Acceptable Extracarriculars

Applying to College
1

<p>I was wondering if colleges would be looking especially for students that have extracarricular activities like sports, band, orchestra, dance, or music. I'm interested in Ivy League colleges and higher tier colleges.</p>

<p>Do they expect their students to do either fine arts or athletics, or is it perfectly acceptable to do academically oriented extracarriculars only?</p>

<p>Right now, all I have is debate, academic decathlon, and various clubs.</p>

2

<p>bump…</p>

3

<p>Extracurriculars are anything that you do outside of the classroom. What is important is that you participate in one or more that are interesting to YOU. It is perfectly OK for all of your ECs to be in the same area. Don’t worry about this one.</p>

4

<p>There are no specific extracurricular expectations.</p>

5

<p>The question about impressive ECs comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with comments by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How</a> to Be Impressive](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/05/28/the-art-of-activity-innovation-how-to-be-impressive-without-an-impressive-amount-of-work/]How”>The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save</a> This Grind?](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/09/12/case-study-how-could-we-save-this-ridiculously-overloaded-grind/]Save”>Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) While I don’t agree with everything in them, take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.</p>

6

<p>Impressive ECs are ECs where you excel and are passionate about.</p>