decorate their resumes.</p>
<p>The Harvard alum I know do some kind of community service. For instance, I’m on one nonprofit board, the executive committee of my political party, and I chair two other local organizations. What I get out of doing these things is the good feeling of helping out my community. </p>
<p>Here’s info about Harvard’s Phillips Brooks House Association, and a link so you can take a look and see what students do – for the pure pleasure of giving back.</p>
<p>"PBHA is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community. PBHA is often called “the best course at Harvard.” For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism, simultaneously developing real, meaningful community partnerships. Every year over 1,400 volunteers participate in over 85 PBHA programs each year. With professional staff support and advice, PBHA is a unique manifestation of college students’ idealism, energy, and initiative. "
[Phillips</a> Brooks House Association](<a href=“http://pbha.org/]Phillips”>http://pbha.org/)</p>
<p>“Among its accomplishments, PBHA volunteers were pioneers in working with the mentally ill in the 1950s - PBHAers testified before Congress on those issues, and later, the Mental Health Committee, which partnered college students with patients in mental health facilities, was a model for President Kennedy’s VISTA. Around the same time, PBHA developed a volunteer teacher’s project in Africa that was studied in the creation of the Peace Corps (Project Tanganyika). PBHA’s Undergraduate Teachers Program (UTEP) was one of the first attempts to utilize student volunteers to support understaffed schools, and PBHA continues to innovate in the relationship between students and public housing communities, particularly through the Summer Urban Program, or SUP.”</p>
<p><a href=“Pbha.org”>http://programs.pbha.org/</a></p>
<p>Northstar:
I don’t see what point you’re trying to prove, seeing as I already that “I know that a lot of people truly want to contribute to society”. It seems to me like you’re trying to say that since I want to go to Harvard, I should want to be interested in public service. I clearly understand that most of these people do care, and I clearly stated that I don’t. All I’m trying to say about “playing the game” is that if I make it convincing that I care, it shouldn’t matter whether I truly do or not.</p>
<p>No, I’m not saying you need to be interested in community service. My point was that perhaps what your relative who’s a Dartmouth alum is true: Maybe people who go to Dartmouth “played the game” in high school and don’t care about ECs, community service, etc.</p>
<p>My experience, however, has been that people who get into Harvard did activities that they genuinely enjoyed and that were more than resume decoration. Otherwise, there’d be no reason for so many Harvard students to participate in community service at Phillips Brooks House Association and to participate in ECs. They don’t need to do those things to get into grad or professional schools. No one at Harvard is forcing them to do those things. Consequently, it seems fairly obvious that they are involved in such things because of genuine interest. </p>
<p>If they only had done ECs and community service o decorate their resumes so as to get a Harvard acceptance they wouldn’t have bothered to do such things in college.</p>
<p>My advice to you is to do things that you genuinely care about. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time. Why take your precious time to do things that you don’t care about when you probably could spend the same time doing things that you enjoy? If your goal is to get into top colleges, you’re more likely to get in by doing things you enjoy than by forcing yourself to do things that you don’t care about.</p>
<p>Haha sorry, Northstarmom, I think I interpreted your post as WAY more contentious than it was intended to be. No, I see what you mean. If I were really going to force myself to do things I don’t like, I’d probably be saving the world by now.</p>