<p>any rafflesian ans my ques please!!!!!!!!!!!! :)</p>
<p><em>waves to fellow HCian</em></p>
<p>Frankly, I'd say concentrate on your academics because there is no way our ECs could look more impressive than the American applicants'. Here, it's considered impressive to be committed to 3 CCAs... over there? You're a slacker if you're only involved in 3! Even if this statement is an exaggeration, I think it will be at best a mild exaggeration. Beat the competition with solid academics and (very very importantly) a <em>sparkling</em> essay. :)</p>
<p>yeah i gathered that the essay is ultra-important. groan. and i have no idea what to write for mine without it turning out cliche/corny/basically awful. well i guess i should concentrate on my academics since there's nothing else to concentrate on ha. but really they dont seem to care about what's impt here. it doesnt matter that i'm taking 3 s papers or that i represented the sch in all 3 science olympiads though they take a whole of time and commitment...</p>
<p>a whole lot of time and commitment i mean.</p>
<p>Actually, I think Olympiads will weigh in your favour more so than another leadership position in a CCA. But that's just me, non-admissions-officer speaking, so don't read too much into it. The admissions games remains indecipherable as ever. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>ray are u a guy or a gal?</p>
<p>yeah i think US really digs what you do outside class, your personality etc so better get something done!</p>
<p>girl! -beams- hmmph the point is i dont seem to have much time 'outside class' since i reach home at 7-8pm on average and i dont even know if US unis do take into consideration the different situations in various countries.</p>
<p>olympiads are a big deal esp if you get a medal.</p>
<p>my opinion is that you are considered within your country's context first ie the singaporean applicants from state schools. that said, they may not understand the significance of 3 s-papers (i took 2 and still didnt get my top choices, they cant tell the diff btw spaper and toilet paper lah) unless it is explicitly explained. </p>
<p>lastly, as a science fac kid i think you have an advantage with the top schools if applying for science/engineering programs since our standards for math/science are superior to the US. The humanz kids like me are competing on a more level playing field since we're applying for lib arts.</p>
<p>okay depends. engineering yes, other stuff nope nope nope. You're still applying for lib arts, and they don't see whether your science/arts or whatever is better in that country.</p>
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they cant tell the diff btw spaper and toilet paper lah
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LOL too true.</p>
<p>bah but i cant even train for international olympiads cos i'm only a pr and there are dozens of national olympiads around and who cares whether u get a gold medal or not... s papers are kind of useless except for scholarships. do u think winning national science talent search helps (if you know what that is..)?</p>
<p>LOL of course it'll help; whether it's crucial is another thing. I had a foreigner status in S'pore and that prevented me from participating in a handful of things I would've otherwise joined. Everyone has their own set of obstacles but make the most out of what you have and it all works out in the end. :) (Dream school, here I come!)</p>
<p>huh?? u mean only singaporeans allowed to take part in international olympiad??? oh nooooooo
are u sure, i tot one of the guys who got in mit this yr from hc had 3 intel olympiads :eek: :eek: and he was a prc scholar......??</p>
<p>ya my bro cud not take part in rsi cos he is a foreign student [not a scholar]</p>
<p>umm actually you can take part in international olympiads as long as you are a citizen/pr, but the IBO committe this year had some other reservations (IBO is held in china this year) so yeah.. and you cant possibly have 3 international olympiads because you are only allowed to train for one, as far as I know.</p>
<p>of course you can! just do it in separate years heh..but u have to be pretty damned good. Having an international olympiad medal will of course help a lot, but it will by no means guarantee u a place in a top uni...
See there's IMO, IBO, ICO, IPO, IOI - each one has (i think) 6 members so you are competing with 30 others each year..and most of them will prob be interested in say, MIT, which accepts something like 1 or 2 singaporeans a year. And this is just the creme de la creme of the intl olympiads! what about the other outstanding all-rounders and geniuses?
I'm sure the adcoms of the top US unis know what the S-papers are given that so many top singaporeans apply...and it is precisely because 90% of them have 4A's 2D's that it seems as though the adcoms don't give a damn about s-papers.</p>
<p>yeah i guess you can, but IPHO, ICHO and IBO only allow J2s to go, so effectively you can only go for one of these. and nothing can ever guarantee anyone a place in the top unis.. it's all small things added up. unless you're terribly rich and donates millions to the sch and that'll be another story. hmmph it would be good if they took s papers into account since there're only 4 pple taking 3 s papers in sch this year so that makes me sound slightly smarter hahaha, i hope.</p>
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<p>Isn't that term banned? Which school is that.</p>
<p>Cornell!:)
Why would it be banned?</p>