<p>Parents,</p>
<p>How important is to experience leadership positions when applying to Private colleges (e.g. Stanford)? Is it very important?</p>
<p>kevster~</p>
<p>I don't feel like I'm qualified to speak generally about this subject, but I will tell you a little bit about my oldest son's experience with elite school admissions.</p>
<p>In examining my son's experience, I don't think that someone can necessarily "follow a recipe" to successful admission to these colleges. Sure, the essentials must be in place---gpa, rank, test scores, etc., but as far as ECs go, I think there is a great deal of leeway. For example, it seems to be a widely held belief that a student must have "leadership positions" or "community service hours" or other things of this nature. My son had a few very excellent ECs, but none of them involved community service or leadership per se. </p>
<p>In addition, NO ONE at my son's current school can BELIEVE that he got admitted with <strong>0</strong> <------NOT ONE------AP test. He took a few AP classes, as many as were offered at our semi-rural Kansas school, but he did not take the corresponding AP exams. So again, a stereoptype shattered.</p>
<p>What my son DID have was a VERY long-term and well-documented intense passion, and his application was endorsed by a significant person who was thoroughly familiar with his 9+-year fascination in this area. </p>
<p>I honestly think it would be a mistake to become involved in an activity for the express purpose of appearing a certain way to admissions officers. What they truly want to see are the things that make YOU unique, make YOU different, make YOU stand out. This is why my son experienced so much success despite the fact that he did not even seriously contemplate the elite admissions route until his ACT score came back in the spring of his junior year. By that time, it was WAY too late to "fashion" an image....all he could do/did do was to best present what he ALREADY was.....and it worked.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Berurah - you are very qualified to talk about this topic. First of all, congrats to your son. +, thank you for your info. Now I get it! Yes, I have no leadership positions, or community service. Well, similarly to your son, I do have a Passion. Since frosh. year, I've been Cooking.. yes.. sounds quite odd.. but I love it. Everyday after I returned home, I cooked for about 30 min (during weekdays) and about 1.5 hrs sat and another 1.5 hrs sunday so about 4hrs 30 min / week of cooking. I am finishing my soph. year and still continuing it...</p>
<p>I'm curious, what did your son loved doing so much (the passionate activity)?</p>
<p>kevster~</p>
<p>Thanks for the congrats...he is having a MARVELOUS freshman year at Duke, and we couldn't be happier. </p>
<p>Since the age of 8, my son has had an intense passion for the fields of epidemiology, immunology, and infectious disease. At age nine, he wrote off to the CDC and requested packets of info. on the workings of the organization and also packets on Level 4 viruses. That summer, he poured over both of those sets of materials. In addition, he wrote to a local internist with the area's largest AIDS treatment practice and met with her to discuss issues related to AIDS and its treatment. His interest remained strong throughout the years. His senior project was on the subject of filoviruses and his affirmative case for debate in his senior year centered around the prevention and treatment of AIDS.</p>
<p>When he was accepted to Duke, the admissions officer called him two days later and continued to communicate often with him until he made his final decision (he was also accepted to JHU with its highest merit award and to Penn with an invitation into the elite Vagelos Program--a life sciences oriented program). In her communications, she repeatedly made reference to his unique essays and to his remarkable passion at such a young age. THAT was the thing that had made his application stand out to her from the 18,000 other apps. </p>
<p>Cooking is a unique interest and not your everyday, run-of-the-mill EC. But, I don't know how much of an EC the colleges would consider it. If you were my child, I might encourage you to do something additional with that interest....maybe start a cooking class for kids or something of that nature. That way, you can combine your interest with something that might be more likely to catch the eye of an admissions officer. In the meantime, would you like to make a visit to Kansas? I sure could use some assistance in the kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)</p>
<p>I really wish you the best of luck....you have some time--you're just a sophomore. I will be keeping my eye out for you and hoping for all of your dreams to come true! :)</p>
<p>fondly, ~berurah</p>
<p>Oh thank you very much berurah. Well, maybe I was too specific about my EC. </p>
<p>OK, the general picture is this. I lived in a spanish-speaking country for almost my entire life, but I'm not Hispanic. My penchant for spanish food grew intensely starting the start of 9th grade. So then, I started to cook and it was pretty fun. Now that I moved to the US, I really miss Spanish cuisine! But still, I decided to continue my cooking passion here, too. But not only I miss Spanish couisine, but also the culture of my former country! So then, I am looking forward to teach little kids in the local library - Spanish. Yes, I'm trying to contact the city hall and try to also start this tutoring program. In few words, I love to maintain my vibrant interest of Latin American culture. That's how my passion grew, but I guess is almost nothing compared to your son's immensely great achievement and passion towards the medical field. Congrats again to his acceptances to Duke JHU and UPENN! I hope he's still doing great @ Duke.</p>
<p>I am still finding many other ways I can extend my interests, but still I'm doubting......The only thing I have in mind now is spanish tutoring.</p>