<p>What should I do to maximize my chances at top universities?
I'm only a rising Sophomore, but I'm trying to get an early start.
So far I have gotten 3 report cards, 24 grades, 4 of which were B's.</p>
<p>Will be Asian hurt or help my chances?</p>
<p>EC:
Soccer
Track
Multi Cultural Club
Next year I will join swimming, math league, Jazz Band, maybe Ski Club
And I will try to hold a leadership position.</p>
<p>Jobs:
I have not had a job yet, but I may get one delivering papers on the weekend.
Will this aid me at all?</p>
<p>Volunteer:
I have not had any volunteer work yet, but I will probably volunteer somewhere soon. Maybe at a College or at Graycliff estate
If I cut my hair to raise money for cancer reasearch, can I write that on my resume as well?</p>
<p>Also, I'm on the Who's Who Among America's High School Students. I've heard that this honor is complete bull and not only will not assist you, but may in fact hurt you if you put it on your resume. Is this true?</p>
<p>Who's Who is complete bull, but it won't hurt.</p>
<p>I don't think getting your hair cut for a good cause counts. What are you interested in? We can't give you ideas without knowing what you like to do. Don't do something because it will help your chance at admissions.</p>
<p>You don't really stand out....Unless you get really good at those sports.</p>
<p>Focus your interests so it doesn't look like you're just doing stuff for admissions. </p>
<p>Being Asian might hurt your chances at top colleges, or so CC makes you think it is. But, if Asians are underrepresented at schools you apply to, it'll help.</p>
<p>Well, I don't really have that many hobbies
I used to skateboard, but then I stopped.
Now I usually just spend my time surfing the net, but I want to do something more productive.
Can't I just say "Raised 300 (or however much i managed to raise) dollars for Cancer Research" instead of saying "Cut Hair to raise money"?</p>
<p>I am not good at any of the sports I am in, unfortunately.
But I may become better at Track cuz I run everyday.</p>
<p>And I'm gonna end up applying for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, and all the other Ivies.</p>
<p>and I know I'm only a kid, but I know how difficult it is getting into the Ivie Leagues or Stanford and such, so I want to stand out as much as possible.</p>
<p>if the reason your going to cut of your hair is not because of the cause but to get into college, they'll see right through you.</p>
<p>my advice? find something you truly love and enjoy. now, think of the biggest thing you could think of doing related to that passion and follow through!</p>
<p>Your 15-16. Your resume isn't supposed to be impressive or long. Go raise money for cancer research, if you want to. Get good grades. Join clubs you enjoy, do sports that you love to do. And have fun!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Will be Asian hurt or help my chances?
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</p>
<p>Most of the time it hurts, but it's much less important than your credentials.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I have not had a job yet, but I may get one delivering papers on the weekend.
Will this aid me at all?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Try to get a job that isn't purely menial labor. I'd suggest you work in a lab or something, that way you can even ask your research mentor for a letter of recommendation, or submit your project to Intel etc...Or at least do something skillful like fix computers, or do a job that jibes with the rest of your application. A paper-delivery job will say you're responsible. Some other job might say you're responsible and skilled. Or responsible and passionate.</p>
<p>One that is related to non-academic interest or passionate academic interest. Basically, something that is related to what you would do if you were not trying to find a job just to impress admissions reps.</p>
<p>Find some extra cirriculars that you can truly dedicate yourself to- colleges like to see commitment and would appreciate ECs that you are involved in for all four years of High School. Choose a few that you are really passionate about, whether it's sports, theatre, music, art, etc. Also, leadership positions look very good. Finally, you should find a community service cause and be committed to it for the rest of High School</p>
<p>CC is just as kooky as freerepublic.com. The scary thing: I once drank the Academic Performance Cult Kool-Aid back in the day. The scarier thing: Although I've long since defected from the cult, people today drink FAR MORE of the Kool-Aid than I ever did.</p>
<p>I graduated from high school in 1992 as salutatorian. I was a National Merit Finalist, and I took Honors/AP classes to the hilt. I vied for admission to Stanford and MIT. I was the equivalent of a typical CCer back then. But compared to today's students on this board, I was Ferris Bueller or Zack Morris. No, I didn't grow up on the backroads of Mississippi.</p>
<p>I am disturbed by the rise of the Academic Performance Cult, and the irony is that this mania has bubbled up years after I defected from this cult. (I didn't get into Stanford or MIT. I also noticed in college that NOBODY cared about my previous academic background.) I would not have survived undergraduate school if I had continued my intense attitude from high school, because I would have been up all night every night instead of sleeping at least 7 hours per night most nights like I actually did (and this was in electrical engineering at UIUC). The same applies for graduate school, where I earned my Master's Degree in electrical engineering at George Mason University.</p>
<p>I have (by CC standards) skeletons in my closet. Some "lowlights":
1. I was the first casualty of AP US History in the 1990-1991 school year at my school. The workload was TORRENTIAL. The class had more assigned work than all my other classes combined, and I was taking Honors/AP classes to the hilt. This forced me into the regular US History class. Of course, nobody in college cared which US History class I took.
2. As an undergraduate student, I was in the bottom of my class for a few classes. I wasn't firing on all cylinders (GPA of "only" 4.13 on a 5-point scale, or the equivalent of 3.13 on a 4-point scale). Nobody at work cared.
3. I just barely earned my MSEE (GPA of 3.03) and graduated at or near the bottom of the class. (This was because I studied a different area than my undergraduate electrical engineering specialty and also because I did a time-consuming independent study project and an even more time-consuming research project when it would have been easier to simply take two classes.) Nobody at my workplace today cares about this.</p>
<p>So in the long run, whether or not you were a perfect student won't matter.</p>
<p>Just sit back, relax, and be content to be one of the top 10% of students in the nation. Even if you are the PERFECT student, Ivy-type colleges can still reject you. College admissions is a 2-tiered system: There's the normal tier where having sufficiently high stats gets you in automatically, and there's the crapshoot tier where having sufficiently high stats merely gets you considered, and most of those considered don't get in. None of the colleges in the normal tier have Ivy-level stats. The obvious conclusion is that once your stats meet a certain level, doing better doesn't really open up additional options. This is the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns at work.</p>
<p>Before the Internet etc., pressure mostly came from families, neighbors, friends, and people geographically close to you. This was fine, since being close to you, they were better at understanding your needs and circumstances and adjusted their burdens accordingly.</p>
<p>Now much of the pressure facing students today comes not from local competitors, but from kids they hear about through the national media grapevine -- national competitors who grow up under vastly different circumstances and still expect the small-town public school girl to be as good as them. After all, we've all got Internet connections -- we might as well be neighbors. As people meet others across the nation, national standards rise: national competitions have more participants than ever before, so kids are expected to do a lot more of them.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I love how society is today. But being ranked nationally rather than locally can make life a bit competitive at times.</p>
<p>What should I do to maximize my chances at top universities?
I'm only a rising Sophomore, but I'm trying to get an early start.
So far I have gotten 3 report cards, 24 grades, 4 of which were B's.
--GPA matters. "Number of B's" does not.</p>
<p>Will be Asian hurt or help my chances?
--It will not affect your chances.</p>
<p>EC:
Soccer
Track
Multi Cultural Club
Next year I will join swimming, math league, Jazz Band, maybe Ski Club
And I will try to hold a leadership position.
--Do it because you enjoy it. Explore what you like to do and you'll have a clear goal of what school you want to attend and why. When you explain that to them--that'll help. Otherwise, it's just a list of things they won't read anyway.</p>
<p>Jobs:
I have not had a job yet, but I may get one delivering papers on the weekend.
Will this aid me at all?
--Having a job is good. But get a better one. Delivering papers? Come on. That'll aid you in saving up for the printer cartridge used to print out your application.</p>
<p>Volunteer:
I have not had any volunteer work yet, but I will probably volunteer somewhere soon. Maybe at a College or at Graycliff estate
If I cut my hair to raise money for cancer reasearch, can I write that on my resume as well?
--Never ever put philanthropy on your resume. It's weird and employers 99.9% don't care. Put it on the application--but it has little overall effect. Anyway, cutting your hair is philanthropy and philanthropy sucks. Do actual service. As with student activities, do what makes you happy.</p>
<p>Also, I'm on the Who's Who Among America's High School Students. I've heard that this honor is complete bull and not only will not assist you, but may in fact hurt you if you put it on your resume. Is this true?
--This is crap. As are all companies and websites that claim to help you with colleges by getting your name out there.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to calm down. Once you graduate HS, you just have to do more work at college. Once you graduate college, you just have to do lots of work every day for the next several decades. If you don't enjoy your life now, you'll never get the chance to learn how to enjoy life later.</p>