<p>Colleges look for diversity. They want people who are passion and different. They want students to enrich their student body by adding to it their own elements of uniqueness.</p>
<p>" What is it in you, that you feel sets you apart from everyone else? "</p>
<p>For instance, my friend an LGBT Activist got into Stanford (Full Ride). She focused on her passion for LGBT equality. Apart from that, she was an average student.</p>
<p>I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm than this.
:)</p>
<p>“For instance, my friend an LGBT Activist got into Stanford (Full Ride). She focused on her passion for LGBT equality. Apart from that, she was an average student.”</p>
<p>Your friend could not be “average” if she got into Stanford. If she also got a full ride, she also is poor. Having Stanford stats and being very poor is very unusual. Her being a gay activist and being poor with Stanford-quality stats also made her stand out. </p>
<p>All colleges aren’t favoring people who are passionate and different. The great majority of colleges care only about whether applicants have the stats indicating they’ll be able to handle the academics at the college. It’s only the very top schools like Stanford who get such an overabundance of high stat applicants that the schools can pick and choose from among them the students who’ll best create an active, diverse student body.</p>
<p>^ Very well said.</p>
<p>Northstarmom
Thanks. But. Read my question. Don’t question the question. I mean you CAN, but that’s not helping.
(the friend I am talking about got 2010 on her SATs, twice. GPA average. Colleges do take SOME people below the generally accepted standards. Cornell for example, mentions on their site that they have kids with scores like 1800. They are few, but nevertheless there.)</p>
<p>^ Yes. Recruited athletes, legacies, developmental admits, URMs and the like.</p>
<p>“the friend I am talking about got 2010 on her SATs, twice”</p>
<p>2010 isn’t average. It’s also a spectacular score for someone who is so poor as to get full financial aid from Stanford. Obviously, your friend is extremely bright to have done so well on her SATs despite severe economic hardship. She’s probably brighter than are students with much higher scores whose parents could afford tutoring, enrichment activities, etc.</p>
<p>The bottom SAT score for places like Stanford typically is an 1800, and that’s reserved for people like developmental admits, recruited athletes, and students like your friend.</p>
<p>As for her “average” GPA, I suspect that she has at least an unweighted 3.0 average (typically the lowest gpa schools like Stanford will accept) in a rigorous curriculum in an excellent public school. </p>
<p>Considering her poverty, she has done very well, and probably has the smarts to excel at Stanford after she catches up to others who came from more enriched environments.</p>
<p>Your friend has the stats to get into most schools in the country, and she has factors and stats which could cause her to stand out for admission to top schools.</p>
<p>“What is it in you, that you feel sets you apart from everyone else?”</p>
<p>LOL: This reminds me of the Kathy Griffin joke where her friends insist that every single one of their toddlers and pre-schoolers are all “gifted”</p>
<p>You are what you are. Nothing you can to change it much once you’re a Junior or a Senior. If you’re on CC, you’re probably excelling academically. But the fact is the vast majority of you blend in with one another. Sure CC exists to assist people to try to market themselves a little more creatively – but the file readers generally have seen it all.</p>
<p>Like Jersey said: the few real “hooks” that make one really *wanted * aren’t generally in the control of the applicant anyways.</p>
<p>But equally as likely is that you’ll all be successful collegians, wherever you attend.</p>
<p>It’s important to realize that for many students on CC, there’s nothing that sets them apart from the many other outstanding students who are applying to top colleges. As T26E4 indicated, most students posting here have high stats and are taking rigorous courseloads. That’s true of most applicants to top schools.</p>
<p>To have your best shot at top schools, take the time and creativity to pursue avidly your passions, and have your application reflect this. If you’re lucky and successful at pursuing your passions, pursuing them may make you stand out in admissions for top schools. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether you get into the top schools, however, by pursuing your passions, you will have developed skills and self knowledge that will be useful for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>I can’t agree more. The process of finding what makes you tick, and going for it will serve you well. Most kids change their major, so your high school activities will perhaps be discarded. But, you will have learned what it takes to achieve excellence in whatever field you pursue.</p>
<p>^^ Exactly. This is why I tell people to do what they are interested in high school and stick to it – it does not mean it will become your major, but it will give you the universal skills to excel in any field.</p>
<p>Throwing 90 mph. :-/</p>
<p>Do some real special EC’s…</p>
<p>For premed, I know some kids went to funeral homes and prepare the corpuses in the summer or part time.
Go teach English abroad, perhaps in the Under developed countries like Afica.
Start a Spanish/French/Or any language class in your town and have at least 10 paid students.
Convince your CC(adult school) that you can actually teach computer programing to the adults.
Paid by Great Advanture to maintain their computers cheaper than their own staff(it will be hard now a days, but in 1980’s my brother did that).
Win first place in a Piano contest in the state and the region, perform in Carnige Hall NYC, but not apply for music major.
My DD went to hospital and taught crochet, she really knows her stuff and did a better job than adults.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well said. I think a lot of kids end up starting arbitrary clubs or doing scattered C&S hours out of some vague idea that “it’s good for my college application.” These are the people who end up with no time left in the day, no accomplishments signficant enough to impact their college decisions, and–perhaps the saddest of all–no new insights into what direction they want to take their life.</p>
<p>MUNs. My friends seem to be CRAZY about them, as if they are a big feat. In your opinion, do MUNs measure up to being a good EC?</p>
<p>^^I do pursue my passions, but since I do so outside of school, I’ve started several clubs in-school so that I could make friends. Sometimes, I think that factors into club decisions more than anything.</p>
<p>^Sure, but there’s a big difference between a social EC and one valuable on other levels. Some people muddy the waters by creating clubs with their friends and then imagining that these clubs, which meet every few months to eat chips and have no impact, will affect their college decisions positively. </p>
<p>I’m in French club 100% for the people (and the food), but it’s a goof-off club, and I don’t plan to report it on the CommonApp.</p>
<p>^Yes, definitely agree with that.</p>
<p>@artloversplus Nice job of calling Africa an “underdeveloped country.” And I was just having a discussion about this kind of thing too. Funny.</p>
<p>"MUNs. My friends seem to be CRAZY about them, as if they are a big feat. In your opinion, do MUNs measure up to being a good EC? "</p>
<p>While one can learn a lot through MUN, being a member or a school officer isn’t a big deal. Many students who apply to top colleges are officers and members of MUN.</p>
<p>“Go teach English abroad, perhaps in the Under developed countries like Afica.”</p>
<p>Not an impressive EC because doing this depends on having the money to travel abroad.</p>
<p>Far more impressive would be tutoring kids or teaching English in the U.S. to nearby migrant workers or new immigrants.</p>