<p>Stardragon,</p>
<p>Supplementary materials do strengthen your application. Every peice of information about you - your interests, your background - helps the adcoms understand you better. The better they understand you, the beter they can evaluate you. As for great, I dont know what you mean. Anything that you feel proud of is significant. How convincingly you put yourself forward as someone deserving of HYP is what matters.</p>
<p>stardragon, i didn't send any supplements to Yale. I had an extra letter of recommendation, though.</p>
<p>It is upto you to show them why you are a good candidate. Just as a 1600 is not guarentee of acceptance, a 1200 is not a guarentee of rejection. They want to see what kind of passion you have about what you want to pursue in college and beyond. Above all they want to see your faith in yourself. Which is why the essays are so important. Your supplements should tie in with your overall presentation of yourself.</p>
<p>Thank you all for support! </p>
<p>I have some materials, but I have no time now to arrange them beautifully and send. For example, I have some pieces of art, but they are not recognized further than regionally (in addition, I have no access to colored printer), some ideas, but they're not finished and written systematically. Next year, I am sure, I will send all materials.</p>
<p>Overall, Russian schools, although give very good comprehensive knowledge of subjects, don't support any individualism. All my life I tried to break this system, to expand my opportunities and to help other students to do it, maybe that's why my academic distinctions are not very impressive.
My school doesn't bother of what I have designed, or what I have invented, so that many my talents remained just talents - there is no action without strong stimulus. I think, it's my hook that finally I overcame spiritual frames of community and school, though material ones are too hard to break, I overcame national discrimination and silly restrictions of personal growth through my rather barve actions, but unfortunately it took too much time and affort. Maybe you don't ubderstand what I'm telling about. Don't guess, I'm sometimes very unclear.</p>
<p>Oh, I cought cold and preparing for TOEFL with high body temperature, I noticed that my attention and brain are very reatarded. I thought about SAT I.. I also was ill then (with temperature about 37,5 C), maybe it decreased my result.</p>
<p>Manyzhka, were your recs very good? I think mine are good.</p>
<p>Judging by the teachers' attitude to me, they were really good.
Dragon, what national discrimination are you talking about?</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>Dragon, what national discrimination are you talking about?<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>It's something like racism.</p>
<p>1360 is good!! wtf is wrong with you ppl????
it's like the 94th percentile!!!!! so many students can't even get 1200 on their first try!!!!</p>
<p>NoFX: yeah, only the letter.
abt fee waivers: as far as I know, (competitive) colleges don't throw our application into the trash basket :D If they don't accept our fee waiver, they will still process the app and notify us to send the fee.
abt supplements: they are really helpful, but make sure that your supplement is really something. You know, adcoms are extremely busy. They don't want to waste time over things that 'what the heck is this?'</p>
<p>well said. Its important that u dont annoy them...so much depends on their moods...esp when u dont have the stellar scores to make em take off that permafrown to smile.</p>
<p>one guy i knew sent a cookie to them. he got rejected.
the cookie was soft when it reached the office.</p>
<p>Callthecops,</p>
<p>I disagree about the annoyance to adcoms and supplementary materials. Their energies are already extended anyway. We have no control over their moods. As long as you dont disturb them with what you say in your essays and other personal statements, you must be fine. Again I dont mean political correctness, but avoiding sounding very nasty or arrogant. </p>
<p>Supplements are usually sent to respective departments for evaluation. I assume they are returned to adcoms with comments. Occassionally they might return with a very strong reccommendation to admit, but mostly they might be just obejective coments on the student's talents and abilities. If you think you have a strong talent backed up by good efforts in the area, you must feel free to send them in. If not anything, they are proof that you did not entirely while away all your spare time during high school playing video games or in the mall.</p>
<p>Stardragon,</p>
<p>You can make a wonderful essay out of your analysis of the Russian school system. Your incisive analysis and suggestions will be make it a very valuable and interesting essay. </p>
<p>But, as I have said before elsewhere in the CC, dont justify you own case for what you think you lack in your list of acheivements, but your general analysis of the system from which you come from should give them an idea about how to evaluate your application.</p>
<p>Sugee,</p>
<p>Yes, it's very intresting! Maybe, not just school system, but system overall and how it influence the personality. Proved with my own example, I really can write incisive essay.</p>
<p>Stardragon,</p>
<p>Yes, writing about the school system in the context of the entire system is a very good idea. Correct me if I am wrong, but the communist system i always assumed decided what area you specialised in depending on what talent you showed very early on in life, irrespective of what you yourself might have an inclination to pursue inspite of your special talents or the lack of it. With the collapse of the communist state perhaps neither the system has the backing to forcibly nurture special talents as they saw fit nor the people have the inclination to strike out on their own given the years of conditioning under the old system. It is easy to see how the old system still extends influence on the peoples' psyche in Russia, since we see similar influence in many other countries that are still reeling under a long gone colonial culture.</p>
<p>I agree, that's a nice topic. Though, Dragon, the one you told me about is better, Btw, my best friend is also writing her essay about the educational system and its influence on society. There is also a "short story" written in the 20th century by one Russian author about that.
As for choosing profession under communism. Sugee, you are not quite right. Students could pursue any career - that is, they could go and apply to any department at universities, then after graduation they all got one of the jobs that the government offered them. (practically "no" unemployement )</p>
<p>Is that essay you told me about was your main essay? I have now two choices: 1) do it my main essya 2) or do it my second essay in context of ECs.
And where does your best friend apply to? Or she doesn't at all?</p>
<p>Oh and this "short story" seems to me familiar.
And why does the west think we refuse communizm or we crash it forever?</p>
<p>Ha-ha, no clue about the last one:)
I would suggest doing it your main. (it was my main as well). On the other hand - if it somehow connecticted with ECs (which i hardly imagine, but who knows what you have there:) ) and you have some outstanding thoughts about the main one, then, of course, go ahead and make it about EC.
She is applying to several colleges (not quite sure about their names, some LACs) - but not to any school you are applying to.</p>
<p>I look at my last post, its first sentence is so stupid! :)</p>
<p>Now, i'm writing my essays, and i've already solved that question. Really, my ECs are very very connected with multi-culturalism and my great wish to study in USA, especially in Yale (that is a result of my EC), but I decided to discuss their another direction in this essay (pochemu I reshil podavat' imenno v yale, mozhet eto stranno zvuchit, no yale s ego tradiciyami naibolee blizok k my background). In the main essay I'll discuss national topic... </p>
<p>How do you, Yalies, celebrate the Christmas and have your holidays?</p>
<p>And good luck to your friend! esli b ne moe chuvstvo gordosti i nenavist' k gumanitarnim predmetam, I bi tozhe popitalsy postupit' v LACs.</p>