Stanford SCEA? Good stats, but not sure about ECs.

mathboy98
Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:38:52 +0000

Gardening is a hobby. So is hanging out at the mall with your friends. It doesn’t carry any weight.





Indian Vocal Music is too vague. If it is a hobby you enjoy, it is not going to help. If you have won awards it may mean something.



My gut reaction is to think the same as this, but I thought about it and one thing comes to mind. Which is that there is probably more to the S application than awards and academics. Zero significant involvement (actually resulting in something tangible, not, as cardfan says, a statement that one has done something for a long time) outside of school usually ends in a bad result. I think given the expansiveness of this component of the application, your essays are very important. You are a good applicant, but it is ultimately a question of a school finding a place for you among various good applicants. I have certainly known people without tons of awards or even out of the world academics, no URM status, and no legacy make it; while we’ll never know what helped them, we do know it’s no secret that essays count for a lot. And know that it is not how interesting you are, but how you will contribute to the school’s community (and what indication you give of that) which will likely make or break how seriously your application is considered.

This advice is less my own, and more what I have gathered from a few posters I found knowledgeable. Particularly the last thing I said is an important point several posters have made. So gardening may or may not help. Several things which appear superficial may or may not help. I would focus on answering the question: what does it appear to you that you can contribute to the given school’s community in terms of talent and involvement. This advice is mainly for HYPS schools. I think it’s good for many schools, but MIT and Caltech likely want a slightly different side of you developed and discussed in your application.