And I strongly believe the #1 differentiator of high school students who achieve things is work ethic, NOT intelligence or talent. Let's go to the final recommendation, from the school counselor. Except for specific supplements, the core application is the same. My dad got a Master's at a middle-tier American school, but my mom didn't go to graduate school, and these sections were marked 2 and 3, respectively. As you read this, think—what are the interactions that would prompt the teacher to write a recommendation like this? Page by page, word for word, you'll see everything exactly as I presented it: extracurricular activities, awards and honors, personal statements and essays, and more. What makes a candidate truly stand out is the same, at a high level. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? You can write about a topic of your choice or about any of the suggestions. What you think UChicago or Stanford wants is probably VERY wrong, because of how little information you have, both as an 18-year-old and as someone who hasn't read thousands of applications. This was also a blessing because our counseling department was terrible. Some especially terrible lines: "I was playing for that cathartic moment when I could feel Tchaikovsky himself looking over my shoulder. Each time I read it, I cringe a bit. (You can tell I love the concept of the vehicle in essays.) I don't take life too seriously. On the other hand, if you can get to be nationally ranked in something, you will have an amazing Spike that distinguishes you. This is a really fun section. My Successful Harvard Application (Complete Common App + Supplement), Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, Activities: Extracurricular, Personal, Volunteer, adapt to you and your strengths and weaknesses, Having two test scores is completely unnecessary, Growth Mindset in my How To Get a 4.0 GPA guide, teachers who would be strong advocates for me on both an academic and personal level, How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades guide, what top schools like the Ivy League are looking for, how to be truly distinctive among thousands of applicants, why being well-rounded is the kiss of death, being world-class in a non-academic talent, achieving something difficult and noteworthy—building a meaningful organization, writing a novel, coming from tremendous adversity and performing remarkably well relative to expectations. [CDATA[ With that major caveat aside, here are a string of smaller disclaimers. The Common App is essentially a standard form that allows an applicant to input basic information, which will then go directly to university admissions.Some sections of the Common App are Both of these legitimate my research. For the Common App, you'll need to reflect on what you have learned from your activities and how they have helped you develop. A compelling Spike is the core of your Personal Narrative. This makes me think that the less prepared your family is, the more points you get, and this might give your application an extra boost. Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here: © PrepScholar 2013-2018. As an applicant, you're tempted to try so hard to impress your reader. But remember there are thousands of nationally-ranked people in a multitude of honor types, from science competitions to essay contests to athletics to weird talents. The 75th percentile is a 1600, and the 25th percentile is a 1470. College Admissions, They'll dilute your application without adding substantively to it. While it’s tempting to think of the Activities List and Common App as simply forms to fill out, they actually provide the foundation of a student’s narrative. I'm going to present my application factually and be 100% straightforward about what I achieved and what I believed was strong in my application. WasatchWriter 2432 replies 96 threads Senior Member. Thanks for reading this far—I hope you've gotten a lot out of this already. This is what I call your PERSONAL NARRATIVE. The reason I think he circled this was that the email address I used is a joke pun on my name. The higher the level of competition and the more prestigious the award, the more the honor is worth. Your teachers have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of students pass through, and it's much easier to detect insincerity than you think. So you see how the snooze button acts as a vehicle to carry these major points and a lot of details, tied together to the same theme. ", "I was wandering through the fog in search of a lighthouse, finally setting foot on a dock pervaded by white light.". Getting very strong letters take a lot of sustained, genuine interaction over time to build mutual trust and respect. This is why I chose not to submit a tape of my music: I don't think my musical skill was unusually good. I scored a perfect 1600 on my SAT (the SAT changed to a 2400 scale in 2005, and it's changed back to 1600 in 2016), a 36 on my ACT, 800's on all but one SAT Subject Test, and seven 5's on AP tests. What I did might not be as impressive as it used to be. I was so thrilled when I got this letter. The Common App Activities Section is an opportunity to demonstrate to the Common App colleges your talents, skills, and specific examples of extracurricular activities you’ve participated in over the last few years. My mentor, who was at one of the major Harvard-affiliated hospitals, said some very nice things about my research ability, like: "is performing in many ways at the level of a graduate student", "impressed with Allen's ability to read even advanced scientific publications and synthesize his understanding". hbspt.cta.load(360031, '4efd5fbd-40d7-4b12-8674-6c4f312edd05', {}); Have any questions about this article or other topics? DO list your most impressive and relevant activities … Then we'll go into the Harvard supplemental application. To state the obvious, an application strong enough to get you Columbia will get you into UCLA handily. Extracurriculars, By far, the biggest academic honor I had was competing in the US National Chemistry Olympiad, where I ranked #6 in the country in junior year, out of roughly 11,000 students who took the first round test. "What is the perfect combination of personal, funny, heartrending, and inspirational?". The RSI just completely dominates all my other activities. Then I'll share the #1 question you need to be thinking about as you construct your application. Moreover, in the time I did actually do research, I switched interests from neuroscience to bioengineering/biotech. This is what schools like Stanford and Yale want to see—a diversity in the student population! Admissions officers are going to be particularly interested in seeing how you have been involved in leadership positions and that you have dedicated a significant amount of time and energy to your activities. You do NOT need perfect scores to get into Harvard, Princeton, Yale or other top schools. As you'll see, I had a huge academic focus, especially in science (this was my Spike). There are probably some cases where a well-rounded student writes an amazing Personal Essay and gets in through the strength of that. At the time, the RSI students were the most talented students I had met, so I'm also flattered by some of the things the letter writer said, like "Allen stood out early on as a strong performer in academic settings.". You might chalk this up to my not being as standout of a student in her mind, or her getting inundated with recommendation letter requests after over a decade of teaching. A middle-aged, veteran English teacher, the best way I would describe her is "fiery." October 22, 2018. Who really honestly feels this way? In addition to listing your family responsibilities in the activities section, you may also wish to share more details in your personal essay or the additional information section. Parts of this are very smug (see /r/iamverysmart), and if you want to punch the writer in the face, I don't blame you. An experienced teacher vouching for this adds so much more weight than just my writing it about myself. The second was from the head of Jisan Research Institute, where I did Computer Science research. In ratings, you can see that I only earned 3 of the "one of the top in my career." Our personal conflict was really the conflict between what we represented. Here's the complete list of Academic Honors I submitted. Please do not copy them, as this is plagiarism. Here's what I would consider my Personal Narrative (humor me since I'm peacocking here): 1) A science obsessive with years of serious research work and ranked 6th in a national science competition, with future goals of being a neuroscientist or physician, 2) Balanced by strong academic performance in all subjects (4.0 GPA and perfect test scores, in both humanities and science) and proficiency in violin, 3) An irreverent personality who doesn't take life too seriously, embraces controversy, and says what's on his mind. I've redacted some stuff here for privacy reasons. I didn't have a sibling with a debilitating illness! Back then, we had a set of different prompts: I chose to write on a topic of my choice. 3) I was open to admitting weaknesses, which I think is refreshing among people taking college applications too seriously and trying too hard to impress. I probably also didn't stand out as much as I did to my Chemistry teacher—most of my achievement was in science (which she wasn't closely connected to), and I had talented classmates. I used my violin teacher as a vehicle for talking about what the violin meant to me. The earlier you are in high school, the more time you have to prepare and implement the right strategies to build a strong, distinctive application. I say "nearly" because, even if you're world-class, schools do want to know you're not a jerk and that you're an interesting person (which is conveyed through your personal essay and letters of recommendation). Here are examples from top high school students. In the same way, The Walking Dead is NOT a zombie show—the zombie environment is a VEHICLE by which to show human drama and conflict. You are a movie director, and your application is your way to tell a compelling, cohesive story through supporting evidence. Well-rounded applications do NOT form compelling Personal Narratives, because "I'm a well-rounded person who's decent at everything" is the exact same thing every other well-rounded person tries to say. Don't worry if you're taking a different number of AP courses or have lower test scores or do different extracurriculars or write totally different personal statements. So state honors really don't help you stand out on your Princeton application. This is especially true when your list of activities exceeds the limit set by the Common App! Do you also think it doesn’t make a difference? But within that 1 percentile, your score does NOT make a big difference in your chances of admission. Why? You'll see these supplementary materials later. If you don't know about these academic Olympiads, they're like the Olympics for math and science geeks. Overall, this letter is very strong. Now let's look at this essay's weaknesses. These tended to be teachers I vibed more strongly with, and typically these were teachers who demonstrably cared about teaching. I would guess that the majority of admitted Harvard students submit a Writing Supplement. In other words, a 1530 on the SAT is NOT going to significantly change your chances, compared to a perfect 1600. Back then AP scores weren't part of this section, but I'll take them from another part of my application here. ", Now, it starts with: "Please provide comments that will help us differentiate this student from others.". My first research experience was done at Jisan Research Institute, a small private computer science lab run by a Caltech PhD. Ethan Sawyer. But this problem can be a lot worse for well-rounded students who are stretched too thin. So I have mixed feelings of my essay. You can see right away that her remarks are terser. This is how your admissions officer will present you to the admissions committee to advocate for why they should accept you. To set the stage, I applied Early Action to Harvard early in senior year, and this is the application I used to get in early. This was definitely advantageous—remember how, way up top in Educational Data, the reader circled the "Principal." I try too hard to show off my breadth of knowledge in a way that seems artificial and embellishing. Description: … So it seems higher numbers are given for less prestigious educations by your parents. Unlike some of my very accomplished classmates, I hadn't ranked nationally in prestigious competitions like ISEF and Siemens. 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