<p>SO,
I know there is no magic formula for getting accepted. But, I'm hearing the same things over and over: be honest in essays, show your passion, and be unique.</p>
<p>BUT,
how the heck can EVERYONE be unique?</p>
<p>What really makes a person UNIQUE?
What characteristic do you have that makes you truly unique?</p>
<p>So confusing.</p>
<p>What makes you unique, Snowflake, are the things you care about, the experiences you’ve had, your aspirations, and the challenges you’ve overcome. Absolutely no one out there is your clone if you are honest about who you are, detailed and concrete in your examples, and ideally, show some humor and perspective. So go buy a book of college application essays (there are lots - I like Harry Bauld’s book) and skim through a bunch. It will give you lots of ideas.</p>
<p>^^ all that in 500 words.</p>
<p>HAHA.</p>
<p>But I’ll check out that book fosho.</p>
<p>I just spoke at a HS info session today and afterward, spoke with some of the counselors. Here’s the rub: most kids are not unique in terms of selective college admissions. Period. You very well may be high achieving but look terribly like most of the rest of the pool.</p>
<p>By all means give it your all – but your original observation is correct. Not everyone is unique in a pool of 20000 applications.</p>
<p>^That’s a depressing attitude</p>
<p>Depressing, but true.</p>
<p>All the Ivys says “we want an edge”
but how can EVERY student who applies/gets accepted have an edge?</p>
<p>Honestly, I think the deciding factor for who gets in and who doesn’t among high achieveing students with similar stats is just luck.</p>
<p>ZD: it’s my observation from over 20 yrs recruiting for my HYP alma mater. But I also disagree that it’s “depressing”. The vast majority of people who apply to ultra selective schools – will go onto hugely successful collegiate careers. It may not be at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, UVA, Williams or CalTech – but they’ll be stand out students wherever they attend. I don’t call that depressing at all.</p>
<p>What makes me unique?</p>
<p>Absolutely nothing. </p>
<p>(=</p>
<p>nono, you’re unique…just like everyone else ( ;</p>
<p>The idea of being unique comes from your perspective on a certain experience and not the experience itself. Colleges could care less about how unique your experience was. What they really want to see is what you got out of the experience, how did this change you as a person, and how will this benefit you in the real world.</p>
<p>Everyone has experiences that shape them though, some time or another.
I could write about how an experince has made me stronger as person…I bet everyone has a similar story.</p>
<p>it cud be the way u think of life…and for a fact all of us think of life in a different perspective…so i believe that makes one unique and also if u have a special talent:)</p>
<p>Don’t try to prove your uniqueness for the sake of an admissions officer. College admissions can smell faked uniqueness a mile away. </p>
<p>Do what you love, do your very best at it, become a leader, make sure you grow, reach out to others with what you love, help your community with what you love, teach others what you love. Do it all as if college admissions didn’t exist. Do it for yourself. It will open doors for you in relationships, in work and play, and yes, in college admissions. It will develop you as a person, it will make you interesting and mature, compassionate and capable. If it makes you sparkle in the eyes of the colleges, that’s a nice benefit.</p>