Please be nice to me. I just want some tips...

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hello. For those that haven't already seen me around here, I'll just like to say that I'm just a high school freshman, but because the year's almost over, I'd like some advice as to what I can do (and I want to hear what YOU did so I can have a greater perspective) in order to GET IN (and I mean "get in", not "have at least a good shot at") a top university. Currently, I've decided to work for Stanford, Rice, and UC at Berkeley (which I'll most likely get into for sure) for the time being, considering that Harvard is an uncertainty for everyone. To my delight (and surprise), I can actually do some things over the summer (I'm planning to get an internship at a law office with my counselor's help), so I guess that's a plus. Right now I'm the freshman class representative for Key Club (I might be treasurer come sophomore year), participate in Spanish Club, and I'm hoping to run for and get an office in our new Creative Writer's Club. My weighted GPA currently gives me the #1 rank in my class, and in tenth grade, I plan to do Cross Country, Track, and Debate, which is combined with Model UN (and I still plan to keep all the clubs from freshman year). I am Asian (half-Filipino, to be specific), yet I come from a low income family. I'll be the second person in my family to go to college (the military pays for my dad's college right now), and I plan to have a novel published by the time I graduate high school. I know that my ECs may not be considered "interesting" or "hookish", but where would it get me if I miraculously became the best debater in the state/country? I have a friend whose brother got into Harvard as a top national debater (and he got a lot of scholarships too!), and I'm hoping that maybe I'll be that successful. Any advice? Thanks. Please, take me seriously. I want advice, not "You're a freshman. Please relax, go outside, and do something stupid." </p>

<p>And will being Filipino be a disadvantage, considering that it is an Asian race?</p>

2

<p>i'm a junior so i don't have much advice to give really, but i wonder sometimes about whether filipino can hurt you (i'm 1/4 filipino)</p>

3

<p>Yeah, I wonder too. Someone on these boards told me that while Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese people have average IQs of over 110, Filipinos have IQs of below 90. And many people forget to observe that Filipinos make up the 2nd largest Asian group in the United States, mainly because its the Chinese and the Japanese who are more successful.</p>

4

<p>I think being Filipino would be an advantage, if anything.
It's almost impossible to KNOW that you'll get into Stanford. It's at the same level of competitiveness as Harvard/Yale/Princeton/MIT (hence, HYPSM). If you DO end up being the top debater in the country, then sure, it'd be a pretty sure bet.
But HONESTLY. You can't plan this. You can't decide that you're going to become the top debater in the country. You can't decide that a publisher's going to take a high schooler's novel seriously and publish it.
Relax, go outside, get off of CC.</p>

5

<p>Alright. Thanks, though I only stated confidence in UC at Berkeley. But you're right. You can't plan things like these. I was just hypothetically speaking. And I know how hard it is to get into Stanford, hence I only added a positive parenthetical statement next to Berkeley Again, thanks.</p>

6

<p>who's this top debater friend of your brother's?</p>

7

<p>"Yeah, I wonder too. Someone on these boards told me that while Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese people have average IQs of over 110, Filipinos have IQs of below 90. And many people forget to observe that Filipinos make up the 2nd largest Asian group in the United States, mainly because its the Chinese and the Japanese who are more successful."</p>

<p>Do you realize how much average "IQ" changes when a country transforms from third world to first world (i.e. to a good public education system)? Or that among oriental Asians Filipinos have the second highest (tied with Koreans) college bachelor degree rate? </p>

<p>Ranked by bachelor's degree percentage (page 12, <a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-17.pdf):%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-17.pdf):&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<ol>
<li> Chinese: 48.1%</li>
<li> Filipino: 43.8%</li>
<li> Korean: 43.8%</li>
<li> Japanese: 41.9%</li>
<li> Thai: 38.6%</li>
<li> Vietnamese: 19.4%</li>
<li> Cambodian: 9.2%</li>
<li>Laotian: 7.7%</li>
<li> Hmong: 7.5%</li>
</ol>

<p>I did not list "other asian" percentage.</p>

<p>This guy you talked to was an idiot, put bluntly. In my isolated sample in Arkansas (which obviously shouldn't be taken seriously), over 75% of the Filipinos have been National Merit qualifiers (I'm including half Filipinos). This year, 1 out of 1....last year 2 out of 2.....etc (including my brothers and sisters above me). If we were to judge intelligence by my sample, Filipinos are much smarter than Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc. *Of course, blanket statements like this are idiotic to begin with. * </p>

<p>People who oversimplify the picture, and do not take economic standing, public education, and other little factors into these "IQ" rankings are simply uninformed (and possibly pushing for a reason to feel superior to someone else). It's quite odd that there is a higher percentage of Filipinos with bachelor's degrees than Japanese, ya know, considering they're stupid and all. </p>

<p>Even if the college attainment rate weren't true, it would still be disingenuous to base a person's intelligence on IQ tests. Just as it would be for SAT test. I have a 2270 SAT and 34 ACT, but do I consider myself better than someone with a 32 ACT or whatever? No. First, I could have devoted more time (and someone who scored higher than me could have went to a Kaplan session or whatever) than him/her. Second, SATs/ACTs measure such a narrow strip of intelligence. There is creative intelligence, musical intelligence, social intelligence, etc. Schooling, economic status, etc can have a huge effect on "intelligence."</p>

<p>At one point, the Philippines was the Asian country that all other Asian countries aspired to be. The conversion rate for the Filipino peso to American dollar was better than that of part of Europe and all of Asia. But through corruption and division, the country has fallen back on itself.</p>

<p>Here's what a Korean wrote of his (or her?) adoration of the Philippines, and why it has lost its prominence:</p>

<p>My Short Essay About the Philippines
By Jaeyoun Kim
*
Filipinos always complain about the corruption in the Philippines. Do you really think the corruption is the problem of the Philippines? I do not think so. I strongly believe that the problem is the lack of love for the Philippines.</p>

<p>Let me first talk about my country, Korea. It might help you understand my point. After the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world.</p>

<p>Koreans had to start from scratch because entire country was destroyed completely after the Korean War, and we had no natural resources.</p>

<p>Koreans used to talk about the Philippines, for Filipinos were very rich in Asia. We envy Filipinos. Koreans really wanted to be well off like Filipinos. Many Koreans died of famine. My father’s brother also died because of famine.</p>

<p>Korean government was awfully corrupt and is still very corrupt beyond your imagination, but Korea was able to develop dramatically because Koreans really did their best for the common good with their heart burning with patriotism. [...] *</p>

<p>Read More: <a href="http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/jul/29/yehey/opinion/20050729opi4.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/jul/29/yehey/opinion/20050729opi4.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Never let a person tell you that you're inferior, especially when you can fight back with your own statistics (college attainment). Please, no more blanket statements about race.</p>

<p>(Also, I know the website this person is referring to. It [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_IQ%5D%5B/url"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_IQ][/url&lt;/a&gt;] has India as one of the dumbest countries, yet the country has produced nobel prize winners, the highest college attainment rate of all Asians, Gandhi, Buddha, the best technological colleges in the world......and they're stealing American jobs. Simply, the ratings are kooky.)</p>

<p>Rant over...</p>

8

<p>Yeah, debating is nice, but honestly, SO many kids do it. A while back everyone was talking about it not doing that much because the top debater in the country a few years ago was rejected by a ton of schools. I mean, it's commitment to a certain activity if you stick with it and national recognition if you ARE number one, but that's SO unpredictable. Unless debate is your LIFE, I doubt that'll happen. </p>

<p>As far as the Filipino thing goes, if you talk about your culture or have an activity related to it I think it's a plus but by checking Asian it just makes it harder. I mean, it's not just that the admissions reps see you as "just another Asian"; you'd be added to their statistics, and the numbers don't track different types of Asians. Sorry, I know it sucks.</p>

<p>Why do you say UC at Berkeley is such a definite?? I don't think anything's for sure. You aren't a legacy, don't have any amazing achievements . . . I'd be interested to know why you think that. If it's true though, that's awesome!!</p>

<p>Hmm. Right now, I can't identify any strong interests. What ARE you interested in?? I see spanish, writing, sports, debate and politics, with about one activity for each interest. You really need to go deeper in each catagory or pick two or three to really excell in; remember, it's "depth, not breadth" (sorry, I know it's cliche). Officer positions are really good, so that's a plus, but nothing's special. Like, how many kids do Spanish Club?? Creative writing?? Sports?? Debate?? Model UN?? Key Club?? Nothing's unique to you. I'd suggest really trying to find something different to stand out, and also picking your top interests and finding more related activites. Good luck!!</p>

9

<p>Thanks so much for your insight, johnnydr87. Your points were very good, and I'll now make sure to keep them in consideration at all times. I also found it very interesting that at one time the Philippines was a model nation.</p>

<p>Kwolfenden, you are very right. I wasn't thinking clearly when posting this, but what I meant to say was that "if I ever got into a top-rated university, it would probably be UC at Berkeley and nothing more, if I ever was that good". You definitely can't be definite in these matters. So I'll just try to be as distinguished as I can by the time I apply, but I'm not going to try to make any promises.</p>

<p>My interests? Well, I aspire to be a lawyer in the UN, so I like law, politics, government, and foreign languages. Writing has also been one of my favorite hobbies. And it's true. There really isn't anything unique or interesting about these things. I can't think of anything that is, though (I would do singing and theatre, but apart from the band, our school doesn't have a very good fine arts department. I know this from experience). </p>

<p>But thanks for your encouragement. I'm going to try really, really hard. </p>

<p>*And could you give me any information about this top debater that got rejected from all these great colleges? I'm just interested, that's all.</p>

10

<p>Ack, I can't find the debater anywhere, sorry. I searched a TON but debating is mentioned SO MANY TIMES on this site!! :)</p>

<p>I'd say definitely try for officer positions (treasurer of Key Club, something in Spanish??, officer for Creative Writer's). Any awards in cross country, track, debate or model UN would be awesome (state/national recognition especially), and definitely try to get published. I mean, hell, how many kids do THAT?! Verrrrry unique. If you could, landing an internship over the summer or going to a selective admissions program in something you're interested in (writing/politics type thing) would be really good. Are there any local foreign language groups you could volunteer with, any local senators/judges/whoever up for reelection?? Those would all be nice ECs. Don't worry, you have soooo much time and #1 in your class is awesome.</p>