<p>Momrath, I’m trying to help one of our Russian students in this process and was trying to explain this concept to her the other day. That give and take potential that you mention in your last sentence is important. Here is a student who is pretty good in everything and is looking to studying law. But she is so good in mathematics and science. Schools look for that. So on the practical level that she understands there she is: math, science person heading towards law.</p>
<p>But this isn’t the student that I know at all. So I was sitting there asking her questions like, what does she want out of life? How does she see herself and others? Where does she come from and where is she going…</p>
<p>I am only writing this to help all those others out there who are readers. Every single kid out there has got a role, a place, a contribution, a persona…and it is not what you are studying per se, or your gpa or your test scores. Those things may show something about you or not. That’s why schools ask you to write essays. It helps you to define your personal qualities; that’s why they want to see what you do outside of school. It helps you to define yourself.</p>