MORE Activities Colleges Don't Care About! What could HURT your admissions chances! 

me: *sees stereotypical asian activities* *chuckles* I'm in danger

The Asian part sounds about right. Our valedictorian last year had a 1590 on the SAT, but only played tennis and piano. He got rejected from nearly everywhere.

I’m not going to get too into this b/c I could write a huge paper on this issue, but I just wanted to say how ANGRY I am at the asian american part of the college system (there are definitely a lot of things wrong in regards to race and social class but specifically for asian americans)! It’s so unfair how they treat asians like robots and don’t acknowledge the hard work that they put into their high school careers. It really hurts to know this.

Wtf. The asian part im really angry. I joined fencing, science, and wants to play violin. But i also do photography, filming, singing, art, writing and more. Why do colleges in US works like this.

College admissions has some hard truths & it is so refreshing getting SuperTutors honest, informed, well-intentioned insight. I appreciate that the discussion here promotes respectful dissention

Who else googled themselves after the online shenanigans part lol

wtf, why should a stereotype determine what I can and cannot like.

Me: is Asian, has done science Olympiad and math team for the entirety of high school Collegeboard: *so you have chosen death*

When she talks abt the Asian activities it pisses me off We asians have to stand up against these racial comments( I’m an Asian too)

I’m a senior in college why am I watching this

i'm like a half-stereotypical asian, i'm in orchestra but i'm rly into arts so i'm also in composition, ballet, and all sorts of other artsy stuff

Life is too short for this stuff.

I love these vids, because they’re straight on to the point not like many others talking for 2 hours and not even getting to the subject

First Off ROTC; Is a COLLEGE PROGRAM for Free/Discounted College Tuition with the return of 4 years of Service as a Lieutenant or Ensign in the Armed Forces. JROTC is a High School Program that isn’t to make Child Soldiers, but to make Model citizens of Character. I’m a Cadet Major in my Air Force Unit And do a verity of tasks such as Recruiting, Planning and Organizing Events, And Production of Advertisements for the Unit. It’s not all about guns and marching unlike so many ignorant people say. In addition; JROTC is a rare gem of an extra-curricula activity because it’s the only High School Program that expects perfection. There is a Zero-Tolerance Policy for Misbehavior or Bad Grades. Also, This program stresses the importance of service before self and excellence in all we do. That means that the purpose of our unit is to help mentor and develop other students and build a culture of selflessness in the middle of a High School/Teenage culture of selfishness and narcissism. It also raises the need for meticulous and focused cadets who not only are well dressed and walk, talk, behave, and have etiquette which most High School students don’t we have a lot of clubs ranging from Athletics to Military Performance to Academics. It’s not a Boy’s Club either because woman make up on average 15-33% of the Cadet Corps per year. Colleges have nothing to lose from having a Marine, Soldier, Sailor, or Airman JROTC Cadet among their student bodies because they have the maturity, the responsibility, the demeanor, and the discipline that is a rarity among the typical matriculating students.

will having a bf help an asian's social competence lol

Y'all know that I'm deleting my social media when applying for college

Opinions on clubs such as DECA, FBLA (future business leaders of america), and MIT LaunchX? I wouldnt consider those to be "career" prep, but more life prep (presentation skills, public speaking, collaboration, etc)

Well what if someone has your exact name and sucks on social media?

This is sad. People are being encouraged to stop doing something that they love or not try something that could really enjoy because of this.

ROTC is a college program. Free tuition if you win a competitive and you commission as an officer in the military. One of the most Honorable programs you can join. Going to college with no debt and serving your country after

JROTC DOES look good on college applications. If you can relate the things you're involved in to your future goals, then colleges tend to like that. I'm 2nd in command with my battalion, and I was on a leadership position prior. Tulane loved this!!

I've been in JROTC since freshman year and I am currently the Commanding Officer in the program. I'm in the program because I love how close nit and family like the program is not because I want to go into the military. Most of the people who are in this program don't plan on going into the military, so I don't know why it would hurt us.

Fudge, I’ve gotten into a lot of arguments online

Uhh my school is predominantly Asian and extremely competitive so pretty much everyone is in at least 4 clubs and on a debate team and in a bunch of positions of leadership and doing a bunch of volunteering and internships... are those stereotypical Asian activities

Can you please make a video about what happened with the June SAT?

When you have to be perfect to get into the college that you want.

I’m asian and I play baseball but also in a science Olympiad team/club

This channel is so useful in compiling information in an easy-to-digest way.

My internet activity: “why can’t I eat sawdust!? Like SHUT UP! And let me be!” Collage admissions: once again kinda weird but.... wow.

I got my BSc. degree at a university that has a history as an agricultural college and still have a strong agriculture science and practical agricultural studies program. I would hope that having a leadership role in a "Young Farmers" club does not hurt those admissions, in the same way, that physics clubs/math Olympics teams ought to help students applying to science programs.

Brooke, I have a few questions: 1) How does the admission staff identify the student as an Asian American if he/she has a non-Asian last name (due to adoption, for example)? Aside from the last name do students submit photos of themselves (like they do in Asia)? Or somewhere on the application they ask for an ethnicity question? 2) If there are no photos or ethnicity questions then Asian American parents should do a name change for their kids in elementary school. Wouldn't this solve the problem? Afterall, this is no different than a game, right? In a game we change our avatar as many times as we wish, right?

I am President of the Math Team (amongst other competitive academic clubs), and I play violin in the chamber orchestra. BUT, I'm black so I got in.

Why am I watching this? I’m in college.

This is an amazing video for seniors, I am surprised.

I love you and your content Brooke, But I could not agree with the the first point you made in this video, about career oriented activities. Being an international student from India, what i observed was that students who did heavy career oriented activities like " taking part in the computer olympaid which requires you to master skills equivalent to that of a developer" got more and more students into MIT. I would love your response towards this trend brooke. Thank you

I have a question: is being extremely artsy (drawing and writing wise) considered 'stereotypically Asian'? We have a fair amount of artsy Asians at my school, so I'm worried about blending in too much. Other questions: if I'm writing a novella, should I include that in my college application (it should be finished by senior year)? What about a webcomic? Or a RU-vid channel (it's this one, so it's really small as of now)? All of these activities are ones that I initialized without parental input (lmao) and am extremely passionate about. Will aspiring to be an artist (a job that usually can't pay back college tuition) hurt my application?? Will it make them worry about me potentially not being interested in college? Also, if I play the flute and am not particularly passionate about it (but was not allowed to drop it), should I put it on my college application? I tried to drop it in favor of more visual arts classes, but my guidance counselor and parents made me keep it because "consistency looks good." uwu Thank you in advance for your time!! Your videos are amazing and extremely helpful, and condensed to a length I can actually sit through! ✨♥️

What about HOSA (health occupations students of america)? If you imply that you’re interested in medicine, surely that means you want to go to college rather than not? The speculation they used on FFA doesn’t quite work here..?

What if I’m really into tennis (been on varsity since sophomore year) and a club like Knowledge Bowl?

You need to think seriously about high school JROTC honor students that actually want to become a military officer. I am like seriously??

Help! How does being half Asian and half white, but not doing stereotypical activities affect me in college admissions?

It‘d be amazing if you made a videos dedicated to international students who strive to understand the US college system (e.g. how to apply for scholarships as an international student, insight on the application content and what we should do to be appealing to colleges considering we don’t have IB, honors and AP classes in France for example) I also don’t know what my GPA is since our grading systems are different so how can I know if i fit the academic requirements of each college? (I plan on taking the SATs though)

I don’t know man student council is a pretty common Asian stereotype

The extreme unfairness/discrimination toward Asian students being “stereotypical” is that they don’t consider that lots of these kids are genuinely gifted in doing this. If you look at international music competitions, piano, violin, cello etc. you’ll see how those are dominated by Asians across all age groups. Can they say that these people do it, devote millions of hours (not exaggerating, over their life time), doing one of the hardest works (if not THE hardest) in the world and gain those achievements simply because they want to impress colleges? Unlike other academic fields, music is one thing that you can’t do UNLESS you are truly gifted. Being a professional musician myself, I went through that tough path because I am capable of doing it AND I have true passion for it. I teach all kinds of students and only a small percentage of them are truly gifted. Natural selects them before colleges try to judge them. When such kids excel in their instruments, they devote ALL their time and energy to it and it’s simply not possible to have extra time for anything else. Do math or science Olympiads students get up at 5 am to practice before school? Do they stay home all weekends and holidays just so they can practice HOURS AND HOURS while other kids go to mall or movies? People of other fields don’t understand how tough what we do is. Then of course, we’d be doing chamber music, orchestras, competitions, recitals, concerts, tours when other kids can do garage bands or go skateboarding in the park. Viewing studying classical music as a stereotype and nothing special is a huge mistake. Classical music is part of our culture and we don’t learn that because we want to gain admission to top college. Just like basketball or baseball is part of American culture.

I find your comments rather interesting. When I was at the Wisconsin State Fair last year, I noted that nearly 80% of the FFA leadership had been accepted by Big 10 Universities WITH SCHOLARSHIPS. There are a good number of top universities that are not in the Ivy League. And I can say that increasingly medical schools are looking for students with a demonstrated RURAL background to address the great need for doctors in rural settings.

I want to become a writer or a journalist, so I intend to get a college degree that correlates with that. I'm in 4-H, but the only project I've ever participated in is Creative Writing (I got 2 Grand Champion plaques and 1 Reserve Champion ribbon). I've held the same leadership position in my club for years- Reporter. Since I don't have animals and I live in the city, does my participation in 4-H still hurt my chances?

I have a theory of why Asian Americans get discriminated against. Mind you, I am neither Asian or American, so I could be completely off in my cultural understanding, but just food for thought. I once participated in a stereotypical Asian activity somewhere that had mostly white teachers. Maybe half of the students were there because their parents made them go, and even though most people wanted to do the activity, the reluctance and the attitude of “show up, shut up, work hard, go home, “ attitude of those forced to attend put a damper on the lessons. I could imagine that many white teachers would see these activities on a sheet of paper and not think “wow, that kid has a passion to work,” but think, “wow, look at all the stuff their mums made them do.” They wouldn’t see the child’s accomplishment as a product of self direction, which is a real shame, because so many who attended had a genuine passion for the subject.

I’m a junior and I stayed in FFA, the yearbook , rotc academics and AP Spanish after school , and you’re telling me I have a 60 - 65% of not getting in ? Mhm this doesn’t add up because im in the top 10 percent of my class🙄and I’ve been to two camps and one test prep course during the summer trying to make my application as interesting as possible and driving myself to a mental breakdown. I’m just gonna ignore this because I know people that had dedicated their whole high school years into rotc and they got accepted to top schools so this doesn’t add up.’don’t associate your name with political controversy’ I’ve done that a million times , we have a voice , is freedom of speech , and they should respect that. 😑

Thank you SuperTutorTV for your help. I have a question though. Does competing in activities like Quiz Bowl related competitions or BPA hurt your chances of college admissions?

Me: an asian who is a part of the yearbook and the president of the science olympiad club 👁👄👁

In another video you mentioned that when writting our college application essay we should not talk about politics and other controversial concepts. But, can we use our experience in a protest, like for example a climate change protest, to make our reflection? Or could that be seen as negative?

Man those colleges are making a huge mistake not admitting students into automechanic or hvac... Those guys make $$$ and could totally add to the school's endowment after graduating. Imagine what admitting a guy that in the future owns 10 Tire-Kingdom franchises or HVAC franchises does to a school's endowment.

I have a little dilemma in another video named "12 Summer Activities that Impress Colleges: Overachiever’s Guide to Summer Break" you said that getting a job or an internship helps and my question is, aren't they "career oriented activities" as well? if not where is the difference?

Correlations does not mean causation. There's a lot of bias here. What matters is why you care about the activity and what you can say about its effect on you.

Are online business, Digital marketing, freelancing good extracurriculars

I just recently finished an occupational internship I'd keep it away from my college app then Thanks

Collage is overrated.

I am planning to join science Olympiad my sophomore year. Would that hurt my chances to get into a good university since I am gonna be there for only three years when other people been there longer than me. During my freshman year I only did one club which was CSF,a community service club, and I am planning to do more clubs.

Ok in my country, high schools dont offer activities and its usually if ur like the top in class, very good chances are the ONLY activity you are interested actually in is a particular subject and olympiads......i mean seriously, i have never seen a "class topper" be playing an instrument or smth......maybe just being in the school's science club......WHAT DO I DO? PLZ HELP

It really angers me that colleges dislike Asian Americans. Just because we are a certain race doesn’t mean our qualifications and achievements don’t apply.

Im in JROTC. oh no

Hi Supertutor! I was wondering what your take is on MOOCs? Do you think online classes are worth investing time in and if they will paint you more positively on college applications?

Brooke Hanson Hey Brooke, I know this an old video but I have a quick question. I was the Spokesperson/Organizer of events at my school through the Marketing club( it basically was student government). We did several things such as the first clubs’ day,Fun days,Spirit week and others events. Do I list this under one or each become individual activities? I was in the position from 10th grade when I joined the school up until I graduated in 12th grade. Also can I put down how I did several interviews on empowerment/Advocation of wheelchair accessible education in the country ? (I’m writing about growing up in New York and moving back to Zambia and having to fight to find a school to finish high school even though there’s only one school that accessible in the whole country and it’s for boys only.)

Hey Supertutor, I have a question. I am the secretary for Georgia HOSA. HOSA is an organization that is similar to Future Farmers of America, but its focus is on healthcare. Would being in this leadership position hurt my chances of acceptance at top tier schools? Should I leave this detail out of my college applications? Thanks for all your help!

So basically if your Asian.... don't act Asian and make sure to totally let go of anything that has do do with your cultures perception of education.......

So I want to major in Computer Science. Are you saying that creating a game/app that would be available to the public and potentially make money would be a waste of time and effort because it's "career oriented" and would end up hurting my applications?

... But I love my violin....😭😭😭

For an Asian kid, unless you played at the Carnegie hall or made the US team, there is no need to write about your violin or tennis in college essays.

so you are telling me participating in the science olympiad is stereotypical Asian activities

i brook. i need your help. iam from india and will come to study in usa in fall 2019. i have no extra curricural activities. i have attended conferences regarding astrophysics, subject i want to study in college. accept that i have youtube channel with 23 subscribers, facebook and instagram page. with minimal followers. what should i write on my activities section? need your help.

I'm a firefighter at my local fire department, will that hurt my admissions?

My school is doing a mentorship program where we research to learn about other prospective careers around us that are not related to our field. Like for example, I would do a mentorship at a garden store and learn more about plants and how we keep our environment grow because it has nothing to do with my technology pathway. Would that be a good idea from my college application? I want to do this during my school year to show colleges that I can be well rounded in various topics for my stem career. I am an Asian and working at a garden in some other area doesn't seem like other Asians would. So I am in confusion of what I should prospect in so that I stand out in different technology-based universities. I just want to learn about different career paths I could learn like how to weld at my school and do maybe a welding mentorship. Brooke, I would love your opinion on these ideas because I really have no clue at this point what I am doing. What should I do before my junior year starts and I am bound my such activities.

Do colleges prefer students who attended private school over students who attended public school?

I have a question. I study in the USA as an international student, then my mom came to live with me. After coming here, our life drastically change because we was abused by my stepdad for about 1 year. We were given some paperwork that classify us a being abused. Should I mention it on my college app. Personally I think that it’s a huge challenge to focus in school while dealing with stuff like this, and it would hurt my academic performances

as i am an asian american ap student with pretty decent scores while being an allstate/youth orchestra violinist, *i feel like i am in danger*

How the hell is it BAD to get into career orientated programs??

Is there a link to the survey mentioned for the stereotypical Asian activities?

Make a video on the new 2018 SAT/ACT concordance!

I’m an asian exchanges student. I did art & I’m thinking about being on the math team next year. But if I’m going to be the team captain, will it still hurt my application because I’m going to do stereotypical things.

Hey Brooke awesome video you made! I am asian American but I am very passionate at art and I got paid of being a teaching assistant at an art camp this summer. Also, my school district asked me to paint murals for an elementary which I will also get paid. I have my own business and sell artworks online too. Will writing about these activities hurt my chance of getting into ivy league schools? The reason I want to put this on there is to show how I can extend my passion to teach kids etc.

If I’m Asian and do orchestra, debate, and theatre, am I in trouble?

Me dropping chess club, piano, violin, science and fencing

Okay so help me out please.. I'm currently working as a programmer in a company in USA (I live outside the US). So should I not include this in my college app?

very informative

She may be right to some degree. Most colleges are Liberal and may not like farmers or military. I would guess that it depends on the College you are applying of course.

Does mock trial count as a job oriented activity?

Good to know the things you love and work hard for are worth less in comparison because of your race ^^

gotta love being asian american 🤪🤪🤪

I'm only in 8th grade, and already getting ready...

But I love science olympiad and all those competition. Does that mean it is bad?

What about being an intern for a political campaign?? Will the AO's possibly be biased when I put the candidate?

last one - -----ouch

Thank you for posting these videos. I am currently a CC student hoping to transfer next year. I am planning on applying as a mathematics major, as that has consistently been my strength for my entire life. One thing that I am particularly proud of is that I have been tutoring math of various levels for 3 years. I started during junior year of high school when I tutored for volunteer hours, and then during senior year, I was selected for a special tutoring class in which I became a tutor recognized by my high school. I liked helping people a lot, and my experience landed me at a real tutoring job through a company, in which I would tutor mostly high school kids. As a HS student, I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities, but as a CC student, I am unable to commit to anything since my tutoring job took up my entire time I was not at school. Would my tutoring experience help me land a spot at a top mathematics college? I have all A's in my major classes, but not in some of my other GE courses.

Fencing is a stereotypical activity?!?!

If an activity shows that you're an alpha dog or a skilled problem solver, it will set you apart. Other, activities are just spam.

Me as an Asian also doing Asian stereotypically things.

I am 47 and I was wondering if Harvard will accept older men or if they only take young people.

I am a competitive state level ice skater of 10 years ( a non Asian activity) and a violin player in a youth orchestra ( obviously a asian activity) should i even include violin playing in my resume?

What if I do stereotypical activities but I’m wasian....

Ok, I'm Asian, and I wanna break this down a bit. So the reason I think they don't want Asians with stereotypical activities is because they received hundreds of applications from Asians who have those exact activities. It's not that the activities are stereotypical, it's just that they're very common and they can't possibly accept every Asian kid who has ever been in an orchestra or played tennis. You see this in white applicants as well-people with activities that are considered stereotypically "white" (or at least stereotypically US-centric) such as NHS, research (I included this because most international students don't have resources offered to them for research), volunteering (which is compulsory at many US high schools) have a harder time getting into top colleges than white applicants with uncommon activities do. The reason is that these colleges want well rounded classes with kids that are highly specialised in various different areas, and they can't accept every student that has common activities, because the competition is more. They don't want a boring class. They don't think the individual students are boring, they just don't want all the Asian kids at their college to play the violin. Now, as far as I can tell, the only exception to this rule is sports or athletics-if you have a leadership position in athletics, you're pretty much guaranteed a place, and that's because a lot of these top colleges were originally athletics-centred. Also, a lot of students with sports and athletics on their resume would probably not have great grades, so these colleges fall all over themselves trying to accept athletes who do have even pretty average grades. Do I think that the college admissions system isn't biased on the basis of race? No. It most definitely puts Asians at a disadvantage, but not in the ways the ways that most people think. The discrimination is usually done in the personal qualities section of the admissions files, not in the activities part.