<p>what ever happened to education for the sake of learning and growth and exploration? does anyone else find it a little saddening that at our relatively young age we're all a bunch of cynics?</p>
<p>okay, so maybe the entire college situation is a series of "games" and "obstacles," the end product of which being stanford's acquisition of money and prestige, and your acquisition of, well, the same thing. it's like organized and accepted prostitution. but still, these "games" (if youd like to call them that) are things that you have to win, and keep winning in order to be successful. to chalk this success (as in getting in to HYPS) off as "BS" and soap opera-watching-bored-as-hell adcoms, as mr. romantic does (though admittedly in jest) is offensive to many people, and downright rude. is there truth in what he says, yes. but that's no excuse to go off the handle offending people.</p>
<p>oh and so this thread is not completely derailed, i'm from new york and i got in just fine, although im the only one to get in from my school in like six years. this may be because more people apply to east coast ivies, but if it helps, i read something on the stanford news website about this issue. the new dean of admissions wants to revise the admissions program to attract more east coasters who usually apply to HYP etc. im not sure if this is really in effect, but it looks good for us over here.</p>
<p>oh, I forgot to mention that I know two individuals who did try your BS method and applied to schools like Harvard just for the heck of it. Guess what? Flat out rejected early early decision</p>
<p>College admission is like life. Its not always fair and there is no right way to suceed. Sure there is corruption, the families who donate millions to the school so their kids can get in, etc. But in the end it all works out. Its foolish to be too naive, but you'll only die sooner if you keep being so cynical. And yes, I do believe you are exagerating a lot of your points.</p>
<ol>
<li>yes</li>
<li>??</li>
<li>yes; make your essays kick ass</li>
</ol>
<p>romantic's just bitter cause he didn't get in. don't BS, they read that stuff so easily, but do try to instill passion (not b/c it's the west coast, just for the sake of not sounding like some chess club president perfect SAT drone)</p>
<p>There's truth to what he says, though. There are two goals to writing a college essay - to distinguish yourself from the other 20,000 applicants and to try to give the admissions officers a good picture of who you are as a person.</p>
<p>Also, in the "career plans" part of the application, I told them straight up that I had no idea, and that I wanted to go to Stanford to explore multiple options and find something that I loved. I think faking an academic passion would have been a little transparent, especially with my counselor and teacher recommendations probably all talking about how diverse and well-rounded academically I am.</p>
<p>Ryan4Rovers, I took a similar approach. But the problem I see with that is that we can say the same of practically any other top college. We can't give an explanation for a "Why Stanford?" question.</p>
<p>Where on the application is the aforementioned question?</p>
<p>its located under the cartoon that reads " what does this mean"</p>
<p>It's on the basic information form under major/career information.</p>
<p>i simply put "Undecided." for that 400-character box.
i got in.
its all holistic, and by that it doesnt mean just the stats people put up on this site. everything counts, but its the way you present this everything that determines your acceptance.</p>
<p>its not all that subjective either. your app goes through a lot of committees.</p>
<p>no, i don't know exactly how Stanford admissions works, but from what they (HYPS and many other college adcoms) tell us, we get the general idea. Everything that we do in life will always be some sort of "game" of "selling yourself." we can get into the longest discussion about how the SAT is just a test, and like any other test, it can be broken down and mastered, taking away the Reasoning of it. We're arguing now that college admissions can be broken down and BSed. "the essay is the biggest part" "i know a friend with gold IMO who didnt get in" "my dumb friend got in". When we start interviewing for jobs, its going to depend on whether the HR person believes you will be a good fit for the position. There's almost no other way around this system/game. Iff you havent accepted that in order to succeed, there will always be this system, then... start. moreso than anythign in high school where beauracracy is high.</p>
<p>bravo...well-said.</p>