<p>How much do you think my qualifying for the nat'l spelling bee 3 years in a row will help me get into the top schools? (My final year I placed 26th out of 250 competitors)</p>
<p>is this spelling be a high school spelling bee, or pre-high school?</p>
<p>with all the "buzz" (no pun intended) about spelling bees, like that movie that's coming out, it's pretty timely. Idk if its a hook, but sure could make a good essay.</p>
<p>it's the scripps howard national spelling bee - you can only participate in 4th-8th grade</p>
<p>i just hope it might set me apart from other applicants, because it really is a huge competition. Every english speaking nation in the world is involved.</p>
<p>Nerdddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>If you are in 8th grade, this is way to early to start thinking about college.</p>
<p>In response to the above post, IMHO, 8th grade is not way too early to start THINKING about college. It sounds like cjones32157 is just asking a good question because he/she is curious.</p>
<p>I went to the National Spelling Bee finals in fifth grade and came away tied for 26th place. Unfortunately, I never made it back due to a series of very unfortunate events.</p>
<p>If I were a college admissions officer, what I would glean from spelling bee success is a drive and determination to succeed, even if doing so requires hours and hours of often tedious work. Unfortunately, compared to some of the other national competitions (especially MATHCounts) the National Spelling Bee just doesn't have that much real-world application. If you want to, you can vastly improve your vocabulary and develop a better understanding of language; otherwise, you're stuck with study skills for (essentially, but not limited to) rote memorization.</p>
<p>"Unfortunately, I never made it back due to a series of very unfortunate events."</p>
<p>and did these by any chance involve a certain lemony snicket?</p>
<p>A kid at my school won this thing a few years back. I'm curious to know as well. It can't hurt to have "competed on national television (ESPN)" on your resume. :)</p>
<p>8th grade is th perfect time to start thinking about college because you wont blow of your highschool year. I started thinking about colege sophmore year so i sucked freshmen year.</p>
<p>hell no 8th grade is way to young to think about colleges. Justs f***ing have fun...you still have time. I dont even know why little kids okay 8th graders even bother to think about. Actually this is one of my pet peeves that i wrote about earlier somewhere in this area but anyways just have fun. I mean i didnt think about colleges until last year! And now im going to a great school so pfftt</p>
<p>In response to the thinking about college too early posts, I just have to say, some people take this waaaaay too seriously and do everything calculated on it's ability to get them into Harvard. That is NO way to go through high school or live your life. If you are the type of person who deserves to get into Harvard, you'll get in based on acting like you and doing things you like, not by trying to make yourself into an ideal applicant. And I don't mean to be racist, but those types of kids are disproportionately Asian. That being said, I think you should start thinking about college no earlier than summer after sophomre year. Besides the fact that it's entirely useless to think about those things before you have standardized test scores, it's needless worrying and it will interfere with the things you should be doing in high school. </p>
<p>And don't get me wrong, I love academic competition, but there was never a more worthless competition invented than the spelling bee. It's not applicable to anything, and you aren't learning any skills other than rote memorization. Winning the spelling bee doesn't mean you are smart or special, it means you spent more time memorizing lists than the other crazy kids, and it means you've had less fun than everyone else. (And note: I won my school spelling bee and got third in the district, cold)</p>
<p>8th graders STOP THINKING ABOUT COLLEGE NOW</p>
<p>I cannot believe you people who are telling this person its not too late to start thinking about college! Are you crazy!??</p>
<p>I started thinking about very early on and it really had a horrible effect on me. We need to learn to let kids have more FUN.</p>
<p>I mean, its not a bad thing if college is on the BACK of your mind. Or if its a tiny little nagging voice that will remind you to not settle for a lower grade when you could easily get a higher one.</p>
<p>BUT, if this person is an 8th grader posting on this site, I'd suspect its more than just something on the back of their mind. Which is in all way a very bad thing. It will make your high school life very depressing.</p>
<p>Don't start really thinking hard about college till your junior year.</p>
<p>Did you read the article about the girl who planned her high school career in sixth grade? To get into Harvard, which she did....</p>
<p>I believe the term for a person like that is "college whore."</p>
<p>yea stop thinking</p>
<p>unless u wanna end up like me depressed about this whole college thing and seeing psychiatrists...JUST RELAX and get use to just doing GOOD ENOUGH</p>
<p>Did you read the article about the girl who planned her high school career in sixth grade? To get into Harvard, which she did....</p>
<p>did you read the article about the girl that threw away her teenage years?</p>
<p>mathcounts has no real world applications in my opinion. the math level is quite low. Such math can easily be trained for. As long as the kid has a strong grasp of combinations and permutations, a perfect is not out of reach. I could not join since I was not in the "elite"(which was not so elite) math class because I had just moved into the district.</p>