<p>Why do people say "Stereotypical Asian ECs"? It's probably the most ridiculous and useless comment. </p>
<p>If your Asian and you win science fair, math olympiad, volunteer at a hospital, president of many clubs, that's good!! For some reason, some people will say "you have low chances at HYP because your ECs are stereotypical Asian ECs" </p>
<p>Will science fairs, math competitions, club leadership positions, and hospital volunteering (among others) really hurt you if you are an Asian applicant? I'd say that that is ridiculous....</p>
<p>Am I the only one that feels this way? please discuss</p>
<p>While I agree that winning science fairs and math olympiads are great accomplishments, many Asian applicants to HYPS have those under their belt, and hence will not stand out from each other in any way. When the top schools admit people, they’re looking for a well-rounded student body, so they can’t admit all the mathematicians and scientists at once. So it would be preferable for them to excel in other areas. </p>
<p>I’m Asian myself, but my interests lie nearly at the polar opposite of the spectrum, in the humanities.</p>
<p>I only have anecdotal evidence - I’m not sure if sterotypical ECs hurt the Asian student as much as they don’t help as much as they would others. We surmised that the schools felt that had other kids been encouraged by their parents to participate in the ECs that my kids did, perhaps they felt they would have done as well.</p>
<p>Even for admission to the college of Engg or Science, where one would think excellence in math and science contests would be a big plus, our experience was that it wasn’t. The saving grace in the case of my kids was that out of the half dozen reach schools they applied to (each), they both landed the one school they really wanted to go to.</p>
<p>I’m an Asian and to be exact I’m Vietnamese. I’ve lived in Texas my whole life but I’m well involved in school. I’ve been class president for 2 years, held many positions in student organizations as well as doing community services throughout my high school years. I’ve taken the honors classes with a few mix of academic classes and I have a range of grades from A’s to C’s. Mostly lots of B’s… I’d like to say I’m a nerd Asian at heart but I like to live life! : )</p>