<p>I am a sophomore from India and I'd like to go to an Ivy or an equally good college. Academically, I am very good - won't be a problem. It's only the extracurriculars that I am worried about. Please tell me whether I'm doing good and give me some advice on how I can improve my chances (keep in mind that I live in India) - I will do what you advice me to do only if I will enjoy it as well.</p>
<p>In School:</p>
<p>All these till 12th:</p>
<p>Model UN
School Magazine
School level basketball, hockey, throwball (captain), football, table tennis (player)
Participation in all olympiads
Organising school activities
Participation in school level quizzes, debates, etc.</p>
<p>1 year of drums</p>
<p>Outside School:</p>
<p>I am a state- and national-level tennis player. I do quite a bit of cooking and baking on my own. After my ICSE exams next March I'll do quite a bit of volunteer work. I enjoy reading, writing and doing out-of-syllabus math in my free time.</p>
<p>Please give me some advice guys! It would help a lot and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!</p>
<p>@mj93: I don't know if I'm good enough for recruitment, but thank you! I just love the game (my biggest passion - been playing since I was 5) and try to as far as possible.</p>
<p>@Sheed30: Thanks!</p>
<p>Also, I might get nominated for a school leader position or something in 11th/12th grade. I'm sure that'll help. </p>
<p>Do you guys know any interesting online programs or something that I could participate in? You know, ones which are open to internationals? I did some Art of Problem Solving a couple of years ago; know anything else similar for math/science/English?</p>
<p>Also, for the other 60 guys who viewed this thread - mind replying?</p>
<p>All your ECs seem "general" in nature and not focused towards any one items that you are "passionate" about.</p>
<p>If you've been on this site for any time at all, you'll notice that this "passion" comment will come up often when discussing the Ivies and other top colleges. You need to focus on one thing in particular--for example, molecular biology and how we can cure diseases in unusual climates, international relations and the problems relating to the Tibet/Kashmir triangle area disputes between India/Pakistan/China, social injustice and the effect on the continuing labor of underaged children in Bangladesh/Burma/Sri Lanka, etc.</p>
<p>Anyway, you get the idea--what is it that makes you want to wake up everyday and get motivated (and motivate the world) to make a change?</p>
<p>This is what the Ivies reward with an admission letter--whereas the "I was VP of my chess club, and played on the cricket team at my school" is not quite as impressive--see my point?</p>
<p>Calcruzer, there are ABSOLUTELY NO OPPORTUNITIES in India for the kind of things you're talking about! The mentality here is study, slog, slog, get into IIT/some good engineering college, and life is made. EC's and passions are given least consideration. Marks=success. That's the life here.</p>
<p>Hi, I'm Indian. I know what you're talking about,</p>
<p>Calcruzer, if playing tennis since the age of 5 isn't passion, what is? tenniskid is a national level tennis player, that's very very good.</p>
<p>You can write a killer essay about that, tenniskid123. Your ECs are very good, compared to a lot of Indian applicants. My ECs were way less than yours, and I got in UCLA, Oberlin, Colgate and Hamilton. (I also got rejected from HYP and Berkeley), and was waitlisted at Williams. I spent 11th and 12th in an IIT prep academy and basically had no ECs then. Very very few, anyway.</p>
<p>Admissions officers know that ECs aren't given importance in developing countries (it's even mentioned on the Williams website that they're aware of it.) Don't worry about it. Just continue taking part in these ECs.</p>
<p>Also, don't aim just at the Ivies. Look for fit. Look at other top colleges, especially top liberal arts colleges, they're as good as top universities for academics, but provide a more undergraduate focussed environment. Look at the "hidden Ivies" and the "new Ivies" and stuff like that, too.</p>
<p>You might want to talk to some Indian people who got into Ivies from CC, too.</p>
<p>Lastly, DO NOT SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON HERE. You have two and a half years to go before you apply, and it's not going to do you any good, you'll just get nervous.</p>
<p>Do you have any notable awards? A large proportion of Ivy students have some recognition. Otherwise, your ECs are good.
How good are your academics?</p>
<p>Awards...I've won quite a few sporting events at the school level, I've gotten certificates for academic excellence within my school (hardly anyone gets it-you're considered very very good if you can get one), I think I might become a school captain in grade 12.</p>
<p>Academics are great. Definitely within the top 3 students in my class.</p>
<p>I didn't read through the other posts, but here's what I have to say:
Your ECs seem very spread out and don't seem to show focus... even your personal hobbies (could you consider something nat'l status a hobby?) don't show much passion. Additionally, you have to go above an beyond in what you do in order to get into the schools your looking at because you're an international student.</p>
<p>However, the fact that you're a nat'l tennis player could really help out. If that's your passion, you can start gearing your ECs towards that (teach kids tennis?). You also seem to be into other sports, and maybe you could get recruited for one of them. THe best news I can give you is that you have 2 more years to work on it.</p>
<p>See Sungchul, I would LOVE to teach other kids tennis but the thing is, most parents want THE BEST for their kids, and they wouldn't see a 14-year old as the best possible coach - get what I mean? So, it's like nobody will come to learn from me - they'd rather pay a few hundred bucks a month and send their kid to a qualified pro, since they're already paying for rackets and other gear.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether anyone knows of any essay competitions (international? national? anything?) that I'd be eligible to participate in, since I like writing and want to try my hand at a writing competition of some sort (essay/short story).</p>
<p>Sungchul, really, please try understand the situation in India that I'm in. Read one of my above posts, as well as TheOneCurlyFry's. They should give you an idea about life (extracurricular life) here.</p>
<p>But really, helping around so much in school, being so involved in sports...I'd think it would show SOME sort of passion...well looks like I'm wrong...but more comments would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>in that time you can do all the things calcruzer talked about. and more.</p>
<p>seriously, there is actually a lot of opportunity in india to do volunteer work like that. don't only look for organised activities. try and start your own thing. when i was in india last spring, my brother and i organised a project to clean the plastic bags up from this one river next to a temple (where people were putting their offerings in plastic bags).
the point is, there is SO MUCH stuff that you can do. just walking around the streets, i'm sure you can see things that can be fixed. you are 14, you have ages. start your own volunteer project, carry through with it, and it'll look phenomenal. it'll give your ec's that extra edge and show that you're not just about yourself.</p>