<p>I agree with you completely OP, I think it’s ridiculous. Thank god I didn’t really start thinking about college until my junior year and only did the stuff that I really liked to do. Unfortunately that means my EC’s look a little thin but at least I have no regrets.</p>
<p>Agreed 100 percent. I went to join key club on the first week of school as senior, for the exact reason you mentioned: I wanted to pad my resume. While I am by no means against helping out in the community, I realized that I valued my time for other things more than key club. Everyone is there for the same reason. They don’t give a crap about the community. I stopped going, and as a result get more time to do things I actually enjoy, like wrestling, painting, spending time with my girlfriend. It’s a sad state our higher education system is in when one can be so disingenuous yet appear so “human.”</p>
<p>I agree with your ideology but COMPLETELY disagree in practice. I have used this exact idea to defend myself in college interviews, haha. In an ideal world, you are spot on. But in reality (this is where we live and function), you are completely misguided.</p>
<p>I lived high school as a genuine human being. I didn’t really have a passion for any spectacular or impressive ECs. I wish someone would have told me how important they were for college apps before senior year.</p>
<p>ECs are a big part of the college application game. That’s all it is, a game. You have to play by their rules, unfortunately. It’d be nice if you could just do what you were truly passionate about and impress colleges, but the fact is, that probably won’t be enough to impress them. It’d also be nice if colleges cared more about intelligence and creativity than they do about test scores, but hey, that’s just how it works.</p>
<p>Besides, even if you aren’t passionate about something (club, volunteer work, etc), the experience can still be mutually beneficial, for yourself and others involved.</p>