<p>GPA, SAT I, SAT II, and ACT scores are obviously important.</p>
<p>But what else?
Almost everyone I know who is in an Honors/AP class has the same extracurricular activities such as volunteer work (Soup Kitchen, homeless shelter, etc...), belongs to NHS or National Society of High School Scholars, plays either a sport or an instrument, and are involved in school clubs such as environmental club, community service club, debate team, etc.</p>
<p>So what makes you stand out?</p>
<p>Everything has been done before. Don’t find something that nobody is going to have on their transcript. Find something that very few people do and outshine them in that area.</p>
<p>What makes me stand out is my ability to take a hit ( My 2 C’S junior year) and learn from it and make myself a better person. And also the ability to find beauty in life when there is just darkness all around.</p>
<p>My dream school is Columbia. But I don’t know if I’ll get in. I had a rocky Junior year. But that doesn’t matter to me anymore. I’m just going to give it my all, fall in love with safeties. And if I make it into Columbia that will be cool. But if I don’t my happiness is tied to my writing, not college choice.</p>
<p>Internships. If you have the opportunity to get involved in one of those during high school, it will definitely help you.</p>
<p>placing in national/international competitions</p>
<p>Oh, Didn’t realize you were talking about EVERY college.</p>
<p>I’ve got this mentality on College Confidential that whenever somebody mentions a college they are talking about a REACH school.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, by “colleges”, I mean top-tier schools such as Georgetown and NYU.
Sorry for not clarifying.</p>
<p>Earning national rankings in several National Science Olympiads (USNCO, USABO, etc.)</p>
<p>Will something like playing piano at Carnegie Hall, Dicapo Theater, and Kimmel Center, winning the Scholastic Writing Competition Gold Key, winning first place in a debate competition, and being accepted to Drexel’s Summer Economic Institute stand out?</p>
<p>I’m extremely anxious.</p>
<p>Do you think taking AP Physics C will make me a shoo-in for Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>@ puggly123
I think you are in the wrong thread.
But nonetheless, nothing will make you a shoo-in. A person with a 4.9 GPA won’t be a shoo-in with a 1600 SAT score and little extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I believe that puggly123 was being satirical in that post (please correct me if I misinterpreted that post). puggly123 was just posing that question to try to make you realize that your activities are excellent and stand out by contrasting that with his/her post.</p>
<p>@Apoc314
OK. Thanks for correcting my misunderstandings!</p>
<p>@puggly123
Sorry if I misunderstood you.</p>
<p>Passion.</p>
<p>Honestly I wouldn’t actually know since I’m not Harvard College nor am I affiliated with the school. However, pretty much all of the people I know who got into the oh-so-prestigious schools have really pursued their passions and not only that but have tried to help society benefit with it. Various people I know have also heard from the universities they were accepted to their strong interest in so-and-so made them a strong applicant. I also know of someone who messed up with essays the first time round and the second time, his essays were better and his passions could come out clearly.</p>
<p>-I’m homeschooled.
-I compete in national singing competitions</p>
<p>An admission essay that will make the reader cry. he will feel so bad for you he will risk his job for you to get admit it. that will raise your percentage of getting accepted to collage significantly</p>
<p>@philosofer</p>
<p>Ha ha. I will personally make my paper out of fresh onions (and preserve it somehow) with extra sulfur coated on top. That ought to make him/her cry! JK.</p>
<p>@tofugirl101
Such as…American Idol?</p>
<p>Do university-sponsored summer programs help?
I also wonder if internships help.</p>
<p>I’m good at acting and I’m psychotic.</p>
<p>Internships definitely help (unless they are the pay to be an intern type) if they are competitive. University Pre-college summer programs typically don’t help (most of the time you end up paying 5-6 thousand dollars to go take some noncredit courses). It is probably better to just pay a few hundred dollars to take credit courses at your local college instead of flying out to an Ivy League precollege program which costs thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>Spend time doing something that you love and become the best at it. Don’t spend all of your time at Key Club.</p>
<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>