Ultimately I think it nearly always helps to be true to yourself. If you are a voracious reader, it’s not going to hurt to mention it somewhere. (My son’s list by the way was mostly sci-fi and fantasy, though he also read a bunch of computer and math stuff.)
Sure, but the thread title is “What exactly are individual top colleges looking for?” and I was actually addressing the topic.
Re #94–I think the most amazing part of the New York Times article is at the very end, where one learns that ED for preschools exists.
Thanks, planner03! With this thread, I was not intending to suggest that students should mold or reconfigure themselves to fit what a particular school wants. Rather, I had in mind a student who has pretty good self-awareness of his/her strengths and weaknesses, and is looking for a “top” college that will respond favorably to the strengths. To a lesser extent, I had in mind students who might have qualities that a specific, individual college would particularly prize, but that the student might not think to highlight in applications to that school, and might not think to select recommenders who would highlight it.
I don’t think either of those two latter situations is inauthentic.
If you meet someone who went to H, Y, or P, can you generally tell with better than 1 in 3 odds which one he attended?
I must say, I think a lot of people are indulging in stereotypical thinking if they are critical of students devising a strategy. There are many ways to do so, from “building your resume” in a meaninglessly pile on to simply understanding what a particular school is looking for, part of which is knowing if the place is right for you. Of course, I see the point of authenticity, but a strategy does not automatically make someone “inauthentic”, whatever that is supposed to mean.
Many also assume that, because my d did devise a strategy, it was because we parents pressured her to so so. That was not the case for us. All I can say is, she knew what she wanted to shoot for and that it suited her, then she did it. Setting her own goals for high school was a great way to focus and keep working hard. Then disciplining herself in her ECs - all activities she would have liked to do anyway - helped. Together, it made her a better applicant. That’s all I wanted to convey in the hope of helping.
That may be the goal of the Ivy adcoms, but IMO, they don’t achieve it. I’ve seen plenty of HYPS students who didn’t do particularly great things in college but got a huge career boost from their name brands.
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When your child is 5 years old and you ask him or her, “Would you like to join Cub Scouts/Brownies?” s/he really has no basis upon which to make that decision, due to very limited life experience. Having never participated in scouting before makes it rather difficult for the child to determine whether or not it would be an enjoyable activity. That’s why parents essentially help set their child’s course early on. A dad who played baseball and not soccer is more likely to teach his son baseball and practice that game with him, thereby increasing the child’s chances of liking baseball and doing well at it. Obviously, this is not a rule and sometimes the child will rebel against what he senses the parent prefers. Ultimately, though, my non-driving, unemployed kid cannot on her own decide she will take ice skating lessons unless I decide to pay for it and drive her there at the crack of dawn. Ease of access considerations, such as distance, time, and money mean it is often the parent who does the choosing for the child. If I see my D is tall and clumsy, I may guide her away from gymnastics–especially since it’s very expensive. So I don’t buy that most kids are the only drivers of their bus–especially in competitive communities where Isha isn’t going to make the tennis team or math team unless she starts training at age 4.
Even older and more independent kids have a wide range of EC’s from which to choose–ANY of which they suspect would be fun and fulfilling for them. Should they do marching band or play soccer? Should they do the chemistry quiz team or the biology quiz team? Should they volunteer at the pet shelter or with the first aid squad? Should they do none of those and study instead? I don’t think strategizing necessarily means choosing something the student doesn’t like or likes less just to impress colleges, but rather selecting a cluster of EC’s they enjoy that best suit the student and his academic and career interests and therefore tell a consistent story, over others they’d also enjoy but don’t “fit” as well. If the student wants to be an architect, maybe volunteering for the first aid squad might not be the best option, but rather a club or activity related to art, design, or construction.
That’s true, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out optimally. My oldest was easy. He glommed onto math at 4 and computers at 6. We picked a few camps that seemed up his alley (science not sports) and gave him books and access to the family computer. Being a science family - there was a family computer fairly early on in his life, even though many friends did not have computers they could use.
Younger son ended up more in activities where his friends were. He played in two orchestras in high school all four years. He was never more than a servicable violinist, but he loved the conductor and being with his musical friends. He was involved in Science Olympiad, mostly inspired by his brother, but also because he liked that group of kids. He liked science and math, but they were his weakest grades in school. He did quite well at the event he chose though. Finally he got pulled into the literary magazine by friends as well. He majored in IR, but avoided the Model UN club, because it was run by helicopter parents of the drinking crowd. He got into good schools despite being the epitome of well-rounded!
THIS:
Inductive, not deductive.
And inasmuch as essays help with the process of recognition, they are important. Otherwise, too much is made out of essays as stand-alone elements of an application. There’s way too much mythology out there about the power of essays. They’re important when they credibly help with recognition.