<p>beyourself: You should include both. Hopefully if your EC’s are so wonderful and enjoyable you should be able to show your passion through your writing. And your essays don’t HAVE to be about your EC’s either. Actually, none of mine were. There are many topics to choose from for your commonapp personal essays.</p>
<p>"If you apply to Stanford, you’ll probably be so busy with keeping up your all-important first semester senior grades and applying to other colleges that it shouldn’t be too nerve-wracking. I think its best to avoid CC during that time; it can make the wait all the worst IMO. "
I wholeheartedly agree, particularly about avoiding CC! Lol.</p>
<p>i third the avoid cc suggestion. everytime i came on here it just got more nerve wracking as the deadlines drew closer. i was actually able to focus on my college apps w/o cc!</p>
<p>@hpfan018: well say I have a EC which I really enjoy and have had a wonderful experience playing it. So if I show my passion through my writing about my EC, what am I writing to show what I can give back to the school community? I would just be writing about my passion wouldn’t I?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for offering help! I’m a high school student going up to grade 11 in September. I’ve always been interested in Stanford, and since my visit to Stanford during my vacation in San Francisco, my interest level in Stanford went up and up.
I’m a 1.5 generation immigrant from South Korea, currently living in Canada as a Canadian citizen. My GPA is okay, I think (93+), and my extracurricular activities are diverse (yearbook head, jazz/concert band, supporting people around the world club, stage crew), I’ve been volunteering a lot (hockey camp, Habitat for Humanity, Evergreen, peer tutoring, Daily Bread Food Bank, Second Base, tutoring cello). My first SAT I test is coming up this November, and I’m quite anxious as this is my very first one… and of course, there is pressure that I must do well for those colleges I want to get into - Stanford is my #1 along with Brown. I know that SAT score isn’t everything, but I’d like to feel secure myself… so… what will be the minimum SAT score I should aim for?</p>
<p>And, because I’m an international student, do I need to take TOEFL? (I mean, my first language isn’t English, but I was taught in English, in an English-speaking country since grade 6. Do I still need to take it?)</p>
Woah, calm down! You’re going to be a Junior (11th grade) this year, so you have plenty of time to panic later. Kidding, don’t panic. </p>
<p>For SAT scores, it’s a good idea to aim for the middle 50% range (or better) for the school, in my opinion. For Stanford freshman in 2008 I believe this is the range in each area:</p>
<p>Once again, you have plenty of time to retake the SATs even if you screw up your first attempt in November. From the information provided, you look like a strong candidate. I don’t know much about the Canadian school system, but I do know that top schools like Brown and Stanford want their students taking the most rigorous courseload in high school… continue challenging yourself, volunteering, and participating in things you like to do!</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about applying as an international student, so I’m not sure about TOEFL, sorry.</p>
<p>@aberdeen15
Thank you thank you thank you Your words “you look like a strong candidate” was really encouraging. Sincere thanks to you.
Speaking of rigorous courseload, would it be beneficial for me if I take an optional morning course that starts at 7:15 a.m. on top of my regular schedule? I mean… it’s a music repertoire course, so it obviously is less academic than other courses like English and Science, but it starts an hour and a half before school starts. I don’t know if colleges will consider that “rigorous courseload” :P</p>
<p>beyourself, if you have an EC that you really enjoy then you should definitely write about it. However, I think that you have a perceived idea about what you should include in your essay and I can tell you this, writing what you think the admissions officer wants to read isn’t going to get you in. Just be yourself (no pun intended). Let you passion shine through. There are other parts of the application where you can show how you can give back to your school community if you think that you need to emphasize it a lot. Honestly, I didn’t even mention that in my application. The only way I can see them thinking that is the fact that I took a gap year to teach at my alma mater. But that was one line in my entire application…</p>
<p>Im so confused about the essays. Like I cant decide between the topics i want to write about. I’m stuck between three essays (and possibly a fourth): one topic is about my academic downfall and recovering from that versus another topic about how my mind unwinds to education and finally to one of art education. </p>
<p>Q: How can I possibly attempt to add these together? And which essays should i put in which supplements?</p>
<p>If you dont mind, I rather have these PM’d to my inbox because i usually forget that i posted something like this haha</p>
<p>I think it’s best to settle on one main idea per essay, rather than trying to cover various topics under one essay prompt because this often leads to “laundry listing” </p>
<p>Also, try actually writing out an essay for each idea you have–sometimes you may have what seems like a great idea but you can’t actually write enough about it.</p>
<p>this is a very helpful thread, thank you to everyone. I have a few questions…
Q1: How important is it to have EC’s related to the field you want to major in?
Q2: Are the essay questions all similar for each year? If I were to get a hold of this years questions, would it be in my benefit to answer as if I were to apply assuming that the questions next year (I am a junior this year) will be similar or the same?</p>
<p>Q1: Yes, having ECs related to your major can help, only if you develop a certain theme that illustrates your true passion. I know the word passion is thrown around a lot, but find something that truly interests you and sparks your curiosity. While this CAN help, it’s by no means necessary or always beneficial-- admissions officers know its likely for lower classmen to change their majors, and plus Stanford students don’t have to declare their major until the end of their sophomore year. Your main goal is to find what really fires you up, and explore it. And when college apps roll around, SHOW the admission officer your passion through the essays as well as have concrete evidence (ECs) to back it up. </p>
<p>Q2: If you are only a junior, I think starting to write the essays is a bit much. Now, you should continue focusing on your coursework/studying for the SAT and especially exploring that passion (s) I mentioned earlier. And then, if you’re planning on applying RD, start the essays maybe the summer before senior year. (Start as in like, brainstorm/etc) But really, I think most students start the essays much later than that. Think of it this way, the essay can be written at technically any time of the application process, whereas your grades/SAT/ECs must be done long before the deadline. So, make sure you nail those grades/tests/ECs and then write the essays. </p>
<p>Hope this helped! and hopefully some more students can offer more advice!</p>
<p>thank you for your answer which leads to my next question: Is it beneficial to submit either the ACT or the SAT only, or both of them? Here in Michigan, we take the ACT. If it is a disadvantage to submit, I am of course willing to take the SAT. And if I do that, should I submit both or only the SAT?</p>
<p>@kevinnnnni For me, my SAT score was pretty low (2120); however I scored a 35 on the ACT and I sent that in. You’re also pretty much required to take a few SAT IIs. Since collegeboard sends in all your scores, I guess my SAT I score was also sent in. I don’t think it is a disadvantage to send in just 1, but if you score well in both, that could definitely help a bit. This aside, I didn’t report my SAT score on the application, only the ACT, so they probably did not look at my SAT score. I think what it boils down to is how well you did on the test and if you are confident with your score.</p>
<p>Back to your Q1 and 2
Q1 ~ I would say it has some connection. It makes no sense if you do all this research for a professor say in a chemistry field for 3 summers and decide to do a humanities major. Zephyr.E pretty much said it all though. For example, my EC included math teams and a physics team. I’m heavily leaning towards an engineering major, which has a lot to do with both of those activities.</p>
<p>Q2 ~ I think the essays stay the same year to year. Here’s how the essay breakdown for Stanford works, if you apply through commonapp. There’s 1 major essay in commonapp, and either you can use one of 6 (or 5 forgot) of the prompts they provide you or you can submit your own prompt. I chose to use my own prompt. Then there’s a small paragraph or so also in the commonapp. Then for Stanford supplement portion of the essays, I’m pretty sure they stay somewhat consistent on a year to year basis. They’ve had the same few for a couple years now. But then again, they could always change it the next year. The three essays I had in simple terms asked: about one passion of yours, to write a letter to your roommate, and why stanford. Even though you’re a junior, you can still create an account on commonapp and take a look at some of the essays for the schools. That was what I did my junior yet, but it wasn’t urgent and so I didn’t really pay that much attention to them. Also, most people don’t start writing until the near the end of junior year or even the summer. You’re still a junior and there’s still a year to go before you should be thinking about actually writing down your essays. Most of my major accomplishments were during the junior year anyway, so I couldn’t have written about them at the time you are now. Plus, you may develop some new passion; things will change between now and when you actually apply (that is unless you’re applying to colleges as an ambitious junior). I hope this helped.</p>
<p>I don’t have much experience in this because I didn’t send in any supplements, but from my understanding, if you have a truly <em>exceptional</em> talent in some art, the supplements are reviewed by the respective arts department and if they like what they see and want that kind of talent on campus, they will give a thumbs up to your application to your admission officer–which of course can help your overall application. </p>
<p>Also, I think the arts supplement would be more beneficial if that art is the passion you express throughout your application. Like, for example you write an essay about your passion for said art, submit a supplement that illustrates this passion, and maybe even express interest in studying the art at Stanford. </p>
<p>So, if you do have an exceptional talent in the arts, you should definitely think about doing the supplement–I can’t imagine it hurting your application, but just be sure to only submit it if you are <em>really</em> good at what you do. </p>
<p>Hope this helped…but hopefully someone can help who went through the process</p>
<p>Thank you again (for so many times) in advance, I have another question (or two) D:
Speaking of rigorous courseload, does it always mean that I should be taking academic subjects i.e. math/english/science/history, or can it be anything that will add to my regular schedule? I’m asking this because I’m taking a morning course starting at 7:15 a.m. (the school starts at 8:45 a.m.) Of course, if it were an “academic” course, I wouldn’t be asking… it’s a music repertoire (performance focused) course. Would it still “count”? <em>it is a full credit course.</em>
I’m an international student, living in Canada. I’m a Canadian citizen, and was instructed in English since grade 6 'til now. I plan to stay in Canada til the end of high school, so that I was fully taught in English throughout my high school education. However, I’m a 1.5 generation immigrant, and my official first language isn’t English. Now, that being said, do I have to take the TOEFL?
(+ if anyone here’s from Canada… can OSSLT result replace this?)</p>
You’re going to be a Junior (11th grade) this year, so you have plenty of time to panic later. Kidding, don’t panic. </p>