<p>I guess this board is just filled with many more students who are chiefs and not Indians. Not my son. The weakest part of his college app package will be his EC. I would love for it to look as strong as some of the ones everyone on this board calls weak. He is not applying to Ivies. We homeschool so that has limited him some, but to be honest, he would not have participated much anyway. He loves academics. He will be like his father and work and come home and be with his family. I adore my husband. He is a brilliant surgeon but he is not involved in the community at all. That is actually fine with me. He would rather play games with the kids than sit on some stupid board. </p>
<p>Still trying to write that counselor letter. It is hard. My son wants a college education so he can get a job and do it well. Period. It is the way God made him. My daughter is the absolute opposite… in tons of musical things, loves people, organizes people, wants to save the world (mmm, sounds a lot like me). I need to quit reading the chances board. It makes me feel so insecure about my son. He will be fine. He is a sweet kid. He will be the type that gets a job and is the loyal employee and stay there his entire life if he can… He is an Indian.</p>
<p>He’s not an Indian…he’s a lone wolf. You may be surprised by what happens when he goes to college and has to be around a lot of interesting people who are doing interesting things.</p>
<p>Well where does he want to go to school? Some colleges don’t care much about EC’s but those are usually larger ones. Smaller ones are looking for students who “bring something” to the place. </p>
<p>Being interested in academics doesn’t mean that you don’t do that or can’t have good ECs. Kids like that often find their place on a math or scholastic team, a robotics or science Olympiad. Or tutoring other students or kids in the community. However, I know you son was homeschooled and that probably limited some of these opportunities. Many colleges are aware of this and like the intellectual curiosity they see in homeschooled kids so I am sure that he will do fine if you deal with this in his counselor letter and he empasizes that aspect of his perosnality in his essays. </p>
<p>Things have certainly changed since your husband went to med schoo though. A dear friend’s son is having troubble getting in becuase he has no EC’s in college. In my day those were not even looked at by the professional graduate schools.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with Indians, or with your son. </p>
<p>But honestly, yes, you need to stop reading the chances forum! It’s nothing but the blind leading the ignorant down paths of clueless irrelevance.</p>
<p>There are plenty of colleges out there, what is he looking for? With a bit more information you will be able to get more input from the experienced folks here. </p>
<p>And stay away from the chance threads, even if your kid is close to the top they are depressing!</p>
<p>many state schools don’t care much AT ALL about ECs. Many admit nearly purely on things like GPA, Test scores, rank, and course curriculum…PERIOD. </p>
<p>Many mid-level privates won’t care that much about ECs either…they will want your full pay son.</p>
<p>“many state schools don’t care much AT ALL about ECs. Many admit nearly purely on things like GPA, Test scores, rank, and course curriculum…PERIOD.”</p>
<p>That’s just what I was going to say. He can get access to a fantastic education based on numbers alone. Heck, he may be able to get a large scholarship based on numbers alone.</p>
<p>Heck, he may be able to get a large scholarship based on numbers alone.</p>
<p>Absolutely. If the OP and her son look at the Full Tuition Merit Scholarship threads, there are plenty of schools that would admit and award a large scholarship based on GPA and test scores ALONE. </p>
<p>However, it doesn’t sound like the family cares too much about merit scholarships, so if that’s the case, apply to the many good mid-tier or good regional privates. I can think of at least a dozen good Catholic univs that would accept a full pay student with good stats and not give a rat’s patootie about his ECs.</p>
<p>My son is/was an Indian. While he participated in several EC’s (band, XC/track,masterminds) he never had any leadership positions, didn’t have one award, and didn’t do any volunteer work. He got into every school he applied to and is currently a rising Sophomore at a top 25 LAC. Oh, and we needed FA (his school doesn’t award merit) and he got that, too. But at all the schools which did award merit, he got between $15K-30K a year. He wasn’t in the 10 percent of his class, nor did he have any AP’s. But he had good solid grades showing improvement every year and pretty good ACT. He also had a part time minimum wage job which, imo, is just as important as any EC.</p>
<p>What kind of Indians? In many colleges, Indians are numerous and considered ORM. Unless you mean native Americans, who are few in number and are typically considered URM.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A citizen of India who naturalized to a different country (e.g. the US; India does not allow dual citizenship), or a native American who was disenrolled from his tribe?</p>
<p>I agree with everyone saying there are plenty of spots for Indians. There are lots of amazing kids (“chiefs”) but there are many more great kids who aren’t winning awards weekly, making all- district in sports, and have a few hobbies (music? religious groups? pet sitting?) that fill their time in ways which are fulfilling to them, with perfectly reasonable grades and test scores, and there is a home for every one of them. Just a matter of looking for that home. Do not sweat this one. Your son will be fine, and happy, and all will be well.</p>
<p>Well, we can switch it to worker bee. It’s not clear to me what sort of ECs he has. It’s perfectly fine to be a worker bee in your EC, not everyone has to have an obvious leadership type position, but even worker bees contribute or they may show other qualities through their ECs. As an example, my younger son for a volunteer activity (which started as a government community service requirement) was helping our neighborhood association archive its paperworks. Basically he made pdfs of everything and then created an index so they could be located. He was given the project, but he was by no means a leader. In his essay about his “favorite EC” he talked about what happens when you only have access to a limited set of primary sources, that you often never really get the end of a story. He showed his intellect in the essay which I think many schools valued as much as leadership.</p>
<p>For your son, I think you should think about what qualities you like best in your son and then try to think of examples that show those qualities. Don’t worry so much about whether he’s a leader or not.</p>
<p>"But honestly, yes, you need to stop reading the chances forum! It’s nothing but the blind leading the ignorant down paths of clueless irrelevance. "</p>
<p>Really, why do they even exist? And, not entirely a rhetorical question.</p>
<p>Not all boards are stupid. To date your son has not stretched himself in community involvement. There is more to the world than self interest (your job, your family, your own security). Of course, you should tend to your own garden first, but your S may have talents that can change the world, or at least make a difference for others in the community.</p>
<p>College is a great place to explore. ECs for the sake of impressing a college seems pointless to me. Involvement to better the community and broaden your horizons is a good thing. Being a leader is not important. Offering your talent and being an example can make a huge difference.</p>
<p>Lol, as someone who lives very close to a number of reservations, I read the thread title with more than a little horror. In fact, didn’t open the post at first because I was afraid of some kind of racist rant. Thank goodness it just refers to the old leadership expression, which, by the way, you should refrain from using in my part of the country.</p>
<p>So what’s wrong with not being a leader? Not a darn thing.</p>