<p>Am I the only one who notices the lunacy of various threads here?</p>
<p>It horrifies me at how so many so-called "intelligent" people do all these EC's solely for the reason of getting into their desired school. It's pathetic. What depresses me the most is seeing those middle school students creating chance threads for elite schools such as Exeter and a bunch of other ones that I had never heard of until I began visiting this website. Is it not sad how these kids center their life on simply getting into schools?</p>
<p>I am not a naive fool. I know this world is competitive as hell. I know you need to strive to be the best you can be, but there just comes a time when you need to start being a genuine HUMAN BEING and stop filling your life up with all this bull just to get into top schools. It almost seems as if these students are finely-tuned drones programmed for this instead of actual people who can critically analyze their situation and question themselves - Why am I doing this? </p>
<p>Start THINKING and quit being a tool please...</p>
<p>Oh well, my semi-rant is over. You can agree with me, disagree with me, praise me, call me a troll, psychoanalyze me, whatever satisfies you :D </p>
<p>(Please keep in mind that this does not apply to if you are an excellent student and truly care about your extracurricular activities, this is meant for those people who just "do things" to make their resume look prettier [or in my opinion, more ridiculous].</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better, most of the people who are racking up ECs are just wasting their time without really accomplishing much. Sheer numbers are worth much less than quality, and someone who has a bunch of meaningless “extra” credits (ie they sat in on a Key Club meeting once a month) isn’t going to get into any schools that they wouldn’t have gotten into otherwise.</p>
<p>No! You are not insane in the least!
I feel bad about not doing a ton of EC’s at times, but I would rather do a select few as well as I possibly can than do a bunch with superficial involvement. Plus, everybody needs some down time to just relax, do nothing, and be human…although I can’t really say this time is spent “doing nothing” since that’s when some of my best thoughts run through my head…</p>
<p>Well if you don’t mind me ranting too…
It’s frustrating and mind blowing to me to see chance threads of kids with 3.9s who can’t spell “safeties” (safetys) or “parents” (parent’s).
Or the whole idea of chance threads in general. In some cases they may be useful, but mostly you just see a bunch of overqualified kids wanting to brag about their accomplishments.</p>
<p>There’s no reason why you can’t be both passionate about your ECs as well as concious about your resume. I absolutely love what I do, but sometimes you want an incentive to push beyond what you think you can/should do. It is a cherry on top knowing that all this hard work will pay off in the future (either for uni, job, or just general exp).</p>
<p>EC, yeah some people are doing some of the things they are doing because they think it’ll get them into a better college, perhaps even a better life. </p>
<p>How is that different from studying for that European History test on the French Revolution when the last thing from France you truly cared about was an obscure band you now forgot the name of? or finding the derivative of a curve you probably won’t ever see again? or finding the speed of a rock falling from an imaginary cliff? </p>
<p>What? so learning things and studying things that you don’t have passion for isn’t the same as volunteering for things you have no passion for?!?!? what?!?! nobody told me!</p>
<p>And stop preaching this and that… obviously all of you are here on this website precisely because you want to find that “magical formula” for getting into a top university. Be realistic, you didn’t get on here to find out if you have a chance at getting into a crappy community college now did you? Or are you going to deny that you got on this website for “kicks” and not to do everything to get into a college of your dreams? </p>
<p>And what if getting into a college of your dreams is just that? your goal and dream? What’s wrong with doing everything to get in? How is that any different from a CEO caring about his company to a point where he sleeps two hours a day? Or an Olympic athlete putting in hours or work in the gym and on the track field to win a medal for himself and his country? As I’m sure if the hypothetical athlete could have gotten a gold medal without the work he would have just stayed home and watched TV. But he puts in the work because he cares. Just like a student volunteering at a hospital or staying up nights to do his physics homework. Not because he cares about it truly and deeply, but because he cares about education and his future and maybe even just the college name. </p>
<p>So in the end, we are all on the same boat and stop fooling yourself that the noble and rather bland commentary on the jaded high school youth of today is doing anything to convince anybody to go out there and start searching to be something other than a “tool.” </p>
<p>I’m sorry you figured out that some people have a better chance of getting into the top colleges because they graduated from Exeter and Andover. I’m sorry that some people have better EC than you do. But stop fooling yourself that you “followed your heart” to where you are today without sacrificing even a little bit of your integrity and genuine passion in the name of getting into college or achieving success. </p>
<p>Honestly, sometimes you need to know how to be a tool first to see the light to become otherwise.</p>
<p>I agree. I think anyone who fills their EC’s up with things like NHS, or Mock Trial, or is some president of a BS club, or does all the cliche things does not set them apart from other students because I just don’t believe it’s THAT special to be a secretary for Beta/Key/blah blah club.</p>
<p>Impressive accomplishments do not, in and of themselves, mean that a student is a mindless, EC-snatching robot. In fact, the most impressive accomplishments are the result of a drive that “getting into college” can’t alone produce. Those with the sole purpose of getting into top schools are usually those with an incohesive laundry list of honors societies and Habitat builds.</p>