<p>At the risk of making this thread a little too serious for a moment, I really have to applaud the kernel of truth alluded to by dadtimesthree
If there’s one fallacy found too frequently in the thinking reflected here on cc, this has got to be it. There is so much more than academic ability in this world, so much for our kids to learn from all types of people. </p>
<p>Great point, dadtimesthree. Thank you.</p>
<p><em>now back to our regularly scheduled thread</em></p>
<p>[offtopic]</p>
<p>At the same time, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just once in your life wanting to be something other than *the smart kid<a href=“or%20even%20worse,%20%5Bi%5Dthe%20geeky%20kid%20nobody%20likes%20who’d%20rather%20read%20a%20science%20book%20than%20run%20around%20and%20yell%20at%20the%20top%20of%20her%20lungs%20for%20no%20apparent%20reason%5B/i%5D”>/i</a>, because it can be extremely alienating. For instance, it’s not that I dislike or disrespect the ‘academically inferior’ students; I just want to find a larger group of people who care about learning as much as I do… and that’s why, when I visited, say, Swarthmore, I felt as if I’d finally found “my people”. I don’t think that’s so preposterous.</p>
<p>[/offtopic]</p>
<p>I understand jmmom, and cam- I understand that, too as much as I can anyway. D has always been the “girl who is smarter than the teachers”. Coupled with her height and mature physique and manner she was many times mistaken by students a year or more younger as a teacher/ student teacher. </p>
<p>Not that great on the ol’ social scene. </p>
<p>So in her search she came up with the idea that there had to enough kids on campus that she could push, that would push back. That she could challenge and they could challenge her back. (I’m talking about pushing the envelope, pushing to new heights.) </p>
<p>Without that she would be repeating high school and that was not something she was willing to do. She told me recently there were 3 kids at her high school that she could talk to without having to consciously simplify her thoughts. 3. She was academically isolated and I think that is what cam is talking about. </p>
<p>Now at her college (Rhodes) she is no longer wanting for academic peers. Is everyone a peer? No. But , coupled with brilliant profs that have opened their labs to her, there are enough to ceate the critical mass of fuel necessary to light all her engines.</p>
<p>So maybe she has what she needed/wanted , a socially adept campus (by what are solely her unique biases) with a top layer of kids capable of competing anywhere where a campus lacking either element would be intolerable to her. </p>
<p>Wouldn’t it be perfect to find both extending top to bottom ? Good luck, but if they are wired like mine (and needed FA of some sort) I think you’ll find that compromises have to be made somewhere.</p>
<p>dadtimesthree - had to comment: your observations are great!</p>
<p>off-topic again…curmudgeon and cam make very good points… some kids are indeed looking for a college experience that is different for them than their high school experience.</p>
<p>Students that go to elite schools spend their free moments contemplating the meaning of life.</p>
<p>Other students spend their time taking lint out of their outtie navels. Well, they would, but they only wear polyester.</p>
<p>They contemplate the meaning of life while they are upside down doing a keg stand.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In addition, prior to CC I did not realize that so many children are gifted AND possess a learning disability.</p>
<p>From the students’ forums – advice that must have been absorbed by students who post on CC :</p>
<p>Especially for international students : </p>
<p>– An exhaustive list of obscure academic contests and awards will really wow the adcoms at Ivy-League schools. Third place in the East Trapulkasnamottia Regional City Math Finals is particularly impressive. Do not leave out even the smallest item that could be shoehorned into a list of accomplishments or extracurriculars.</p>
<p>– Ivy League schools all offer “full rides” for meritorious students such as yourselves. You will need to post questions on CC, of course, to find out which Ivy will offer the best package to internationals.</p>
<p>– It really doesn’t matter what your “verbal” SAT I score is. After all, you are not a native English speaker. A 550 CR is a fine score, because the Ivies will simply have to understand that you are an international applicant, and will obviously adjust their standards to suit your particular situation.</p>
<p>For essays writers from any country:</p>
<p>– Every essay should be full of pathos. In 500-600 words, you will be able to really touch the adcoms with your story about death or illness.</p>
<p>– Adcoms are similarly impressed with the insights and epiphanies described by the average 17-year-old. The very best subjects involve your stunned realization that people everywhere are all…well… HUMAN! (If you cannot work this into an essay in any other manner, feel free to write at length about your summer trip to a foreign country… So few applicants to top schools have either travelled or have experienced moments of penetrating insight into the nature of humanity, during a visit abroad.)</p>
<p>– Any essay is best started with a sentence along the lines of: “As I was seated on the milky-green park bench, I watched the dry, dusty leaves float into the hazy afternoon, and suddenly I…”</p>
<p>– Colleges will definitely want to hear all about how you plan to save the world. Your analysis of global politics is indispensible to a really strong application. Your commitment to a Good Cause is unlike anyone else’s, and should therefore be described without even the slightest hint that you could be flexible in your opinion. You are doubtless in the right. Similarly, do not ever, ever, ever give the impression that you have a sense of the potential absurdity of your own smug certitude, or any sense of proportion about your place in a vast and complex society.</p>
<p>– Your previous essay on your plans to save the world will be quite useful when it comes time to apply to law school. The law-school adcoms will be as surprised as they are delighted to discover in you the only applicant they have ever had who plans to save the world through the practice of law. While others plan to pursue law for the sake of greed, or in order to become the creatures of Big Oil, you, alone, plan to be the attorney who does NOT forget where you came from, and who will represent the poor and deserving, and will fight for social justice (however THAT is defined) with a diploma from Harvard in one hand, and your shiny, new J.D. in the other.</p>
<p>– An essay is best supported by a recommendation from someone “well-known.” If your father ever made phone calls for Ted Kennedy’s campaign, then be sure to ask the corpulent senator for a nice letter on your behalf. Teddy will be thrilled to write the letter for you, and the adcoms will be just tickled to receive it. And any such letter will be chock-full of personal warmth, and will convey the sense that the celebrity recommender really knows you well.</p>
<p>– If all else fails, and you simply cannot think of a topic, you can write about the political campaign for which you volunteered. (What a surprise it would be if it turned out to be John Kerry’s campaign! So few Ivy-League-wannabes have any interest at all in politics. Maybe you have some incisive comments to make about the war in Iraq?) </p>
<p>– If you didn’t volunteer for a Democratic political campaign, then you could always write about your summer camp experience. An exhaustive explanation of how you came out of your shell and truly “found yourself” at theater camp is nearly as compelling a read as your discovery of your inner archaeologist while you viewed the Pyramids of Giza.</p>
<p>– Post lots of “What Are My Chances” threads in which you make reference to your essays. Other CC posters will readily believe you when you say that your essays are “awesome,” particularly if you add the unassailable kicker “Trust Me!” People will not only believe you (I mean, who could have the slightest doubt, especially when given to understand that your recommendations say that you are “the most amazing kid she has ever taught” ?), but people will also be able to really give you a meaningful assessment of your chances, based on the established fact that your essays will make Amy Tan’s work read like she was my third-grade cousin.</p>
<p>– Finally: Ask for advice (on applications generally, as well as on essays and re: where to apply). But if you get comments that you don’t like, be sure to argue with the person commenting. After all, Harvard is your “dream school,” and if only those thick adcoms could “get” that, they would offer you the keys to the kingdom. Idiots who try to get you to apply to schools that usually, actually, accept students with your particular stats and your interests and talents, are just as thick as the adcoms. Such naysayers obviously do not understand the concept of a “dream school.” Worse yet, they just don’t perceive that you desperately need to be surrounded by all of those fascinating and high-achieving fellow Yalies; they don’t understand how you just fell in love with the campus, and how you could so totally see yourself there for four years. Ignore any and all philistines who would, in the sad charade that they call “being realistic,” deprive you of the opportunity to spend the next four years telling all of the kids at Princeton about your brother who is dyslexic, and how that changed your life.</p>
<p>Some things I have noticed:
<p>Another thing if you believe everything on CC:</p>
<p>1) If you go to Georgetown, Tufts, JHU, or Northwestern, you’re a failure.
2) Cornell is rubbish.</p>
<p>and I should also add: a 2390 will only get you in to Bunker Hill Community college.</p>
<p>Can I just say a huge thank you to whoever started this thread. I joined CC only a month ago, but for much of that time I’ve been so scared of the other applicants (esp b/c I’m applying EA to Yale, so there are tons of intimidating overachievers)!</p>
<p>Threads like these put everything in perspective…not to mention that they’re spot-on hilarious :p</p>
<p>You’re welcome. It’s been a lot of fun.</p>
<p>You also learn:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Fun is a waste of time. Fun doesn’t get you into an Ivy.</p></li>
<li><p>No teenage boy in America spends his every waking moment playing computer/video games. They are all out doing charity work and playing violin.</p></li>
<li><p>No serious high school student watches television. This would cut into the time they spend self-studying to become a neurosurgeon.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>As you are reading this very post, you are wasting valuable and precious time that could be allocated towards important causes, such as saving the world or an endangered species. You should be ashamed of yourself :0.</p>
<h1>whatever number: if you are an international applicant and need financial aid there is absolutely no way that you will ever be accepted to any college.</h1>
<p>“As you are reading this very post, you are wasting valuable and precious time that could be allocated towards important causes, such as saving the world or an endangered species. You should be ashamed of yourself :0.”</p>
<p>Or you could be out binge drinking like everyone else at college (except for Swarthmore and BYU).</p>
<h1>+? the midwest doesn’t count, unless as a spacer between either coast.</h1>
<pre><code> there is an in clique on CC, unless you’re one of them, with 4 digit posts, your opinion isn’t as valuable.
everyone on the east coast is only interested in private schools, if public ones exist, which is doubtful, they can't be any good.
</code></pre>
<p>“+? the midwest doesn’t count, unless as a spacer between either coast.”</p>
<p>Actually, the Midwest is not a <em>place</em> at all, but rather an annoying time-warp experienced by those getting on a plane in the Bay Area and heading for Boston, or vice versa.</p>