Allow me to posit that a primarily intrinsically-motivated Asian student dealing with high-pressure immigrant culture is in a particularly shitty situation: 1.

Allow me to posit that a primarily intrinsically-motivated Asian student dealing with high-pressure immigrant culture is in a particularly shitty situation: 1. Feels forced to spend the extra time - at diminishing returns - to do well at everything with a grade attached. This comes at the expense of passion-based activities, regarded as 'useless' or invalid as a 'line item for the resume'. (There is wide understanding that you need extracurriculars to look good. As pg says, these are mostly bogus.) 2. The pressure itself is killing your intrinsic motivation, which means the surviving applicants are primarily conformist types. 3. Even if you somehow make it through intact, colleges will assume the stereotype and view your application through those lenses.