<p>I think the adcom can often (not always) tell apart the true interests from the dress-up activities by looking into the commitment (time and efforts) and achievement (awards etc), through the list of ecs. Also, the short explanation and the essay in the common app is where the context can often be presented.</p>
<p>^There are plenty of parents who are forcing their kids to participate in particular activities, and some of those kids wind up being very good indeed. Amy Chua, anyone? If there are deep accomplishments, the admissions folks don’t know whether they were achieved voluntarily or under duress.</p>
<p>^I think if someone shows multi-year commitment and high achievement to something, one should stop questioning their motives.</p>
<p>Unless there’s something else in the student’s file that raises a red flag, I really don’t think admissions officers question motives. They don’t have time for that kind of inquiry.</p>
<p>Even if there is something out there to raise a red flag, I don’t think they care. Harvard accepted Amy Chua’s daughter after her book came out!</p>
<p>Welcome to “Are Colleges Racist?”, post #4560. Way to beat a dead horse, IP.</p>
<p>I really don’t think there’s anything wrong with violins, math and piano. My kids gave up on piano pretty early on, but my older son was a math (really comp sci) geek, my younger son played violin in both the school orchestras. </p>
<p>Older son did not try to present himself as anything but a math and science geek. He didn’t get in everywhere, but he had good choices and having graduated a couple of months ago I can’t complain about where he landed. He had comp sci skills on a very high level that were documented by outside recommendations (computer firm and med school professor).</p>
<p>Younger son did not write about violin since his skills were workmanlike at best. His main essay was about a pastime that turned into a small business and his other essay was a funny essay about realizing his volunteer job was teaching him to be a historian. The latter wasn’t an activity he’d actually spent a whole lot of time on, but it was one that really illustrated how his mind worked and what he is like.</p>
<p>There are too many asians taking Key Club</p>
<p>IP, please take a look at “Do Hooks Really Help?”.</p>
<p>What’s Key Club?</p>
<p>Key Club is a service club for high school students, associated with the Kiwanis Club for adults. I’m hoping that the “too many asians taking Key Club” comment was tongue in cheek.</p>
<p>One of the best applicants I have “met” on CC – probably THE best – was a Chinese-American girl who started posting because she was having a fight with her parents about whether to include one of her major ECs on her Harvard application. Against her parents’ wishes, she had started up a Gay and Straight Alliance chapter at her high school, and built up its membership and programs. She had a bunch of very typical Chinese-girl ECs as well – tennis, teaching Sunday School at her church, Chinese dance – and of course she was a great student (although not first or second in her class). She also did a lot of journalism, and had freelanced for local papers. She was a beautiful writer – that was clear from her posts – and articulate and passionate about why issues of equality and tolerance around sexual identity mattered to her.</p>
<p>Everyone here (at the time) told her that not only should she include that on her list of ECs, she should take her posts and turn them into her essay. Her heartfelt civic activism / defiance of her parents was just what she needed to make her shine. That is the only time I have ever told a student here, “I think you are going to get into Harvard.” She did (EA, the last year it was available), and everywhere else she applied as well.</p>
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<p>There is no list of good ECs that are specific to Asians. ECs should transcend the racial divides. </p>
<p>This said, a good start would be to have a balance of ECs between the pursuit of individual accomplishments and personal satisfaction (after all why abandon what Asians do well) and … activities that are NOT me-centric or selfishly individual, and require giving time and effort to a team or an organization. </p>
<p>In simple words, that means trying to be part of something that is bigger than each individual, trying to find activities that do not stress to WIN over another individual, and where individual performances are not that important. </p>
<p>Fwiw, leadership does not always mean to be the best and seeking recognition. Even people who lack athletic abilities can be leaders of sports teams by filling important roles. For instance, you do not need to be a star soccer player to form and coach a team of 7 years old minorities in a YMCA league. You do not need to be the leading actor in a play to show leadership. One can do that by lending a hand with the lighting for the play … as one of the vocal Asian parent had to recognize after the facts.</p>
<p>What Xiggi said. Where is there a book that has a list for EC’s by race? Silly. Have your kid do what THEY love, not what you want them to do or your culture deems them to do. Expose them to many things and let them figure it out.</p>
<p>I think the question assumes there are a few “top” colleges that many Asians want to get into, and how do you make your app stand out so you can snag one of the few spots?</p>
<p>Relax and remember there are hundreds of other excellent college choices out there that will be happy to take a top-ranked, hard-working student who plays any instrument or does any sport at all.</p>
<p>Athletics, besides tennis is wide open for outstanding students. My daughter and her teammates have been recruited to UPenn, Stanford, Yale, Harvard, UCSD, Columbia, Dartmouth, Lehigh, Princeton, along with less well known unis such as Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UCSB, UCLA, Claremont, U Minnesota, etc. However, to reach a top uni and be on a highly visible team for recruitment purposes, one usually starts playing her sport at a very young age such as eight years.</p>
<p>My D1 did piano for 12+ years, is actually quite good at it, but alas, she would rather push the piano out of a highrise building window if it was left to her. She did accumulate quite a few piano related EC’s including community concerts, a couple easy A’s in HS and a glowing recommendation letter from her (world renowned :-)) piano teacher but that’s about it. It did help get her into a good college, because she had little else EC’s (what’s community service and how do I blog about it on Tweeter).</p>
<p>I could go into a CollegeConfidential’s worth of grumbling about how the Music Education Industrial Complex somehow gets parents to send their offspring to music class with all the famous statistics. But then, how many parents understand correlation vs. causation?</p>
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<p>What if the latter doesn’t interest you in the least bit? Are you not supposed to pursue what you love? The latter seems like resume padding to me. This is where it gets confusing. Help me out here xiggi. What if solo activities are what a kid enjoys? Should parents force that kid to take part in organizing soccer teams? I personally won’t. Just doesn’t sound right to me.</p>
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<p>What kind of athletics? Is tennis OK or is it not good? I do agree that in order to be any good one has to start early and practice 3-6 hours a day.</p>
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<p>My kid would happily drop out of school and play the piano and do math 16 hours a day. As it is it’s a struggle to get my kid to school which is apparently very boring.</p>
<p>Team sports in our case . . . Softball, volleyball, soccer, water polo, lacrosse, and then individual sports like track and field or swimming. Track and field in particular is open to many people with different talents.</p>