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But the weird thing is, almost none of them guessed "Chinese" first. Just "Japanese".
(Actually, in my experience, Koreans have smaller eyes than either Chinese or Japanese people. )

On a related note, I love giving out college admissions advice (especially for prestigious schools) now. Hit me with questions whenever you have them!

Ah. Yes, I've noticed that about Koreans also. Well, they don't really have small eyes. Their eyelids just cover more of their eyes, thus making them look smaller.

Hm... What kinds of things do you have to put on your college application?

_________________
My nephew Coke needs to eat! Obviously we're related.

Well, most colleges use the Common Application these days, so basically, you fill out the Common App and whatever other supplements that each college requests specifically. Usually these supplement questions are done within the Common App, and they can range from the ordinary ("why do you want to go to this college?") to the utterly random, like one of UChicago's essay prompt choices this year: "Don't write about reverse psychology".
As for the Common App itself, you have to fill out a bunch of personal information, activities during high school, test scores, and write two essays. The first essay, a very short one, asks you to describe one of your extracurricular activities. The second one gives you six prompts, and you choose one. But fear not - the 6th prompt is a freebie: "topic of your choice"!

OMG, OSU USES COMMON APP NOW!! !! !! !! !!
And I had to fill out their confusing-as-[word not found] application on their website this year!

I have no idea. I answered a different prompt.

For the "why college x" questions, you have to do quite a lot of research on that college if you don't know a lot about it already. They are essentially "testing" you for these things:
-knowledge of that college, its specialties, culture, programs and offerings (hey, that rhymed!)
-your interest in that college
-how that college will satisfy you based on your needs/passions and the college's offerings (they should match)

And when writing those mini-essays, be sure to sound passionate. It takes quite a bit of versatility to apply to many colleges, because they each have their own distinct "flavor" and you are expected to "fit", or appear to fit, each of them in your applications.

Oh, and feel free to copy/paste these answers fr yourself; I probably won't be on WP much once I get to MIT. I'll try, though.

Hello peeps.

Greetings, Makayla!

I have no idea. I answered a different prompt.

For the "why college x" questions, you have to do quite a lot of research on that college if you don't know a lot about it already. They are essentially "testing" you for these things:
-knowledge of that college, its specialties, culture, programs and offerings (hey, that rhymed!)
-your interest in that college
-how that college will satisfy you based on your needs/passions and the college's offerings (they should match)

And when writing those mini-essays, be sure to sound passionate. It takes quite a bit of versatility to apply to many colleges, because they each have their own distinct "flavor" and you are expected to "fit", or appear to fit, each of them in your applications.

_________________
My nephew Coke needs to eat! Obviously we're related.

Hey Makayla! I'm giving out college application/admission advice... care to ask some questions?

I'm good. My mentor is going to help me with all of that. He teaches at UCLA.

Another question: What do colleges really look for in a student?

_________________
My nephew Coke needs to eat! Obviously we're related.

Money?

Too true.

Well, that's kind of a hard question to answer. I'll break it down:

Some applicants get in because they're REALLY good at something, for example, athletics, music, a particular field of science, etc. For science, if they've discovered or made something groundbreaking, it's almost an automatic admit unless they're really lacking in other areas. These people have won NUMEROUS awards, preferably at the national/international levels, although state and local level awards gain points with admissions too.

Other applicants get in by overcoming severe obstacles. Coming from a disadvantaged background, working a job, etc. gains respect from admissions because they know that being socioeconomically disadvantaged is hard, and that working a job takes a lot of time commitment. Balancing working and studying is certainly not easy. Harvard has admitted 2 previously homeless students because of their willingness to work and not become discouraged.

Some write really good, moving essays, but that is often complemented with top-notch academics, test scores, activities, etc.

Some others show an uncanny interest in their dream school, and show it in their applications. This is very related to the above point.

Other factors, unfortunately, include things such as the applicant's race and location. Because of huge achievement gaps between different demographics, elite schools use an affirmative action policy to admit students. For example, an African-American or Hispanic needs lower average test scores and grades to get into an elite college than white students, and Asians (yep, that's us) need significantly higher qualifications than any other racial group to get in. This is because achievement levels differ dramatically within these racial groups, and it is a sad fact that the achievement gap exists in the first place.

But arguably the most important thing a college looks for is a passion for learning. This is particularly true at colleges that explicitly advertise that - UChicago and MIT, for example, but it is pretty much equally important in other elite schools as well. An applicant that shows this take every opportunity possible to explore their academic interests (however, academic non-interests should not have low grades either), such as internships, out-of-school research, etc. as well as high grades and test scores for those interests. For Aspies, if a special interest is academic, this is actually an advantage we have over NT's!

I didn't know that about the races. Good thing I'm primarily Caucasian.