Ivies, Stanford, and others (some advice is appreciated!)

<p>Greetings!</p>

<p>At this point in the application process, I am mainly looking for advice/feedback on how I can best portray myself in the application rather than direct 'chances' (though those certainly can be helpful as well!). </p>

<p>I am interested in applying to:
Stanford (I applied early action)
Harvard
Yale
UC Berkeley
Georgetown University
Cornell
UCLA
USC
Pomona
Northwestern
University of Chicago</p>

<hr>

<p>Male
Caucasian
Upper Middle Class
Public school
Live in a mid-sized town</p>

<p>SAT: 2190 (R 740, M 720, W 730)</p>

<p>Subject Tests: 790 (US History) and 720 (Math II)</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 Unweighted; my school doesn't weight GPA</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1 out of about 400</p>

<p>Course Load:
My courses are about as difficult as my school offers. Granted, this a very light course load compared to other schools. At this point, I've taken 3 AP's: Calc AB (4), APUSH (5), and APGov (5). There are some people in my school who have a more difficult course load for senior year (I'm currently in another 3 AP's), but I am taking the maximum that fit into my school schedule.</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:</p>

<p>Democratic Precinct Committee Person (11-12)
--Elected in my state’s Democratic Primary to serve as a Precinct Committee Person. This position has a few legal responsibilities; for example, in my house district, the Democratic nominee running for the state house dropped out, so I was one of about 10 other PCP's who got to pick a replacement nominee.</p>

<p>Student Government (11-12)
--Associated Student Body President
--Junior Class President</p>

<p>YMCA Youth and Government (Basically a model youth legislature which connects youth to the democratic process; 9-12)
--Elected as my state's Youth Governor(12)
--Youth Secretary of State (11)
--Selected to go to national conference of about 800 people, where I received a distinguished delegate award.</p>

<p>Democratic Party (10-12)
--Served on my county's Democratic Party Executive Committee (10-12)
--Voting Member on my county's Democratic Central Committee (11-12)
--Elected as the first alternate delegate to my State's Democratic Party Central Committee (12) (Basically, the central committee discusses and votes on all matters relating to the Party)</p>

<p>Young Democrats Club (10-12)
--President and Founder</p>

<p>Speech and Debate (9-12)
--Parlay and Impromptu
--3rd Place in State for Parlay debate (11)
--3rd Place in districts for Impromptu (11)</p>

<p>Violin (9-12)
--All State Orchestra (11)
--All City Orchestra (9-10)
--Associate Concertmaster at my school's Orchestra (11)
--School Orchestra won State Competition (9-10)</p>

<p>Soccer (9-10)
--JV Captain (10)</p>

<p>Various Church Activities (9-12)
--3 different mission trips</p>

<p>I've done only extracurricular activities that I love, which, if you can't tell, is mainly politics.</p>

<p>Work Experience:
I worked as the head intern for a local state house campaign. In this position, I've also been in charge of training 2 other interns, and it's about 10 hours per week (it was 15 hours per week during the summer).</p>

<p>Awards/Honors:
--National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist</p>

<p>Recommendations:
All should be quite good, though I haven't seen the teacher recs myself (I waived the right to see them).</p>

<p>Additional Info:
I have legacy from Stanford, and I am interested in majoring in Political Science or some similar field.</p>

<hr>

<p>So, now for the question. In my applications, I'm trying to convey my interest in politics but also am trying to portray myself as, well, an actual person.</p>

<p>Basically, I used my CommonApp essay to humanize myself, writing about how I got through a severe personal struggle, whereas I'm using all of my supplements (when possible) to describe my passion for politics. However, I'm worried that a singular focus on my political EC's might make me appear one dimensional. </p>

<p>With that said, should I continue to push my political interests or should I expand on other things about me in my application essays?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Your depth is your intrest in politics, that is what makes you unique. I did the same thing with soccer, because I have a unique story to tell, and went very in depth into my passion. These universities want to see quality over quantity. If you list a different EC they may be view it as so what? They don’t want to see participation, they want to see what makes you tick, which for you is politics. So I would defenitley say expand upon your passion. You become much more human like when you are writing about a passion, not just a laundry list. I think you defenitley have a good shot at these schools, but all ivies are pretty much reaches. You are unique though, and I could see you getting into a few. Good luck! </p>

<p>Chance me back? <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1418125-chance-me-duke-other-top-schools.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1418125-chance-me-duke-other-top-schools.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Impressive stats! I think your passion for politics will differentiate you and not make you appear one-sided. Definitely emphasize it as much as possible. From what I’ve seen, these top schools get hundreds of applicants who are quantitatively just like you…so they look for the qualitative aspects of applicants…and that’s what will make it or break it for one candidate over another. Of your list, hopefully at least one school will be looking for someone politically savvy…and that’s where you’ll be accepted. Accentuate your qualities! It should pay off since you have everything else. Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks for your comments! :)</p>

<p>This is all good, but seriously no lego robotics?!!?!?!?!?!?</p>

<p>Just share your passion for one or two interests in an honest manner.</p>

<p>I think phrasing could be key. Lots of people are interested in politics, which is nice and I am too, but I think adcoms will be more attracted by people that want to use politics to make a difference. Focus on that with your language: making a difference. Improving policy. Creating a better world. Giving the impression that you just want a political office or power if off-putting, so try and show your humanitarian spirit. </p>

<p>If you have any chance to talk about specific political issues, I would recommend not talking about the mainstream ones unless they’re truly your passion. Jobs, economy, healthcare, high-income taxes…all really well-known and common. Focus on a lesser-talked about issue that you care about.</p>

<p>Good luck! I think you stand a good shot.</p>

<p>My thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1421685-last-chance-me-nervous-senior.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1421685-last-chance-me-nervous-senior.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thanks! So far, I’ve been trying to show my belief in using politics as an instrument to help people in the supplements (at least I did in the Stanford “What matters to you and why?” one). Also, in general, I’ve shied away from talking about specific issues in order to not offend any admissions officers reading it who might disagree with me.</p>