<p>Hi. As a high school sophomore who will soon go down the long road of college applications, I’d like to point out that this post doesn’t really help anybody. To me, it just sounds like an oddly personal story that you (for whatever reason) refuse to actually make personal by giving us any tangible details. It also sounds (no offense meant) like a bit of an ego-boost, even though if you really did get accepted to three Ivies you absolutely have the right to an ego boost.</p>
<p>Egos aside, I don’t think this post helps anybody. By the time a student discovers CC, we’re very likely already in high school, and we can’t turn back the clock a decade and start doing amazing extracurriculars. When I read a post like this, it doesn’t inspire me at all; it doesn’t awaken any of those buzzwords you talk about–“Love”, “Passion”, “Drive”–in fact, it makes me feel a little bit depressed. Reading or hearing things like this is a tepid experience for most people my age, because it isn’t advice. No matter how you frame it. You’re telling us not to focus on test scores or grade point averages and instead look at the fact that we are unique, different special snowflakes. We’re not. I, and countless other teenagers in 2017, will send out applications that will probably be carbon copies of each other. It doesn’t mean we’re the same, it doesn’t mean we’re conformists. It doesn’t mean we’re not unique. It just means that at the age of six, we didn’t have the opportunity or the will to start going to overseas conferences.</p>
<p>An inspiring, helpful CC post is a thread that provides some reassurance, some useful information, something palpable that we can still do that can help us get into our reaches. Not something that will just make us sit languidly in front of our computer screens and send us into the abyss of college apps.</p>
<p>In addition, it’s not just the intention of your post that I find disheartening, it’s also the content. The vast majority of my fellow sophomores aren’t going to apply anywhere that remotely cares about ECs. Meaning, all they have to think about is what colleges know you through–the set of numbers and letters on your transcript that sadly define you, for all intents and purposes, as a human being.</p>
<p>Even for those of us who plan to apply to holistic universities that take into account ECs, grades and test scores are more important than extracurriculars. It would frankly be irresponsible to think about our “special spark” to the detriment of our grades. It’s also counterintuitive for you to ask juniors to be the people they want to be and do the extracurriculars they want to do when you started your passion at the ripe old age of six. A junior might be able to find what makes their heart leap with joy, and we would all encourage that. No one would discourage someone from finding their calling in life. However, a junior will never be able to gain the experience and knowledge about any field to accomplish a tenth of what you claim to have done in your field. Sure, you can search for your passion, but you shouldn’t by any means let it consume you to the point that it hurts what matters most, your grades and test scores. </p>
<p>So, I will echo many other reasonable posters on this thread and encourage readers to take all this with a grain of salt. Of course, you should strive to find your passion, your muse, but don’t get lured into thinking that that will make the difference over the numbers on your application. @stuckinsparkle is a very special case; don’t generalize it.</p>