| Topic Name: |
Getting Into the Ivies |
| Message Name: |
Mr.Harvard |
| Date Posted: |
02/04/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
Your qualifications are quite admirable. Obviously you have worked very hard in high school; however, I'm a bit concerned you have worried too much about those quantitative aspects of admission. What intellectual qualities do you have that make you an interesting person? What characterizes your approach to intellectual problems (like your math, etc.)? What do you have to offer the university community (other than a long list of numbers)? These are things you should stress -- especially if you're going into the liberal arts. The others are right, you need to set yourself apart somehow; but not in the stomach-turning fashion of Mr. Harvard. Think about the things you have done in student government or written for your newspaper; if you think enough about it, you will discover that you have probably already set yourself apart in some way, and these insights are the ones you should stress on your application. As a high school senior, you know full well the admissions people value those numbers and honors, but some of us at the university also resent them. We and our professors (some of whom read application essays) want people in our classes with solid personalities who have something to say -- not some kid who has provided his mother countless items to post on her fridge. As someone applying to both grad school and jobs, I can tell you (unlike Mr. Harvard) that being genuine pays off. So know thyself and don't be a freakin' tool. There you go.
-- Cornell undergrad |
| Message: |
Hey....we both got into the ivies....you did it your way...i did it my way. I can afford to be "genuine" now. Believe you me, I can sleep a lot better at night knowing I am going places, it was a different story laying awake at night as a junior/senior in HS.
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