<p>I haven't chosen any safties and reaches yet</p>
<p>My ECs so far are (And I'm a international sophomore going to Andover this fall):</p>
<p>1) Debating - Very ordinary thing to do but I think I am good at it
2) Model UN - Same as debating
3) Writing a newspaper article for the biggest national newspaper in PNG (Thats like the NY Times for PNG lol so you can see how bad it is that they let me write a huge 2 Word document page length article every week) The article is about my passions: economics, world affairs and politics. Its an entire major column so pretty serious stuff.
4)Tutoring - Free for charge for disadvantaged kids and professionally
5) Going to India every summer from now 'till senior for teaching kids English and other stuff like that
6) Doing some simple youth counciling in PNG
7) Trying to get an internship with a investment banking (trying to get relatives to help with that, feel guilty though)
8) Piano like 100s of others</p>
<p>7) hasn't happened yet and 3), 5) and 6) just started this year.</p>
<p>Would these ECs hold up/be a positive/weigh me down. See, I don't have any hooks or stand outs in this list. I plan to join the 3-4 clubs that everyone seems to join at Andover as well. </p>
<p>I don't have an EC which is exceptional. These are my passions particularly economics and politics. Any one have ideas on improving them? I'll chance you too, so everyone wins :)</p>
<p>I know someone who tried applying to just HYPSM.
He’s going to Hunter College now.</p>
<p>Andover has a strong presence at these schools, although it’s probably due to old money or legacies. You can’t rely entirely on ECs, but yours look impressive enough.</p>
<p>It’s very easy to pick reaches. And, oh, so fun to think about them, dream about them and plan for them. The most difficult part of getting a college list together is finding that safety. I would suggest you start looking for those schools, as it is not as easy to come up with those.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t know any universities that well apart from the top ones as I’m international so I’ll construct a list of them when I’m at Andover with the college counselor after about a trimester. But back to my ECs, anyone have a suggestion? I am trying to think of something terrific to highlight myself but I’m not sure where I can do it. Thanks so much guys!</p>
<p>Why HYPSM? All the five schools are so different; why are you applying to all of them? If your answer is ‘prestige’, you have some serious rethinking to do.</p>
<p>No, not at all. I just wanted to know what it takes to get into the best. Because if you get into HYPSM you can generally get into most other universities. I was just checking how good I was compared to the top unis and then I could apply for other schools. For example I’m not applying to Yale because they aren’t apparently as strong in finance/math/science as others. </p>
<p>I’m prefering Chicago, Penn Wharton and Caltech to some of the HYPSM. </p>
<p>I just said HYPSM not to mean those schools specifically but just generally the best unis in America.</p>
<p>Oh and also to admittedly draw attention to my thread. Btw, does anyone know any safeties or matches for a international not needed financial aid and has solid grades and SAT scores (hopefully!)?</p>
<p>What you face by going to Andover is that a high percentage of your classmates are legacies at top colleges, will be recruited atheletes and are from rich and powerful families. Therefore, the playing field when you apply to college will be far from level. </p>
<p>It is not the top 35% of the class that gets into the top colleges. The connected apply ED/EA, and when that round is over, they see how many more they will take from Andover. If you have 8 Harvard legacies in your graduating class with decent stats, no unhooked kid will probably get in your year.</p>
<p>Any great private school makes admission to the top schools harder. They make admission to the next level down easier though. Go because you want a great high school experience!</p>
<p>Legacy is through parents and grandparents.</p>
<p>HaHaHa, you clerarly didn’t go to an Andover peer school! Everyone at these schools knows you can forget HYP if you’re not hooked. First, Andover, Saint Paul’s and the other boarding preps produce a huge number of scholar athletes. Where other schools their size might get 2 or three recruited each year they have dozens. </p>
<p>Next, as these schools accept a lot of legacies themselves, they are full of HYP legacies. Andover and the other top schools pretty much only sent their grads to ivies, and mostly HYP, 25 years ago. </p>
<p>After that the Andover’s have some off the charts accomplishments among their students. There are several every year who have done remarkable things on a global level.</p>
<p>Last, these schools have gathered some of the smartest minorities in the Country.</p>
<p>By the time the colleges have milked Andover for the athletes, satisfied their legacy donors, taken in the sons/daughters of Senators and other world leaders, gotten their share of the very rich and top minority students, they have already taken 10 or 12 which is all they want. And these schools really want to cut the number of kids coming from elite schools so as they take more internationals and scour the Country for diversity, it comes at the expense of their former majority, prep school students from wealthy families but not uber wealthy.</p>
<p>Top 10% doesn’t matter as it does at other schools. Nearly everyone is smart and the less smart are members of the special interest groups the colleges love!</p>
<p>Those who understand the system and really want HYP will go to their local public school or a less competitive/elite prep, not Andover. Here in NYC this is a huge frustration for the newly rich-their kids don’t have the same shot at these schools as the old money kids!</p>
<p>newyorka, although some of your points ring true, I would disagree that the only Andover students going to top colleges are “athletes, legacies, sons/daughters of Senators and other world leaders, the very rich and the top minorities.” </p>
<p>I go to Andover and can see a list of where kids are attending next year. There are a good number of kids who will be matriculating at Harvard, Princeton and Yale who are just hard-working, smart kids who have made their mark at Andover. Most kids at the top of the class (top 10%) are attending their first choice.</p>
<p>blue, from what I hear Harvard halved the number they accepted from Andover this year vs. last. At my school Harvard made a deep cut too. The biggest issue here is probably that top colleges want to cut the ties with top preps in favor of a student body from a broader range of places.</p>
<p>After that, what I’ve learned is that there’s a good chance you don’t know what many of your classmates’ connections are. They may not be a legacy, but their uncle may have just made a major gift (happened in my class), they may look white but be half hispanic (again, something my peers didn’t know about a competitor).</p>
<p>My point is that colleges fulfill their own needs as opposed to seeking out just the purely best and brightest. When you get to an Andover level school there is unquestionably a pool of kids who have connections and strings they don’t announce.</p>
<p>Is there any doubt in your mind that many of your classmates would have made HYP had they stayed home? They got into Andover because they were the best and brightest there.</p>
<p>Generally, it’s not a good idea to go to a prep school solely in hopes of attending your dream ivy league school. That’s just asking for a letdown and a disappointment. Go for the great experience; go for the the amazing academic and extracurricular opportunities available; go for the chance to meet people from all over the world - but don’t go to Andover so that you can get into Harvard. I know I won’t be spending my college years walking across Harvard Yard or watching football in the Yale Bowl, yet I wouldn’t trade in my experience at Andover for anything.</p>
<p>Feel the same about my day school. I also won’t be cheering at the H/Y big game, but I’m happy about where I’m headed and the amazing education my high school gave me.</p>
<p>So if we take away all the URMs, atheletes, children of influence and legacies then how many kids from Andover get in to HYPSM without these fair or unfair boosts (atheletes for example deserve it)? Would it be like 5 who get in solely on merit?</p>