collage apps

[juturna]

This is what I heard from a college adviser today: "You have awesome grades but the colleges you're looking at aren't looking only for that. They want to see that you're helping out and giving back to the community. You need to find something that you're interested in that involves helping people instead of sitting around the whole summer doing nothing."
That is so against my personality. No matter what I think of, I can't think of one situation where I would even CONSIDER helping people, or, "giving back to the community" I like sitting around and doing nothing but I guess colleges don't like that Time is ticking away and I've got nothing. At this rate I'll be going to community college while my ESFJ peers, with their amazing resumes and awe inspiring essays get into premiere schools. Part of me is screaming at myself for not acting but honestly most of me is saying I don't give a damn. I have no direction and it's getting awfully close. What's something I can do to put in my college essay that will catch the eyes of the admission directors? Any ideas?

 

[brain enclosed in flesh]

Re: college apps

I know this can be frustrating, because I had this problem as well- not being as "active" as my peers- although I still was... but not so much doing volunteer work.

First off, you aren't limited to helping people. But say that you were, you can still do volunteer work which doesn't involve helping people directly. For example, you could stock food in a soup kitchen. You could stuff mailers. You could proofread documents or make signs or make photocopies. I know you don't want to do any of this, but there are ways to make this bearable.

Otherwise, as I said, you aren't limited to helping people. Any opinions on animals, the environment, anything else? You could volunteer in these areas as well. Something as basic as picking up trash or pulling weeds in a park is a service-oriented activity you can tack onto a resume. Or maybe you could volunteer at a library re-stacking books or whatever they need help with.

It's likely that there is some sort of volunteer resource in your town/city with a listing of potential volunteer activities in your community. And if there is and there still isn't anything on there remotely tolerable to you, create your own thing. Then you're being proactive as well, which colleges drool over.

Good luck. And who knows, maybe you'll actually find doing something altruistic mildly rewarding.

 

[fullerene]

two choices off the top of my head are "do something very creative" or "do something very 'you'." For instance, I heard once that a Harvard essay asked for "your autobiography in your own hand," and one student traced his hand on paper and then wrote a brief autobiography inside of it.

I was applying to sciency/engineering schools, so I wrote my essay on people and their motivations and things like that--except using a story of something that happened and describing my thoughts throughout it to show how I would see things happening as the events unfolded.

I think, in general, you just want to do something strange. I should mention, too, that I only applied to 2 schools (everyone else thought I was insane, when all the new-freshman arrived and some people said they applied to 9 or 10 )... but I did get into both of them (RPI and CMU)

I also think that, if you're shooting "high" enough, it does more harm than good to spam-apply to all the ivy leagues. I've heard, at least, that they share lists of who applies where, and the people that show up on a bunch of them are at a major disadvantage. So if you're aiming high, pick out one or two that you actually like rather than spamming them all with your application.

 

[juturna]

Thanks for the advice. I can see myself doing what you suggested because well...it beats actual contact with people. As for doing something creative, I wish I could actually think outside of the box like that. The problem is I just can't think of anything I have any passion in that I could cite for my essay.

 

[snowqueen]

What are you good at? What are you going to study?

 

[Ermine]

When I was applying for colleges, I had some community service, but I never capitalized on that. I also didn't do much in the way of clubs and extracurricular activities. The thing that got me into the university I wanted was probably a combination of my high standard academics (high grades and above average ACT and SAT scores) and the way I portrayed myself in my essay writing. I tried to portray myself as a promising student that was more than worthy of the college I was applying to. I described the relatively unique and valuable characteristics I have as an INTP, such as being resourceful, having high standards, being a creative problem solver, etc. I suggest you give the essays all you've got, because that will make a strong impression, probably more than the hours of community service on the application.

Also, do you have any hobbies or interests? You could easily use those for brownie points with the college admissions people. Are you into music? Start a band and play a few gigs. Do you write? Get your work published. And there is a lot of community service do be done that may involve your interests that don't involve people too much. If you're good at a particular school subject, you could be a tutor in that area. You could help out at an animal shelter, or volunteer in a national park. There's always something out there.

 

[saffyangelis]

I don't really know if this is much help, but we have to do something similar for 6th form applications around where I live. One thing that I'm working on at the moment is a duke of edinbrough (spelt wrong probably) award, where you do three months on a service (basically charity work) a skill, and a sport, but some of the things I was thinking about doing for charity work were helping out at a cat sanctuary although I ended up just helping out at the stables I used to go to (with the little kids at pony club).

The easiest way to get yourself to do it is to remind yourself that you're helping yourself with it, the helping other part is just the bit that'll help you to get into your college. Try to find something that is interesting, or at the very least keeps you busy so you won't get bored.

I'm not sure if it works the same in america as it does here, but if you do anything else either out of school, or in clubs at school, or wherever, they also look good on the applications. I recently spent my saturday helping out with an art club at school mainly because I can add it to my personal statement (a list of writing we send out to 6th forms talking about ourselves). If you can play an instrument, and have taken exams in it, add that in, any skills? add those, and so on. My sister got into her first choice school this year, and this was pretty much her approach, mentioning every single achievement she could think of.

I hope that's some help, and good luck!

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

ugh, never trust a devout Philanthropist, i always say. the question is why they give, they either have many insecurities or a desire to control (not good at all). or are cowards, preparing for when they 'sin', they can refer to their charitabilty and 'good nature'.

ugh

 

[Liontiger]

I just went through that whole college process, and my high school required community service every year. I did such things as help out with arts and crafts at a nursing home (which I hated), vollunteer at a children's museum (which was all right), and join a club at school dedicated to community service (which I actually had fun doing). You might not pick the best vollunteering opportunity on the first try, so feel free to just drop it and keep looking.

I don't know specifically which colleges you're applying to (it might help if you posted them), but community service is usually just a portion of the whole application. A really good essay also helps. I actually wrote mine about being an INTP and my journey of self-discovery, which helps you stand out as not many people can say they are INTP. I also joined as many honor societies as I possibly could, played sports all four years, and participated in clubs. I know this is starting to sound like I'm bragging, but you just need to show people that you're well-rounded. That way, if you fall behind in community service, it's supported in other areas.

In short: be a joiner. You might actually end up joining something you like.

 

[juturna]

Thanks for the awesome advice everyone. Sorry I disappeared for a bit, there was a forced, failed bonding attempt in my family that took up my time. I was away from internet and almost died. But anyways I'm really into music. I play the drums (jazz, marching, and concert percussion) and the piano. I'll probably look into some tutoring opportunities in math or science. The thing is I have extremely easy access to volunteer at a elderly care home (my parents own a couple) but I would just kill myself if I actually did. I did some after school day care but was never really into it, the kids were dumbasses buuuut who can blame them they're kids (I guess I was kind of expecting to find an INTP to mentor >). I'm kind of interested in hearing more about what you did Liontiger because I was already thinging about writing about MBTI, because how many kids actually know, or care, about their types? By the way I'm looking at schools in California like UCLA, UC Berkeley, or USC

 

[Sapphire Harp]

Personally, I think it's abhorrent to be couching college applications by doing something you just aren't interested in... from a personal standpoint. While it may be a practical necessity, it just speaks of self-harm to me...

I don't believe I was applying to as big name schools as you are... Mine were CU Boulder, U of Northern Colorado, Illinois Wesleyan, Depaul U, and ... another I forget - they all accepted me and I made no effort to appear well-rounded. I suppose I had 200 hours of volunteering for being in I.B., but I doubt I even mentioned it, let alone emphasized it...

I recall in one of my recommendations, a teacher of mine wrote that I was not a joiner, saying that, while I only had JCL and Theatre stuff for extra-curricular things - those two things received extensive amounts of my time and energy. In particular, I rejected joining the honor society because it seemed like an especially clear self-serving endeavor...

The thing that really drove home my application was when I visited IWU and interviewed for the BFA program and exhibited the scraps that represented the work I had done... I grew more interested in the program, the professors grew more interested in me... and it worked out just fine.

Do you have a focus, or intended major yet? If you do not, perhaps aiming for a less prestigious and less expensive school for a year or two would be beneficial? Granted, it's more difficult to build up a social network, but it's a lot cheaper to take care of the general education courses you'll need to do, anyway.
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[juturna]

I really have no direction right now. I've only really considered psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, philosophy, music, engineering, or pure mathematics and I haven't exactly decided which I want to do (if I could..ALL).
I wouldn't mind doing community college first but I know how that would sit with my parents. It wouldn't.
I'm hoping that something will come along that will push me in the right direction but who am I kidding, when does that ever happen? But for some reason I feel no need to hurry up and decide even if the time is ticking away.

 

[Liontiger]

From the schools you listed, it doesn't seem like you need to be too concerned about community service. It's the smaller schools that tend to want that. And it's good that you play and enjoy instruments, which adds to your application. If you have really good grades and a satisfactory/good SAT score (which I'm sure you do), then you should be fine. I guess maybe why I recommended being a joiner is that my high school (a college prep school) emphasized it, and I got in everywhere I applied. That's not the only way to do it, of course, but it works.

I'm planning on majoring in psychology and I know, at least in that field, you could basically get a psych degree anywhere. It's the grad school that really matters.

For my essay, the prompt I chose was: Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you. (Those exact words actually, haha) I had gone to a youth leadership conference at the end of my sophomore year and met some very intellectual teenagers, and I wondered why I fit in so well with them. I had always felt that there was something different about me compared to my peers at school. So I went online and found MBTI, tested as an INTP, and was absolutely amazed by all the things I hadn't realized were a part of me. That's basically what I wrote my essay about.

 

[juturna]

Wow no kidding. I went to a two week leadership conference and I swear I was a complete extrovert those two weeks. Those kids were way easier to be around than the half wit jocks I go to school with.

 

[Liontiger]

Yeah, the one I went to was only three days long, and I was more out of my shell than I had been for years. We did things that usually would have made me embarrassed, like cheers and dances, but I had no problem doing them. (Except when our parents came on the last day to see us and I felt like an idiot the second my mother entered the room o_O) We discussed politics, heck, even philosophy at the breakfast table XD Definitely a life-changing experience, as cliched as that sounds.