<p>lol yeah sorry, i guess number 5 is optional but it’s been a fairly common thread that i’ve seen personally among people i know who were accepted. maybe it was just coincidence though that i happened to meet a bunch of prefrosh during bdd who had traveled out of the country summer after junior year or shortly before. </p>
<p>i met a couple asian girls who started nonprofit organizations in india and traveled there over the summer to see the fruits of their labor. but some trips abroad were less significant but no less insightful. one mexican girl wrote her essay about mexican toilets. i wrote about a chinese village i visited and how it changed my perception of the world. i met one asian kid who traveled to cambodia and taught kids english and another asian kid who spent a couple weeks with monks in tibet. they all wrote their short essay or personal statement on these trips.</p>
<p>so that’s why i mentioned number 5 but i’m sure it depends on socioeconomic stature like amciw said. foreign travel is certainly not a prereq for admission and i most certainly didn’t mean to imply that.</p>