<p>For schools such as harvard, stanford, mit, princeton, etc., what should someone write about in their essays? If the question asks what you did in the last few summers, do you say something that you are passionate about, such as gardening or photography, or do you talk about your extracirriculars such as volunteering at the local food pantry, even if you didn't like it? Do those top colleges want to see CONSTRUCTIVE, ACADEMIC/COMMUNITY stuff, or do they want to see passion, even if the passion is not shown in awards or grades. </p>
<p>Also, in my case, i was wondering if it would be better to say that i am asian indian, or if i should choose not to answer? I mean, asian indians are part of a minority group here, but the average indian is not an average joe. And because those top schools only accept maybe 2-3% indians, would it help or hurt my chances to say that i'm one of them?</p>
<p>thanks</p>