<p>I also notice among these applicants is that many of them for EC's mention "wrote a research paper" or "self studied Atilla Greek" and I am wondering, to what extent are they "valid" in that the research paper is supposedly not published anywhere (presumably, because he didn't say "published") and if the student didn't take any test on Greek. Would merely mentioning that you did research on such and such, or self studied such and such be fine? </p>
<p>I'm really interested in this because personally I do want to self study subjects, and learn somethings on my own, or do a research project, and yet I feel as though I am under pressure to find a club, or that I MUST get anything I write to be published or else it doesn't count. </p>
<p>Am I under a bad misconception, or is this really how it works?</p>
<p>The guy who did Greek also was very involved in Latin. Those two languages are fairly complementary, so I doubt one would have to actually be published for an adcom to weight the self study of greek.</p>
<p>So you are saying if he had not proved his study in Latin, then his study in Greek wouldn't have held the same weight? So accountability and "proof" really is necessary to credit whatever you do or learn?</p>
<p>My d goes to school with the Latin/Greek kid's sister. He's a Latin genius who exhausted all the classics that his school offered (& it's an amazing school.) His National Latin scores, like Mr Payne said, will certainly add weight to his ability to self-study Greek.</p>
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<p>I wonder how you can possibly get this if you live in New York. I'd really be interested in helping someone with their research (at any college) for history or politics. Anyone have an idea on how this can be done?<<</p>
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<p>Contact the history or political science departments at your local universities and explain what you are interested in doing. Or if you already know a professor or grad student you can contact them directly. Or even if you don't know them you can look them up on the departmental web pages and then send them an e-mail explaining your interest and volunteering your services.</p>
<p>AHHH question - her comment on one student dropping:</p>
<p>"There is one red flag, which is that she stopped gymnastics this year. Apparently, her school dropped the program; this should be footnoted on her résumé so she does not appear to be a quitter."</p>
<p>I dropped marching band this year since it would be too much for my schedule. Is it seriously that much of an issue?</p>
<p>I hope they can figure it out for themselves, considering I'm doing five clubs, president/editor/VP/treasurer/etc. of them, a black belt in karate, with a freelance journalism job on the side. Seriously, sometimes I forget that it's ok for me to be human which is terrible. I was kind of distraught about my "red flag" for awhile, then realized that I'm not a "quitter" by any means, and that in "real life" dropping one out of ten activities is OK.</p>
<p>I know that this has been echoed in previous posts, but I think that the article is a complete joke. One would expect to see nothing but 2400s and 4.0+'s and kids with 12 AP tests under their belt already. These kids in the article couldn't hang with the middle of the road CCers, which begs the question, WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY WERE BRAINSTORMING FOR A TITLE FOR THEIR ARTICLE?</p>
<p>^Exactly. In my opinion, Cohen sets unreasonable expectations for high shcool students. But if its still on your mind in a week, just send an email to the admissions officers to put your mind at ease.</p>
<p>I would keep in mind that those who post in CC, and even less, those who subsequently get accepted to colleges, are only a very, very small fraction of all those applying to all ivy leagues I think. So who knows, those people described in his article really are the type of people who get accepted to those schools. </p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas Coureur! Though I ask you, how do I tell them what I am trying to do? Something like "I am trying to get more involved with the historigraphical process"? :P</p>
<p>I think its important to explain an obvious weakness in your app, but I do NOT think dropping a sport or other activity in 12th grade when the student has many other EC's is that sort of weakness, unless that activity is an integral part of the application. In other words, if a kid wants to be a math major, but is not taking any math courses senior year -- that's the sort of thing that really requires an explanation. (Example: student has completed highest level of math offered at their high school). </p>
<p>I do think that private college counselors like Cohen have a financial stake in making the process seem more complicated and difficult than it really is, including hyperfocus on details. The only way the gymnastics issue would really have been important, in my opinion, would have been if the student planned to continue gymnastics in college -- then of course the coach would want to know why she wasn't competing that year. But to me, it is pretty obvious that many kids have to stop that sort of sports due to injury -- even a relatively minor injury could be enough to take a gymnast out of commission for a season -- and someone who has pursued a sport like gymnastics requiring intense training for years and years is not a "quitter" because they stop at some point.</p>
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These kids in the article couldn't hang with the middle of the road CCers,
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slicmlic: Schools like Dwight Englewood have cut back on APs because they provide tons of highly challenging, more flexible seminar type courses. Taking 12 APs is pointless if you have more impressive & interesting courses available. It is definitely the kind of school adcoms are well aware of. I'm assuming the others are, as well.</p>
<p>I'll ask d how the Latin genius was sleceted. Chances are, the author knows of the school's reputation & called the guidance office & a name was passed on for the article.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the ideas Coureur! Though I ask you, how do I tell them what I am trying to do? Something like "I am trying to get more involved with the historigraphical process"?<<</p>
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<p>The first thing you do before you contact individual professors or grad student is read up on what THEIR research interests and projects are and focus on the ones who are doing something that sounds interesting to you. Then when you contact them you say that you are interested in this topic and are eager to get involved in research about it, and volunteer to assist them with their research in any capacity where you might be of help. Let them decide where you might be of use. It might be just clercial grunt work at first, but as you get more experience and knowledge about the topic and you prove useful to your mentor, s/he will very probably expand your duties.</p>
<p>Don't get discouraged if most of them say no. All you need is one good one. If you get 20 rejections and 1 yes, you are all set.</p>
<p>On the other topic of dropping ECs. My daughter dropped off the track team her senior year; her schedule was just too crazy, And it didn't seem to hurt her. She still got into many fine schools.</p>
<p>I don't think that there's anything wrong with dropping ECs senior year unless one is dropping a sport that one hopes to be a recruited athlete for.</p>
<p>Part of the high school and growing up experience is learning about yourself and your interests. As a result, it's fine to explore new things senior year, and it's fine to drop activities so as to leave more time for others that one may have developed a burning passion about or have taken on a time consuming leadership role.</p>
<p>The relatively few colleges that care a great deal about ECs aren't looking at things as if they are a laundry list, but are seeing what one learned, contributed and accomplished through one's ECs. If what you learned included realizing that it's not possible to juggle four labor intensive ECs while keeping up one's academics and having a reasonable amount of sleep, that's a good lesson, far better than any lesson that one would have learned by gritting one's teeth and clinging to four ECs just to try to look good on paper.</p>
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I appreciate the article for showcasinga wide range of students though and not just perfect academic records and endless extracirrculars.
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<p>I would agree. I can't back my statement with facts, (and it would be nice if someone can verify or tell me that I am wrong) but it would seem to be that those that are featured are the type of people who are accepted at top colleges. Yet, most of the people we see in CC are the top tier applicants.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that most students still go to their state universities, so don't need to research colleges and participate on CC.
Actually, there have been threads about colleges for average students also.</p>
<p>I originally wanted to do little more than apply to Ohio State and Cornell, the latter because I wanted to have a little choice. Now I really wish I had not listened to any of my counselors.</p>