<p>Is 2 or 3 just right?</p>
<p>" Too much" depends on what leadership positions. I say the special number is 4. More than 4 looks suspicous unless they are all lower psotions. Being the president of four clubs doesn't truly boad well because colleges ask themselves, are they committed or are they trying to bundle leadership positions specifically for their college application.</p>
<p>Too many leadership positions? That's a new one...</p>
<p>I have...6 or 7. They require different time commitments, but it's not as if they were just application filler. I think that there is no "too much" unless you clearly aren't invested in any of your activities.</p>
<p>It just goes to show how crazy college admissions has become.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people have this mindset:</p>
<p>Okay, let me think about which colleges I'm going to appy to. I'll apply to a lot, so I can get into a prestigious school. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Amherst, Brown, Cornell, Williams, Wesleyan, Swarthmore, UCLA, UC Berkeley. There! Oh yeah, and Washington University in St. Louis. Of course, to go there, I should apply to the business school because it accepts a greater percentage of people. And I can't forget Duke, but I won't apply to U.Chicago. It's just too nerdy and intellectual. That's how college should be--it should be challenging but not too intellectual. But I've got to apply to Harvard--I mean, come on, it's HARVARD!</p>
<p>Now, time to apply. Well, I did do NHS just to impress colleges, but now I see that on CC everyone does NHS, so it doesn't look impressive very much. I have to try to become the President of NHS to even get a shot at Yale. Maybe I should be self-studying more AP's...think about how much everyone else is doing! Shoot, I still have to retake the SAT again--I have a 680 on Math, but I won't have a shot at any really selective schools until I get 700 on each... And how do you raise the critical reading score? It's just so difficult! The SAT prep course I took didn't work. Maybe I'll try to make up for it by trying to show more passion in my EC's. How do I do that? I'll talk about them in my essay! As one of the hundreds of getting-into-college books says, you should try to show initiative and passion in your essay, as well as being a bright student, but not too much that you brag, because then they won't like you, and you have to make a good impression. </p>
<p>Maybe I should not put Photography club in my app--leaving it there makes it seem like I don't have any specific interests and that I'm just doing Photography just to look good. Even though I like taking pictures, it's not going to be mentioned in my essay, so it looks like I just added it in there. And I don't have a leadership position there! Maybe I should get one... but then it'll look suspicious if I have too many! </p>
<p>Okay, time to apply--I shouldn't specify what ethnicity I am because since I'm Chinese, that'll reduce my chances of getting in. Hmmm.. I probably should strategically list some of the other colleges I'm applying to, in order to show that I really want to attend this university more than the rest. I'll do that in the rest of my apps. After all, I have to show a lot of interest--I e-mailed my admission officer just for that reason! </p>
<p>And of course I'm applying Early Decision. Just look at the percentages! They accept way more students Early than regular at this university.</p>
<p>Okay, time to edit my application... Everything looks perfect... Maybe too perfect... This whole application looks so perfect, I mean, it's almost not me! But they want to know who I am! Oh, I've had it! I don't know what I'm doing! I should go out and pay for a private admissions consultant. I don't care whether it costs way more than I can afford--otherwise I might not get in!</p>
<p>Why am I saying this?</p>
<p>I hope that current high schools will just relax! I mean, I know that you want to get in, but here's the truth:</p>
<p>If you are a bright, talented student and do a good job giving the colleges a slice of who you are, you will most likely get into one of the top 100 schools in the country, and get a good, even maybe great education!</p>
<p>lol, wow, way to go dchow
I think you captured the mental snapshot of most of the kids here at CC</p>
<p>But the thing is, it's not the kids's fault! I mean, you can't blame them. I think that most of the kids here at CC are good, hardworking kids, who just want to get into college, and are hypercompetitive when it comes to college, because</p>
<ol>
<li>They don't understand the importance of prestige (Heck, I don't understand the importance of prestige!).</li>
<li>They feel security by attending a big-name school (As I would! I mean, I honestly would be hesitant to go to a not-very-well-known school like Knox.)</li>
<li>They don't know how college admissions work (You can't blame them--they're not college admissions officers, and they don't know what they're thinking), and so they're grossly misinformed.</li>
<li>They haven't done enough introspection into who they are, who they want to become, why they want to go to college in the first place, and what learning environments best suit their goals.</li>
</ol>
<p>It's not right for me to be mean to the students here--they are doing their best (and you can tell they're doing their best)... to do what? Ultimately, what are they trying to achieve by getting into a great college? </p>
<p>Whatever the answer is, I just wanted to cry out how crazy all this is, and let's hope that there are people who are trying to correct it.</p>
<p>I completely agree. I used to be that person, until I realized that I wasn't that good at it. When I take on a leadership position, it's because I really love whatever it is (this applies to all my ECs, actually). I can't imagine how some of these people's lives are...It's frightening. And some of the parents on here (won't name names, but we all know about whom we're talking) are kind of crazy too...</p>