I know a lot of the most selective schools like to see you take the most challenging classes during high school, but is it more important to them that you take all honors/AP’s and get A’s and B’s, or a few honors/AP’s in subjects that truly interest you and get straight A’s? Does it matter greatly to them if you are in the top 10% with all honors or just with some honors and the rest regulars? I understand that colleges like to have well-rounded students, and we are expected to be Renaissance men and women, but isn’t it more important to focus and excel in a few areas and be great in the others rather than being great in all?
I’ve always been taught that quality is more important than quantity, but have colleges totally forgotton this? I’m in the top 10% of my class; my high school is in the top 10 public high schools in my state; I participate in a few clubs that show my interest in art and writing; I have been told that my art is among the best in my grade; yet, people still tell me I have little chance at some of the major universities. Must I become some super-stressed student running off to numerous clubs and activities, taking all honors and AP’s, having no time to spend with my family and friends, and get only 4 - 5 hours of sleep each night to make it into one of our nations top schools, even if I plan on majoring in something in English or art rather than something in the science field?
<p>Well, I do agree with what you are saying. And to a certain extent, having AP's in the areas that interest you, and just regular honors courses in those that you don't, will be ok.</p>
<p>But let's take top tiers for example. It's not that they want you to forcefully take an interest in something you don't care about, but whether you're super interested in Science and not in History, they still want to see that you're good at it. Whether you like it or not, you should be good at it. Is that too much of an expectation and cancels out time to focus what you enjoy? Yes, it does. But you can substitute that "lacking" with founding an EC to devoting more time to do more of that "something" you enjoy. This, is what creates the student with an "initiative."</p>
<p>Quality more than Quantity...hmm, that is true. But know that when you say that statement:</p>
<p>---Must I become some super-stressed student running off to numerous clubs and activities, taking all honors and AP's, having no time to spend with my family and friends, and get only 4 - 5 hours of sleep each night to make it into one of our nations top schools, even if I plan on majoring in something in English or art rather than something in the science field?---</p>
<p>most elite universities, will reply yes. This is because you are competing against students who have a similar "fiery" passion as you do, but they can ALSO balance a true academic side alongside with what they are doing with art, music, or whatever their pursuit may be.</p>
<p>I agree with your comments on having priorities. However, the top HYPSM type schools are looking for applicants who are totally committed to doing well in school. Later in life, you may have a choice between working 60 hours a week on a job in order to get a promotion or spending more time at home with your kids. I truly think that the right choice is to spend time at home, but you can hardly complain if someone else gets the promotion. However, the total insanity about college admissions only occurs at the extremely selective schools.</p>
<p>As a more useful comment, I would offer the following. Colleges are not looking for well rounded students. They are trying to build well rounded classes. They do not want people to have a lot of extracurriculars that they are not heavily involved with, but rather people who have a "passion" and long term committment in one or two activities. When you do your application, don't give them a long laundry list of clubs that you belong to. Give them something in particular that you care deeply about, perhaps art, and have spent a lot of time at. Quality does outweigh quantity in this sense.</p>
<p>In terms of difficulty of curriculum, you should take the most difficult curriculum that you can without negatively affecting your grades. Every guide written says that the most important things to adcoms are difficulty of curriculum, followed by gpa, followed by standardized test scores. Not taking a difficult curriculum when it is available is considered lazy.</p>
<p>If taking all APs gives you no life at all, don't do it. The one person at my school who got into Harvard took 3 APs/yr but was heavily involved in ASB & helping special-ed children, etc. She was accepted over many many kids w/ higher rank and 4,5, or 6 AP classes per yr.</p>
<p>Taking as many APs/honors as you can that you still have a little time to do something interesting...both for college and for sanity.</p>