Is this cliched/typical?

Northstarmom
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:47:23 +0000

She isn’t a stereotypical shy Asian premed. The fact that she’s a varsity athlete in 3 sports indicates that she has some traits – competitiveness, athletic ability, organizational ability – that most people – Asian or not lack.

Her being an EMT indicates a sincere interest in medicine (i.e. more than someone who’s being forced into it by parents), a knowledge of the medical field above and beyond what most young aspiring doctors have, and she also has organizational skills, assertiveness, decision making skills far above the norm.

As I said, she sounds like the type of person who’d blossom in an interview when given the chance to talk about things like her EMT experiences. I’ve interviewed students --including Asian ones – like your cousin, and they got into top colleges, and also blossomed in their interviews.

I also suspect that she doesn’t connect well with peers because her interests may be much deeper than theirs. She may find her peers superficial. They may find her boring because they aren’t interested in what she’s interested in. She may finally be able to connect with a peer group when she attends a top college because the students there will be similar to her. The top colleges admissions officers may realize that she’s this type of student who’d flourish in their environment, and they may admit her over admitting a student who’s more liked by peers and has participated in organizations only to look good to colleges.

I’ve known students like this. Because they were very smart and had deep interests, their high school peers thought they were obnoxious or boring.

Anyway, I think that if your cousin wants feedback she should post here herself. I don’t think getting this kind of third-hand advice will be of use to her.

I also suspect that part of your concern is more based on your fears about yourself (I saw your post questioning why U Penn accepted you EA) than wanting to help your cousin. That’s why you keep rejecting the feedback from various experienced posters like me who think that your cousin sounds very impressive including for top schools.

If you really want to help your cousin, tell her to post on CC herself.