<p>I came to the western world about one year ago and this fact does affect my ECs (e.g, I don’t have those long-term ECs since I was not exposed to any opportunities like mock trials, model UN, research project, or even school clubs; therefore, everything started in my sophomore or even junior year). My volunteer hours are negatively affected too since there is no way that I will be able to accumulate 1500+ hours in less than one year. Question #1:(What’s the average hours that ivy students have accumulated?) Question #2:Where should I indicate the influence that coming to a completely different world has on me? Could I just simply indicate it (aka I came here only for a little more than one year) somewhere in my application package without further elaboration? I don’t really want to talk about immigration and culture shock in my essays. </p>
<p>Also, Question #3: what is a good ivy average (in percentage) for an international student from a very competitive pool in need of financial aid? I don’t really find our school’s percentage-GPA conversion method that belivable (according to GC, 80%+ would be a 4.0, and we don’t do any unweighted GPA).</p>
<p>On the contrary, I think that it is very important for you to bring up in your application and in your essays that you are new to the American culture. If you downplay that your application may be compared to long-term or lifetime residents, and, as you observe, in certain areas you can’t compete directly.</p>
<p>In regard to your questions about GPA you should contact your GC. He’ll be able to tell you the GPA of successful applicants from your school to selective colleges. It is really not possible to compare GPAs across schools, since the process of grading and ranking is so different from school to school.</p>
<p>Is it necessary for me to use “I am new to the American culture” as the topic or could I just mention it without further emphasis on the difficulties that I had to deal with when I first came here? I feel it is kind of trite and I do think that I have more important points that I want to talk about in my application essays.</p>
<p>You can infer you ‘newness’ to the American culture in your essay by writing about a topic which highlights something you did/learned recently in your ‘old’ culture. Just be sure the timeframe is evident.</p>
<p>happysuunnyshine, look at some books of successful college essays. Most have some written by students who have immigrated. Some go into detail about adjusting to life in America, where others allude to it. For example, I remember one (I don’t remember the book, sorry!) where a girl described her dilemma about which name to use, an American name or the name that she was given in her native country. Another student described a certain food and the circumstances in which it was served, only revealing at the end that this was in her Kiev apartment.
In terms of your volunteer experience, it is not quantity but quality that counts. If you can show leadership, that is much more important than the number of hours that you spend. Perhaps you could volunteer to help some other new immigrants in their adjustment to life in the U.S…</p>
<p>My older son was accepted to Harvard with volunteer hours from one summer helping out at the computer center, and he also put down that he had done some unpaid computer programming work. He didn’t have a regular volunteer commitment during the school year. My younger son is a senior, but doesn’t have any more hours than the older one did. It’s really not about quantity - it’s about what you have to say about your activities. My younger son wrote one of his essays about his volunteer job organizing the neighborhood archives - but the essay was more about learning to think like an historian than about wasn’t he great for being a volunteer.</p>
<p>A lot of my volunteer experiences and ECs are associated with my mother country because I love my country and I hope that more people will have better understanding about the merits of it (an over-represented country btw, but it never affects my patriotism). Is it alright? Will the American colleges accept a person who is not that patriotic towards US? Would it be a good idea if I talk about how I have been trying to make a difference for my countries?</p>
<p>I don’t know if you are male or female – but if you are female, please look at Mount Holyoke College. It is an excellent school for girls and they draw young women from all over the globe – many of whom intend to return to their original nation to contribute at home with their education and experience. </p>