<p>Hello CCers,
You have been amazingly helpful, even with my relatively stupid questions :) so I am again turning to you re: this issue. I don't really have access to a good GC - admissions are different in the nation I hail from (much more numerical) so this website is extremely useful.</p>
<p>My stats and general activities can be found here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16105188-post1.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/16105188-post1.html</a> . I am an international student from up North ;) applying to the selective US schools. I will throw my hat in for some full rides as well, but ultimately, if the US process does not work out, I will stay in my home country and start there. I don't think I can do much to add to my ECs - the cards have been dealt. I may improve my performance in certain competitions but that's about it. </p>
<p>I've read here and in some other places (NYT interview) that adcoms are looking for the application to present an image or a profile that shows what you bring to the school, something that can be preferably summed up in a few words. </p>
<p>So, my question then is - how does one go about doing that? Do you try and anticipate what your teachers and supplementary rec people will right, ask the counselor to fill in certain details and use the essay to...show another side? It's awkward because this is something I'm not experienced with. Furthermore - I don't know what story to tell. Some people say my stats, 'scream premed', which is valid, I guess? But I want to be more than a physician or physician scientist - I'd like to start a company, influence education policy, promote science in society and I think my activities reflect that, to some extent? I also like to study humanities and religion because, well - they are crucial for the well cultured mind and soul. That is why I want to come to the states- for the liberal arts style. </p>
<p>Any tips or thoughts on this? I realize this is a broad question but I really don't have much to go on. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>All you have control over are the parts of the application you fill out. If you like, you can give your GC copies of your essay and list of EC’s and any additional information you think they need to know before making your recommendation.</p>
<p>You can write an essay on any topic you like, given that it follows a prompt if you have one. Hopefully this will show a bit of your interior mind-scape and personal qualities. The interests you state here can certainly be touched on in your essay. You can google to find college essays ‘that worked’, to get some idea of what types of things people write about. Also google ‘college essay tips’ for some very good tips from colleges.</p>
<p>Stats tell what kind of HS student you are. They cannot scream premed anymore than they can scream engineer or lawyer. That is ridiculous, you can go into all these areas with the same stats. You major is up to you and your interests and goals.</p>
<p>This is mainly done through the essay, resume and interviews.</p>
<p>Who are you? What makes you special?
Perhaps it is the fact that you wish to leave your country to get a good education that can then enable you to help others. Or maybe you have a background story as to why you wish to come here. What are your passions?</p>
<p>What it means when people say “package” is that you should not be all over the place (play 5 instruments at a basic level, do 3 sports noncompetitively, and have no particular academic passion). Show them what you love and how that helps you be a good memeber of society that they should want in their campus. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! </p>
<p>Brownparent, that individual was referring to my EC list, not my stats. My GC and teachers have not, as far as I know, done recs for students like myself so I’m planning on giving them a questionnaire thing that CB has on their website and some guidelines. My counselor knows me very well, in a variety of capacities - at my school, counselors are legitimate ‘counselors’, not just college counselors, so he’s actually helped me out with a lot of my personal issues (or tried). I am very fortunate to be at a school with such kind teachers. </p>
<p>If my ‘activities list’ (which I presume will remain on the CA) covers the activities, is it a bad idea to write about the activities then? Is that best saved for a supplement? I guess I’ve heard people say to consistently communicate yourself as well as possible and it’s probably not a good idea to be redundant. </p>
<p>@95Carol, thanks for the tips! I’m trying some introspection but I am quite biased 
. Maybe I’ll ask people who know me to characterize me. I want to attend university in the US so I become a well educated and cultured individual who is prepared intellectually for future challenges. I don’t think my country does a good job of liberal arts study and if I attend UG there, I will probably have to do most of my studies independently. </p>
<p>I get what you mean by ‘all over the place’ - such a resume is kind of disjointed. I have multiple passions and interests but ultimately (this sounds very silly), I want to be in a position where I can successfully push for social change and contribute to scientific advances. I am an ex-pat from India and the situation there is very depressing. I just don’t whether those are things worth talking about/that I can talk about without sounding trite. </p>
<p>I think the difficult part of the college process in America is that they ask you to define yourself, before you know who you really are!</p>
<p>“Package” does not mean one-dimensional… it also does not necessarily identify a major. I think of it as a bit like branding, though.</p>
<p>My D’s “brand” last year in the application process was probably mostly as a very bright intellectual. Someone who cared more about the content than the grade, although she did well enough in the classroom. She has a leaning toward science, but also loves literature and art. I think her essays, her activities, and her references all helped define that “brand”. She thought carefully about what order she put her activities in as well to emphasize that. When teachers and her GC asked for input for recommendation letters, she made sure to give them information that would help them present the same picture. In one case she created a different version of the Common App to tweak the order/emphasis of the activities because it seemed important for that college. Her common app essay was the same for all schools (again had some of that “brand” showing through), but she also considered what impression she wanted to give in all her supplemental essays. Re-used some phrases that gave weight to her “brand” across schools where it made sense.</p>
<p>It worked – she got in everyplace she applied, including all three of her reaches.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, intparent! That sounds like a really smart strategy. I honestly don’t know where all my interests lie completely - my research work (hah, which should be hours/week on the linked post) points quite obviously to one field but I have a larger goal in mind that would require knowledge in lots of fields. I guess I would characterize myself as an intellectual who seeks to be pragmatic. </p>
<p>I’ll definitely talk to my teachers and provide specific information. Do you think there’s a point to sending my teachers my essays as well? </p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter on her current and future successes :)!</p>
<p>Well, your essays probably won’t be all polished up and ready when you ask for your recommendations. In my D’s case the guidance counselor and one teacher asked her to fill out a a form about herself to help them think about the letter. The other teacher and one supplemental letter she had (just for one college, one of her activity coaches is an alum) did not really ask for input, but they know her pretty well. Her “branding” was not showing anything she actually wasn’t – it was just highlighting and focusing on those areas. She left off some freshman/sophomore activities that were extraneous – she had plenty of other things to list (for example, left off a year on a sports team, a couple of half-hearted seasons of debate). But she included a few things outside of school (like that she monitored a bluebird trail for nine years and hatched over 220 bluebirds in our neighborhood – showing a long term interest and it was a biology related activity). So even picking and choosing which activities to put on was part of it.</p>
<p>If you have a specific career in mind and the colleges you are applying to can help you get there through specific courses not offered at a lot of other schools, majors/minors, professors researching in fields you are interested in, facilities on campus, internship opportunities, etc – those are great items to put in your “Why College X?” essay that almost every college asks for. I think your common app essay is better left to some other revealing topic (not career focused) – just in case you are thinking of that – but you still want your “theme” to come through. Or at least make sure you don’t contradict/step on your theme.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks so much intparent! I really appreciate it. I don’t know what I really want to study: I just know what I want to accomplish, so that’s a good point for the ‘Why essays’. It may give me some direction in what to study as well.</p>
<p>My D freely stated what she was unsure of in her essays. She thinks she wants to major in physics, but is unsure if she is interested in theoretical or experimental physics. She told colleges she wanted to explore both, and commented on why their programs seemed well suited to allow her to do that. So there is nothing wrong with being unsure of your major in your “why X” essay, and maybe telling them a couple of things you would like to explore and why their college can help you do that. Colleges do not expect you to have a ‘finished’ idea of what you want to do – they want to help you figure that out. So don’t worry about sounding like you have it all figured out. :)</p>