<p>I understand your concerns, I study in a country where 4.0 out of 5.0 is worshiped :D</p>
<p>Its okay not to have clubs in your school. Just a note, in fact, this brings the opportunity of starting a club :)</p>
<p>Bottom point is that your case will be considered in regards to your own situation. A poor kid with no opportunity what so ever in a pretty damn hard school won’t be compared to a rich kid with opportunities-at-wish in an easy school. That being said, no offense to rich dudes Just trying to contrast the cases.</p>
<p>I’m currently in Turkey. Nah, I’m a HS junior.
If you are looking for official info, search for MITChris’ and mollie’s posts, there is a TON of information on MIT Admissions website.
I’m trying to help because you seem to be over worried about ECs.</p>
<p>My point is that an activity doesn’t have to be officially endorsed or supported by your school in order for you to do it (or to put it on an application.)</p>
<p>The short answer is that it is an honor system, meaning there is some basic expectation that people tell the truth.</p>
<p>Also, I know some colleges do spot-check applications, meaning for a small fraction of the applications they call the college counselor at the person’s school to verify the info on the applications. It’s probably harder to verify some of the less impressive activities, but those have less impact on your application results anyway.</p>
<p>Lastly, if it comes out later that some part of your application is false, your degree could be revoked. So that in itself is a pretty strong deterrent.</p>
<p>See, that’s one of the common misconceptions held by many people. If tutoring is what you love, then go ahead and do it. It will by no means hurt you and might very possibly help you stand out in the applicant pool. “Be invested in the things that really mean something to you (MIT is <em>NOT particularly picky</em> as to what).” – from the same page. </p>
<p>“Things meaningful to you” to an extent refer to things that you can ARTICULATE well the reasons WHY you do and HOW you love doing. And obviously “because this will look good on my college app” shouldn’t be the main reason.</p>
<p>As collegealum said, it is about trust. They expect you not to lie. This is fundamental in almost any American system. When you return a product to Walmart, they simply take it back no matter your reasons are, 5 minutes to have your cash back. In another country, you’ll have to go thru ton of legal work and probably have to prove it, more than a month to have your cash back. It may look unrelated but trust is essential in any process. You really do NOT want to lie. If they find that you lied on the application, you won’t be only revoked but any institute you apply in US will most likely be informed of your <em>special</em> status.</p>
<p>I never won any really prestigious awards beyond just stuff from my school, and I was accepted early this past year. What I did do was to work hard and do the things I loved. I truly believe I was accepted because I didn’t make myself into the perfect college applicant and was myself through the entire process. But I will say that you need to be willing to take the initiative to do things. You have to push for opportunities, they don’t just come to you. I got rejected or ignored plenty of times last summer looking for research internships and eventually I found one, but I had to fight for it, and you will have to fight for certain things if you want them. Good luck and focus on doing what you love, not what you think MIT will love.</p>
Just trying to contrast the cases.</p>