chance a worried Californian

JHS
Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:10:49 +0000

Jeepers creepers! Some free advice:


Stop worrying so much about your grades. Do you have any idea how unattractive it makes you look to be obsessing over whether colleges consider 9th grade grades, when it turns out that you had one B in 9th grade.
Do not predict that you will get a 2400 when you retake the SATs. You should retake them, because an extra 100 points would bolster your application a little, but the score you have is actually fine.
Do NOT start another club unless it really, truly meets some kind of need, or has something to do with fun (preferably both), and involves a lot of other people. Starting one club is fine, especially if you stick with it and make it work. Starting another one in the fall of your senior year makes you look fake-o. (If the one you already started is not vibrant and functioning, downplay it.)
Same deal with your charity. I’m almost sorry someone got into college once because of doing this, because it has become completely overplayed. If I were an admissions officer, I would be penalizing kids for starting charities unless they had some kind of focus that was completely off the radar of established charities. I would much rather see him or her working with adults and peers in an existing organization. It’s way too easy to be a “leader” when you work alone. (If the charity is vibrant and functioning, and involves substantial efforts from a number of people who are not your relatives, then I apologize and tip my hat to you. But you had better make that clear, because what you have here smells funny.)
Don’t apologize for not entering more contests. More people should not enter more contests.
Don’t point fingers at your school administration because you think you haven’t taken enough AP courses. DO talk to your guidance counselor. The most important thing is that he check the box that says you have taken the most challenging curriculum available. If he won’t check the box, see if you can get HIM (or her) to explain that it wasn’t your fault, you tried. Talk about it yourself as a last resort.
If you have significant family responsibilities that you care about and that take time, make them part of your story.
Do not whine about race. Being “East Indian” will neither help you nor hurt you. Lots of people like you will be accepted everywhere you apply. [What’s up with “East Indian”, by the way? I haven’t heard anyone describe himself that way in 20 years.]
And, for crying out loud, say something that gives a sense of who you are, what you like, who you want to be. What your, like, interests are. Passion. You’ve probably heard the word. The only passion you communicated here was a passion for accumulating credentials, and that’s an application-killer everywhere.


You are obviously a good student, a decent musician, and a busy, somewhat driven [guy? girl? it doesn’t matter, but I can’t decide what to guess]. You have the goods to be competitive for admission anywhere, certainly including Chicago, but you are not going to be successful anywhere like that unless you start expressing personality.