I love this post! I totally agree that listing tones of ec doesn’t do you any good.
One thing that’s missing from the post, that I think is important is leadership. I’ve heard multiple times admission committees are impressed by students who can demonstrate initiative and leadership.
Nowadays, getting involves in a little online venture like a website (simple eCommerce) can demonstrate both these things! That’s the angle I’ve been taking to tailor my resume to top schools!
I hope this help!
I started tennis kind of late, this January and I’m 17 now. I’m on the lower side of the team right now and frequently get beaten off by people. I am a sophomore. So I think that I wouldn’t stand much chance playing sport because I may not ever get recruited. Should I drop tennis and concentrate on clubs and school?
I am going to transfer next year to a top school of my town. I’m currently studying in the worst. I wonder whether I should stay, if I get strong test score and soar well in academy. My school’s an inner school at a gangsta neighborhood with 80% Black and Mexican. The only Asians here are my race, which is South East Asian ( from Viet Nam). My mom and dad don’t work so the income is extremely low and I’m planning to get a job next year when I turn 18. The top school I plan to transfer is extremely small, competitive public, sending a few people to Ivies & top colleges each year. I’m not sure about my transfering because I might lose a tip/ hook factor of being a star in a bad school.
What should I do, should I
continue playing tennis? ( not dropping it completely, just play it once in a while as opposed to playing it everyday and not improved. Partly since I’m very uncoordinated ( haven’t played any sport frequently when I was younger) and having 6 degrees on myopia).
transfer? ( given that my grade, I think, will drop at the other school but high at my current school. Supposed I study hard and pass AP exams and SAT high)
I forgot to mention, I’m a first generation
I don’t think it matters a whole lot whether or not you transfer- you need to remember not to compromise what you want for what you think adcoms want. If you really like tennis, don’t drop it, but otherwise…it really shouldn’t be a question. As for transferring, that can make quite a bit of difference as far as statistics go, but again- do you want to transfer? That should be your only question. If you feel unchallenged, the college will see that and know that you were willing to jeopardize your chances at their school in order to get a better education for your high school classes. If you don’t think you need it though, don’t transfer. Transferring can be a difficult and exhausting process, so don’t do it unless you think you need it. Not to mention, you’re over halfway done with school.
FYI- those are MAJOR hooks: not only are you low-income (Questbridge!), first-generation has a huge appeal to colleges. Do you know where you want to go?
I will apply to some of the Ivies and Stanford and Rice. But really I suck at tennis. I don’'t know whether I should give it some more time because people say tennis is hard to master and it usually takes several years to accomplish.
I’m a little afraid about transfering. This year I called in a lot to the GT coordinator to ask about applying, and my school’s coordinator said she did it for me. But it turned out my application never came. So I called again several time and they said yes and allowed me to apply. But when I applied they rejected me, saying that there was no room ( although the counselor, not the GT coordinator, said there was when I saw her a little while before sending application) and the deadline had passed ( but they had allowed me to apply again!). So I asked my aunt to call in and the GT coordinator said everything’s done and I couldn’t do anything about it.
I don’t know if the GT coordinator at the school I’m applying to holds any grudge against me. Maybe I called in too much. I self calculated my score and I think I’m qualified for that school but they still didn’t take a look at my file. This year I will apply again to see what happens.
In the case I am accepted, should I go? I’m afraid that when it comes to college the GT coordinator will have some influence on my recommendation? Or does she have anything to do with it at all? Or just the counselor can do it?
Well…IMO it doesn’t sound like it really is so much of a viable option right now. I would stay at your school at this point because you DON’T know why they didn’t accept you, and it could be because you didn’t test in! If you didn’t test in, you won’t get in next year either. So unless your home school is REALLY hellish, I would just deal with it, because it will probably make you look better in regards to college applications as well.
Hi,
what do you mean by “test in”? Actually, the deadline is way back in January, but because I’m a recent immigrant, the GT coordinator of my school offered to do it for me. She didn’t, as it turned out. I reapplied my file in June, at that point all the decisions have been made ( But they said it’s OK to apply again, so I got my hope up and then got rejected).
My current school is so- so, ranking 100/131, contrary to that number 1 school. I’m positive about everything, except for the change of heart of the admission people.
My aunt called in, and she asked when can I apply again. They said they start to accept starting October, but they’re not sure if they will have any room then. So I’m a little afraid.
My school district, LAUSD, tests students for Gifted and Talented, and that determines your eligibility for magnet programs. I’m going to assume that doesn’t apply to you, then.
But it doesn’t sound like something you want to risk at this point: it probably won’t be worth waiting another year to get in. When you’re waiting for something and expecting it and agonizing over the results of acceptance, people tend to hold back on what they have now. You probably won’t be able to properly settle into the better school when/if you do get there. It’s my personal opinion that you should stay where you are and do the very best you can with it. You really don’t want to risk any bias against you or give yourself a hard time at this new school. You can really impress the adcoms with success at a subpar school.
Oh yeah, we do. I failed the test lol but in our district matrix, if you failed that exam but you get high score from some kind of national test then you get accepted. I got 64/62 and was rejected
I do not know much about the application process and I’m wondering if you guys know if volunteer work must be documented in order to supply proof? When we send in the apps, do we have to send in like signed sheets or something from the volunteer organization? If we do, then I’m screwed cause I’ve been doing stuff for years just because I like to and I never bothered to have anything signed or documented.
I’m not too familiar with the application process yet and I was wondering if you guys know whether or not we have to submit proof of volunteer work. When we send in our apps, do we have to include like signed sheets or something? I’ve been volunteering for years just because I like to and I never had anything signed or documented and someone told me that I should have done that. I wasn’t thinking of college at the time, so I never did…does that mean I can’t put all that stuff down on the apps??? Thanks.
I agree with Eternity_Hope2005. I’m no college expert, but I would add (and I could be wrong) that you only need to have one activity. One-road-leads-to-many perspective. One focus of personal interest in your life. You don’t need to hand out food at shelters and missions and volunteer at a hospital and travel to africa to help the poor children to sound and look like you have done “all that”. I believe one heart-felt mission that you personally have undertaken and that has made you feel good about yourself in the sense that you have contributed your bit of grain to the welfare of the world should suffice and impress the admission officials at any university. One month as a volunteer to a children’s hospital where you make children smile (especially if the officials know you want to be a doctor) should make the cut. I believe it’s all about passion. Those who truly believe in the work they’re doing will come forth in their essays. Those who lie in their essays, regardless how amazingly they write it, will not be very believable as those who do not lie. I don’t mean make the officials cry with how hard-rending was the sight of children with some type of disease and how it brought tears to your eyes. I rather would think they’d want to look at your whole philosophy and how passionate you are, or were, about that “extracurricular” activity. There’s no reason not to impress anyone when you care for the world and you demonstrate it. Be ambitious, of course, you want to get into “that college”. Nothing wrong with that! But you also care about the world, or at least a part of it. One activity is enough, because it leads to many other activities. It’s like a job, you start doing one thing and then you end up doing another within the same company, work is related but man it is so different. Everything coming from one place.
@lsjny09: You should definitely have record of your volunteer hours. If you expect to get credit for some requirement, they will need documentation. For the purpose of college applications, your word is generally honored. However, if your teachers/counselor/essays don’t seem to match up well with the number of hours you state, it will cause you to lose credibility. Just double check your numbers, hopefully you’ve been keeping personal record of your hours, so that you don’t risk sounding fishy.
@afraidtoapply: good luck, with whatever decision you make! I hope my advice and the other CCers advice helped! I don’t think the test scores (since you’re eligible) will make any dent. So work hard at whatever you end up with!
So I just discovered this 51 page thread. it seems to have a lot of important advice but I’m probably not gonna read it all. Was there a post summarizing what’s been said? Or is the first post enough? I’m really interested but ahhh 51 pages is beastly…
I read thru all 51 pages.
Lots of great information (and lots of ‘chance me’ stuff that didn’t need to be there)
Thanks to those posting good information, together with their own success and/or failures.<br>
Starting essay ‘application adventures’ for admit to the College Class of 2014.
Ready, Set, GO!
Wish me Luck!
I also kept no record of my volunteer hours and have no official documentation of which I can think. My sister, who applied two years ago, estimated that her hours would equal out to about 3 hours per week. As at the end of senior year I will have been in the club for 3 years, I would guess I will have done approximately 360 hours, but I have no proof, and our club is student-led, not teacher-led, and the sponsors are only in name, as it is with many clubs at my school, so there’s no adult to back me up on my hours. I mean, my counselor believes me and whatnot, but there’s nothing official. The nature of the club is also not suited to doing just one thing, so that might make it look like I’m not passionate. We volunteer at pretty much a different place every weekend, though there is one place we come to once every month.
Anyway, I’m planning to mostly list my ECs about education, and perhaps write essays on them, since I do a lot and am quite interested in education, and though I don’t plan to choose teaching in a career, I would be very interested in doing Teach for America for two years, especially since I have done (and will do again next summer, and likely throughout college) an internship which leads into that. So I’ve tutored, for free, in my own time, and as a job for which tutors are handpicked by my school’s staff. I’ve also tutored 2nd graders at an underperforming elementary school, and, what is undoubtedly my biggest EC in this area, I was a teacher-intern for a summer in a well-recognized, national program.
What I’m not sure how to do is weave my other big ECs into that theme. I dance ballet a ton, about 12 hours a week, and it’s probably my most obviously “I’m not just doing this to get into college” EC, since I’ve been dancing since I was 4, so that’s obviously something I want to mention, as it’s a huge part of my life. I play piano and viola too, but I guess the viola is an in-school thing, mostly. And I ski, in a club, not as a sport, which is pretty obviously not just for college since it’s fun and non-competitive.
Ehh, and here I was thinking I had pretty decent ECs.
i really liked your post. very well said. thanks a bunch, this is surely going to help me a lot!
I would like to ask about the independent studies, do you need a certification from anyone to serve as a “witness” or anything like that?
For all of you who say we only need to get 1 or 2 EC: did you really get into a top college (HYP MIT or Stanford)? If not then the statement is unfounded, because from what I see in the admittance thread in the Ivy Leagues’ box, very few people have 1 or 2 ECs got accepted. Moreover, in a 2003 book about the admission in Wesleyan ( sorry I forgot the name), one case of a student with only 1 passion: horse riding was rejected. Although she got many awards for it and demonstrate it well, the admission committee prefers " at least 2 different ECs"
Besides, in a few pages back, there’s on student who soars in four ECs but bad test score is rejected as well
Guys you might also wanna check if your school keeps track of your community service hours. My school does it for us and i am SO GLAD. The secretary says that i have over 900 hours. AAAHHHHHHHHHH Hope it helps me out in some way or another…