<p>Throughout high school, I’ve gotten into a lot of my activities by just searching around in math/CS and exploring what I like, etc. I think it’s safe to say that I would not have thought about giving up any of the 10 activities I put on my Common App if they had not mattered at all for college applications or I had not gained any of these so called “formal credentials”. (things like programming/math competitions, random projects, etc.) It is something I am quite proud of and want to show in my application.</p>
<p>That said, I’m in a dilemma over whether this would be a good attitude to explicitly express in essays (referring mostly to prompts that ask what you like the most about yourself in some form, such as MIT/Stanford/Univ. of California). Specific possible issues I am worried about:</p>
<ol>
<li>It would sound too cliche/commonplace (maybe too many people are like me) even if I expound on specific experiences</li>
<li>The topic itself may come off as arrogant (seen as disparaging the attitude of doing something for awards, etc.)</li>
<li>It may make the impression that I’m trying to hide weak results (although I will list results in another section/others have assured me that they are good)</li>
</ol>
<p>If anyone could give advice on sorting this out, I would appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>Not so sure about that actually. It’s a pretty defining characteristic of me, though I probably did not explain what I meant in my first paragraph right now.</p>
<p>I guess I am more worried about the first one, although this is mainly due to my lack of interaction with too many people (as many seem focused on doing things for college, for awards, etc.). I am less worried about #2 and #3 (mostly because my results have been good and I do mention them elsewhere, and I can do this without appearing condescending) As for #2, I’m not sure about the specific topic. Could you possibly elaborate more on why you think this is not a good topic?</p>
<p>I don’t even get what you are trying to say. Are you trying to say your theme will be that you do things for their own sake? That isn’t anything profound, though it is important, but that is the kind of thing you show, not tell. Do you need to talk about awards and bring that up at all?</p>
<p>Are you thinking that there is something wrong with doing thing for awards and you want to make some kind of point about that? that seems a less than inspiring topic.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t emphasize your lack of interaction with other. You already do sound condescending, so if you ID that as a risk factor because you are, I can see why. I think that just worrying about being condescending is a red flag.</p>
<p>I don’t blame you for the first part, quite honestly. Looking back, I explained what I was trying to say very poorly, and I apologize for that.</p>
<p>I should have said “just for awards/credentials”, not “awards”. “Don’t do something just for awards and don’t try to emulate those that were successful” is not a blanket statement that I think should apply in every situation, and I’d be lying if I said I never ever cared about my results or never looked at how others were successful. And I certainly do not look down upon these people - unless they look down on people solely because of scores/results (and yes, I have met many such students among the high-achieving population). They have their (very worthy) reasons for what they do and why they do what they do. I just disagree that it’s a healthy way to go about high school activities, and I think the way I decided to go about what I did was a great choice. I know this is hard to explain without posting my whole essay here (which I am not comfortable with doing), and perhaps this is an inappropriate question to ask here.</p>
<p>I also agree that such a concept is important for showing, but not telling, but isn’t this what a college admissions essay is about? Being able to effectively explain to others why what one is proud of <thing that="" makes="" them="" proud="">?</thing></p>
<p>I’m not sure why you refer to my “lack of interaction with other”, as I don’t believe I emphasised this. I interact with many different types of people with many different views on what I discuss, all of which have shaped how I think today. There are many who are very result-oriented, who I often both disagree with and learn a lot from; I know a lot of people on the other side, some of which I disagree with and some of which I deeply admire. And there’s everyone in between.</p>
<p>Eh that was my common app essay in a nutshell. It’s safe to say things worked out in the end, but who knows what role my essay played in that regard.</p>