<p>I've noticed on this board that people may have a lot of EC's and awards, but others reply to their chances as not being too high because they don't have "distinctive" EC's. What kind of acticities are you talking about? I'm a girl who plays Tuba in my school's marching and normal band, I take Improv, compete in horsebackriding every summer, and I'm in Tae Kwon Do and will have my black belt by the time the college application pool comes around. Is that distinctive enought for the top universities?</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>I do fencing, philosophy, the school paper and lit magazine and have won few awards for any of them. (Can't win anything for philosophy really; it's a hobby and the contests I've seen require that you have Ph.D or so to compete.) I don't think my ECs are particularly remarkable, but Stanford didn't seem to care.</p>
<p>what were your stats...?</p>
<p>also "bump" i guess. i think this is a pretty interesting thread, just because i've noticed a lot of the same things. it seems like your ec's have to include doing major research or having something published or winning national awards in order to get into the top schools..</p>
<p>kim and platy: you do have distinctive ec's. who would think of a tuba playing horse riders and a philosopher fencer !!</p>
<p>i'm gonna list posting on CC as an EC</p>
<p>Stats--1600 SAT first sitting, 800 Math IIC, 790 Bio Molecular, 780 US History, 750 Writing. 4.2 weighted GPA, 3.8 unweighted. Top decile of my high school, National Merit Semifinalist and AP Scholar.</p>
<p>ECs-you know them.</p>
<p>Awards--a couple Best Story awards on the paper, a couple math competitions--qualifying for the AIME and qualifying for a free T shirt at at a Bay Area math olympiad. But not even enough for an Honorable Mention. That's about it for my awards.</p>
<p>I think if I had asked for chances here, most of you would have told me that Stanford was a reach or reject for me. Lack of great ECs and great awards, lack of leadership. Something like 16,000 people get National Merit Semifinalist status each year, right? National Merit status can't be too special.</p>
<p>I am not sure why I got in. I know I got a fantastic rec from one teacher (she told me she thought I knew more than she did in philosophy and mythology). </p>
<p>As for the essays, I took the advice of a friend I have at Stanford and severely emphasized that I was dedicated, skeptical, intellectual, and in love with learning. According to him, that's the sort of thing they want most in students. I don't know how well you can fake that though, considering you get recs from your teachers, who ought to be able to tell if you don't have a genuine curiosity for everything.</p>
<p>For the main essay, I wrote about becoming interested in philosophy and how it made me more open-minded yet skeptical, how I would do weird things now like fact-check the Da Vinci Code or join a Christian discussion group out of curiosity, though I am an agnostic. (None of that is made up, scarily. I'm bloody weird and damn proud of it.)</p>
<p>If I got in to SU, it was more on the strength of showing a sparkling geeky personality than anything else.</p>
<p>Also, there aren't a lot of people who invented their own nanobots or won international poetry prizes around. They can't possibly fill up a class with extraordinary people like that--there just aren't enough of them to go around.</p>
<p>"severely emphasized that I was dedicated, skeptical, intellectual, and in love with learning."</p>
<p>I think that is what got you in. Be happy.</p>
<p>I've been reading a lot about admissions to the top schools. They want leadership- student body presidents, editors on the school newspaper, team captains. Being a top athlete helps. At times, the music depts request certain instruments, so tuba may help. Having state or national level awards definitely helps, in any field. Showing passion for an activity definitely matters. Just being a joiner will not help. Investing yourself in something you love helps, no matter what it is. But I think that you really only need to sweat it over ECs is you are targetting the top ten to fifteen schools, or places like Georgetown (places ranked below number 15, yet wildly popular and status-ladden).</p>
<p>STATS:</p>
<p>Well, I' haven't taken the SAT or anything yet, I'm only a sophmore. My parents are really pushy though and have been making me research all the top school and all that stuff. My dad won't let me go to a non-big name school since he wants to be able to brag about me, I say whatever. But as I've been looking I've been wondering if i can get into these school, its not too late to try different tactics i guess.</p>
<p>The stats I can post are:</p>
<p>Freshman Year:</p>
<p>Biology: A
Geometry: A
French 1: A
PE: A
Band:A
English Honors: A 1st semester, 89.9 second(my teacher wouldn't round it up, I still hold a grudge)
World Geography Honors: A
I took the highest level courses for a freshman at my Southern California public school. The school is one of the top in the region though.
GPA: 4.35 weighted
3. 92 not</p>
<p>Sophmore:</p>
<p>We haven't gotten grades yet, but I'm hoping to get all A's. Again, I'm taking two weighed classes, honors english and AP European History. Again, I'm in the highest level coursework for my grade.</p>
<p>I got my PSATscores backl last week and I am in the 89th percentile. I need to study for the SAT a lot, but I still have time.</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>Well, it seems as if you do tuba at school, and are involved with the dance, Tae Kwon Do, and horseback riding outside of school. If you found or start an EC at your school, it looks great on applications. Could you found and lead a club at school for dance, horseback, or martial arts?</p>