Would Harvard Misidentify the Authentication of One's Extracurriculars?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

I am a person who had been a bit oblivious to extracurriculars and introvert. So I had been working on my 6P-1A homework almost every single school day since freshman year’s dawn. Now, however, I kind of not only just want to get into Harvard and others: I would like to exit my introvertness, my shyness, whatever you call it.

I started finding this “passion” thingy circulating everywhere. So I was like what are my passions? Some I just really loved were crew, math, and archery.

However, since there are only about sixth months left for application deadline, how would Harvard know that I am actually authentic? That I am doing it for myself, not for Harvard (though I still want to go there, which is impossible without those extracurriculars. Again this makes matters even worse.)? That even if it is done for so short a period of time, it is still out of earnestness and truth? What would I tell them in the application itself?

I never asked for chances, always decline and ignore the thought of going to camps or others just for the sake of Harvard seeing that I have done “something,” and I just want to be one thing: myself.

Thanks.

2

All selective colleges, Harvard included, look at your extracurricular activities to find out what you have done outside of the classroom – and they are looking for students who have the ability, drive and ambition to do their homework AND to be engaged with their community in some fashion. They don’t care what you do, just that you have done something beside being a couch-potato. Even shy, introverted people do that!

Often times, Admissions looks to your teacher in their letters of recommendation and guidance counselor’s Secondary School Report to confirm your involvement with day-to-day, year-to-year extra curricular activities. That’s how they are going to know if your EC’s are authentic or just made up. What rating is your GC going to give you on extracurricular activities on your Secondary School Report (SS)? If you don’t know the answer, you best have a conversation with your GC. See page 2 of the SSR: http://ugadm.northwestern.edu/documents/UG_Admissions_SecondarySchoolReport.pdf

So . . . .

  • What did you do the summer prior to 9th grade?
  • What did you do during the summer between 9th and 10th grade?
  • What did you do during the summer between 10th and 11th grade?
  • What are you doing this summer?

Did you have a job? Did you volunteer someplace? Did you take care of a younger sibling? Did you learn something on your own? Or, did you sit around on the couch and play computer games? There’s gotta be something you have been doing besides studying schoolwork for the past three summers and for the past three years!

3

So, what have you actually done with your “passions” since you were first asking someone to tell you about ECs a year ago?

4

Thank you both @gibby and @JustOneDad.

gibby, I didn’t really know much about this passion thingy. I am really just a secluded person. I just always had the thought as someone from another culture who came to America five years ago that I should be only studying, but in order to aim for higher I have to shoot for the stars. That must include the passion thingy. At the same time, I also learnt to exit my seclusion and really just…just be free and discover who I really am - though six months, not four years, before Harvard’s deadline for next year’s admissions. In addition, my parents are also strict on the money side.

I actually tried to get into basketball, the reason being that though I didn’t play it as a “school sport” in varsity or junior, I still played it as a hobby since eighth grade. I have gym at lunch and play too, though not very good at it. However, I had to sacrifice my joining basketball to study for the ACT and earn a good score (which I did, a 31, despite being in such socioeconomic level) and my parents resenting to bring me home at about 8:00P when I go to school at 6:40A. Also, they will never pay that >$100 fee. In addition, I wouldn’t fit homework time (which is brutal, only if you see it).

Then comes math. I LOVE math. Maybe I am not a genius at it, but I still love it. Numberphile is bookmarked. At school, I was the only one last year to double up in both Geometry (got flawless in its final exam) and Algebra II. This year (actually some ten days ago), I finished Pre-Calc and got flawless in its final exam too. I am one of only two starting Calculus next year. The teacher I love the most (and who loves me the most) is the math teacher. She will (hopefully) be my recommender for college (I am actually so happy and excited for that, can’t wait). I earned two school rewards (one which I earned TODAY) for being smart - staggeringly to the fact that I am good at math. I also love helping people at math. I actually have one of my school classes online (not math), and I take that class on a computer - that computer is in the math class (physical class). I just delve so much into math in that class where my math teacher teaches the students that I actually stop doing my work on the online class and help the surrounding friends. I feel really, really good and happy when I do that. There is so much more that isn’t on my head now that I can tell you later! One thing I like to point out is that those can seem so minimal to a person who has 20 AP classes in his school and tens of sports with much area, but in my very small school with a majority of non-Americans, no AP classes (though I still took one online at the expense of the state), literally two sports (basketball for B/G and soccer for B), and being with students whom many if not most not even caring about their futures, I think it’s a different context to be perceived.

However, I never joined a camp, club, or a math academy, or any summer thingy gibby mentioned. Again I am shy, and my family has an income of less than a 10K a year so they wouldn’t really put their money in such “dumb” things as they would think, but I feel there must be a place for the shy and introverted too. I don’t know what I’ll put on the Activities page on the Common App., and that is what is so worrying.

After the passion thingy really inspired me, I started researching hobbies. Some that I found which I really like are crew and archery. Thing is, God knows how Harvard will be convinced that I would do crew intrinsically (at least that is most of the intention).

Also, my parents also changed a bit now from before. Few days from now, my parents promised to enroll me in a driving school, which will be one of the most revolutionary events of my life. I’ll be able to attend sports next year when I’ll be a senior when I’ll only have two school classes, and I might even get internship and volunteering done too. They are still strict about money, but I think they are leaning more to my side these days, so hope is sustaining.

To me, at the end of the path, getting accepted or rejected to Harvard is not connected to the fact that I am actually open to “the world.” I just like to make everyone around me proud, including my parents who are pushing me for Harvard and willing to come with me there to live. One just cannot believe how my own counselor is giving me special treatment as she said that I can be competing in competitive colleges. Surely, I don’t want this to be a “sob-story” as I quote gibby, but rather when I will hopefully send my application to Harvard, I want them to look at me not only objectively but wholly. I would like the whole context to be considered and them taking every single measure to do so.

5

Please STOP using the word “passion.” Most high school students do not have a passion, or they don’t know what their passion is. What most students HAVE is a “commitment” or a “devotion” to something besides grades and GPA. That’s what you have to identify.

All selective colleges – not just Harvard, but ALL private colleges – are looking for students who have committed their time and energy to something outside of the classroom. The idea is that a student’s commitment or devotion to one activity is directly translatable to something else in college and later in life. That’s what selective colleges are looking for – commitment and devotion. Please read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-hansen-shaevitz/extra-curricular-activities-college-admission_b_3040217.html

What have you committed yourself to over the past three years that hasn’t involved studying?

From your description, you seem to have a commitment or a devotion to archery and crew. How long have you been doing both of those activities? For over a year or less than a year? And do you plan to continue those activities over the next 6 months?

And what ELSE have you done? Here’s an example: My son, who just graduated from Yale (and who was also accepted to Princeton) wrote his supplementary essay about all the inane things he has learned from youtube – from playing guitar, to driving a stick shift, to beating his dad at ping pong, to watching college lectures. Those activities didn’t cost any money, but demonstrated to Admissions that my son was a self-motivated learner. Have you done anything similar? What in heck do you do when not in the classroom?

Please take a look at my son’s resume, which I posted on another thread, which is essentially a condensed version of what his Common Application with an EC list looked like. Student’s like him are your competition and not just HYPSM, but at colleges like Williams, Pomona, UChicago, Vanderbilt, USC, Georgetown etc. You really need to give some thought and make a list of everything you have done for the past three years and see where it takes you: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1667731-college-interviews-resume-vs-activities-list-p2.html

6

Idea:

Create, practice and make practical a new activity combining archery and crew; start a business named, and offering, Crewchery Cruises (trademark that business name and “crewchery”), making sure you have enough crew and archery equipment to match the usually unknowable level of demand, as well as some sort of riverside shed from which to operate and launch your arrowboating adventures; secure the necessary insurance and bribe your local DNR/Parks & Rec department; promote your new sport and firm by any means necessary, maximizing GRPs while minimizing CPM reached; and create a film for Harvard highlighting it all.

That might impress Harvard.

(that idea might actually work - I’m not entirely jerking your chain)

But seriously, while you do not have to cure cancer to gain admission, admits do seem to have to do something impressive outside the classroom.

Good luck to you!

7

Go do something! It takes me 3 hours to get home after a debate at one of the private schools, but I still do it and I don’t make excuses. It may be hard but persevere. You can do it. Think of doing something you REALLY care about and you’ll really start to get satisfaction from doing it. I don’t mean to brag, but I actually only started debating in grade 11 because I wasn’t in a school with resources or any idea of debating. I actually taught myself how to debate from grade 8 by rehearsing with my mom and gathering people in my community and letting them listen as I debated against myself (no shame!). I’m now at a school with a team so we participate in leagues, and I’m a national champion.

Good luck to you! Dare to dream.

8

What are you doing this summer? There are lots of activities out there that don’t cost much. Your city recreation department website might have some listings of activities there. Or your school district.

9

But aren’t you doing these things to get into Harvard?

10

@pineapple86 It’s a paradox.