<p>Thanks mikemac, that was a good read.</p>
<p>It seemed like he read my mind
He saw me mistrusting him
And still acting kind
He saw how I worried sometimes
I worry sometimes</p>
<p>All the guilty people, he said
Theyve all seen the stain-
On their daily bread
On their christian names
I cleared myself
I sacrificed my blues</p>
<p>And you could complete me
Id complete you</p>
<pre><code> J. Mitchell ,Court and Spark
</code></pre>
<p>Gosh, up till now I hadn't realized that Joni was talking about selective college admissions "courtships". I always thought the dude in the song was just a player, not an adcom hound who'd caught the scent of prey. ;)</p>
<p>Just who is playing who? LOL. The linked piece reminds me of sales techniques employed by "non-mainstream religious airport salespeople" who may have been less than forthcoming in some of their marketing. They supposedly considered the concept "divine deception" since they were serving a greater good.</p>
<p>I'm so glad that my dinner with the Adwedguest has made a contribution to our assembled wisdom. Unfortunately, CC has a way of humbling you -- positive contributions can ever so quickly be followed by unexpected negative fallouts. Am I to blame if our numerous and remarkably gifted Asian friends start taking up the bagpipes en masse? THE BAGPIPES??? Can you imagine the din? Please, anything but the bagpipes. May I suggest an Asian Klezmer band? Or, the hypnotic Balinese gamelan. Even that kalimba thumb-piano thingie? Argh. Anything.</p>
<p>Q: What's the definition of a minor second?
A: Two bagpipes playing in unison.</p>
<p>Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a chainsaw?
A: The chainsaw has vibrato.</p>
<p>Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a trampoline?
A: You take your shoes off when you jump on the trampoline.</p>
<p>Dudediligence, nothing can make you feel more lonely than a melancholy 'piper playing well. </p>
<p>Of course, I'd agree that played poorly it sounds like a stepped on cat.</p>
<p>Now, now. Bagpipe is my favorite double reed. And the sound always depends on who's playing.....I guess it's poor parents when the 7 year old takes up the bagpipe or oboe for that matter. I know all about that.</p>
<p>All instruments, when first learned, can provide an amazing array of sounds not intended. For example, when my son started playing the french horn he sounded like a Wookie.</p>
<p>Thank you, DD, for sharing your conversation with us.</p>
<p>Bagpipes get played a fair amount around here, usually by folks in kits, and sometimes indoors (it makes a suitable din). I've not seen anyone of Asian descent playing bagpipes. The bear fur helmet would disguise features, but the bare legs would disclose the non-Scots skin tones.</p>
<p>May I suggest the oboe d'amore or the viola da gamba as more suitable than the bagpipes? ;)</p>
<p>My Scottish ancestry requires me to speak up on behalf of the bagpipes--which I believe were originally used primarily to stir up adrenaline for battle--so apparently they still have that effect in cyberspace! I happen to love them but it may be a genetic fate...Meanwhile, it seems that we must accept that if music is a global language and we are becoming a global culture then all sorts of juxtapositions are possible. Imagine my surprise when a few years ago we hiked to the top of a minor alp in Switzerland--to discover a good-sized group of Japanese visitors all plying their alpinehorns!!!!!</p>
<p>Oops. I just saw my typo, now impossible to correct. But maybe the kilts come in kits? :(</p>
<p>I thought bagpipes were used to round up sheep, but maybe there's an analogy lurking in here somewhere.</p>
<p>it's ironic they would use an instrument made of a sheeps stomach to round up sheep, and even more ironic that violin strings are made from sheep's gut!</p>
<p>I have heard both Asian and African pipe bands at the annual Festival of the Arts at Edinburgh Castle. They do indeed exist.</p>
<p>While bagpipe can be a "hook" at some colleges, did you know that you can actually MAJOR in them at Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>And I see that curmudgeon has taken to insulting felines, thus becoming a catmudgeon.</p>
<p>cmu... founded by andrew carnegie, scottish boy extraordinaire, would you expect any less?</p>
<p>"....no random or arbitrary decisions in selective college admissions........" </p>
<p>THANK YOU for that link, mikemac. I am not crazy. The reasons may include subset differentiation & duplication within the applicant pool, but these are aired reasons, not supernatural occurrences. (No, no one has said the word supernatural, either; it's just that sometimes it feels as if a number of people are talking that way.) All the reasons are actually explainable. Unquestionably, "negative" decisions hurt, but they're explainable. Conscious choices have been made -- choices going beyond the worth of an individual but including the <em>perceived</em> worth to the college of that individual, as that individual is presented to the college relative to everyone else.</p>
<p>(I also knew about the bagpipes; thought it was very cool when I read about it.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yet there is no avoiding the daunting fact that the most selective colleges and universities pose an admissions challenge - where applicants outnumber available spaces by multiples of ten or even twenty to one, category admissions cuts an unforgiving swath.</p>
<p>What does all this mean for confused prospective students who simply want to get a good education? It means you need to keep your options open, because there is no way to guarantee that you have what your first, second, or third choice college wants.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think this quote from the link posted by mikemac sums up so much!!!!</p>
<p>In 20 years playing the piano or violin will be a "hook" because everyone else will be playing the bagpipes.</p>
<p>When my d was in 9th grade, we had a conversation on what activities "mom thought d" should do in HS. I suggested she join the HS newspaper, debate team, and science or math research. Her response was NO! No! and No! She really didn't enjoy those activities and didn't want to invest her time that way. The compromise was she would join the science or math club- (only a few hours a week after school -No real time investment and she had a lot of friends in these "clubs"). From the experience she wrote for the HS science magazine (extra credit for chemistry class) and did participate in the math team. My point is that if my d pursued the "cookie cutter" activities like Student Gov't and HS Yearbook editor, she might not have been as successful in the college admission game. She showed her true personality in doing activities that she wanted to do. By not spending hours of time doing research, she was able to pursue her real other interests. (She pursued a black belt in karate instead of Intel science project.) Maybe that is what the colleges look for- your own individuality and not pursuing the activities that you think HYP are looking for. By the way, d got into CMU and doesn't play bagpipes. But she was a drummer in the HS band.</p>
<p>"Maybe that is what the colleges look for- your own individuality and not pursuing the activities that you think HYP are looking for. "</p>
<p>No "maybe" about it: Colleges want students who have creatively, passionately pursued their own interests.</p>
<p>A big yes and AGREE to posts 74 through 77. Good for your daughter, Marny. I could reply to the thread-starter about "Should Your #1EC have the most hours?", but I might as well do so here. That's because my next comment builds both from Marny's post & the thread-starter.</p>
<p>We have a friend, currently a h.s. senior, who "fought" against her natural abilities & interests by choosing a performing art that she had put hours & hours into early in h.s. -- & essentially for 2.5 yrs. She was no natural talent in it, but desired to be, & also thought it would "look good" on college apps. I waited silently & patiently listening to the mother for all that time making statements about when the girl would get her big break & be discovered, so to speak. When "It" never happened, the student started pursuing another line of e.c. that she had been tiptoeing into for quite some time, but regarded it as "less glamorous," etc. When she finally accepted the fact that at the secondary e.c. she was a "natural" and a winner -- literally & figuratively -- she finally surrendered & embraced it Big Time. In some ways it could even be described as more "cookie-cutter" than the first, but so what? For this student, combined with her academic interests & academic strengths, this more appropriate e.c. is helping to cement a unified profile that is less BWRK & more focused. In turn, that focus is helping her choose her colleges more wisely & realistically, & with a better chance of admission success. The family is choosing safeties, matches, & reaches but ALL within the framework of colleges with programs aligned to the interest & e.c.-value of the student. And I think she will be attractive to those colleges because of that, more so than if she were trying to guess an outcome & work backwards from that.</p>
<p>Thanks you all for your comments. Very inspiring. I think I should "stand out" since I am an International student who, not only is self-supporting here, but went out of the house at 17. I also learn English in 11 months.
Individuality is great.</p>
<p>berthran, Yes, individuality IS great. I hope you'll counsel your peers to follow that advice; it seems too many of them on CC are not choosing an individualistic or "honest" path. (When I find the exception on CC -- & there are many --, I'm so relieved to see it.)</p>
<p>Know thyself. All you college applicants out there, It is not wise to choose a college, a spouse, or a career based on who you are NOT (or who you wish you were). Extremely bad idea, & you will sabotage yourself in any such effort -- later, if not sooner. And as to any adults trying to mold you into something you will never be or never want, the epithets I have for those adults are not printable in a public forum.</p>
<p>It is also quite normal not to have a clear idea of your interests & your direction when you are graduating from high school. Some people have lots of interests but no defined "passions" or great accomplishments. That is also fine. There are colleges that welcome BWRK's; they just don't happen to be at the moment the "very most selective" colleges, because this is not the current admissions preference. Plenty of such students have refined their interests only during their undergrad years, developed a focus, & gone onto great grad schools & entered great careers. Your world will not be over if you do not gain admission to HYPSM, AWS, UCBerkeley, UChic, UMich, UVA, etc.</p>