Originally Posted by ultramarina
Quote
EC's are a convenient means of filtering those students who likely possess some measure of desirability on that front-- who are well-rounded and socially mature enough to be good members of a learning community (inherently a social activity), and also to withstand the pressures inherent in an elite learning environment with positive coping methods.

Jeez, I don't know. I'm going to speak up for the loners myself. (I was not actually a loner in HS and managed to check some high-value EC boxes, though not nearly as many as some of my cohorts.) A lot of high school ECs are kind of...not so appealing to a very smart kid with a low level of tolerance for BS. Unless you are at a school which has the resources to have excellent music or arts (and that's your interest), or competitive this and that of very high quality (and you're competitive--I was and am not) or are in an areas with other great opportunities, perhaps you are spending your time drawing or coding or reading or whatever. Those can be positive coping methods, too. I don't think any of this means you are going to be a poorer student than Polly the Yearbook Editor.

This mode of thinking annoys my inner introvert. We can't all be president of Glee Club.


I'm chuckling a bit here-- what probably isn't clear is that I don't actually think that extraverts ARE better-- just that the admissions process currently tends to be stacked against introverts for some clear reasons.

I'm about as introverted as human beings come. whistle

I can go DAYS without leaving my house, and happily spend that time completely silent and completely alone. I'm also pretty socially adept when I do venture forth, however.

I don't necessarily think either of my prototypes is a stereotype or-- as 22B is implying-- a caricature of a modern college applicant. The bottom line is that those two prototypes actually DO exist in fair abundance, and they are the two most common models of students applying to elite schools.

Val is right. I was just coming at this from the other end of things-- that is, WHAT is preferred may actually run counter to the (stated) mission of the institution, when you get right down to it, and as Bostonian and Wren pointed out, that isn't necessarily surprising, either.

Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.