Nervous Breakdown...one after the other

CC_Admin
Sat, 23 Oct 2004 03:54:16 +0000

HELP!
I’m having nervous breakdowns left and right about the college admissions process. First of all, Williams is my dream school. I have always wanted to go there and was planning to apply Early Decision…until things started to look bad. The truth is, I CANNOT TAKE STANDARIZED TESTS!!! I’m horrible at them. I have taken dozens of practices tests and cannot break 1300. I am just one of those people that sucks horribly at these tests. I need your opinoin…do i still have a change at Williams???Here are my presents stats.

International Student: French Passport (Currently living in U.A.E., Dubai.)
First language French, Second English.

GPA: 3.81 (Hardest Courseload ever possible.)
Go to an American High School Curriculum.

Out of 8 A.P.s possible, have taken 6. The Maximum.
A.P. Biology (4)
A.P. U.S. History (4)
A.P. Spanish Language
A.P. English Language
A.P. European History
A.P. Calculus A.B.

SAT: 1250 M: 660 V: 590
(I cannot improve this…i’m dying!)
SAT2: Biology: 700 U.S. History: 680 French: 730

E.C. (My strongest point…i think)

Varsity Soccer (3 yrs)
Varsity Volleyball (2 yrs)
Varsity Badminton (3 yrs)
Habitat for Humanity (3 yrs)
International Honor Band (4 yrs)
Emirates Symphony Orchestra (4 yrs)
NHS (4 yrs)

--------------Here is the information about each E.C. in detail----------

Sports are the world’s favorite pastimes. Participating in varsity soccer, volleyball, and badminton has been a great privilege for me. In playing, I can represent my school and help to bring my school to recognition by bringing home a trophy. Here in Dubai, our school competes with other international American Schools from all around the Middle East. We participate in a seasonal tournament that involves students from Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and sometimes Greece. It is a very competitive atmosphere. The bonding that occurs with my teammates is what I treasure the most. We will always be together and nobody will ever be left out. We become very close during the tournament as we play together and when we travel overseas, we gain more friends from other schools in the competing teams. The atmosphere is very friendly and because of this great introduction that I have had in the world of sports, I will always continue to participate whenever given the opportunity.

Community service is a requirement for graduation and somehow, it can be the most rewarding of experiences. The National Honor Society in the American School of Dubai is a very serious organization. Handpicked out of a small group of overachievers, we help the local and international community. Last year, we sent clothes and toys to children in Afghanistan under a project called “Boxes of Love.” We also keep in contact with an orphanage in the Philippines and keep in contact with a couple of children there. On a monthly basis, we will donate money to the “Make a Wish” foundation which uses that money to grant a wish of a certain child in India or Pakistan. Locally, we sponsor many events such as a school “Lock-In” and other activities that help make money as to keep the international status going.
Habitat for Humanity is a very powerful organization in Dubai. Once again, we apply to be able to participate by writing essays and getting teacher recommendations. We locally sponsor activities to get money. In March, during the school’s Spring Break, we fly over to Tanzania to help build houses. During a ten-day period, a group of ten people work in Korogwe, a small town eight-hours away by car from the capital. There, we stay in a local hotel and would wake up every morning to work in laying breaks, creating roofs, or pounding the ground. After working during the entire Spring Break, we would fly back and be ready for school the next day. This is by far one of the greatest experiences I have ever had.

Music is my passion. I play the violin and clarinet. Once a year, I would make a tape of me playing the clarinet and send it to a panel of judges in The Hague, Netherlands. There, they would judge my skill and musical expression, and if I am good enough, I would be selected for the International Honor Band which happens there every March. I am proud to say that I have been selected to go every year of my high-school career and have been first chair. Once there, we would play college level music and a college professor from the U.S. would come over to conduct us. There were students from all around the world. I remember that last year, I was sitting next to a girl from Japan and a boy from Chile. With large differences in origins and different cultures, we managed to create beautiful music.

Every summer that I went back to France, I would volunteer to work for the local veterinarian, Dr. Yan Lamote. I lived right next door and would wake up every morning at 8:00 AM and work till noon. Like all children, I love animals. I enjoy helping them and people found it to be a good experience for me to be helping the Dr. Lamote as his assistant. I helped tattoo serial numbers on dog’s ears, operate and remove small tumors from an old sheep-dog, remove kittens from a cat that was having difficulty giving birth. From time to time, I would venture outside and help Dr. Lamote in delivering a calf from a cow or stitching a wound on the leg of a race-horse. My experiences with animals in France were never-ending and I was having the time of my life. I wasn’t just sitting by the side, but actually participating in the surgeries. I felt more respected because I was granted the privilege to wear the white outfit. People approached me for help believing that I was a real veterinarian and it truly was one of my life’s greatest moments.

Since music is my passion and I loved to express myself, a small group of people and me decided that we could help others from enjoying music by playing for them for free. Thus, every Thursday, we would be playing for children at the Rashid Pediatric Center in Dubai. They were ecstatic each time we came. Somehow, they were constantly moving about, but when it came time for our weekly performance, they would sit quietly and absorb the atmosphere. This was a great treat for me and my friends because we were feeling great by playing and making other people feel the same way by listening to us.

Work Experience:

Internship at Veterinarian Hospital - Assistant Surgeon (2 yrs)
Played music to handicaped children at Management of Rashid Pediatric Therapy Centre - (1 yr)

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Since I am very dedicated to music and believe that it could act as somekind of a hook…here is how i elaborated on it:

I was six years old when I first picked up the violin. In France, I quickly learned the basics and found it very easy to express myself with the violin. Moving from teacher to teacher, I then moved to Dubai.

In Dubai, I joined the United Arab Emirates Youth Symphony Orchestra and it is then that the greatest moments of my young life would begin. With the orchestra, we traveled all over the Middle-East. We stayed in Dubai to perform for Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Maktoum. We went to Oman to play for the Minister of Culture and flew over to Kuwait and Qatar to play for the Sheikhs there. One year, we went to Europe and played in a musical competition in the Czech Republic winning second place out of dozens of competing orchestras from all over the world. We also went to Paris to play at Euro-Disney. It is with this orchestra that I discovered that music was the universal language.

Through my experiences in playing in many different cultures, the audience had similar responses wherever I was. The people in Paris were as touched as the people in Kuwait. Music is something that I greatly treasure and it is something I want everybody to be able to enjoy.



First Generation going to College.

Essay: Believe it to be great…it is about my experience in going into a Muslim mosque and what I have learned from it (ask me to e-mail it to you to judge it.)

Recommendations: I believe, as well, for them to be great. For one teacher, I have been with them for 10 days straight in Tanzania working back to back and have had two classes with him. Second teacher, I have known since 3rd grade (family friend,) and i have a great relationship with the counselor because of him being my coach for both Soccer and Badminton.

Ranking: Not done (70 students in total)…top quintile.

-Maybe a recruited athlete for soccer…I have been in contact with the coach.

-Sending an audio tape of me playing 2 pieces on the clarinet.

PLZ PEOPLE…I REALLY NEED SOME FEEDBACK. I am very sorry that this post is very long, but I have been going through nervous breakdowns and crying for hours because of my stupid SAT score. I need to know if I should apply early or wait until RD to get another shot at the SAT in December? But then they would not know that I am seriously in love with WIlliams? WHAT SHOULD I DO??? I’m lost. I do not know what to do. I’m putting off homework because of my dillema and going into depression. My parents are extremely worried and so are my friends and all of this because I cannot take the SAT!!!

AM I DOOMED"??? WHAT SHOULD I DO!!!