<p>and it gave me all the more reason to desperately want to go there. </p>
<p>So now a question, my grades and psat scores are at Princeton level, but so are most applicants. My ECs, I'm not so sure of. My school is kind of small and doesn't have many clubs and activites that interest me. I don't think the ones I'm in now are enough. What should I do?</p>
<p>There are always EC's out of school, you know. You can volunteer at a hospital, the library, tutoring, etc. Also, if your school is small then wouldn't the sports team be easier to join? And there are other organizations such as Boy Scouts and Church groups.
The best thing to do in my opinion would be to start your own club, be the president, and write an essay about it.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don't do things as a mean to an end.
That sheds light on your character and quality as a person.</p>
<p>I'm sure schools like Princeton turn away tons of presidents of student bodies, Intel winners, and other whatnots.</p>
<p>What's important is how you express yourself.
If you can do that well, everyone will be impressed.</p>
<p>Everyone at Princeton knows the system. You have to rack up the EC's even if you're not all that passionate about them. Found a club, tutor the underprivileged, spend a summer abroad, etc. It doesn't really matter if you don't feel called to do any of these things because the fact is, a lot of other people do and you might as well try to mimic them. if you feel called to do any of these things then great, but if not, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do them anyway. Sorry for such a cynical post.</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, that's the reality of how the "system" works these days ...</p>
<p>princeton is such a beautiful school...</p>
<p>my take on the whole ECs is that of ben & jerry's: if it's not fun why do it?</p>
<p>you'll be so more successful if you can find that one special interest. if its science, start doing research right away and get as involved as you can. if math, there's all those competitions and camps you can do. for me it's politics and current events and i tried to make this the unifying theme in my application by talking about debate...model un...a politics summer camp i went to...my classes. i'm sure it shows responsibility if youre the president of the spanish club, math club, scholars bowl, and editor of your paper, but that doesn't reveal much about you and your true interests.</p>
<p>i have zero experience except my own to talk about, but i strongly feel that admissions people are looking for students who will tangibly contribute to their school. no matter where i go, i plan on continuing debate and getting involved with int'l relations clubs and such.</p>