<p>Adcomms view college admissions as a vehicle for social engineering. They associate absurd factors with "diversity," and only smart, rich parents and schools possess the foresight to sculpt an average student's activity-set accordingly. Adcomms view their school as something akin to Noah's Ark: We need X tuba players; Y fencers; Z community-service-oriented, 2300-scoring, tennis-playing asians. Why do schools need students with interesting stories? With whom will a cherokee-fluent championship kite-flying student from Fargo have anything in common? </p>
<p>With a limited set of (very similar) experiences, most students just write about typical adolescent realizations (undoubtedly reached after much soul-searching): the plight of those less fortunate; the suffocation of suburbia; the onus of parents' recent immigration; the death of a loved one. To adcomms, who instead view essays about a parent-funded trip to a Mauritanian desanlization plant as more genuine and unique, adolescent trivialities lose their luster. Those most in need of new experiences are shunted to schools most unable to provide them.</p>
<p>By preferencing these absurd talents and by limiting the number of students of certain types, adcomms render this process less transparent and, accordingly, less meritocratic. Only wealthy parents who can afford to shell out 40k for an admissions consultant (in addition to their school's full-time counselor; I know students who paid 20k for an essay writer alone) can take advantage of this limited transparency, stacking a mediocre student's application with idiosyncratic talents. In the end, top schools lack the civility and genuineness which they were meant to foster. For those of you "fortunate" enough to attend, top schools are a rat race for med and law school admissions, banking, and consulting.</p>
<p>I think that those of you currently distraught over rejections should not despair. Don't view it as a declaration of your inability or of a percieved fault. Work hard at your second-choice schools and never forget this branding you received by Harvard (or, God forbid, Cornell). Be true to yourselves. Work hard during college. Vindicate yourselves. Rid this system of its perversions. Do not play their game because it is one you cannot win.</p>
<p>Word. I'm sure this thread will soon be bombarded but I'll stick in my two cents worth of agreement. Not only is it beneficial to have wealthy parents who can afford to pad your application with prestigious activities starting from the time you conducted a research project on the absorbancy of your own diaper and published it in a science journal (and it was completely your own work), it's an amazing benefit to attend school in a wealthy area. My high school guidance counselor spends most of his time scheduling each student's classes. He can't possibly know us all by name and is not trained to help us get into colleges. No one told me in 9th grade that I needed to become passionately involved in several activities, spend every weekend volunteering, and run for president of every club. I'm a shy girl. I kept to myself through ninth and tenth grades, only realizing the importance of involvment later on. My parents didn't start me in activities when I was 3, didn't tell me I had to stick with anything. If I had been pushed to be a piano playing ballerina who volunteers at a medical clinic over 500 hours each year, I could have been a shoe in at the Ivies. But you know what? I'm happier this way. I have a life. I haven't stressed myself out to the point of panic attacks. Most importantly, I've learned to become responsible for my own future. You can't count on anyone to tell you what you need to do. You have to figure it out for yourself. </p>
<p>This post was not intended to attack anyone who happens to be a piano playing ballerina who volunteers at a medical clinic over 500 hours every year and completed an independent research project on her own at the age of 4 months.</p>
<p>I'm double-ivy now (B.A., JD) and participated (begrudgingly) in the highschool ratrace to get here. A sibling who didn't participate will (after a few weeks of rejections) probably have a much more difficult time getting here. I guess this thread is an attempt to refine my views on her situation before presenting them to her myself.</p>
<p>No one told me i needed to get passionately involved in my activities either. Yet, I did. The key word there is "passion". I'd like to think that my classmates next year are going to be people who do things because they want to do them, not to pad their resumes...</p>
<p>Just because you are more passionate in, say, an idiosyncratic activity--one deemed "productive" or "interesting" by adcomms--doesn't make your pursuit of, or passion in, it any more worthy than another student's passion in (say) video games. That is the first fault of your reasoning. This having been said (and you appear to acknowledge this), many of the "passions" of your fellow students next year will have been forced or contrived.</p>
<p>I realize that I should have become more passionate about my activities, but it's hard when no one is helping you out. If I could go back and do it all over, I would have changed alot. But now, at this point, there's nothing more I can do but become deeply involved in my college and work my behind off so I can reject an Ivy League acceptance for grad school. I think it's more important to learn self-motivation by failing (though I am far from failing, I'm an underachiever when it comes to school activities compared to many people on here) than to fail later on, when it really counts, because no one is telling you what to do. And major props to the people who did find their passions this early in life. I'm still unsure of mine, but I'm going to work pretty freaking hard to find it in college, ON MY OWN.</p>
<p>Guys, and what about passion for studying? When I came to the USA in 2005 as an exchange student I got REALLY passionate about studying at school. I was #2 at school (when we take only the senior year of every students - well, that was my rank on the report cards during the 2nd semester). I loaded myself with a bunch of AP's (passed 7 in the end). But I did not take part at any EC at my school (and in the town also). I had 100+ of community service in the end of my school year, but still no job, no EC's.</p>
<p>So, my point is "why someone who is passionate about academics, but has poor EC's or leadership is viewed differently by adcoms?" Honestly, I drives me mad.</p>
<p>I got into Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown. I'm middle class, I didn't have a college counselor, my parents didn't even go to college, and I'm not a minority. It's really not that hard to write a good essay. I wrote about what I love- penguins and physics. Apparently that was good enough. </p>
<p>The important thing is, always, to pursue your passions. I have no idea why I got into Yale, because everyone on this board told me it was a huge reach for me. I can honestly say that I earned this on my own- I had incredible teachers, but I had no guidance in the application process. Just put who you are down on paper. If it doesn't feel like you, don't write it. Maybe that's why I was waitlisted at Penn- they didn't think I'd fit, but Yale did.</p>
<p>DO NOT make your high school years about getting into college. Make it about you. Try new things, educate yourself outside of school, do things that have no benefit other than that they interest, excite, and amuse you. Extra curriculars are important because they show a DIFFERENT kind of learning; I think people sometimes forget that. You do have to be smart, and you do have to work hard, but those two things really aren't enough. I sacrificed my rank to take AP BC Calc instead of AP AB Calc (I went from 1 to 3 because I get Bs) because I really liked the challenge of the harder class. My Yale interviewer really liked that about me.</p>
<p>So yeah. Do what you want, represent yourself accurately, and you'll wind up where you're meant to be.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Just because you are more passionate in, say, an idiosyncratic activity--one deemed "productive" or "interesting" by adcomms--doesn't make your pursuit of, or passion in, it any more worthy than another student's passion in (say) video games. That is the first fault of your reasoning. This having been said (and you appear to acknowledge this), many of the "passions" of your fellow students next year will have been forced or contrived.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And is there something wrong with a college that would prefer to take a student with a passion in science over a student with a passion in video games? Yes, adcomms prefer certain interests over others - thats the whole point. They're looking for academic excellence, discipline, commitment, etc in their applicants, and these qualities are embodied in the extracurricular activities that the student chooses to participate in.</p>
<p>And yes, there are some people who have contrived activities for the sake of college admissions. But I believe that the people who excel at whatever interests they have (and these are usually the people who get into the top colleges) are truely passionate about what they do. I know that if someone had told me that I wouldn't get into any of the top colleges my freshmen year in high school, I would not have done anything differently. And whatever you may think, I believe that this is true for the majority of students at top colleges.</p>
<p>Although the OP has great intentions, I think s/he goes too far in condemning the admissions process. Of course it's crapshoot, and many deserving kids won't be offered a spot. But your post makes it sound like all the kids who do get into HYP are programmed robots who have been polished and preened by parents and admissions coach. </p>
<p>That is so far from the case it is utterly unfair. I will admit that I am from a relatively privileged background, but parent funded trips to Africa have never been an option to me. My essays were not rewritten by fancy schmancy admissions counselors. I don't have some idiosyncratic talent. I do not have a cadre of experts to plan strategies and make all of my decisiosn. </p>
<p>While I'm honestly surprised with some of my acceptances, I feel especially satisfied about them because this entire college application process is something I have done on MY OWN. Don't discount the work of these "ordinary" teens as well.</p>